Bible Study Seattle

“After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.  “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?  For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)  He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”  Mark 7:17-23 NIV

“And when Y’shua entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about that saying.  He said to them, “You are likewise slow to understand.  You do not know that everything which enters into a man from the outside is not able to defile him.  Because it does not enter into his heart, rather into his belly and is cast out by excretion, which purifies all the food.  But anything that goes out from a man is that which defiles a man.  For from the inside, from the heart of the sons of men proceeds evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, theft, murder, Extortion, wickedness, deceit, lust, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.  All these things, they do proceed from within a man and defile him.”  Mark 7:17-23 AENT

Commentary from the AENT: A major misunderstanding of this verse found its way into the modern translations with the parenthetical comment “in so doing Y’shua declared all foods clean”.  It does not occur in any Aramaic MSS or in early Greek MSS, apparently an attempt was made by Gentile or Christian editors to abandon Torah’s dietary laws.

In support of these comments are prophecies from the old testament.  “And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman but shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.  Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.  In a dispute they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts and sanctify My Sabbaths.”  Ezekiel 44:22-24

This is a prophecy about the days of the Millennium.  Clean and unclean refer to foods among other things.