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February 26, 2024 |
| Arguments on Mark 7:19 | ||
Some translations of the Bible translate Mark 7:19 in a radically different way than the others. They see Jesus as declaring all meat to be clean.
[…] "because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) (Mark 7:19 LSB)
[…] "Because it does not enter his heart, but his belly, and is discharged by excretion, which purifies all foods." (Mark 7:19 AB)
It appears the translators have not understood what Jesus means by the last clause. Here is the BibleHub interlinear for the Greek of that verse.
becausenotit enters of himintothe heart,butinto thebelly,and intothesewer goes out,purifyingall thefood
There are other problems with this interpretation as well, grammatical, structural, and theological. We will look at all of those.
The NASB is known for being a very word-for-word type of translation. Now the LSB, quoted above, is even more so. Is this translation consistent with that philosophy?
These translations have taken the phrase "purifying all the food" and translated that as "Thus he declared all food clean." The word "purifying" has the meaning that the previous statement(s) have resulted in purification. In this case, The previous statements describe the process of digestion and excretion. Therefore the point is that digestion and excretion result in purification. Later, we'll see how that does make sense.
The meaning of "Thus he declared all food clean" is not at all the same as that. The word "declaration" here would imply more than just an announcement. The unclean meats had been unclean for a long time, since at least the time of Noah. It implies Jesus has made a commandment that has converted the very nature of the unclean animals.
These translations use italics to indicate words that they have added. Here, only "Thus He" is italicized, but that isn't correct. The word "declared" is also an addition and should be italicized. The word "purifying" has become "clean", which isn't unreasonable. But it can't also become "declared." Making something clean is not the same as declaring something clean.
Also not what has happened with this change. It becomes a 3rd person parenthetical comment. What were the words of Jesus have become a comment by Mark. Honestly, though, they aren't a comment by Mark. There is nothing in the Greek that would justify a change of speaker at this point.
This translation is not consistent with the translation philosophy of the NASB or LSB.
In this section we'll look at what the point was that Jesus making and whether this translation of it is consistent with that point. We'll also look at whether the structure of this translation is consistent with the original text.
Was Jesus putting an end to uncleanness of certain meats? There are certainly those who want to believe that. In the context of this verse though, we see that Jesus talks about two things, unclean meats and things that proceed from a man. So it's a comparison.
They both defile a man but, in the case of unclean meats they pass through the body and are gone. The things that proceed from a man, however, leave him defiled, continuing present verb tense.
Jesus' point then is that there are worse defilements than being defiled by unclean meats. This is lost on Christians but Jesus' Jewish audience would have understood all the rules about uncleanness, including how one became clean for each kind.
Because this is a comparison, it would be illogical to think that Jesus intends to declare all meats clean. Add to that that Jesus makes this declaration in a clause at the end of an unrelated point. Surely such a declaration would deserve its own sentence and be accompanied by some justification. Such a sentence would need to begin with, "As God, I hereby declare …" but of course he can't make such a declaration. That would blow his cover.
More likely, if his audience thought he was making such a declaration, they would have stoned him, or at least have tried. Plainly they didn't understand him to be doing such. Also, wouldn't a change like this have been pre-announced by the prophets, as the Bible says (Amos 3:7). I know of nothing in the Bible that talks about a coming time when all meats would be clean.
That illogic shows up more when we wonder exactly when the unclean meats became clean. Was it at the moment that Jesus spoke that clause? If so, Jesus spoke to many audiences over time and would repeat his messages, somewhat, for each audience. Was it at the first speaking of that clause that all unclean meat became clean? Or was it when Jesus was born, or when he was baptized, or at some other point?
That still leaves us with the problematic clause, "purifying all the food." Jesus' point, from our perspective, is subtle but again his Jewish audience wouldn't have missed it.
Poop was not unclean. It needed to be managed correctly but it did not defile anyone who touched it. If it did, everyone would be unclean all the time because our body is always making it.
Jesus is saying, essentially, what went in as unclean meat comes out as clean poop. Therefore the body purifies all of the unclean meats.
Even so, this is an odd thing to bother saying and to be included in the gospels. There is a reason, which we will see at the end.
The obvious answer is that Jesus is God and therefore he can do whatever he wants. But God cannot lie and thus constrains what he can (will) do. That is the topic of this section.
The Bible speaks of just such a limitation on Jesus.
But when the end of time arrived, God sent his Son and he was from a woman and was under the Law (Galatians 4:4)
A person who is under the law cannot change the law. Instead, it was required of Jesus that he fulfill the Law in all points.
More than this, Jesus must not change the law. One of the problems in the law comes from an argument for justice. If God gave mankind a law that was impossible for any man to obey, as various Bible author attest, then God has been unjust. Jesus was the only person who could and did live perfectly according to the law. Thereby he declared the law to be just.
Given all of these arguments, we have to wonder how this interpretation of the scripture came about. Certainly not all translations agree with it. Therefore it has to have been introduced since the first New Testament was translated. Even so, the reasons may be lost in antiquity. Our best answer must come from analyzing the change to see what a person would gain from such a change.
The only gain seems to be that of having an explanation for why Jews don't eat pork but Christians do. Therefore, it presents an answer to a nagging question.
If we throw out the interpretation that Jesus declared all meats clean, then we still want to deal with that question. Some Christian groups have been unable to resolve that and so determined that the unclean meats are still unclean.
This still leaves a gaping hole of uncleanness that the original translator did not consider. There are many other ways to become unclean than by unclean meats. Christians are not concerned about these either.
A good example is touching a dead body. Not only did this make a person unclean, it was a kind of uncleanness that clung on. Where the uncleanness from unclean meats was removed by washing and by time (evening), there was a specific process for removing the death uncleanness. Without that process, the person remained unclean indefinitely.
Jesus didn't seem to have a concern with touching a dead body, though, nor with touching unclean people. We hear nothing about him ever going through a process to become clean. I think there is evidence that the prophets and apostles also had no concern with these uncleannesses.
The reason comes from the answer to some questions. If God touched a dead body, would he become unclean? If an angel did the same, would he need to go through a purification ritual at the temple? The answer is obvious and leads us to the reason. The laws about cleanness were only for those who could become unclean - God cannot, angels cannot, and Jesus, though in the body of a man, cannot. Jesus cannot be defiled because God (including the Holy Spirit) cannot live in a defiled body.
Those of us who have the Holy Spirit in us, cannot be defiled by unclean things "coming into us". The Holy Spirit purifies us from all uncleanness.
Therefore there is no reason to twist Mark 7:19 in the way it has been, producing an incomplete explanation for why Christians are not concerned about the cleanness laws of the Old Testament.
Jesus said "Hear me all of you and understand". There is more to this than meets the eye. Just as the body purifies unclean foods, so the body, with the Spirit, purifies all impurity - a hidden parallel.