He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” [Mark 7: 20-23]
In this passage, Jesus is teaching that our hearts are the real source of defilement. What does the Bible mean when it speaks of the heart? It is clearly not referring to the organ which pumps blood around our body. It refers to the real person - our mind, our emotions, our will and our desires. The Bible speaks much about the heart and what Jesus is teaching is very similar to the teaching of the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” [Jeremiah 17:9-10 NIV]
So this verse from the Old Testament reinforces the message which Jesus was delivering that day. Jeremiah is bluntly stating that our hearts are defiled and we have a sinful condition which cannot be cured. Only God can cleanse this defilement. Jeremiah also states that God knows the condition of each human heart. His eyes can penetrate beneath the veneer of respectability and false religion. He can see what we are really like and is not impressed by our hypocrisy.
The Bible teaches that the human race is sinful in God's sight and that is the real problem with our world. This is not popular teaching and it is out of step with current thinking.
I recently purchased a book in Waterstone's and some of its content goes against the truths of the Bible. Here is a summary of just some of the errors Richard Rohr is propagating in his desire to make Christianity more appealing to the postmodern world. According to Rohr, there is no such thing as 'original sin' - this was first put forth by Augustine in the fifth century and he claims that it is never mentioned in the Bible. He talks about Jesus becoming 'a mere Johnny-come-lately "answer" to the problem of sin, a problem that we had largely created ourselves.' [From Richard Rohr; The Universal Christ]
This is one of many passages of the Bible which contradict Rohr's analysis. [Read Psalm 51:3] In Mark 7 : 20-23, Jesus is explaining that the real problem is within. And the problem is sin - sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. Jesus also emphasises that the sin originates in thoughts first of all before our actions. Jesus taught that we can sin in our hearts without committing the actual deed itself. The two striking examples are murder and adultery. If a man looks lustfully at a woman, he has already committed adultery in his heart. If someone hates someone intensely, they have already committed murder in their heart.
[Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash]
This is a very challenging Bible truth. I end today's blog with the full quotation from Jesus teaching.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. [Matthew 5:21-22 NIV]
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. [Matthew 5:27-28 NIV]
[See also Day Share entitled, Amazed at His Teaching 26/01/2022]
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