Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 7:18
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;
Christ checks his disciples for understanding things no better. Ignorance is more excusable in those who are strangers to God and Christ than in those that have relation to him. In our Saviours enumeration of those things which come out of the heart, several things are reckoned up which are the overt actions of the tongue, eye, hands; but our Saviour saith all these flow from the heart, for the actions of the outward man are but the imperate actions of the will, and things past the imaginations and understanding, before they come at the will, to be chosen or rejected. Here are but some sins reckoned instead of many, for it is true of all our evil actions, that they are first hatched in the heart, and are first entertained in our thoughts, in our understandings, then chosen by our wills, and then the bodily members are commanded by the soul to the execution of them. Mark reckoneth more than Matthew, but in both the enumerations are imperfect, and some sins are named instead of all. Nothing but sin defileth the man. Sin hath its first rise in the heart, and floweth from thence.
See Poole on “Mat 15:18“, and following verses to Mat 15:20.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he saith unto them,…. With some warmth of spirit and resentment, at their stupidity:
are ye so without understanding also? As well as others, and to such a degree; and “yet”, as Matthew expresses it, Mt 15:16, so wretchedly stupid, and so long, and as much, as others:
do ye not perceive? common sense will tell you,
that whatsoever thing from, without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; [See comments on Mt 15:16].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Are ye so without understanding also? (H ;). See on Mt 15:16. You also as well as the multitude. It was a discouraging moment for the great Teacher if his own chosen pupils (disciples) were still under the spell of the Pharisaic theological outlook. It was a riddle to them. “They had been trained in Judaism, in which the distinction between clean and unclean is ingrained, and could not understand a statement abrogating this” (Gould). They had noticed that the Pharisees stumbled at the parable of Jesus (Mt 15:12). They were stumbling themselves and did not know how to answer the Pharisees. Jesus charges the disciples with intellectual dulness and spiritual stupidity.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
So. So unintelligent as not to understand what I uttered to the crowd.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And He saith unto them,” (kai legei autois) “And He responded to them,” to the disciples with whom He discussed many things in privacy.
2) “Are ye so without understanding also?” (houtos kai humeis asunetoi este) “Are you all also undiscerning?” Are you so stupid as to not know what the truth in the parable meant?
3) “Do ye not perceive,” (ou noeite) “Do you all not understand or realize,” making clear the need or repeated statement of often simple truths that teachers present, as in
4) “That whatsoever thing from without,” (hoti pan to eksothen) -That everything from without one,” the food and possible contracted physical uncleanness by eating with unwashed hands.
5) “Entereth into the man,” (eisporeuomenon eis ton anthropon) “Upon entering into a man,” while he eats or drinks the necessities of life.
6) “It cannot defile him (oudunataiauton koinosai)”It is not able to defile him;” in the moral, ethical, or spiritual sense, such as was emphasized by those who taught that salvation was acquired and heaven was attained by keeping the ceremonies and rituals of the law of Moses, plus the traditions of the elders, which things were vain, Mar 7:3; Mar 7:5-9; Rom 10:1-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
‘And he says to them, “Are you also so without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatever from without goes into a man cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine, purifying all the food.” ’
It is clear from this that Jesus was beginning to expect more of His disciples and was a little disappointed at their slowness. The point was that only what affected the heart of a man, the essential man, could really defile him spiritually. But food merely goes into the stomach, and the resulting waste then goes into the latrine (toilet, cesspit). So if we see the final words as spoken by Jesus He is saying that it is clear from everyday experience that in this way the food has been purified and any defilement removed, for it comes out at the other end. That makes it clear that that it is not what he eats or how he eats that makes him sinful, it is what he allows to come from within his heart.
Some, however, see ‘purifying all the food’ as a comment added by Mark signifying that the assumption must therefore be that all meats are clean. RV translates it as, ‘this He said making all meats clean’, but ‘this He said’ is not in the text, it is read in to make the sense and may be wrong. The principle is, however, correct. Essentially in what He was saying Jesus was saying that food cannot defile a man.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
18 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;
Ver. 18. Are ye so without understanding also? ] What, no wiser at 17 years of age than ye were at seven? as rude and unskilful in the sixth year of your apprenticeship, as at the first onset? God requireth and expecteth a proportion of knowledge according to the means we have had, the time we have enjoyed them, the capacities and natural abilities that he had given us, and according to the places and stations wherein he hath set us to do him service. If the leaders of God’s people cause them to err, how should those that are led by them do otherwise than be destroyed? Hence this sharp reprehension.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mar 7:18 . Here, as in Mar 6:52 , Mk. takes pains to make prominent the stupidity and consequent need of instruction of the Twelve. ., etc.: are ye, too, so unintelligent as not to understand what I have said: that that which goeth into the man from without cannot defile?
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
so . . . also = even so.
whatsoever thing from without = all [counted unclean] from without.
cannot = is not (App-105) able to.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mar 7:18. , from without) This is added for the sake of explanation.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mar 4:13, Isa 28:9, Isa 28:10, Jer 5:4, Jer 5:5, Mat 15:16, Mat 15:17, Mat 16:11, Luk 24:25, Joh 3:10, 1Co 3:2, Heb 5:11
Reciprocal: Lev 11:8 – they are unclean Mat 13:51 – Have Mat 16:9 – ye not Mar 6:52 – they Mar 7:15 – nothing Mar 7:23 – defile Mar 9:32 – were Mar 16:14 – and upbraided Luk 8:9 – What Col 2:22 – to
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
Jesus repeated the statement about the outward filth entering a man.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Verse 18
Cannot defile him; spiritually.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The disciples had heard and seen enough to have been able to understand Jesus’ meaning. Their "hardness of heart" is a prominent theme in Mar 6:31 to Mar 8:26 (cf. Mar 6:52; Mar 8:14-21).
Mark interpreted the significance of Jesus’ teaching for his Gentile readers. Mark meant that Christians need not observe the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law (cf. Rom 14:14; Gal 2:11-17; Col 2:20-22). This was a freedom that Jewish Christians struggled with for many years during the infancy of the church (cf. Acts 10; Acts 11; Acts 15). Later revelation clarified that Jesus terminated the entire Mosaic Law as a code (Rom 10:4; et al.).
"This statement ["Thus He declared all foods clean"] clearly has its eye on a situation such as developed in the Pauline mission churches in which questions of clean and unclean foods (cf. Act 10:9-16; Act 11:5-10 and see Rom 14:13 ff.) and idol-meats became live issues (as we know from 1Co 8:10). This chapter in Mark 7 is perhaps the most obvious declaration of Mark’s purpose as a Christian living in the Graeco-Roman world who wishes to publicize the charter of Gentile freedom by recording in the plainest terms Jesus’ detachment from Jewish ceremonial and to spell out in clear tones the application of this to his readers." [Note: Martin, p. 220.]
If Peter did influence Mark’s writing, it is interesting that the disciple who struggled with unwillingness to abandon the dietary laws should have spoken out so strongly for their termination. Mark apparently got the material for his Gospel mainly from Peter’s sermons, as mentioned earlier. Thus it appears that Peter finally learned this lesson.
"These ceremonial regulations in the law had a function as symbolically teaching the reality and importance of moral purity. They demanded an external separation which pointed to the need for an inner heart condition of separation unto God. But these external regulations in themselves did not convey the purity of heart to which they pointed. They were the shadow and not the substance (Heb 10:1). When they found their fulfillment in Christ, these ceremonial foreshadowings became obsolete." [Note: Hiebert, p. 181.]