There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

MARK 7:15KJV
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Mark 7:15 (KJV)

What does Mark 7:15 mean?

In Mark 7:15, Jesus says that what a person takes in from outside does not make that person unclean before God. Instead, Jesus points to what comes out of a person as the source of that uncleanness.

Jesus addresses the crowd after a dispute about eating with unwashed hands. His contrast between “entering into” and “come out of” shifts attention from food and washing to what a person expresses and does.

The Greek behind Mark 7:15

  • “defile” — κοινόω (koinoō): The word carries the sense of making something unclean or unfit for sacred use. Here it concerns a person’s standing as clean or unclean, not simply physical dirt.
  • “without” — ἔξωθεν (exōthen): The word means “from outside.” It marks the starting point of what enters a person, in contrast to what comes out from within.

Why Mark 7:15 matters

  • Jesus is addressing more than table manners. The dispute began when some people saw his disciples eating with hands that had not been washed in the customary way (Mark 7:2–5).
  • The later explanation makes clear what “come out of him” includes. Jesus names things such as deceit, theft, and murder as coming from within a person (Mark 7:21–23).

Where else these words appear

“without” Greek G1855 · used in 11 verses

  • Matthew 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
  • Mark 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
  • 2 Corinthians 7:5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

“defile” Greek G2840 · used in 12 verses

  • Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
  • Mark 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
  • Acts 11:9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

“entering” Greek G1531 · used in 17 verses

  • Matthew 15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
  • Mark 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
  • Luke 19:30 Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.

“come” Greek G1607 · used in 34 verses

  • Matthew 3:5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
  • Mark 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
  • Acts 25:4 But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither.