Mark 7:20

20 And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles.

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 He said to them, "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,

19 since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

20 And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles.

21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,

22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.