Holiness Beyond the Rules

In Mark 7, Jesus confronts the Pharisees and scribes over the question of ritual handwashing. The religious leaders had elevated "the tradition of the elders" above God's Word, binding people with man-made rules. Jesus responds by quoting Isaiah 29:13, condemning their hypocrisy: they honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him.

This sets the stage for one of Jesus' most penetrating teachings on holiness. He declares,

there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.

- Mark 7:15

With this, He shifts the focus of purity away from ceremonial acts and toward the condition of the heart.

Some readers struggle with Mark's editorial note: "Thus He declared all foods clean" (Mark 7:19). Did Jesus, in that moment, abolish the dietary laws of Moses? The context suggests otherwise. At the time, the Old Covenant was still in force. Faithful Jews who followed Jesus, including His apostles, continued observing the food laws (Acts 10:14). What Jesus did was expose the Pharisees' misuse of those laws as a means of self-righteousness, showing that moral corruption–not food–truly defiles.

Mark, writing years later for a largely Gentile audience, draws out the fuller implication: Jesus' words anticipated the end of dietary restrictions under the New Covenant. That reality became clear after His death and resurrection, when God revealed to Peter that nothing created by Him is unclean (Acts 10:15) and the Jerusalem Council confirmed that Gentiles were not bound by the Law of Moses (Acts 15).

For Jesus' original hearers, His teaching cut through the layers of tradition to remind them that holiness is measured not by external rituals, but by the inner life. For us today, it confirms the freedom we have in Christ: what we eat or drink does not commend us to God, but what flows from the heart reveals our true standing before Him.