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"Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, This people draweth nigh with
their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But in vain
they do worship Me (solemn words for all dispensations), teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men (Matt. 15: 7-9).
Turning from these votaries of littleness, the Lord called the people together and said:--
"Hear and understand. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that
which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man" (Matt. 15: 10, 11).
In these few words the Lord brushed aside the external and the ceremonial,
establishing in their place the real and the essential. The record in Mark 7: 15 should be
compared:--
"There is nothing from without a man that, entering into him, can defile him, but the
things which comes out of him, these are they that defile a man."
These words were sufficiently understood by the Pharisees to offend them, but the
Lord in His reply shows how little He thought of man's judgment, "Let them alone; they
be blind leaders of the blind." Peter now asks for an explanation of the parable, and
Matt. 15: 16-20 contains the Lord's answer:--
"And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding, that whatsoever entereth in at
the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast into the draught? but those things which
proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashen hands
defileth not a man."
Mark gives one or two additional statements which are too important to pass over
unnoticed:--
"Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it
cannot defile him, because it entereth not into his heart" (Mark 7: 18).
Thus the whole subject revolves around the words "not into his heart" and "out of the
heart." "Their heart is far from Me." The A.V. continues, "but into the belly, and goeth
into the draught, purging all meats." The last clause has caused a great amount of
unprofitable matter to be written. The true meaning is given in the R.V., "This He said,
making all meats clean," i.e., abolishing for ever the scrupulosities of mere ceremonial
distinctions. The list of evil things is different from that given in Matt. 15::--
"Evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness" (Mark 7: 21, 22).
We would now draw attention to one or two important words and expressions used in
this parable, and then show the light it casts upon the times and circumstances of this
closing section of Matthew's Gospel.
DEFILED (koinos).--It must be remembered that the subject of defilement or
uncleanness in this parable is ceremonial, it in no wise touches upon the desirability of