15:17,18
The Pharisees were obsessed with externals, including food laws, but Jesus points out that what goes into the stomach and then comes out again. What goes in one end, comes out the other. Now, there were food laws in the Law, and Israel was to observe these, but they did not change a man or woman. They did not make someone good or bad. Conversely, what comes out of the mouth reflects what is in a person’s heart, and that is what defiles us. It is our hearts that make us unclean, it is our hearts that need dealing with.
15:19,20
When Jesus said “what comes out of the mouth” He was not just talking about words, but was thinking of the whole gamut of evil behaviour. This includes words, thought and actions. Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony amd slander are mentioned here, though we should not take the list as intended to be exhaustive. The human problem lies within the heart, eating and washing do nothing to change that.
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