Mark 7:20

20 And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you.

Mark 7:20 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 7:20

And he said
Continued to say in his discourse; though this is left but in the Syriac version;

that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man;
meaning, not his excrements, which were unclean by the law, ( Deuteronomy 23:13 ) but what comes out of his heart, by his mouth; or is expressed in action, as appears by what follows; (See Gill on Matthew 15:18).

Mark 7:20 In-Context

18 “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?

19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

20 And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you.

21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.