Mark 7:14-23

Interpretation:

True defilement comes from our nature not from external factors. It is important to consider this passage with the whole of Mark Chapter 7.

In the first half of chapter 7 Jesus concludes that the law of man is not the God’s true law. The Pharisees could not justify that His disciples were ‘defiled’ because their law held no true moral authority. That authority belongs to God’s commandments alone. Verses 14-23 become Christ’s response to the Pharisees about what true moral defilement looks like. In the first half of Mark Jesus refuses their false moral assessment of His disciples and in verses 14-23 Jesus instructs how to truly assess moral defilement.

Jesus makes the claim in verse 15 that evil doesn’t come from the world but from the hearts of men.  The heart is the focus of Jesus. His Kingdom is in men’s hearts not in the world (yet…).  It is from the corrupt heart corruption enters the world. Nature verse nurture? Nature. True cleanliness and defilement is decided by a man’s heart and not his external relious appearance.

Application:

This parable is unendingly valuable to the believer. It makes it possible for us to believe. If we don’t understand that the problem of sin emerges from ourselves and not from the world, or from God as many argue He is indirectly responsible for our behavior, then we don’t understand the neccesity of a savior. Christ is concerned with our hearts because they are the source of our action.

It is common understanding that bad company spoils the lot but the blame does not rest on the company but on our desire to join in. The reason why an evil group convinces us to do evil is because we are evil too. That’s why its dangerous to spend time around them, they convince of what we already want to do. When Jesus becomes our Lord, which is often summarized as ‘in our hearts’ He becomes the focus and new desire of our hearts. Then when we are presented with evil from an outside source we see it for what it is and we reject it (or we do it and we regret it).

You can use a passage like this to prove you need to be ‘in the world but not of it.’ But it would be better to recognize the power truth of its simplicity: you want (or wanted) to do evil things. God is not concerned with your apparenace of cleanliness because He sees your desires. And if you don’t desire Christ – you’re probably desiring evil.