Hello!<\/p>\n
I’ve been having difficulty connecting the dots with a verse in Mark 7 and thought you might be able to help. In verse 15, Jesus says that there is nothing coming from the outside that can defile a man. Does this include alcohol? Obviously, the Bible condemns drinking in any capacity in other verses, so how do we reconcile the two concepts?<\/p>\n\t
The discussion started when the Pharisees were upset that Jesus’ disciples did not wash their hands ceremonially before eating. “The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?’<\/em>” (Mark 7:5).<\/p>\n Jesus then showed that the Pharisees had elevated their traditions above the Law, nullifying God’s commands. He pointed out that uncleanness wasn’t about outward physical things but the state of the heart.<\/p>\n “After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, ‘Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’ When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, ‘Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?’ (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, ‘That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man’<\/em>” (Mark 7:14-23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This isn’t about whether consuming alcohol is right or wrong. The question is whether consuming something made you impure or unclean. Eating ham, catfish, or shrimp did not sully your spirit. However, sins, such as evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, etc., did make a person’s spirit unclean.<\/p>\n Casually consuming alcohol is wrong because it causes the person to no longer be sober-minded (I Thessalonians 5:5-8). It is the decision to drink that dirties the soul because sin starts from within.<\/p>\n\t Ah, I see. Jesus is discussing whether the food\u00a0itself\u00a0<\/strong>is intrinsically sinful (which it is obviously not). Thanks for all your help!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello! I’ve been having difficulty connecting the dots with a verse in Mark 7 and thought you might be able to help. In verse 15, Jesus says that there is nothing coming from the outside that can defile a man. Does this include alcohol? Obviously, the Bible condemns drinking in any capacity in other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[371,121,202],"class_list":["post-82322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-alcohol","tag-mark","tag-uncleanness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-jew-had-divorced-and-married-another-prior-to-jesus-death-would-he-have-to-put-away-his-new-wife-before-being-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":82322,"position":0},"title":"If a Jew had divorced and married another prior to Jesus’ death, would he have to put away his new wife before being baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for taking my question. If there had been Jewish men on the day of Pentecost who had previously given their original wives a Bill of Divorcement and were now married to other women, would they have to put away the new wives before they were baptized? Thank\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-daydream-about-being-successful\/","url_meta":{"origin":82322,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to daydream about being successful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I often find myself daydreaming about being successful. \u00a0I daydreamed about impressing my teachers with my papers and presentations, daydreamed about winning awards for the things I create, daydream about guys being impressed with my godliness and wanting to date me, etc. Basically, anything I am doing or am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62911,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lacking-compassion\/","url_meta":{"origin":82322,"position":2},"title":"Lacking Compassion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Compassion is the deep awareness of the suffering of another and the desire to relieve the suffering. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus illustrated compassion \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Matthew 14:14 - it was compassion that led Jesus to heal the sick \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Matthew 20:30-34 - the healing of two blind men \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mark 1:40-41 - Jesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3977,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-think-jesus-did-defend-david-in-matthew-124\/","url_meta":{"origin":82322,"position":3},"title":"I think Jesus did defend David in Matthew 12:4","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In reference to Christian Situation Ethics by Dan Gatlin: \"The example of David. Jesus responded by pointing out what David did when he was fleeing from Saul (I Samuel 21). The bread that David requested had been offered in the tabernacle and was only for the priests to eat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89800,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-doctrine\/","url_meta":{"origin":82322,"position":4},"title":"What Is Doctrine?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Riley The word \"doctrine\" means \"teaching\", either of an individual or a group. But from what source? For example, Jesus warned His disciples about the \"doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees\" (Matthew 16:12). Their \"doctrine\" or teaching originated from an uninspired source. The people were astonished at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57680,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-and-the-sabbath-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":82322,"position":5},"title":"Jesus and the Sabbath Law","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Walton Weaver From\u00a0That They All May Be One: Studies on Unity, Freedom and Authority in the Body of Christ, pp. 90-93 Those who adopt this way of handling the word of God believe that the law of love gives them the \"right\" to exalt love above God's law and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/disciplesGrain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/disciplesGrain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/disciplesGrain.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n