Matthew 15:17

17 Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then goes out of the body.

Matthew 15:17 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 15:17

Do not ye understand
You must understand, you cannot be so ignorant,

that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and
is cast out into the draught?
that is, that whatsoever food a man takes in at his mouth, he swallows down, and it is received into his stomach; which, having performed its office, the grosser parts go down into the belly, and passing through the bowels, are evacuated into the vault, or privy, "purging all meats", as Mark says; for that only receives the filth and excrementitious matter; so that what is left in the body is pure, wholesome, and nourishing: nor can any part of what goes into a man defile him, because it only enters into the body, and passes through it; and, as Mark says, "entereth not into the heart", which is the seat of moral impurity; so that no moral pollution can be contracted by eating any sort of food, even though it should not be clean itself, nor be eaten with clean hands.

Matthew 15:17 In-Context

15 Peter said, "Explain the example to us."
16 Jesus said, "Do you still not understand?
17 Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then goes out of the body.
18 But what people say with their mouths comes from the way they think; these are the things that make people unclean.
19 Out of the mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.