Meaning of Mark 7:20

This verse, Mark 7:20, marks a pivotal moment in Jesus' teaching, directly addressing the core of what truly makes a person unclean according to God's standards, shifting the focus from external ritual purity to internal moral and spiritual integrity. Jesus is responding to a challenge from the Pharisees and scribes about his disciples not washing their hands before eating, a practice rooted in their traditions and interpretations of the Law regarding ceremonial cleanness. By declaring that "what comes out of a person is what defiles them," Jesus fundamentally redefines defilement. He asserts that true uncleanness does not originate from the physical contact with food or the environment, but from the inner disposition and intentions of the human heart, which then manifest in outward actions and words.

Context and Background

The immediate context is Jesus' confrontation with the religious elite regarding their meticulous adherence to man-made traditions concerning handwashing and other purification rituals. These traditions, while perhaps intended to uphold the Law, had become an end in themselves, often overshadowing the spirit of the Law. The Pharisees were concerned with outward appearances and ceremonial purity, believing that certain actions or contacts could render a person ritually impure, preventing them from approaching God or participating in communal worship. Jesus, however, is concerned with genuine righteousness, which originates from a transformed heart. He is challenging a legalistic approach that prioritizes outward observance over inward transformation.

Key Themes and Messages

The central theme is the internal source of defilement. Jesus emphasizes that the seat of true impurity is the human heart, the wellspring of thoughts, desires, and intentions. What emerges from this inner core – the "evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly" (Mark 7:21-22) – is what truly pollutes a person in God's eyes. This highlights a profound shift from an external, ritualistic understanding of purity to an internal, ethical, and spiritual one. The message is that outward actions are merely the fruit of an inward condition.

Spiritual Significance and Application

Spiritually, this verse calls for a radical self-examination. It encourages believers to look beyond superficial religiosity and to scrutinize the motivations and desires of their hearts. True spirituality, according to Jesus, is not about performing a set of rituals correctly, but about cultivating a pure heart that produces righteous thoughts and actions. The application is to actively cultivate inner purity through prayer, meditation on Scripture, and seeking the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification, which then naturally leads to outward expressions of godliness. It challenges the notion of passive righteousness, emphasizing the need for active, intentional purification of one's inner life.

Relation to the Broader Biblical Narrative

This teaching aligns with the broader biblical narrative that emphasizes the importance of the heart. The Old Testament prophets, like Jeremiah, spoke of God's desire for a new covenant where His law would be written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33). Jesus' teaching here is a fulfillment of that prophetic longing, revealing that God's covenant people would be characterized by internal transformation. Furthermore, it foreshadows the New Testament emphasis on the indwelling Holy Spirit, who empowers believers to overcome sinful desires and to live lives pleasing to God, thereby purifying the heart from within.

Analogies

One analogy for this concept is a fountain and its water. If the fountain itself is polluted, all the water that flows from it will be tainted, regardless of how clean the surrounding environment might be. Similarly, if the human heart (the fountain) is filled with sinful thoughts and desires, then whatever proceeds from it (the water) will be defiling. Another analogy is a diseased root system. No matter how healthy the leaves and fruit may appear, if the roots are diseased, the entire plant is ultimately unhealthy and will eventually produce rotten fruit. The heart is the root system of a person's life.

Relation to Other Verses

This verse resonates strongly with other teachings of Jesus and the New Testament. For instance, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus states, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matthew 5:8), directly linking inner purity to a relationship with God. He also declares in Matthew 15:11, which is a parallel passage to Mark 7:20, "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles an person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles them." The Apostle Paul elaborates on this theme in Galatians 5:19-21, listing "acts of the flesh" that stem from the sinful nature, and in Romans 12:2, urging believers to be transformed by the renewal of their minds, which is the seat of inner thought and disposition. The concept of the heart as the source of sin is also found in Genesis 8:21, where God notes that "the inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood."