Mar 7 outline:
Mar 7:1-23, Dispute with the Pharisees over clean and unclean hands
Mar 7:24-30, The great faith of a Canaanite woman
Mar 7:31-37, Jesus healed a deaf mute at the sea of Galilee
Mar 7:1-23 chiastic structure:
1a) Mar 7:1, The Pharisees + scribes came to Him, having come from Jerusalem;
1b) Mar 7:2-5, They hold a tradition of the elders (and many others) to not eat with unwashed hands;
1a) Mar 7:2, They saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled (unwashed) hands and found fault;
1b) Mar 7:3a, For the Pharisees + all Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way;
central axis) Mar 7:3b, Holding the tradition of the elders;
2b) Mar 7:4, They do not eat unless they wash/ Many other things they hold, like washing cups etc.;
2a) Mar 7:5, Pharisees + scribes: “Why do Your disciples not do the tradition, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
central axis) Mar 7:6-7, He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men;’”
2b) Mar 7:8-13, You lay aside the commandment of God to keep your tradition/ example of father + mother;
1a) Mar 7:8-9, You lay aside the commandment of God but keep your tradition + many such things you do;
1a) Mar 7:8a, For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men;
central axis) Mar 7:8b, Washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do;
2a) Mar 7:9, All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition;
1b) Mar 7:10, Moses said, ‘Honor your father + mother’/ ‘He who curses father + mother, let him be put to death;’
central axis) Mar 7:11, But you say, If a man withholds from father + mother, giving it to God instead;
2b) Mar 7:12, Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother;
2a) Mar 7:13, Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition + many such things you do;
2a) Mar 7:14-23, He called the multitude to Himself and taught them what defiles a man;
1a.1) Mar 7:14, He had called the multitude to Himself: “Hear Me, everyone, and understand;”
1a.2) Mar 7:15a, There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him;
1a.3) Mar 7:15b, But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man;
central axis) Mar 7:16, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear;”
2a.1) Mar 7:17-18a, His disciples asked Him what He meant/ He said to them, “Are you without understanding also;”
2a.2) Mar 7:18b-19, Whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it enters not his heart but his stomach;
2a.3) Mar 7:20-23, What comes out of a man defiles him: from the heart come evil thoughts, adulteries, etc.
This chapter might contain the most misleading translation in the entire gospels, which reinforces the anti- Torah bias in the church, but which Jesus never said, and Mark never wrote.
mark 7, clean and unclean foods
Now in the above, I show that Jesus never said that because something enters the stomach and is eliminated, all foods are now purified. That is the mistranslation issue, which is present in all modern English translations, but not in the original Greek, the Textus Receptus, or the original English translations such as the King James.
I also say that if we have the sense of Mark aright, then Matthew and Luke, who also record this dispute, will harmonize with Mark. Do they? Yes, they do:
matthew 15, clean and unclean food
luke 11, clean and unclean food
And if we have the sense of the gospels right, then the rest of the New Testament will harmonize with it. Does it? Yes, it does:
acts 10, clean and unclean food
romans 14, clean and unclean food
1 corinthians 8, clean and unclean food
Anyone with any additional questions about the New Testament and the dietary law, from any other Scripture in the New Testament which I have not addressed above, may email me with their question, and I will answer, as well as post my answer here (you will, of course, remain anonymous). My email address is alittleperspective [at] gmail.com.
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