Mark 7:19
in Mark 7because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean.
KJV
Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
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This verse in Mark 7
Commentary
12 notes on this verseWhen we read in Leviticus and Deuteronomy of the laws about food as clean and unclean (for the transgression of which we are censured by the legalists and by the Ebionites, who differ from them very little), we are not to think that the scope of the Scripture is found in any superficial understanding of them. For "whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on."
This site's exposition
His disciples inquired about the parable
on Mark 7:17-19
In the house Jesus explains that food cannot defile a man, because it does not enter his heart. Mark then adds his own comment, Thus all foods are clean.
This site's exposition
Thus all foods are clean
Adam Clarke, working from the older reading, took purging all meats to describe digestion, which keeps what nourishes and discards the rest. The Berean text takes them as Mark's comment. Origen warns against reading the food laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy only at the surface.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Lib. oct. Quaes. 73) For some things are joined to others in such a way as both to change and be changed, just as food, losing its former appearance, is both itself turned into our body, and we too are changed, and our strength is refreshed by it.b Further, a most subtle liquid, after the food has been prepared and digested in our veins, and other arteries, by some hidden channels, called from a Greek word, pores, passes through us, and goes into the draught.
The Medieval Church4 voices
The Lord begins by chiding them, wherefore there follows, Are ye so without understanding also? Then the Lord shows them what was hidden, saying, Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot make him common?
Do you not understand that everything entering from outside into a man cannot defile him because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is expelled into the latrine, purging all foods? All the passages of the Gospels among heretics and the perverse …
GLOSS.a It says therefore into his heart, that is, into his mind, which is the principal part of his soul, on which his whole life depends; wherefore it is necessary, that according to the state of his heart a man should be called clean or unclean, and thus whatsoever does not reach the soul, cannot bring pollution to the man. Meats therefore, since they do not reach the soul, cannot in their own nature defile a man; but an inordinate use of meats, which proceeds from a want of order in the mind, makes men unclean. But that meats cannot reach the mind, He shows by that which He adds, saying, But into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats. This however He says, without referring to what remains from the food in the body, for that which is necessary for the nourishment and growth of the body remains. But that which is superfluous goes out, and thus as it were purges the nourishment, which remains.
As for the apostles, who understood the Lord's speech more deeply and approached to ask Him about the "parable," that is, about this veiled speech (a parable is a veiled speech), the Lord first rebuked them, saying: "Are even you so lacking in understanding?" but …
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Because it entereth not into his heart,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Into the draught - See on Mat 15:17 (note). Purging all meats? - For what is separated from the different aliments taken into the stomach, and thrown out of the body, is the innutritious parts of all the meats that are eaten; and thus they are purged, nothing being left behind but what is proper for the support of the body.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The corruption of human nature is a universal disease. It affects not only a man's heart, will, and conscience, but his mind, memory, and understanding. The very same person who is quick and clever in worldly things, will often utterly fail to comprehend the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel. He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him either foolish or mysterious. He will listen to them like one listening to a foreign language, catching a word here and there, but not seeing the drift of the whole. "The world by wisdom knows not God." (1 Cor. 1:21.) It hears, but does not understand. We must pray daily for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, if we would make progress in the knowledge of divine things. Without Him, the mightiest intellect and the strongest reasoning powers will carry us but a little way. In reading the Bible and hearing sermons, everything depends on the spirit in which we read and hear. A humble, teachable, child-like frame of mind is the grand secret of success. Happy is he who often says with David, "Teach me Your statutes." (Psalm 119:64.) Such an one will understand as well as hear. We see, in the second place, from this passage, that the heart is the chief source of defilement and impurity in God's sight . Moral purity does not depend on washing or not washing — touching things or not touching them — eating things or not eating them, as the Scribes and Pharisees taught. "There is nothing from outside a man, that entering into him can defile him — but the things which come out of him, these are what defile the man." There is a deep truth in these words which is frequently overlooked. Our original sinfulness and natural inclination to evil are seldom sufficiently considered.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The corruption of human nature is a universal disease. It affects not only a man's heart, will, and conscience, but his mind, memory, and understanding. The very same person who is quick and clever in worldly things, will often utterly fail to comprehend the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel. He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him either foolish or mysterious.
How the passage was read
On Mark 7:1-23On Mark 7:1-23
Mark explaining Jewish practice to outsiders
Mark pauses mid-story to explain handwashing to his readers: “the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not” (7:3-4). A Gospel writer translating Jewish practice for outsiders is this layer's own method inside the canon. The washing is netilat yadayim, a ritual pouring over the hands before bread, extending priestly purity to the ordinary table; the Mishnah gives it a whole tractate (Yadayim 1:1), and its schools debated the meal's washings in detail (Berakhot 8:2 records a Hillel-Shammai dispute over the order of washing and mixing the cup). The korban vow Jesus then confronts, property locked away from one's parents by a dedication formula, is explained in this site's note on Numbers 30.
Verse 19's closing phrase, which most translations render “thus he declared all foods clean,” asks for plain honesty at the point of contact: observant Judaism keeps the food laws (kashrut) to this day and does not read the verse as ending them; the Christian church, reading Mark with Acts 10 and 15, historically has. The entry states the difference as difference. What both readings share is the verse's own center: defilement is not conquered at the lips but at the heart, “for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Yadayim 1:1 (the handwashing rite) · Mishnah Berakhot 8:2 (the schools on the meal's washings)
The words behind it
20 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| εἰσπορεύεται | eisporeuetai | it enters | G1531 → | 18 times |
| αὐτοῦ | autou | of him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| καρδίαν | kardian | heart | G2588 → | 156 times |
| ἀλλ᾽ | all᾽ | but | G235 → | 635 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| κοιλίαν | koilian | belly | G2836 → | |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀφεδρῶνα | aphedrona | sewer | G856 → | |
| ἐκπορεύεται | ekporeuetai | goes out, | G1607 → | 33 times |
| καθαρίζων | katharizon | purifying | G2511 → | 31 times |
| πάντα | panta | all | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| τὰ | ta | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| βρώματα. | bromata | food. | G1033 → |
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
εἰσπορεύεταιit enters
eisporeuetaiG1531 →18 times
αὐτοῦof him
autouG846 →5565 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
καρδίανheart
kardianG2588 →156 times
ἀλλ᾽but
all᾽G235 →635 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
κοιλίανbelly
koilianG2836 →
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
ἀφεδρῶναsewer
aphedronaG856 →
ἐκπορεύεταιgoes out,
ekporeuetaiG1607 →33 times
καθαρίζωνpurifying
katharizonG2511 →31 times
πάνταall
pantaG3956 →1235 times
τὰthe
taG3588 →19766 times
βρώματα.food.
bromataG1033 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Colossians 2:16Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
it leads to
- Romans 14:5–6
One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
- Romans 14:10
Why, then, do you judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
- Romans 14:13–17
Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
- Galatians 4:10
You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
- Romans 14:2–3
For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
- Romans 14:5–6
Through
1 Corinthians 6:13“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:19
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
- 1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
- Romans 6:12
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
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About Mark
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Mark; Glossa Ordinaria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.12; Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.