Does Mark 7:19 Teach That All Foods Are Clean to Eat?

Mark 7:19 (NIV)
“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.)

This verse puzzled me during my high school years, and a certain Sabbath School lesson a year ago brought it back to mind. Let me share some insights that might help clarify what Jesus was actually teaching.

Understanding the Context

To grasp Jesus’ meaning, we must examine the broader passage:

Mark 7:14-16 (NIV)
“Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.'”

Critically, we need to identify what food was at the center of this controversy:

Mark 7:2 (NKJV)
“Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.”

Notice what the Scribes and Pharisees were actually concerned about: unwashed hands, not unclean meats. No one was arguing that pork or other non-kosher foods had suddenly become acceptable. The disciples were eating bread—a clean food—with ceremonially unwashed hands. The Pharisees claimed this constituted defilement.

Jesus seized this moment as a teaching opportunity:

Mark 7:18-19 (NKJV)
“So He said to them, ‘Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?'”

The Spiritual vs. Physical Distinction

The key phrase is “because it does not enter his heart.” Jesus was addressing spiritual defilement, not physical health concerns. His point was not to overturn Levitical dietary laws but to redirect His listeners’ focus from external rituals to internal righteousness.

Christ’s message to the Pharisees was essentially: “You obsess over ceremonial purity while neglecting the purity of your souls.”

Conclusion

Mark 7:19, when read in context, teaches that food cannot defile a person spiritually—regardless of whether it was eaten with ceremonially washed or unwashed hands. Since Jesus’ entire audience was Jewish and well-versed in Levitical dietary restrictions, He had no need to address the physical health implications of clean versus unclean meats. Instead, He used this physical controversy to illuminate a profound spiritual truth.

Henry Turlington captures this well:

“The Greek text says that food eaten does not have to do with the heart (i.e., the mind and thought) of a man; it merely passes through his stomach and out into the latrine. Therefore, Mark concludes, we have Jesus’ authority for saying that the food we eat or reject neither commends us nor disqualifies us before God.”¹

1. Henry E. Turlington, “Mark,” in Matthew–Mark, ed. Clifton J. Allen, Broadman Bible Commentary (Broadman Press, 1969), 325. ↩︎