# Mark 07 📖: What Truly Defiles [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Mark Overview]] | [[Mark 06]] | [[Mark 08]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) #### Breaking Human Traditions **Principle**: It's the heart that matters. [[#Verse 01.]] Now the Pharisees and some of the experts in the law who came from Jerusalem gathered around him.  [[#Verse 02.]] And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed.  [[#Verse 03.]] (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, holding fast to the tradition of the elders.  [[#Verse 04.]] And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.)  [[#Verse 05.]] The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?”  [[#Verse 06.]] He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘**_This people honors me with their lips,_** **_but their heart_** **_is far from me_**. [[#Verse 07.]] **_They worship me in vain,_** **_teaching as doctrine the commandments of men_**.’ [[Isaiah 29]] (v13) [[#Verse 08.]] Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.”  [[#Verse 09.]] He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up your tradition.  [[#Verse 10.]] For Moses said, ‘**_Honor your father and your mother_**,’ and, ‘**_Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death_**.’  [[Exodus 20#Verse12]], [[Exodus 21#Verse 21.]] [[#Verse 11.]] But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is _corban_’ (that is, a gift for God),  [[#Verse 12.]] then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother.  [[#Verse 13.]] Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.” [[#Verse 14.]] Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand.  [[#Verse 15.]] There is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him.” [[#Verse 17.]] Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.  [[#Verse 18.]] He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?  [[#Verse 19.]] For it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and then goes out into the sewer.” (This means all foods are clean.)  [[#Verse 20.]] He said, “What comes out of a person defiles him.  [[#Verse 21.]] For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, [[#Verse 22.]] adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.  [[#Verse 23.]] All these evils come from within and defile a person.” #### A Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith **Principle**: Jesus grows our faith through persistence. [[#Verse 24.]] After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice.  [[#Verse 25.]] Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him and came and fell at his feet.  [[#Verse 26.]] The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  [[#Verse 27.]] He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and to throw it to the dogs.”  [[#Verse 28.]] She answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  [[#Verse 29.]] Then he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”  [[#Verse 30.]] She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. #### Healing a Deaf Mute **Principle**: Jesus, the True example of excellence. [[#Verse 31.]] Then Jesus went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.  [[#Verse 32.]] They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him.  [[#Verse 33.]] After Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue.  [[#Verse 34.]] Then he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “_Ephphatha_” (that is, “Be opened”).  [[#Verse 35.]] And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly.  [[#Verse 36.]] Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more. [[#Verse 37.]] People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The handwashing in 7:3 was about ceremonial purity, not hygiene. It was a tradition of the elders that went beyond the Law of Moses. 2. Mark explains Jewish customs (7:3-4), which suggests he wrote mainly for Gentile readers, traditionally in Rome. 3. "Corban" (7:11) is a Hebrew word for an offering dedicated to God. Declaring something Corban could be used as an excuse not to support aging parents. 4. Mark's note that Jesus declared all foods clean (7:19) anticipates Peter's vision in Acts 10. 5. Jesus' list of evils that come from the heart (7:21-22) contains twelve items. 6. Tyre (7:24) was a Gentile Phoenician port on the Mediterranean, in modern Lebanon. 7. Mark calls the woman a Greek of Syrophoenician origin (7:26). Matthew calls her a Canaanite (Matthew 15:22), linking her to Israel's ancient neighbors. 8. The word Jesus uses for "dogs" (7:27) is a diminutive, pointing to small household dogs, and the woman picks up that image in her reply. 9. The Decapolis (7:31) was a league of about ten Greek-influenced cities, mostly east of the Jordan River. 10. "Ephphatha" (7:34) is Aramaic for "Be opened." The healing of this deaf man is recorded only in Mark. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the Lord who makes people clean from the inside out. He declared all foods clean (7:19) and opened deaf ears and loosed tongues, fulfilling Isaiah 35:5-6. He has done everything well (7:37). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jesus said the Pharisees honored God with their lips while their hearts were far from Him (7:6). Where might habit or tradition be replacing real heart devotion in your life? 2. Jesus taught that what defiles a person comes from within (7:20-23). Why is it easier to focus on outward rules than on the heart? 3. The Syrophoenician woman kept asking with humble persistence (7:28). What can we learn from her faith? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verses 6-7: Jesus quotes Isaiah about people who honor God with their lips while their hearts are far from Him. - 📖 verses 20-23: What comes out of the heart is what defiles a person. - 📖 verse 37: The amazed crowd says Jesus has done everything well. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[Isaiah 29#Verse 13.|Isaiah 29:13]] - Honoring God with lips while hearts are far away. - 🔗 [[Colossians 02#Verse 08.|Colossians 2:8]] - Beware of human tradition. - 🔗 [[Exodus 20#Verse 12.|Exodus 20:12]] - Honor your father and mother. - 🔗 [[Acts 10#Verse 09.|Acts 10:9-15]] - What God has made clean. - 🔗 [[Jeremiah 17#Verse 09.|Jeremiah 17:9]] - The heart is deceitful above all things. - 🔗 [[Matthew 15#Verse 21.|Matthew 15:21-28]] - The faith of the Canaanite woman. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 35#Verse 05.|Isaiah 35:5-6]] - The deaf will hear and the mute will shout for joy. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Mark 07- SOAP|All Things Well]] ## 📂 Internal Notes