Matthew 15:17

17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on?

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 But Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us."
16 And he said, "Are you also still without understanding?
17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on?
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.