“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Mark 7:15
We live in a filthy world and some of us have seen and experienced terrible things. We wonder what it will do to our own souls.
These words of Jesus are full of hope. The things you see or experience may cause great trauma or great struggles, but they do not make you unclean. It helps to know this in a world where we are surrounded by sensual and materialistic advertising. Thank God that “nothing outside a man can make him unclean.” This is good news.
But here’s the bad news: “The things that come out of a person are what defile him.” Jesus repeats this in verse 20, and then He says, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts…” (7:21).
Then you have this depressing catalogue of vices: theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. “All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (7:21-23).
Jesus is speaking about the general condition of the human heart. He is not saying that these evils are inside bad people. He is saying that they are inside all people. These things are in you. Some of them may never come out. But the seeds are all there.
Bishop J.C. Ryle says, “It seems forgotten that everyone carries a fountain of wickedness within. We need no bad company to teach us, and no devil to tempt us… We have within us the beginning of every sin under heaven.”
The real problem is not in the world around us. The real problem is inside us, in our hearts. This is the teaching of Jesus.
Do you believe that about yourself? Do you believe that about your children?
