There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.
Parallel translations
- WEB There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.
- KJV There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
- BSB Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”
- NASB there is nothing outside the person which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which come out of the person are what defile the person.”
- NLT It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus taught that nothing external defiles a person; defilement comes from within. It relocates true impurity from ritual to the heart.
Overview
Against the Pharisees' focus on outward ceremonial purity, Jesus declared that real defilement proceeds from inside a person. This teaching exposed the inadequacy of external religion to address the human problem. It points to the deeper need for inward cleansing that only the gospel can supply through a new heart.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Prov 4:23Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
- Lev 11:42–47Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, even all creeping things that creep on the earth, them you shall not eat; for they are an abomination.
- Titus 1:15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
- Matt 12:34You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
- Heb 13:9Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
- Mark 7:18–23He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him,
- Rom 14:17for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Heb 9:10being only (with meats and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
- 1 Cor 10:25Whatever is sold in the butcher shop, eat, asking no question for the sake of conscience,
- Matt 15:16So Jesus said, “Do you also still not understand?
- Acts 10:28He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.
- 1 Tim 4:3–5forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
- Acts 11:8–10But I said, ‘Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’
- Acts 15:20–21but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
- Acts 10:14–16But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 7:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.