What is the meaning of Matthew 15:17? Do you not yet realize? • Jesus voices gentle rebuke to the disciples (Matthew 15:16) who, after witnessing miracles and hearing clear teaching, still struggle to grasp His point. • The question underscores that revelation has already been given; understanding is expected (compare Mark 7:18, John 14:9). • Scripture remains the sure standard for truth (2 Timothy 3:16); when we fail to “realize,” the fault lies in dull hearing, not in God’s clarity (Hebrews 5:12–14). Whatever enters the mouth • The Lord speaks of all foods without distinction—“whatever” (Acts 10:15 affirms, “What God has made clean, you must not call impure”). • Food itself is morally neutral; righteousness is not earned or lost by diet (Romans 14:17, 1 Corinthians 8:8). • Since God created food for our enjoyment and nourishment (Genesis 9:3, 1 Timothy 4:4), external intake cannot stain the heart. Goes into the stomach • The physical process is straightforward: food travels the natural digestive path (1 Corinthians 6:13 notes that the “stomach is for food, and food for the stomach”). • Jesus separates the physical from the spiritual; ceremonial laws once highlighted purity, but the abiding issue is inner holiness (Titus 1:15). • By pointing to ordinary digestion, He reminds us that outward rituals cannot cleanse the conscience (Hebrews 9:9–10). And then is eliminated • Mark’s parallel adds, “Thus all foods are clean” (Mark 7:19), emphasizing finality: what is expelled leaves no spiritual residue. • Defilement, therefore, originates not in the digestive tract but in the heart’s evil thoughts, which the Lord lists immediately afterward (Matthew 15:18–19). • Believers are called to guard the wellspring of life—the heart—knowing that external matters pass away (Proverbs 4:23, Colossians 2:20–23). summary Matthew 15:17 teaches that food travels a purely physical route—mouth, stomach, elimination—and cannot defile a person. Jesus redirects attention from ceremonial externals to the heart, affirming that true purity is spiritual, not dietary. |
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