Matthew 15:18

"Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly and then out of the body?"

Key Reflection

The verse from Matthew 15:18 emphasizes that what enters a person's body through food does not significantly impact their moral character, as it merely passes through and is expelled. This challenges the prevailing Jewish practice of dietary laws, which believed certain foods could defile one's soul. By highlighting that only what comes from within—a person’s heart and thoughts—contaminates them, Jesus shifts the focus to internal morality over external rituals.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verses 18-20. Christ proceeds to state what does defile the man, or render him a sinner: (1.) Evil thoughts. These are the first things. These are the fountains of all others. Thought precedes action. Thought, or purpose, or motive, gives its character to conduct. All evil thoughts are here intended. Though we labour to suppress them, yet they defile us. They leave pollution behind them. (2.) Murders. Taking the life of others with malice. The malice has its seat in the heart, and the murder therefore proceeds from the heart, 1 Jo 3:15. (3.) Adulteries, fornications. See Mt 5:28. (4.) Thefts. Theft is the taking and carrying away the goods of others without their knowledge or consent.

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