Mark7

Jesus confronts the Pharisees and scribes for prioritizing human traditions over God's commandments, particularly regarding ritual washing and the Corban vow. He then teaches the multitude that true defilement comes from the evil within a man's heart, not from external things. Following this, Jesus travels to Tyre and Sidon, where he heals a Syrophoenician woman's daughter, and later, in Decapolis, he miraculously restores hearing and speech to a deaf man.

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Debate Over Tradition and Defilement

And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,

and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen, hands.

(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders;

and when they come from the marketplace, except they bathe themselves, they eat not; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels.)

And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands?

And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, But their heart is far from me.

But in vain do they worship me, Teachingas theirdoctrines the precepts of men.

Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition.

For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death:

but ye say, If a man shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God;

ye no longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother;

making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do.

What Truly Defiles a Person

And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me all of you, and understand:

there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.

Not present in the manuscripts this translation follows.

And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable.

And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him;

because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean.

And he said, That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man.

For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:

all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.

The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith

And from thence he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered into a house, and would have no man know it; and he could not be hid.

But straightway a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.

Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. And she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter.

And he said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.

But she answered and saith unto him, Yea, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.

And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the demon is gone out of thy daughter.

And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the demon gone out.

Healing the Deaf and Mute Man

And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.

And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to lay his hand upon him.

And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue;

and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.

And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it.

And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; he maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Study Notes for Mark 7

Verse 1

The arrival of Pharisees and scribes specifically from Jerusalem indicates that this is an official, high-level challenge to Jesus’ authority and teaching methods.

Verse 3

Mark, writing primarily for a Gentile audience, pauses to explain the Jewish custom of ritual washing (not hygiene), which was based on the 'tradition of the elders' rather than the Mosaic Law itself.

Verse 6

Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13, using prophetic Scripture to indict his accusers for their hypocrisy. They prioritize external, visible piety over genuine, internal devotion to God.

Verse 8

This verse summarizes Jesus' critique: by elevating human tradition to the level of divine command, they had effectively sidelined God’s true will.

Verse 11

Corban means 'a dedicated gift' or 'offering.' This tradition allowed a person to dedicate money to the Temple, thereby making it unavailable to support aging parents, violating the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12).

Verse 13

Jesus demonstrates how religious rules, when based on human authority, can become instruments that actively undermine the clear moral obligations of God’s written Law.

Verse 14

Jesus shifts his address from the religious elite (the scribes) to the general public, teaching a profound principle accessible to all who would listen.

Verse 15

This statement is revolutionary, shifting the source of defilement from external ritual and diet (Mosaic Law) to internal moral condition (the heart). This paved the way for the later abolition of the Jewish food laws.

Verse 17

The disciples, still bound by traditional understanding, struggled with this radical teaching and needed private explanation from Jesus.

Verse 19

Mark adds a parenthetical explanation here, clarifying that Jesus' teaching rendered all foods clean. This is a crucial theological point for the early church’s mission to the Gentiles.

Verse 21

Jesus provides a comprehensive list of sins, identifying the 'heart' (the inner life and will) as the true factory of moral corruption and evil.

Verse 24

Jesus moves into Gentile territory (Tyre and Sidon), signaling the expansion of his ministry beyond the strict borders of Israel. His desire for privacy suggests a period of rest or focused teaching for the disciples.

Verse 26

The woman is identified as a Greek (culturally) and Syrophoenician (nationally), explicitly marking her as a Gentile outside the covenant promises of Israel.

Verse 27

Jesus affirms the priority of his mission to Israel ('the children'). The term 'dogs' (kynaria) is a diminutive, likely meaning 'house pets,' softening the analogy compared to a wild dog, but still indicating the Gentiles' secondary place at that time.

Verse 28

The woman’s response shows extraordinary humility and deep faith. She accepts the analogy but argues for the overflowing abundance of God’s grace, which extends even to the 'crumbs' meant for Gentiles.

Verse 29

Jesus commends her bold and persistent faith. This interaction serves as an early sign that the benefits of the kingdom would soon be extended fully to the Gentiles.

Verse 31

Jesus travels back toward Galilee, moving through the Decapolis, a region largely populated by Gentiles. This geography confirms his ongoing ministry to non-Jewish people.

Verse 33

Jesus often used physical actions (touching, spitting, isolating the man) in his healings. These actions were likely intended to communicate compassion and power to a man who could not hear verbal instructions.

Verse 34

Jesus looks up to heaven, acknowledging the source of his power, and speaks the Aramaic word 'Ephphatha' ('Be opened'). Mark includes the original Aramaic to emphasize the specific, immediate, and authoritative command of Christ.

Verse 36

Jesus frequently commanded silence (the 'Messianic Secret') to manage expectations about his role and to prevent premature conflict with authorities, though this command was often ignored.

Verse 37

The crowd’s astonishment reflects the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 35:5-6, where the Messiah is expected to open the ears of the deaf and loosen the tongue of the mute.

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Mark7

Debate Over Tradition and Defilement

What Truly Defiles a Person

The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith

Healing the Deaf and Mute Man

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