Jesus continued His response to the critics by focusing on the particular practice that they had objected to (v. 5). The question of what constituted defilement was very important. The Jews had wandered far from God's will in this matter because of their traditions.
7:14-15 [16] What Jesus had to say was so important that He urged the crowd present to listen carefully to His words. His response so far had been to His critics primarily.
Verse 15 states the general principle. It clarifies what does not and what does cause uncleanness. Food does not, but thoughts do. Obviously Jesus was speaking morally and spiritually, not medically and physiologically. Jesus clarified the intent of the Mosaic laws regarding clean and unclean food (Lev. 11; Deut. 14). The Jew who ate unclean food became unclean because he or she disobeyed God's Word, not because the food made him or her unclean.
Verse 16 is of questionable authenticity. Later copyists may have added it as a result of reading 4:9 and or 4:23. It may be genuine since many early manuscripts contain it. Most modern translators judged it a later addition to the text.
7:17 Jesus had finished His response to His critics and His teaching of the multitude. He went into the house nearby with His disciples. There they asked Him a question that indicated that they had not understood what He meant. What He had said was revolutionary when He said it. They probably could not believe that He really meant what He had said. In Mark's Gospel a house was a common setting where Jesus taught His disciples privately (cf. 9:28, 33; 10:10).
7:18-19 The disciples had heard and seen enough to have been able to understand Jesus' meaning. Their "hardness of heart"is a prominent theme in 6:31-8:26 (cf. 6:52; 8:14-21).
Mark interpreted the significance of Jesus' teaching for his Gentile readers. Mark meant that Christians need not observe the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law (cf. Rom. 14:14; Gal. 2:11-17; Col. 2:20-22). This was a freedom that Jewish Christians struggled with for many years during the infancy of the church (cf. Acts 10; 11; 15). Later revelation clarified that Jesus terminated the entire Mosaic Law as a code (Rom. 10:4; et al.).
"This statement ["Thus He declared all foods clean"] clearly has its eye on a situation such as developed in the Pauline mission churches in which questions of clean and unclean foods (cf. Acts 10:9-16; 11:5-10 and see Rom 14:13ff.) and idol-meats became live issues (as we know from I Cor 8:10). This chapter in Mark 7 is perhaps the most obvious declaration of Mark's purpose as a Christian living in the Graeco-Roman world who wishes to publicize the charter of Gentile freedom by recording in the plainest terms Jesus' detachment from Jewish ceremonial and to spell out in clear tones the application of this to his readers."174
If Peter did influence Mark's writing, it is interesting that the disciple who struggled with unwillingness to abandon the dietary laws should have spoken out so strongly for their termination. Mark apparently got the material for his Gospel mainly from Peter's sermons, as mentioned earlier. Thus it appears that Peter finally learned this lesson.
"These ceremonial regulations in the law had a function as symbolically teaching the reality and importance of moralpurity. They demanded an external separation which pointed to the need for an inner heart condition of separation unto God. But these external regulations in themselves did not convey the purity of heart to which they pointed. They were the shadow and not the substance (Heb. 10:1). When they found their fulfillment in Christ, these ceremonial foreshadowings became obsolete."175
7:20-23 Jesus repeated and became more specific so the disciples would understand Him. The list of sins proceeds from six actions to six attitudes (cf. Rom 1:29-31; Gal. 5:19-23). Matthew's record included only six sins. Evil thoughts are the ground out of which the evil actions and attitudes grow.
This controversy with the Pharisees and the scribes was a factor that led Jesus to withdraw from Galilee a third time (cf. 4:35-36; 6:31-32).
