“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him,
- KJV And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
- NKJV So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him,
- NASB And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him,
- NLT “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?
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 mildly rebuked the disciples' dullness and explained that external food cannot defile. He presses them toward spiritual understanding.
Overview
Surprised at their lack of perception, Jesus reiterated that what enters from outside does not corrupt a person morally. The disciples, like the Pharisees, were slow to grasp the inward nature of true defilement. Jesus' patient teaching aims to free them from a merely external view of holiness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Matt 15:16–17“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.
- Heb 5:11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing.
- Luke 24:25Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
- Matt 16:11How do you not understand that I was not telling you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
- Isa 28:9–10Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?
- Jer 5:4–5Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.
- Mark 4:13Then Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?
- 1 Cor 3:2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready,
- John 3:10“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:18 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
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