And having called again the crowd, he said to them, Hear me, all [of you], and understand
Jesus has just silenced the religious leaders over their traditions. Now He turns from the experts and calls the whole crowd to Himself. What He tells them changes the whole question of what makes a person unclean.
The debate had been about handwashing and tradition. Now the subject changes.
Now we turn to another subject — the condition of man. We are first shown that religion without Christ is only hypocrisy, and that man's interference in divine things ends in setting God's word aside to keep his own tradition. The next thing we see is what man really is, religious or not. … The Lord here brings to light the broad principle which by itself would account for His sentence on all tradition. Does it come from man? That is enough.
Jesus does not send this truth through the religious teachers. He tells it to the people Himself.
So the Lord called the crowds together again. He gave them the truth on this subject in simple, short words such as they might "hear and understand." He spoke to the crowds directly, with no one in between. So these simple country people of Galilee could drink from the well-spring of truth itself. He called everyone to pay attention to Him and to take hold of His words.
He leaves the religious arguments aside. He speaks to the conscience of ordinary people.
He calls up the "crowd" — no matter who or what they might be… and He addresses Himself directly and fully to what is within. He passes by everything that Satan had known how to use to blind the conscience. He goes straight to the root of the matter, to this fact — "You know that what comes out of the heart is not of God, and that is you." … If their conscience had been before God, they could not have hidden this truth from themselves. They did not need Pharisees for that; they did not need scribes for that; their own hearts could answer it.
The word translated "understand" is not a call for casual attention. It describes the mind putting things together.
suniemi (from sun and iemi) is "to bring or set together"… It becomes the expression of the soul's inborn capacity to do so. It connects the outward object with the inward sense. It is to weigh a thing, consider it carefully, and so grasp its meaning.
Jesus does not stop at pulling down what is false. He builds truth in its place.
He established truth as well as exposed error. In His teaching the Great Servant-Prophet of Jehovah tore down every evil form and corrupt tendency. He also built up what was good and of God… He swept away the false idea that material means could cleanse spiritual defilement. He announced the deep-seated cause of man's moral uncleanness. Inside a person, He taught, is an overflowing spring of pollution. Men fooled themselves by paying attention only to outward ways of cleansing.
Washing cups and hands deals with what touches a person from outside. Jesus points to a source that no washing can reach.
Washing hands and cups and pots only deals with defilement from outside. But the source of moral defilement is the inward evil of the heart. This cuts at the root of all worldly religion of the flesh, which only deals with outward things and leaves the heart untouched. God works from within and deals with the conscience and heart. The real source of defilement is not a man's environment but himself. It is true that man is a fallen creature. If he goes into scenes of evil and temptation, his surroundings will stir up his lusts within. But even so, the source of the evil is from within. An angel can pass through Sodom and not be defiled, but not so Lot. There was no evil heart in the angel to answer to sin; there was in Lot.
Jesus asks for understanding because this truth is not received by simply hearing the words. Even His own disciples had to ask Him to explain it.
The saying was weighty. Only the sons of faith, now as well as then, receive this truth. It condemns men down to the very core of their being. There must be the "ear to hear."
- Called. Jesus turns from the religious experts and gathers the crowd. He speaks to them Himself, with no one in between.
- Hear. The call goes out to "all of you." Defilement is a question for every person, religious or not.
- Understand. The word means to weigh a matter carefully and grasp its meaning, not just to catch the sound of it.
- Inward. The spring of pollution is within. A person's surroundings are not the source of his uncleanness — he himself is.
- Received. Only those with an ear to hear take in this truth. It condemns them to the very core, and that is why He calls for understanding.
There is nothing from outside a man entering into him which can defile him; but the things which go out from him, those it is which defile the man.
Jesus has just exposed religious leaders who washed their hands but not their hearts. Now He calls the whole crowd over and moves the question of uncleanness from the dinner table to the heart.
The Lord is not explaining here how a person gets cleaned up. He is answering a prior question: where does the dirt come from in the first place?
The Lord's subject in this saying is not the means of cleansing, but the cause of defilement. He is not speaking here about how useless ceremonial washing is, or about using water to remove the stains of immorality. He had already told the Pharisees about that. Now He teaches those who were never taught the law where defilement really comes from. Cleansing assumes there is something unclean. How then does man become unclean? Does it happen when polluting things from outside enter his body? The Lord declared that the cause of his uncleanness lies within: in the motives from which his words and actions spring.
The statement is about moral defilement, not about health. Food can damage a body without touching the soul.
Nothing from outside, entering into a man, can defile him. Spiritual defilement does not come that way. Of course a man may eat food that harms his body. He may even take poison. But that in itself does not defile him spiritually. But the things that come out of a man (not physically of course) are those that defile him.
We usually blame our circumstances. The verse blocks that escape route — bad surroundings can only stir up what is already inside.
The real source of defilement is not a man's environment but himself. It is true that man is a fallen creature. If he goes into scenes of evil and temptation, his surroundings will stir up the lusts inside him. But even so the source of the evil is from within. An angel can pass through Sodom and not be defiled, but not so Lot. There was no evil heart in the angel to answer to sin; there was in Lot.
The same principle reaches further. Whatever comes out of man carries man's character — including his religious rules.
The Lord here brings to light the broad principle which of itself would account for His sentence on all tradition. Does it come from man? That is enough… Apply that principle in full, and it shows what tradition really is. Tradition comes out from man. It is not a word spoken to man with the authority of God. It is a human word, and shabby pride would gladly dress it in purple and gold to cover its nakedness.
Jesus adds a call to hear, and we need it. The words are simple. Accepting them about yourself is not.
The saying was weighty. Now, as then, only the sons of faith receive this truth, which condemns men down to the very core of their being. There must be the "ear to hear."
If the source is bad, cleaning the surface wastes effort. So what does a person actually need?
What stronger proof could we have that it is not reformation men need, but a new creation! What proof, too, that outward practices can never be enough on their own, because they cannot reach what is within! If men only saw their own inborn corruption, as the Lord Jesus sets it out, they would trifle no more with priests and their doings. They would hurry straight to the Saviour's feet. There, and nowhere else, they find blessing for eternity.
Nothing from outside defiles a man. But the good a man needs is not inside him either. He must receive it from Another.
In a word, the doctrine is plainly laid down here. Man — that is, man in his present state — is only the source of what is evil. I need another absolutely perfect One, outside me, to be my life, and such a One I have in Christ. If I am a Christian at all, Christ is my life. From then on my business is to live on that good which I have found in Christ, and to live according to it. So the happy man is the one who is always thinking of Christ and delighting himself in Him.
- Outside: nothing that goes into a person makes him unclean. Jesus is answering where the dirt comes from, not how to wash it off.
- Inside: what comes out shows the source. Uncleanness starts in the heart, not in the menu or the neighbourhood.
- Excuses: bad surroundings do stir up evil. They can only do that because something inside answers them.
- Religion: the same test condemns human tradition. It also comes out of man, and it carries his character.
- Remedy: no washing or reforming reaches inside. Man needs a new creation, and a life found outside himself, in Christ.
If any one have ears to hear, let him hear.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.