Matthew 15:11

Jesus teaches that defilement comes not from what enters the mouth but from what comes out of it. It matters because it locates true impurity in the heart and its words, not in foods or rituals.

Cross-references · 23

• Mark 7:15Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”
• Matt 15:18–20But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man.
• Jas 3:5–8In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.
• 1 Tim 4:4–5For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
• Matt 12:34–37You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
• Rom 14:17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
• Acts 10:14–15“No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
• Ps 12:2They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
• Luke 11:38–41But the Pharisee was surprised to see that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
• Isa 59:13–15rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
• Rom 3:13–14“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
• Ps 52:2–4Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
• Ps 10:7His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.
• Ps 58:3–4The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.
• Acts 11:8–9‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
• Jer 9:3–6“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
• Rom 14:20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.
• Heb 13:9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.
• Rom 14:14I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
• 2 Pet 2:18With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
• Titus 1:15To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
• Isa 37:23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
• Isa 59:3–5For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice.

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