And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” Mark 7:20-23 (Read Mark 7:1-23)

How can we be clean and acceptable to God? Do we ever place more emphasis on man-made rituals than on God-given commandments and miss out on the great blessings God would give us because our traditions keep us from hearing and believing the promises of God’s Word?

The Pharisees and scribes found fault with Jesus because some of His disciples ate bread without first washing their hands in accord with the tradition of the elders — a special washing of the hands before eating to be certain that no uncleanness the hands may have touched would be transferred to the food and into their bodies.

In fact, the Pharisees not only held to such a washing of the hands (either rigorously or up to the elbow) but also insisted on the washing (baptizing in the Greek) of cups, pitchers, copper vessels and reclining couches. (The use of the word baptize here indicates that baptism means a washing with water which does not require immersion – significant in our understanding of modes of Baptism.)

How does Jesus answer this finding of fault? He applied the prophecy of Isaiah to the Pharisees and scribes because they elevated the traditions passed down to them by the elders above the very Word of God recorded in the Scriptures (v. 6-7): “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (cf. Isaiah 29:13).

Jesus further explained (v. 8): “For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men — the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

As another example, Jesus told them (v. 9-13): “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” By their tradition of exempting property devoted to God, they also exempted people from doing what God’s commandments required of them in regard to caring for their aging parents (cf. 1 Timothy 5:4).

What was the problem with the tradition of washing one’s hands to prevent uncleanness before God? It missed the point and did not address the real issue of uncleanness before God.

Jesus said to the crowds of people around Him (v.14-16): “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

What did He mean, Jesus explained it to His disciples (v. 18-23): “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods? … What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

Washing one’s hands before eating has its hygienic benefits, but it does not make or keep one clean before God. The real problem is what is inside us and comes out of our evil hearts — evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, etc. These things which come from within our evil hearts defile us and make us guilty and unclean before a holy and just God (cf. Jeremiah 17:9; Genesis 8:21; Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:9-20).

This, of course, is the problem with teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. It fails to address the real problem, our sinfulness. Our traditions cannot make us righteous in God’s eyes and sometimes can get in the way and keep us from hearing and believing the truth. And, then our worship becomes empty and worthless!

What is the solution to our uncleanness and sin? How can we be righteous in God’s eyes and stand in His presence?

The answer is not in anything we can do but in what God has done for us. We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God by following any man-made rituals or traditions. But God sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, born of a virgin and made true man that He might take our place under God’s law and fulfill it for us and then bear our just punishment and make full atonement for all our sins (and the sins of the whole world) by suffering and dying upon the cross as our substitute (cf. Galatians 4:4-5; John 1:29; 3:16; 1 John 2:1-2; 4:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Isaiah 53:6).

And because Christ died for our sins and rose again, having paid in full our punishment, God is merciful to us and offers and gives to us forgiveness and life through faith in Christ Jesus. He declares us just and righteous in His eyes when we give up on our own works and traditions and look to Jesus and His cross for mercy and forgiveness (cf. John 3:14-15; Romans 3:21-26; 4:5; Ephesians 1:6-7; 1 John 1:7 – 2:2; Psalm 32:1-5; Hebrews 10:11ff.).

Cleanse our hearts and lives, O God, not by our works and traditions but by the perfect works and holy sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ, in our stead. Amen.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” Hebrews 13:4

God instituted marriage between one man and one woman at creation when He made them male and female, forming man from the dust of the ground and forming woman from the rib of Adam and bringing her to the man (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7; 2:18-25). Thus, marriage and the sexual union within marriage are honorable and God-pleasing, but God will judge those who engage in sexual activity outside of marriage and who do not live in accord with God’s purpose and design in marriage (the union of one man and one woman for life).

Knowing that God will judge those who commit adultery or are sexually immoral, how is it that so many just ignore God’s Word when it comes to marriage and sexuality? And how is it that even Christians seem to think nothing of living together outside the bonds of marriage or engaging in sexual relationships without being married?

Because God deals with people either according to His justice or according to His mercy, do people fail to understand and distinguish between the two and view God’s judgment as some sort of watered-down mixture of justice and grace – as though God really doesn’t demand perfect obedience, and as though God just winks at our sins? What Christ suffered to atone for sin says otherwise!

And, I wonder, too, do Christian pastors not warn those under their care who have fallen into sin of their need to repent? Many times, it seems, pastors are afraid to say anything; and, perhaps, it’s because they are more concerned about keeping members in their local congregations than keeping them in Christ’s everlasting kingdom. Could it be so?

The Word of God is not jesting when it says: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Cf. Galatians 5:19-21; Hebrews 10:26ff.; Revelation 21:8). One cannot be a Christian and continue in fornication or adultery – indeed, in any wilful sin against the Lord God and His Word. Those who do will find themselves cast into the eternal fires of hell on Judgment Day!

Rather than having us be cast out on the Last Day, God desires us to repent of our sinful and evil ways and look to Him for mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus and for the sake of His innocent sufferings and death in our stead. He would have us acknowledge our sins and look to Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness (cf. 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 1:9).

The Bible tells us why God can and does forgive those who repent and look to Him for mercy. It’s not because He is soft on sin. Rather, it is because “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2). It is because Jesus atoned for our sins and the sins of all when He was condemned and suffered and died upon the cross!

The Bible tells us that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures … he was buried … he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4); and that in Him “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

And, as a fruit of repentance, God would have us amend our sinful ways, looking to Him and His Word for guidance in what is good and pleasing to Him and for the willingness and strength to walk in His ways (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10). “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9).

O holy and righteous God, I have sinned and gone astray by my every departure from Your Word. Wash away my guilt in Jesus’ shed blood and grant me Your Holy Spirit that I might walk in Your ways and seek to be pleasing to You in all things. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63

Only those who partake of Christ Jesus in faith – of His body given into death upon the cross as a sacrifice for sin, and of His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of all – have eternal life and will be raised up on the last day to the glories of heaven. Apart from such partaking of Christ’s body and blood in faith, one remains spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (cf. John 6:51ff.; Ephesians 2:1ff.). And, it is only by the gracious working of God the Holy Spirit through the Word of God that one can be brought to faith and made alive spiritually.

Does Jesus here speak of the Sacrament of the Altar? We would have to say no because, when He spoke these words, He had not yet instituted His Supper; and, though it offers many benefits, nowhere does the Bible make partaking of the Lord’s Supper necessary for salvation.

But Jesus, who called Himself the Bread of Life and that Bread which came down from heaven (cf. John 6:31ff.), does teach that He is the Life-giving bread and that apart from partaking of Him in faith, one remains dead in trespasses and sins and doesn’t have forgiveness of sins or eternal life. But, through faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, one is made alive spiritually and has as his own God’s gifts of forgiveness for all sins and life everlasting in heaven (cf. John 3:14ff.; 8:24)!

But, as in Jesus’ day when many stumbled over His words, so also today, many people stumble. They cannot understand how Jesus could give his flesh and shed His blood for the sins of the world, and they cannot grasp how partaking of this heavenly food in faith gives life and salvation. Thus, they turn back and quit following Jesus and reject His life-giving Word.

As Jesus so clearly states, it is God’s Holy Spirit who gives life; the flesh, our own human reason and understanding, profits us nothing in regard to faith in Christ Jesus. It is as Luther explains in the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth….”

And, the words which Jesus spoke are Spirit and they are life. They are the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit of God in His Word. And, it is through these words that the Spirit regenerates us, brings us to faith in Christ and gives us life in Jesus! “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17; cf. Romans 1:16-17; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).

Sad to say, many still seek to generate faith and give life by the flesh, which profits nothing. They seek to stir up their hearers’ emotions (with powerful preaching and moving music) so that people will make their own decisions for Christ. Rather than simply preaching the Bible, which is the Word of God, they offer up testimonials and share human doctrines and opinions. Rather accepting the Bible as the inspired and unerring Word of God, they subject it to human understanding and seek to explain it in ways which appeal to human reason. And when Christian pastors simply preach the Word of God and administer the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper) in accord with Christ’s own institution and commandment, many reject their sound preaching and obedience to the commandments of our Lord Jesus in favor of their own opinions and ideas of what will be more appealing and reach more of the lost.

But the truth spoken by Jesus remains: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life”; and, “No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (John 6:63,65; cf. John 1:12-13; 3:3-6; 1 Corinthians 12:3).

The words Jesus spoke to His hearers about being the Bread of Life and the only way to obtain eternal life are true. It is only through faith in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross for the sins of the world that we have been saved and have life eternal. And, it is only by the gracious working of God’s Holy Spirit through the Word and the Sacraments that one can come to faith in Christ and be raised from spiritual darkness and death unto life everlasting for Jesus’ sake.

Gracious Savior, thank You for fulfilling all righteousness in our stead and bearing upon the cross the full punishment for the sins of the entire world. By Your Spirit and Your life-giving Word, bring us to partake of you in faith that we might have forgiveness and the everlasting joys of heaven. We ask this for the sake of Your bitter sufferings and death in our stead and Your glorious resurrection. Amen.

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible