GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
MARK 7:20-23
20 Jesus went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, coveting, wickedness, treachery, sexual indecency, jealousy, blasphemy, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.”
Jesus has just used the graphic illustration that what comes out of the man makes him unclean. In the same illustration, he showed that all foods are clean (and that the ancient ceremonial law about food was fulfilled and no longer stands), and that the things that really come out of a man are what makes him unclean. He didn’t just mean “what goes out into the latrine” (verse 19) but all of the other things that in God’s eyes are so much worse than urine, feces, vomit, and so on.
Evil thoughts (οἱ διαλογισμοὶ οἱ κακοὶ). Evil thoughts break the First Commandment, and lead to all other sins. Paul said, “Although men knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking (διαλογισμοῖς) became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21). Sin begins in our thoughts, as we wonder what this or that would be like without God’s protection, commands, and will.
Sexual immorality (πορνεῖαι). This, of course, is a sin against the Sixth Commandment. Three of the thirteen sins in this list are sexual in nature (four, if we count coveting). God gave men and women the sexual union as a give to celebrate and enjoy within marriage. Any other sexual indulgence is immoral and runs contrary to God’s holy will. “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:16).
Theft (κλοπαί). The Seventh Commandment forbids stealing and dishonest dealing. God is the one who provides for each person by giving them what they need through work, gifts, or inheritance. We should trust in him for this: “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). He gives us his gifts so that we can in turn provide for our families (1 Timothy 5:8), give or lend to those who are in need (Matthew 5:42), pay taxes and support the work of our government (Romans 13:6-7), and make regular contributions to the work of the church (1 Corinthians 16:2). We should not take away what God has given to someone else.
Murder (ϕόνοι). The Fifth Commandment forbids murder, which is taking a human life. There are a few exceptions God permits (fighting in a just war, capital punishment, and self-defense), but God permits these without commanding them of us. Human life is important because it is each person’s time of grace. Once a person dies, his soul is either saved or lost forever, and we should not cut that time of grace short. Whether murder, suicide, carelessness, recklessness, abortion, mercy killing, bullying or hateful words, God forbids us from harming one another or ourselves. He wants us to “love one another” (1 John 4:7), “be patient with everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14), “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger” (Eph. 4:31), and forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Adultery (μοιχεῖαι). This is another sin against the Sixth Commandment, but also against the Tenth. It is in marriage that men and women come the closest to understanding the love of God for mankind. His will is that “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). This finds its highest expression in the union of marriage and in the role of being parents. This also means we should not become wedges that are driven between married couples. Support their marriages, encourage them and do what you can to help their marriage succeed and bloom. And no one should speak out against the institution of marriage or complain about it. Marriage is a gift from God to promote sexual decency and faithfulness, companionship, and a loving and nurturing home for children. “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4).
Coveting (πλεονεξίαι, NIV “greed”). The Ninth and Tenth Commandments forbid coveting, whether it relates to objects or living things. The Ninth Commandment also covers what today we would call intellectual property. When we sinfully desire what is not ours, we violate God’s will and damage the way he provides for people. “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want” (James 4:1-2). When we have sinful cravings or desires for what we should not have, we should turn to the Lord in prayer, confess our desire, and ask for his forgiveness and help.
Wickedness (πονηρίαι, NIV “malice”). When any sin no longer seems evil to a person, this becomes the malice of evil intent (Matthew 22:18). Sin has five stages, steps, or sources: Inclination (the leaning toward sin because of our original sin), suggestions (from the sinful world or from the devil), pleasure (the thrill or delight of committing what is wrong), consent (the decision the sinner makes to disobey God and to turn away from Christ), and finally, the wicked act of sin itself. Permitting oneself to consent to a sin over and over again will sear the conscience “as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2) and blind the person to that sin. This is the seat of wickedness.
Treachery (δόλος, NIV “deceit”). Treachery or deceit is committing any falsehood to subvert God’s will. Therefore it is potentially a sin against any of the Commandments. But treachery is especially a sin which plots against a superior. Isaiah confessed that sin is ultimately treachery against the Lord: “Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived” (Isaiah 59:12-13). Our Savior showed his holiness and obedience to the Father by doing “no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth,” and yet “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death” (Isaiah 53:9). He innocently took up our treacherous sins and paid the price with his blood.
Sexual indecency (ἀσέλγεια, NIV “lewdness”). Another Sixth Commandment sin, indecency is public or private behavior which entices people to sinful thoughts and further sexual sins. This includes rude jokes, suggestive speech, music, art (especially painting, photography and sculpture), poetry, or dancing; whatever moves the body toward sexual sins. “You should avoid sexual immorality. Each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5). “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity… Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place” (Ephesians 5:3-4).
Jealousy (ὀϕθαλμὸς πονηρός, “NIV “envy”). Literally, this is an “evil eye.” There is a place for jealousy that is not sinful. A spouse who suspects his spouse of unfaithfulness can be said to be jealous without that feeling being sinful (Numbers 5:12-14; Song of Solomon 8:6). But to be jealous of another person’s successes, position, or gifts is certainly sinful. This phrase is also translated “stingy” or “greedy” in the Apocrypha: “A stingy man’s eye begrudges bread, and it is lacking at his table” (Sirach 14:10), “Remember that a greedy eye is a bad thing” (Sirach 31:33). Jealousy led to the slavery of Joseph (Acts 7:9), the temporary excommunication of Moses’ sister Miriam (Numbers 12:14); the attacks of Saul on David (1 Samuel 18:9), the attacks of the Jews on Christians in the early church (Acts 17:4) and the attacks and arrests of the apostles (Acts 5:17). Jealousy is an infection that leads to Fifth Commandment sins. What God wants us to do is to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus and to love one another as he commanded us (1 John 3:23).
Blasphemy (βλασϕημία, NIV “slander”). When we speak a bad word about God, it is blasphemy. When we do it about a human, it is slander. Therefore, the object of the bad word is the knife that divides the Second Commandment from the Eighth. In either case, “a false witness will not go unpunished, and he who pours out lies will not go free” (Proverbs 19:5). What God wants us to say about other people is the truth, and whatever will build each other up in our faith and in our service to God. What he wants us to say about him is also the truth: he wants us to pray to him, praise him, and give thanks to him. Anything else is from the devil.
Arrogance (ὑπερηϕανία). The Greek word phaino (ϕαίνω) means to appear, display, or reveal (“an angel of the Lord ‘appeared’ to Joseph in a dream,” Matthew 2:13). To hyper-phaino means to puff oneself up or “super-display” oneself. This is arrogance. It is a form of pride that telegraphs itself into the actions and gestures and even the way a person thinks. It leads to all manner of sins: “You warned them to return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands” (Nehemiah 9:29). Jesus overcame our sins of arrogance with his humility, yielding to authority even though he is King and Lord over all.
Folly (ἀϕροσύνη). Folly is not just a useless act done for the sake of comedy. Folly is an empty act masquerading as an act of faith. It is hypocrisy put into practice. “You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you” (Psalm 69:5).
All of these sins and many others make us unclean in God’s sight. It is only by throwing ourselves completely under the mercy of God that we are forgiven such sins. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Keep yourself focused on the cross of Christ and see yourself through the lens of the cross. In it, through him, you are a forgiven child of God and a citizen of his eternal, heavenly kingdom.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2019
Listen to Bible classes online. Invisible Church is the twice-weekly podcast of the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Bible class. Go to https://splnewulm.org/invisible-church-podcast/ and wait for the page to load. Classes on Genesis, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians and more are available now. Also available on iHeart Radio, Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota