Matthew 15:1-20 & Mark 7:1-23 Anti-Torah Interpretation Refuted Monday, October, 19, 2015 By True Science The False Lawless Interpretation of Matthew 15:1-20 & Mark 7:1-23 These are texts the proponents of lawlessness like to use to say that Jesus abolished the God s Law of Cleanness, like his clean diet requirements. I emphasized the parts that they nitpick at to try to prove their lies: 1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, who were from Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3 But He answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say that whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, by whatsoever thou might have profited by me, it is a gift, 6 and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 1 Then came together unto Him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes, who came from Jerusalem. 2 And when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled (that is to say, unwashed) hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat, unless they wash their hands oft, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 And when they come from the market, they eat not unless they wash; and there are many other customs which they have received and hold to, as the washing of cups, pots, brazen vessels and of tables. 5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? 6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 7 Therefore, in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 For laying
10 And He called the multitude and said unto them, Hear and understand: 11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. 12 Then came His disciples and said unto Him, Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? 13 But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. 15 Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Explain to us this parable. 16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? 17 Do ye not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the drain? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 these are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. (Matthew 15:1-20 KJ21) aside the commandment of God, ye hold to the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups, and many other like things ye do. 9 And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 10 For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother, and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 11 But ye say that if a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban (that is to say, a gift of whatsoever thou mightest have profited from me), he shall be freed; 12 and ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother, 13 thus making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered. And many like things do ye. 14 And when He had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing from outside a man that, entering into him, can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. 16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 17 And when He had entered into the house away from the people, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. 18 And He said unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from outside entereth into a man, it cannot defile him, 19 because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly and goeth out into the drain, thereby purging all meats? 20 And He said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the
man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 all these evil things come from within and defile the man. (Mark 7:1-23 KJ21) Basically their lawless interpretation is this based on the isolation of the bolded parts above, blatantly ignoring the context: Whatever goes into a humans cannot defile them, only what comes from out of them can because it comes from their heart, sin comes from out of the heart of humans producing sinful deeds that they do, and therefore the Laws of Cleanness in the Law, like the Dietary Restrictions, are no longer necessary according to Jesus. They also like to use the phrase purging all meats from Mark 7:19 to mean that Jesus here was declaring all types of animal flesh as clean and fit for food. They really like the highly interpretive paraphrased mistranslations out there, like that of the NIV, which inaccurately render it: For it doesn t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body. (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.). Mistranslation of Mark 7:19 Let s first expose the mistranslation of Mark 7:19. They interpret this as the writer s note clarifying that Jesus was here declaring all foods clean, even though it is not necessary to do so. To me it is clear that purging all meats is part of Jesus speech continuing from what is written before. The NIV types of translations here are in no way accurate and literal. The KJV is, and it does not necessarily give this impression. I have never got this impression from reading it in a literal translation. Also something to note is this footnote on the verse from the NKJV: NU-Text ends quotation with eliminated, setting off the final clause as Mark s comment that Jesus has declared all foods clean. So this part of the verse is somewhat in question. But assuming it is legitimate, I still do not see how it is saying that everything one puts into their body will not defile them, but everything is clean, like how the proponents of lawlessness do. The translators and interpreters of the traditional lawless interpretation are not taking the plain context into consideration. This will be clearly demonstrated in this paper.
Poor Translation of the Word Defile The most literal translation of the Greek words translated as defile and defiled are to make common (koinoō G2840 ) and common (koinos G2839 ). Literally by themselves they do not have any necessity of meaning anything that is polluted, unclean, defiled, unholy, profane, and so on. It is the context that determines whether or not that is the case. To prove this is the case, I will show some usages in verses from the New Testament where it is clearly used in such a way that does not have anything to do with pollution, uncleanness, defilement, unholiness, profaneness, and so on. And all that believed were together, and had all things common [koinos G2839 ]; [...] And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common [koinos G2839 ]. (Act 2:44; 4:32 KJV) If koinos here means polluted, unclean, defiled, or unholy, profane, and so on, then the early Church had all things in pollution, uncleanness, defilement, or unholiness, profaneness and so on. To Titus, mine own son after the common [koinos G2839 ] faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. (Titus 1:4 KJV) If koinos here means polluted, unclean, defiled, or unholy, profane, and so on, then the Faith is polluted, unclean, defiled, or unholy, profane, and so on. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common [koinos G2839 ] salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 1:3 KJV)
If koinos here means polluted, unclean, defiled, or unholy, profane, and so on, then the Faith is polluted, unclean, defiled, or unholy, profane, and so on. I hope this gets my point across to the reader(s). Here is something from the New Testament showing that there is a distinction between uncleanness and commonness: But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common [koinos G2839 ] or unclean [akathartos G169 ]. [...] And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common [koinos G2839 ] or unclean [akathartos G169 ]. (Acts 10:14, 28 KJV) Common [koinos G2839 ] or unclean [akathartos G169 ], hence a distinction between uncleanness and commonness. The reason I m making a big deal about this here because it I am convinced correctly understanding the Greek here in the matter at hand is crucial to correctly understanding text 100%. Common has many different nuances. It can refer to just something common, or the commonness can have meaning of something that is unclean, sinful, immoral, unholy, profane, unsacred, not special, nothing out of ordinary, and so on depending on the context what is being talked about and how it is being talked about. So I want to make the reader(s) aware of this before I proceed with my refutation and correction of the false doctrine using the texts in question at hand. Refutation & Correct Understanding The same texts again but with key parts retranslated by me with emphasis on the parts crucial to understanding them correctly according to context:
1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, who were from Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3 But He answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say that whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, by whatsoever thou might have profited by me, it is a gift, 6 and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 10 And He called the multitude and said unto them, Hear and understand: 11 Not that which goeth into the mouth maketh a man [morally] common, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this maketh a man [morally] common. 12 Then came His disciples and said unto Him, Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? 13 But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. 15 Then 1 Then came together unto Him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes, who came from Jerusalem. 2 And when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with common (that is to say, unwashed) hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat, unless they wash their hands oft, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 And when they come from the market, they eat not unless they wash; and there are many other customs which they have received and hold to, as the washing of cups, pots, brazen vessels and of tables. 5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? 6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 7 Therefore, in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold to the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups, and many other like things ye do. 9 And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 10 For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother, and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 11 But ye say that if a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban (that is to say, a gift of whatsoever thou mightest have profited from me), he shall be freed; 12 and ye suffer him no more to do aught for his
answered Peter and said unto Him, Explain to us this parable. 16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? 17 Do ye not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the drain? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they maketh the man [morally] common. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 these are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands maketh not [morally] common a man. (Matthew 15:1-20 KJ21 revised by me) father or his mother, 13 thus making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered. And many like things do ye. 14 And when He had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing from outside a man that, entering into him, can make him [morally] common; but the things which come out of him, those are they that make the man [morally] common. 16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 17 And when He had entered into the house away from the people, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. 18 And He said unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from outside entereth into a man, it cannot make him [morally] common, 19 because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly and goeth out into the drain, thereby purging all meats? 20 And He said, That which cometh out of the man, that maketh the man [morally] common. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 all these evil things come from within and make the man [morally] common. (Mark 7:1-23 KJ21 revised by me) Traditions of Men or Commandments of God
Now it is so blatantly obvious from the context of these passages that Jesus is reproving and rebuking people who hold traditions of men above God s written Law given to Moses. It has nothing to do with Jesus changing the Law and making all animal flesh clean. The word meat in old English means food, and that is exactly what the underlying Greek word means too, food. So it doesn t say he made all animal flesh fit for food now. And he was talking to a Jewish audience who didn t see unclean animals as food. And he wasn t declaring the foods of sinful Gentiles now cleansed and fit for food either. Jesus clearly was saying that any small toxins that are on your hands and get on your food when handling it and eating it when missing a hand washing will not make you unclean. That little bit of dust or germs cannot defile you. It will be cleansed from your system by going through the natural purgation/purifying of the digestive system (Matthew 15:17; Mark 7:19). Therefore it does not make one common in the sense of living in uncleanness like is with the common state of man, the majority, and therefore it does not make one common in the sense of morally profane, a sinner, like it is with common man, the majority of people who are living in sin, because one has not broken God s commandment by living in uncleanness. It is not what goes into a man that makes him morally common, a sinner, like most are. It is what comes from within, from the heart. What are these things that make one sinfully common that come from the heart? SIN/DISOBEDIENCE, as he mentioned by giving examples (Matthew 15:19-20; Mark 7:21-23). God didn't give a commandment to have a ritual washing of the hands according to the TRADITIONS of the elders like the Pharisees did. He gave all the cleanliness laws we need. Both laws pertaining to spirit and flesh, which we both need to keep unpolluted (2Corinthians 7:1). Not just one or the other. If the hands would have been defiled by something that truly made one unclean, like a woman s period blood, so as to defile then he would agreed with washing his hands in that instance. Jesus was concerned about the commandments of God which the Pharisees broke. The Pharisees were concerned about their religious traditions that opposed the commands of God. Jesus was rebuking and reproving in this very passage for breaking the Law in favor of TRADITION. That is the context. They brought tradition, but he pointed back to the Word of God every time. So it makes no sense that he would then turn around and go against the commandments after just like them. He would be a hypocrite. It s stupid.
And Galatians 4:4 says Jesus was born of a woman, made under the Law. Jesus was under the Law of Moses in time up to the Cross wasn t he? So if that is the case, and under the Law means subject to it in every way like they would say, how could he teach against the Law which would be breaking it, if he was to be the sinless sacrifice according to the Law in fulfilling every jot and tittle? It makes no sense and is totally contradictory. Even if they are right and all the laws were abolished at the Cross, Jesus couldn t have taught the people contrary to the Torah of Moses until after the Law was done away with and abolished after he fulfilled it! So this cannot possibly be a teaching contrary to Moses Law or else he actually broke it and failed to fulfill it! See how they contradict all over the place and actually shoot themselves in the foot by trying to use the passage the way they do! IT CANNOT MEAN WHAT THEY SAY OR ELSE THERE IS A HUGE PROBLEM FOR BOTH OF US. And that s the truth, STRAIGHTWAY. So what comes out of the heart, SIN/DISOBEDIENCE is what truly makes one morally common, morally defiled, a sinner. Not merely what we put inside. Well guess what? Living in biblical uncleanness is against God s Word, so it is SIN/DISOBEDIENCE, and therefore it is defilement that comes out from within the SINFU/DISOBEIENT heart! This SIN/DISOBEDIENCE coming out of people spiritually defiles them because it separates them from God and causes them to put things inside of them that also physically defiles them. If this SIN/DISOBEDIENCE wasn t coming out of them then they would not in any way be defiling themselves. And seriously NOTHING going inside a man can defile him? Well what if a man sucks another man s penis? Sorry to be graphic but I m making point here. What about if a man drinks semen? What a man eats another man s shit? What if man allows another man to put his penis inside him, or even worse an animal s penis? Does that not defile him? Again, pardon my being disgustingly graphic here, but it seems the point needs to be made. Does it not defile one if they drink blood which most Christians would agree is still a sin in the New Covenant as per Acts 15? And does not the New Testament teach against drunkenness and gluttony and thus does that not defile a man? Does it not defile a man if he eats something so poisonous it will instantly kill him on the spot? Is that not suicide, a horrible sin? Is
not eating something less unhealthy and thus kills than that but still unhealthy and killing oneself slower just slower suicide then? No physical matter in and of itself can make a man morally profane. It is the heart/intend behind what a person puts inside themselves combined with what they are doing, whether it is morally right or morally wrong, that morally defiles them. Even the physical acts of the physical matter that go into committing adultery with another man s wife are not sinful and unclean of themselves. Some flesh going into some other flesh and creating feelings of pleasure is not sinful by itself. What is sinful is the fact of such things like that the one flesh belongs to another man and the other flesh using that flesh in way that is not allowed because of the mere desires of his heart and flesh which are not according to the will of God and righteousness is what is sinful, and therefore makes that man morally common/profane. Even if one was to accidentally eat something that was unclean according to that law because it fell in his soup unawares, this would not morally defile this man since his heart was pure of ill intent. This is the gist of what the Lord is talking about. It is very stupid to believe what most people do about these passages, that they teach nothing entering a person can make them defile physically and/or spiritually. This is a stupid satanic lie and the Enemy has the majority buying it hook, line, and sinker. Jesus endorsed the Mosaic Law when he gave the example of how the Pharisees created a way out for a man to dishonor his father and mother without incurring punishment, but that they should rather stone those who dishonor their parents rather than encourage the dishonoring of parents for personal gain. That s right! Jesus, who many professing sinning Christians see as so nice harmless, even endorsed the death penalty for those who broke the Law of Moses! And you are going to tell me he right away in the same breath also preached against the Mosaic Law which also has a death penalty for those who do that? What a bunch of hardcore contradictory falsehood! And when Jesus said, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear, and the other such statements here about hearing, he was actually using a scriptural Hebraic
idiomatic expression hinting to people who understand what he was saying that he was pointing back to the words of the Law. As it is written: 1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it: 2 That you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: 7 And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9 KJ2000) It is clear out of the four Gospels that Matthew s is the most Hebraic and pro- Torah focused Gospel. I clearly see him writing it to clear up certain Gentile misunderstandings they were getting about the Gospel which Jews clearly saw and took issue with. Thus Matthew wrote this Gospel in order to show the Jews that Jesus didn t teach this nonsense and to correct Gentile errors they were getting about the Gospel because they were coming at the Word with their inherited cultural presuppositions. This is why Mark, which a lot of scholars I think say was written before Matthew, doesn t have it, but Matthew adds to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man to clarify this is about the traditions of men like those of the Pharisees not God s Torah about cleanness. It is obvious to me this is what is going on here. Again, it is so blatantly obvious that Jesus is responding to the Pharisees endorsing of their man-made traditions as equal and over the Torah, God s Word,
speaking against and correcting that error, and that the context has nothing to do with their being a flaw in the Law so that he now needs to declare a change in the Law. And it is also so blatantly obvious if this is what happened that Jesus wouldn t have perfectly fulfilled the Law as a man under the Law, and therefore all who have sinned and yet put their trust in him as the Atonement do so in vain, and hope for eternal life in vain, because they are yet dead in their trespasses because Jesus blew it. And this is problem for both sides of the issue, and a major one, and the only solution to it is to stop taking this text out of context to support lawlessness that is needed for the lawless so bad to justify their lawlessness. This document also refutes the nonsense that the Pharisees were super strict hardcore keepers of the Law. They were Law-breakers, like the people I am refuting in this teaching, plain and simple. Yehoshua the Hebrew Israelite Anointed One and only begotten Son of God the Father taught against following traditions of men that make God s Law of none effect, like most professing Christians do, and he endorsed the Law of God, like the Laws regulating diet and other matters of cleanness, and he also kept them perfectly and wants us to follow his example he left for us. So stop changing the truth of God into lie. Stop making Christ into anti-christ, the Lawless One (2Thessalonians 2), who fights against the Saints of the Most High (Israel), and changes the Appointed Times and Laws of this Most High God (Daniel 7:25), if you know what is good for you.