And he said, That which goes forth out of the man, that defiles the man.
Alone with His disciples, Jesus explains the saying that had puzzled them. The question is not about food or washed hands, but about where a person's uncleanness starts — and whether anything outside can ever reach it.
The Lord speaks twice here, and the second saying completes the first. (The wording below follows an older translation.)
In the verses that follow (vv. 20–23) we have a second statement of our Lord. The narrative introduces it with the words, "And he said." The statement before it has the slightly different phrase, "And he says unto them" (v. 18). The first deals with this truth: food and drink cannot spiritually defile a man. The second adds the truth that completes it: the evil thoughts, words, and deeds that come out of the heart within do defile him.
The Pharisees built their religion on scrubbing the outside. Here is why that can never work.
The Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup and dish, but that did not cleanse the inside. It is what comes from within that defiles the man. The stream was bitter because the fountain was bitter; and the fruit was bad because the tree was bad. The fountain of a man's defilement lies in his own heart. Attending a religious ritual could be of no value at all. That alone only made men hypocrites.
Not every act that looks severe is defiling. What makes a thing defiling is the will behind it.
As to the things that defile, they come out of the man. They always spring from within, from the corrupt will of man. For instance, suppose the law carries out the death sentence on a criminal. That is not murder. It is the vindication of God's authority in the earth. It is not a question of evil feeling against the guilty man, and there is nothing defiling in it. But if you were so much as to injure a man in deed, word, or thought, there you have what defiles. Something that is part of your self-will, without God, comes out of you, and you yield to it. At that moment there is the taint of defilement.
The Lord had already stripped the mask off the religious leaders. What He exposes next is not one group's problem.
The Lord does not only tear away the veil of hypocrisy, He also uncovers what the heart produces. This is what God does; He searches our hearts and shows them to us, and then reveals His own. This uncovers not only the hearts of the Pharisees, but the hearts of all people. What goes out of the mouth defiles the man, because it comes from the heart.
If the source is inside, every plan to fix people by changing their surroundings aims at the wrong target.
The great general snare is denying the evil of men. Satan's constant deception now is the idea that man is not so bad, and that moral training can improve him. There are societies for every good cause, and for the improvement of man. People look for the faults in circumstances and surroundings instead of in man himself.
What the heart holds is not a portrait of unusual criminals. It is a portrait of the reader.
This is what both your heart and mine contains, dear reader. If the worst of these evils have not broken out, that is due to the mercy of God in the setting where He has been pleased to place us. But the evils are certainly within us. They wait only for the opportunity to show themselves in all their ugliness. What stronger proof could we have that what men need is not reformation but a new creation! And what proof, too, that outward observances can never be enough on their own! They cannot reach what is within.
If nothing good comes out of me, my good must come from outside me.
In a word, the teaching here is plain: man — that is, man in his present state — is only the source of what is evil. I need another absolutely perfect One, who is 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 the good I have found in Christ, and to live according to it. Therefore the happy man is the one who is always thinking of Christ and delighting himself in Christ.
- Source. Defilement starts inside a man, not outside. The stream is bitter because the fountain is bitter.
- Self-will. What makes an act defiling is the will behind it. Something of self, without God, comes out — and you yield to it.
- Scope. The Lord uncovers every heart, not the Pharisees' only. God searches our hearts, then reveals His own.
- Snare. The great deception looks for the fault in circumstances. Outward observance can never reach what is within.
- Supply. Man needs not reformation but a new creation — another perfect One outside me, Christ, to be my life.
For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
The Pharisees had challenged the disciples over eating with unwashed hands. The Lord answered by moving the question of what makes a person unclean from the outside to the inside. In this verse He names where that uncleanness starts, and what it produces first. He is describing every human heart, not only the hearts we would call wicked.
The Lord's answer has an order to it. He does not begin with the acts on the list. He begins with the place they come from. He treats the thought as the deed already forming.
When they questioned Him in the house, the Lord told His disciples two things: (1) what the root of evil in men was, and (2) what its fruits were. The root was the evil thought of the heart. The fruits were the specific acts of wickedness, some of which He named. So the evil thought already holds the evil deed in seed form.
The phrase does not mean a stray idea that drifts through the mind. It means the arguing and planning a person carries on inside himself, where no one else can see.
Evil thoughts. These are the inward reasonings and debates of man's mind. Inside himself he weighs things up, he calculates, he plans his schemes of sinful indulgence or deliberate rebellion. "Things come into his mind, and he devises an evil scheme" (Ezek. 38:10; Micah 2:1-2)... His thoughts are hidden inside his heart. So he falls into one of man's strange delusions: he thinks they are hidden from God, who knows all things.
It is tempting to read the list as a description of criminals. One writer presses the opposite point — the Lord is describing the reader.
Out of what heart? Is it the heart of some horribly depraved and disgusting wretch, completely unfit to appear in decent society? No; it is out of the human heart — the heart of the writer and of the reader of these lines.
If that is true of everyone, an objection follows. Most people never commit murder or adultery. Another writer answers that the difference lies in our circumstances, not in our nature.
This is what both your heart and mine contains, beloved reader. If the worst of these evils have not broken out, that is due to the mercy of God in the surroundings He has been pleased to place us in. But the evils are certainly within us. They are only waiting for an opportunity to show themselves in all their ugliness. What stronger proof could we have that what men need is not reformation but a new creation! What proof, too, that mere outward observances can never be enough in themselves, because they cannot reach what is inside.
If sin comes from inside a person, the usual excuses fail. Two answers follow: one we can give now, and one only the death of Christ could give.
Jeremiah had told Israel long before, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick" (Jer. 17:9). Man may blame every outward circumstance for his own sin, but it comes from within himself. How could this be cleansed? Let us at least learn to judge ourselves fully, instead of blaming our wrongs on others or on circumstances. Actual cleansing needs more than this, of course — the great sacrificial death of the Lord of glory. But they had to learn the condition of their heart before they would be ready to receive the remedy.
The exposure of man's heart is not the end of the story. The One who judged that heart also showed what God is like.
But God must also show His own heart. Jesus judged the heart of man with the eye of God. He showed His ways and His faithfulness to Israel. Yet through it all He displayed what God was to those who felt their need of Him and came to Him in faith, owning and resting on His pure goodness.
- Root. The Lord names the heart as the source and the evil thought as the root. Every act further down the list is already there in seed form.
- Thought. "Evil thoughts" are the mind's private reasoning and scheming. They are hidden from people, never from God.
- Yours. The list is not a portrait of criminals but of the human heart, including the heart of the person reading it.
- Restraint. Where the worst of these have not appeared, the reason is God's mercy in our circumstances, not a better nature. Man needs a new creation, not reformation.
- Remedy. Judge yourself instead of blaming your circumstances. But only the death of Christ can cleanse — and the Lord who exposed man's heart also showed God's.
thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, deceit, licentiousness, a wicked eye, injurious language, haughtiness, folly;
The Lord has just told the crowd that defilement is not something a person takes in but something he gives out. Here He names what comes out, and the question is whether these evils are accidents of a bad environment or the natural produce of the human heart.
The list is not a random catalogue. The Lord answered the disciples in the house by showing where these acts begin.
In reply to the questions put to Him in the house, the Lord declared to His disciples (1) what was the root, and (2) what were the fruits of evil in men. The root was the evil thought of the heart, and the fruits were the specific acts of wickedness, some of which He named. In the evil thought, therefore, the evil deed is contained in embryo.
Matthew records seven of these evils; Mark records twelve. Six appear only here, and they share a family likeness.
These six offences are named by Mark only: covetousness, deceit, sensuality, an evil eye, pride, foolishness. They are closely tied to the inward workings of man's heart. If the others named before may be described as the lusts of the flesh, these are the desires of the mind (Eph. 2:3). If those showed the filthiness of the flesh, these show the filthiness of the spirit (2 Cor. 7:1).
The first word in the verse is not usually filed under serious crime. Scripture files it under worship.
This is the selfish greed within a man's heart. It wants to take hold of things other than those God has given him, and only what God has given him is his rightful possession… Scripture calls the covetous man an idolater (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5), for he sets up another god within himself whom he serves with his whole heart.
The ESV calls this item envy, where older wording says "an evil eye." It is an eye that weighs a neighbour's need against its own gain.
The eye is a main road to and from the heart. In the Scriptures, the evil eye is often seen as a close companion of covetousness, selfishness and envious jealousy. It ignores the sufferings of others when there is personal gain in doing so. The LORD warned the people of Israel against having an evil eye toward a poor brother in need and withholding the help owed to him (Deut. 15:7-9; Deut. 28:54-55).
Pride here has a definite shape, and its clearest examples were religious leaders.
The word used here conveys the sense of a spirit of self-exaltation in a man, joined with the belittling of others. The Pharisees are glaring examples. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others (Luke 18:9)… This arrogance shows itself in boastful words and vain deeds. But its origin is within the heart, as that line from Mary's song shows: "He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts" (Luke 1:51).
The last word on the list sounds mild next to the rest. Its place at the end is deliberate.
Foolishness seems to be that gross form of stupidity which shuts God out of the running of a life. In the words of the Psalmist, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Ps. 14:1)… Foolishness comes last in the list, says one writer, because it makes all the others incurable.
A list like this reads as a description of other people. One writer turns it around.
This is what both your heart and mine contains, dear reader. If the worst of these evils have not broken out, that is because of the mercy of God in the setting where He has been pleased to place us. But the evils are certainly within us. They are only waiting for an opportunity to show themselves in all their ugliness. What stronger proof could we have that what men need is not reformation but a new creation!
If the trouble lies in the source, self-improvement cannot reach it. The answer offered is a life brought in from outside.
In a word, the teaching plainly laid down here is that man — that is, man in his present state — is only the source of what is evil. I need another, absolutely perfect One, outside myself, to be my life. I have such a One in Christ… The happy man is the one who is always thinking of Christ and delighting himself in Him.
- Source — Every item traces back to one root: the evil thought of the heart. The thought already holds the deed in seed form.
- Spread — Six sins named only here move the charge from the filthiness of the flesh to the filthiness of the spirit: coveting, deceit, sensuality, an envious eye, pride, foolishness.
- Substitution — Coveting is idolatry. The greedy heart sets up another god inside a man and serves him with the whole heart.
- Seal — Foolishness comes last because it shuts God out of a life. That is what leaves everything above it incurable.
- Solution — The problem is the source, not the surroundings. The need is not reformation but a new creation, with a perfect One outside us as our life.
all these wicked things go forth from within and defile the man.
Jesus has just told the crowd that food entering a person cannot defile him. Now, alone with His disciples, He traces defilement back to one source — the human heart — and gives His verdict on what man is.
The Lord's point is about where evil begins.
The evil that fills the earth is not forced on man from outside. It is something he produces from within.
That is why blaming circumstances collapses here.
Man may blame every outward circumstance for his own sin, but it comes from within himself. How could this be cleansed? Let us learn to at least judge ourselves thoroughly, rather than blame our wrongs on others or on circumstances.
The list is not a flat pile of sins. It has an order: one root, then the things that grow out of it.
The root was the evil thought of the heart. The fruits were the specific acts of wickedness, some of which He named. So the evil thought already holds the evil deed in seed form.
This is where self-improvement runs into trouble.
Some say that deliverance from sin is a matter of personal effort. They say evil habits can and should be beaten by one's own firm resolve and perseverance. But this advice misses something. Willpower alone may stop the wicked deed, yet the sinful desire has already filled the heart... The evil thought defiles the whole man, as well as the evil word and the evil act.
Mark alone names six of these evils, and they are inward ones.
Sins named by Mark only. These six offences — covetousness, deceit, sensuality, envy, pride, foolishness — are closely tied to the inward workings of man's heart. If the others already named may be called the lusts of the flesh, these are the desires of the mind (Ephesians 2:3). If those showed the filthiness of the flesh, these show the filthiness of the spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1).
Mackintosh asks whose heart the Lord is describing.
Out of what heart? Is it the heart of some deeply corrupt and disgusting person, unfit to appear in decent society? No; it comes out of the human heart — the heart of the writer and the reader of these lines.
If the worst of these have never surfaced in someone's life, that is not evidence they are absent.
If the worst of these evils have not broken out, that is due to God's mercy in the surroundings He has chosen for us. But the evils are certainly within us, only waiting for a chance to show themselves in all their ugliness. What stronger proof could we have that what men need is not reformation, but a new creation!
Kelly applies this to any system that fights sin by banning things from outside.
Having a low estimate of sin, such a system offers just as low a remedy. It does not, and cannot, touch the heart within. Pharisaism washed the hands. The whole spring of moral action, the heart, is corrupt before God. What man is taints what he does. So while the human method is to cut off this and that, God's method is first of all to make the tree good.
Kelly draws out what this leaves a person needing.
The teaching is laid down here most plainly. Man — that is, man as he is now — is only the source of what is evil. I need another absolutely perfect One, outside myself, to be my life, and I have such a One in Christ.
Grant adds that the diagnosis comes first for a reason: real cleansing "requires more than this, of course — the great sacrificial death of the Lord of glory; but they must learn the condition of their heart before they would be ready to receive the remedy."
- Inside. Defilement starts within. You cannot blame a place, a circumstance or another person.
- Root. The evil thought is the seed; the listed acts are its fruit — the deed is already contained in the thought.
- Reach. Mark's list goes past crimes into pride, foolishness and envy. These are the desires of the mind, not only the lusts of the flesh.
- Everyone. The heart described is the reader's own. God's mercy holds the worst evils back; it does not remove them.
- Remedy. Man as he is produces only evil. So the answer is not reformation but a new creation — and a life found outside ourselves, in Christ.