A. The
first point we need to clarify is what is this conversation about. The Pharisees are inquiring about the disciples failure to wash their hands before they ate; therefore, point one is that they are
discussing washing their hands, not what they are eating.
Point two; your worship and everything else you do is in vain if it does not come from the heart. Everything you do on the outside or think on the inside is a direct result of what your heart wills. Obedience and worship count for nothing if your heart isn't in it.
"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean." 15:17-20
No where in the verse above does it say you can eat anything you chose. In the Bibles where it does say (thus making all food clean), it is an editorial addition; it is not in the original text. You can check a King James version to verify this. Even if it were in the original text it would not contradict the Old Testament, yes all FOOD is clean, to a Hebrew pigs aren't food.
Chapter 15 does reiterate that they were discussing unwashed hands. But is this what chapter 15 is really about? In chapter 15 Y'shua is really showing us that it is not our bodies that make us unclean, after all our bodies are from dust and will return to dust. It is our heart that makes us unclean. Before our bodies can carry out the action our hearts have to rebel against YHWH. Your body cannot sin on its own, you have to make the decision to do it first. Therefore, point 3 is; it is what you conceive in the heart that makes you unclean. Dirt comes from the inside out.
