Mark 7:15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

Mark 7:18 Don’t you see that all that enters a person from the outside cannot defile them?

 

After having written four extensive studies proving that the mainstream Denominational System’s claim, that God’s food laws were annulled by Jesus is false, there is still one last set of verses to cover.

Tragically, even with the preponderance of evidence proving the mainstream System to be incorrect, some people still cling to dogma and refuse to except the fact that the Christian System is flat out wrong when it comes to God’s Law.

I’ve had people tell me, even after they’ve read all four of the ‘Thus He Declared All Foods Clean’ studies and understood the errors in translation, they still think that since Jesus said ‘nothing that goes into a person can defile them’ in Mark 7:15 & 18 we are now good to go with eating pork and shellfish, or anything else for that matter; ‘Jesus said, nothing can defile us’…’nothing’?

The mainstream System teaches that ‘the Law of Moses is abolished, and God is okay with His covenanted people eating anything they want to; according to that System we can now ignore His Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 decrees’.

That System claims that Jesus annulled his Father’s Law and declared that no matter what, anything and everything on earth that you can shove into your mouth is now clean and permissible to eat. That System also believes Paul is in agreement with that claim.

If you believe Jesus did that, and that Paul is claiming the same thing, please read the studies at these links, ‘(Thus He Declared All Foods Clean) Part 1 | Mark7:19’, ‘Part 2: Peter’s Vision | Acts 10:13’, ‘Part 3 | 1 Timothy 4:4’, ‘Part 4 | Romans 14:14’, to get the complete understanding on how the mainstream System is teaching false doctrine. These studies also expose the fact that modern Bible production companies have deceptively altered the Word of God in the Book of Mark, adding a sentence never spoken by the Messiah or written by Mark! Those companies also deleted words that Jesus actually did say, and they changed the definition of Greek words into English words that don’t mean the same thing in Paul’s letters! Those four studies expose this.

Back to Mark 7 verses 15 & 18 ~

When Jesus said, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them” (v.15), and “All that goes into a person from outside cannot defile him” (v.18), every Christian teacher, preacher and believer takes those verses and builds a Doctrine-of-Belief without taking into consideration the context of the entire dialogue … They also don’t consider the ramifications of the claim that, ‘Jesus changed or annulled the Law of Moses’, nor do they consider the evidence throughout the New Testament that refutes it.

Taking those two verses from ‘Mark’, isolating them and ignoring the context of Jesus’s dialogue, ignoring the correlating verses from the synoptic Gospels, as well as all of the established Word of God up to that point in history, Christianity has declared that Jesus changed his Father’s Law, making it null and void. They declare that the Food Laws of God Almighty have been cancelled by Jesus in Mark chapter 7 and are now no longer in authority.

We’ll go through the context in a moment, but first how about a little critical thinking and common sense.

What every Christian fails to comprehend is that, by declaring, “Jesus said that ‘nothing’ we put in our mouth can defile us” and taking it literally instead of logically and contextually they are saying the Son of God is authorizing and sanctioning cannibalism. Forget about the eating of strangled animals and blood from the alter of idol worshippers which Acts 15 tells us we cannot eat, if “literally nothing” on earth can defile you by eating it then eating human flesh is perfectly okay with the Son of God… Well, Jesus did say “Nothing can defile us” … didn’t he? He didn’t state any exceptions, so eating human flesh cannot defile you…

If you are going to take those two sentences literally, then every Christian is required to admit that anything and everything in the world is perfectly clean and edible in the eyes of God, even human flesh.

Absolutely ludicrous!

Completely and utterly illogical!!

That alone proves that the word “nothing” in these verses does not mean ‘literally’ anything you can shove into your mouth. There are still qualifiers and parameters to the word definitions that we must take into consideration before we ‘declare that all foods are clean’.

 

Next ~

If “nothing” can defile you then ‘eating blood’ and ‘strangled animal meat’ is perfectly okay with Jesus as well…

If that’s the case, then Jesus and James have contradicted each other, and the Book of Mark and the Book of Acts must be torn out of every Bible as contradictory writing. Acts 15:20 & 29 state as follows:

Acts 15:20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

Acts 15:29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.

James and the Jerusalem Council stated that it’s forbidden to eat blood, meat sacrificed to idols and strangled animal meat, yet the Christian System claims Jesus said “nothing” is forbidden… which one is correct, the Holy Scripture of Mark 7 that says you can eat anything at all or the Holy Scripture of ‘Acts 15’ which lists things that are forbidden to eat?

Again, the word ‘nothing’ in these verses cannot be taken “literally”; if the word ‘nothing’ is “literally-nothing-on-earth-without-exception” then James contradicted Jesus and the New Testament is invalid… Your Bible contradicts itself!

 

Next ~

The mainstream System states, ‘See, Jesus said nothing we eat or put in us can defile us, so now we can eat anything we want and God’s okay with that!’

But those underlined words are not in the verse.

Anyone can take a single sentence in the Bible and make it mean anything they want.

Psalm 14:1 says that there is no God; so, why does anyone believe that there is a God? Why do Jews and Christians preach that there’s a God in Heaven, when the Bible clearly states that “there is no God”?

It’s because that is not the “Context” of the verse. The context of Psalm 14:1 is that it’s a ‘fool’ that says in his heart that “there is no God’. Plus, there is an overwhelming amount of Scriptural evidence in support of God’s existence, compared to the verse that “appears” to claim that there is no God.

So, we have to look at the context of the dialogue in order to interpret any given verse, as well as, taking into consideration the understood and established Biblical doctrines of Scripture, before guessing that one or two verses “appear” to change that doctrine.

Also, much of the confusion stems from the fact that every Christian reading these verses in ‘Mark’ have already made up in their mind that ‘the Law of Moses is abolished‘, so they read that ‘premeditated-dogma’ into every verse of Scripture.

 

As I said, there are parameters, criteria and the context of eating with unwashed hands that must be understood:

When Jesus says, “nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him” and “whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him”, he’s saying that “nothing according to the parameters of what the Creator allows us to eat can defile us if we eat it with unwashed hands”, and “whatever God’s criteria of food is cannot defile us if we eat it with unwashed hands”.

God has determined what is food, what He allows us to eat, and nothing of which He says is allowable food can defile us if we eat it with unwashed hands; that is the context of the following verses. Period.

Here is the entire dialogue from ‘Mark 7’ ~

Mark 7:1-13 ₁The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus ₂and saw some of his disciples eating bread with hands that were “defiled”, that is, “unwashed”. ₃(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. ₄When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

₅So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their bread with “defiled hands”?”

₆He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

₇They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’

₈You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

₉And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! ₁₀For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ ₁₁But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— ₁₂then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. ₁₃Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”  ₁₄And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:  ₁₅There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” ₁₇And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.  ₁₈And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ₁₉since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” ₂₀And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ₂₁For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ₂₃All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

 

Now the parallel account from Matthew ~

 

Matthew 15:1-20 ₁Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ₂“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” ₃He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ₄For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother,’ and, Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ₅But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” ₆he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. ₇You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

₈“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
₉in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
₁₀And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: ₁₁it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” ₁₂Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” ₁₃He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. ₁₄Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ₁₅But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” ₁₆And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ₁₇Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? ₁₈But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ₁₉For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ₂₀These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

 

After reading the entire dialog of both accounts, we have the context, which is Jesus condemning some of the leaders for ignoring the Law of God and putting their own man-made law of “ceremonial-handwashing” in higher authority; He is not changing the Law of God, he’s defending it!

Some pharisees were upset that Jesus’s disciples were not washing their hands before they ate some bread, claiming their “hands were defiled” (Mark 7:2). Jesus told them to quit judging them about a man-made law of ceremonial hand washing, especially since they were not even obeying God’s Law in Matthew 15:4-7 and Mark 7:8-13; Jesus was defending God’s Law, not canceling it!

Jesus took the time to explain that the bread they ate with unwashed hands did not defile them, it’s the thoughts and intentions of a person’s self-sovereign, sinful and rebellious heart that defiles them, not unwashed hands touching bread.

The “food” under discussion is the “bread” of verses 2 and 5 of Mark. It is not pig or shellfish or any other unclean animal; that is not the context of discussion.

God has determined what is food, what He allows us to eat; nothing that is ‘allowable-food’ by God can defile us if we eat it with unwashed hands. That is the context of theses verses. Period.

A CRITICAL factor that NO ONE even considers is that the leaders that approached Jesus were “teachers of the Law” (Mark 7:1); they were there to test Jesus to see if he knew and kept the Law of Moses. Throughout all of the Gospel narratives the leaders in Jerusalem were constantly trying to trick, test and trip up Jesus to see if he knew the Law so they could accuse him of breaking the Law and thereby arrest and convict him. Jesus knew the Law and he did not break the Law; in ‘Mark 7’ Jesus is defending the Law! Period.

 

Next ~

If Jesus changed or canceled God’s Law at the same time as defending it, that would be pure insanity; it makes no logical sense. It specially makes no sense in light of the evidence Jesus himself, as well as Paul, gave in other verses, not to mention God Almighty’s prophecy of the end times.

Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Jesus himself said he did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill. The English word ‘abolish‘ in the Greek is G2647, καταλῦσαι/katalysai. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon states this to mean: to deprive of force, dissolve, subvert, overthrow, annul, abrogate, bring to naught, discard.

The Son of God stated that He did NOT come to dissolve, deprive of force, annul, abrogate, overthrow or discard the Law of Moses.

Shall we believe Jesus or some denominational preacher from the Christian System?

Since the Son of God declared that he didn’t come to abolish the Law of Moses then we positively know he did not abolish or annul the Food Laws in Mark 7.

So, what did Jesus come to do with the Law?

Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law of Moses, and the word ‘fulfill’ is the Greek word πληρῶσαι/plērōsai, Strong’s G4137. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon states this to mean: to carry into effect, to perform, to accomplish; to fulfil, i.e., “to cause God’s will as made known in the law to be obeyed as it should be, and God’s promises given through the prophets to receive fulfilment“: Matthew 5:17.

That is the actual definition of ‘plērōsai/fulfill’ as it pertains ‘specifically’ to Matthew 5:17 according to ‘Thayer’s Greek Lexicon’, which everyone has access to online.

In that definition of ‘fulfill’ do you see the words ‘annul’ or ‘cancel’ or ‘revoke’ or ‘rescind’ or ‘repeal’ or ‘change’?

The Son of God said he came to show us how to obey the Law as it should be and that he did not come to deprive it of its force or to discard it. Period.

For a complete and thorough study of this verse please read, “The Law: Fulfilled or Abolished”.

 

Next ~

Matthew 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Luke 16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

Jesus stated that ‘not until heaven and earth pass away will one dot or letter of the Law pass away’; heaven and earth are still here, just look outside your window right now to check…

 

Next ~

Here’s the ‘kicker-verse’!

Matthew 5:19 Therefore whoever _G3089annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven

“Annul” in the Greek is G3089 λύσῃ/lyse, and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines this as: to loosen, undo, dissolve, to dismiss, break up, to annul, subvert; to do away with; to deprive of authority, to break up, demolish, to destroy, to overthrow.

Jesus said that ‘whoever’ annuls, breaks up, does away with, dismisses, destroys, dissolves or deprives authority of the least command and teaches others the same will be called the least in the Kingdom. So, if Jesus annulled, dismissed, overthrew, did away with or removed the authority of the Food Commands and taught others the same thing in Mark 7, then Jesus himself is the “least” in the Kingdom…

 

◊♦◊ By Jesus’s own proclamation, the Son of God is the LEAST in the Kingdom! ◊♦◊

 

Do you see the utter insanity of claiming that Jesus overthrew and removed the authoritative Command of God in Mark 7? … !!!

In no way did Jesus declare that the Food Law, or any Law of God Almighty was dismissed, annulled, abolished or having no authority!

 

What does the apostle Paul have to say about the possibility of the Law of God being abolished?

Romans 3:31 Do we then abolish the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Paul declared that we are to “uphold the Law”; he didn’t say ‘uphold the law except for the food law’… He said, even though we have faith in the Messiah, the Law is not abolished and we are to uphold it. Period.

Please read the study at this link, ‘Paul Commands Us to Uphold the Law’ for a complete understanding of this verse in Romans.

 

Next ~

Isaiah, the prophet of God, declared that at the end of days, if anyone is eating pig/pork God will judge them with His sword and with fire!

What does the text say?

Isaiah 66:15-17 ₁₅“For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. ₁₆For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. ₁₇“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the LORD.

On the Day of the LORD, which hasn’t happened yet, the End Times judgement of God will be “fire and the sword” for those who eat pig’s flesh.

So, is the LORD God a liar?

Is Isiah delusional? Should we tear out this Book from the Bible as contradictory writing?

God says it is an abomination to eat pig’s flesh even up through the end-of-days, therefore Jesus did not declare that pig is now clean to eat. Period.

If Jesus declared that ‘nothing-without-exception’ can defile you then eating pig should be okay. So, God’s judgement on those eating pig’s flesh at the End of Days in these verses contradicts Mark 7, and once again the Bible is either wrong, or God Almighty is an unjust and oppressive deity for punishing people for eating pig when Jesus said it’s okay; or the mainstream denominational interpretation is wrong.

It is complete and utter nonsense to interpret Mark 7 as Jesus declaring “anything-that-exists is okay to eat and cannot defile you”! Jesus made no such claim in Mark 7 and the mainstream Christian System is 100% wrong!!

 

Lastly, we need to study out and verify the ramifications of the claim that ‘Jesus said nothing-in-existence can defile us so now we can eat anything and everything on earth that we want’…

In both ‘Mark’ and ‘Matthew’ Jesus proceeds to condemn and chastise the pharisees and scribes because they were ignoring the Law of God, for disobeying the Law of Moses. Are we really to believe Jesus rebuked them for disobeying the Law and then immediately turned around in the same breath and nullified the Law himself???

That would have been pure hypocrisy!!

Not only that, but it’s also preposterous to think the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God, took away, annulled or cancelled the Law of God. If he did that, if Jesus stated that anything on earth is now clean to eat then he took away from, annulled, canceled and abolished the established Law of Moses.

 

Let me ask you this; did Jesus sin?

Do we not believe he was the perfect/spotless/sinless lamb?

 

1 John 3:5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

1 Peter 2:22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

 

If Jesus truly was without sin, then he never violated the Law of Moses…

What does the Law of Moses state?

What does the text say?

Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.

Deuteronomy 12:32 Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

 

The LORD God stated that adding to or taking away from any of His commands that He gave through Moses is forbidden. The Laws regarding which animals can and can’t be eaten are part of that Law, and the Law of Moses states in those two verses that nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken away from it. Period.

If Jesus canceled or voided one of God’s Commandments, then he took away from the Law of Moses, violating the commands of Deuteronomy 4 and 12, and he is a sinner. If Jesus made a new law that changed God’s Law, then he added to the Law of Moses, violating the commands of Deuteronomy 4 and 12, and he is a sinner.

If he really stated that you can now eat pork or shrimp or any of the unclean animals listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 then Jesus is a rebellious sinner and a false-prophet, and the entire New Testament is false and worthless. Period.

If you still believe Jesus changed the Law of God given through Moses and declared that anything and everything you want can now be eaten, then you believe in a Jesus who violated the Deuteronomy 4 and 12 commands. That Jesus was a sinner and in the kingdom of heaven he will be labeled as ‘the least’ because he annulled a Commandment, violated a Commandment and taught others to do the same, Matthew 5:19.

 

Final Thought: The New Testament itself claims that the Christian System is wrong, and its doctrine of God’s Laws being changed or abolished by Jesus, including the Dietary Food Laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, is false ~

What does the text say?

Acts 6:11-14 “Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.””

What did the “false witnesses” claim about Jesus?

The “false claim” was that Jesus came to change Moses! The ‘Spirit-Inspired-Word-of-God’ states it is a FALSE doctrine that Jesus came to change Moses, therefore ‘according to the New Testament’ he did not change the Food Laws.

Anyone who believes Jesus changed the Law of Moses is taking the side of the False-Accusers that conspired against Stephen and lied about Jesus…

In absolutely no way, shape or form did Jesus authorize, allow or condone eating anything that we want; the Bible verses state he did not change the Law of Moses.

Since the Biblical evidence proves that Jesus did not change anything from the Law of Moses, then when Jesus said, ‘nothing that you eat can defile you’, the “nothing” must fall within the parameters of the Law of Moses. Period.

‘Nothing that the Law of Moses allows us to eat can defile us if it is eaten with unwashed hands’… That is what Jesus said in context in Mark 7 & Matthew 15.

Remember, Jesus said not one dot or stoke of a letter will pass away from the Law until heaven and earth pass away, Matthew 5.

Until heaven and earth pass away… check outside to verify.

 

• Please ‘share’ this study.
• For further study of Paul’s teachings, as well as the original Greek, see the ‘Links’ at the top of this page or blog posts at the bottom. Be like the Bereans, and test Paul’s doctrines to the “Scriptures”; look up for yourself more than 60 of the “forever verses” listed below. Thank you for your time!