Mark 7:21–23

Context

In Mark 7, Pharisees and scribes who have come from Jerusalem see Jesus' disciples eating without washing their hands and object that they have violated "the tradition of the elders." The handwashing in question is not a hygienic habit but a ritual for maintaining religious purity. Jesus rebukes them by quoting Isaiah, then calls the crowd to him again and declares that nothing entering a person from outside can defile that person. When the disciples later ask him privately in the house what this saying means, Jesus explains it, and this passage forms the conclusion of his explanation. The central contrast is that food enters the stomach and passes out, whereas evil comes from the heart. A shorter parallel passage appears in Matthew 15:18–20.

Interpretation

In the Greek text, twelve items follow "evil thoughts." The first six are plural and the last six are singular. The list includes sexual sins, sins that harm others and their property, and sins of speech and attitude.

• Reformed reading: Reformed theology, including the Presbyterian tradition, often cites this passage in support of "total depravity," the doctrine that human nature has been corrupted by sin at its root. This tradition holds that sin originates in the heart rather than in the environment.
• Wesleyan reading: The Wesleyan tradition, including Methodist and Holiness churches, reads this passage in light of its emphasis on God's grace that cleanses the heart, that is, holiness and sanctification.
• Reading concerning purity laws: Many denominations read this passage together with the statement in the immediately preceding verse 19 that all foods are made clean (KJV: "purging all meats") as grounds for holding that the Old Testament dietary laws are no longer binding on Christians. The Seventh-day Adventist Church argues that this passage addresses the tradition of handwashing and does not abolish the distinction between clean and unclean animals established in Leviticus.
• New Testament scholarship: Scholars regard this list as belonging to the same genre as the "vice lists" found in Jewish and Hellenistic ethical literature of the period and in the Pauline epistles, and compare it with passages such as Galatians 5:19–21.

Debates and Issues

• Translation of verse 19: Translations differ over what the Greek participle rendered "cleansing" modifies. Some, such as the Korean Revised Version, render it as an editorial comment added by Mark (to the effect that Jesus declared all foods clean), while others, such as the King James Version, render it as food being cleansed as it passes out of the body ("purging all meats"). The fact that manuscripts transmit the participle in different forms is also related to this difference.
• Word meanings: The expression in verse 22 rendered in the Korean Revised Version as "a glaring eye" literally means "an evil eye," as the KJV has it. Many interpreters regard it as a Jewish idiom for envy or stinginess. The Korean Revised Version's term gwangpae (KJV "foolishness") translates a Greek word meaning "folly," and later translations generally render it with simpler words along these lines.
• Citation out of context: This passage is sometimes cited to argue that outward behavior does not matter. In response, critics point out that the focus of the text is less on purity rituals than on the heart as the source of evil, and that the sins listed are ultimately ones that manifest themselves in action.

In the Korean Church

The passage is frequently cited in sermons teaching that the root of sin lies in the heart, as well as in sermons urging repentance and a life of guarding the heart. When questions of food taboos arise in the church, it is also sometimes mentioned together with the preceding verses 18–19.

Related Passages

• Matthew 15:18–20
• Mark 7:18–19
• Jeremiah 17:5–10
• Ezekiel 36:25–27