Many passages in Scripture about food are often misunderstood or misapplied. Mark 7, in particular, is frequently misquoted to claim that Yeshua declared all foods- including unclean animals- acceptable. However, a careful reading, combined with other passages, shows a consistent principle: obedience and heart purity matter far more than human traditions or reinterpretations.
Handwashing and Heart Purity
In Mark 7:1–23, the Pharisees and scribes questioned Yeshua about His disciples not following ritual handwashing before eating
It was a commonly held belief by the Second Temple period that eating food or eating out of dishes handled by Gentiles/non-Jews (like the Woman at the well) made a Jewish person unclean. This was because over time restrictions that were originally centered on participation in sacred spaces had become about dogmatic ritual purity in everyday eating and handling objects:
They maintained that
- treating all meals as if they had a holiness standard
- careful washing of hands before eating (especially among Pharisaic practice)
- concern that food, vessels or surfaces could transmit impurity indirectly
- separating utensils used for different states of cleanliness
were required by God for holiness. But, Torah does not require any of this. The Pharisees were adding burdensome additions that took away from the simple boundaries of God’s Law.
Yeshua responds by calling them hypocrites and quoting from the prophet Isaiah-
“Because that draw near this people with their mouths and with their lips honor Me, but their hearts are far removed from Me. And their reverence toward Me is taught by the commandments of men.”
– Isaiah 29:13
Then He clarifies for all present:
Nothing there is from outside the man entering into him which is able to defile him. But the things out of the man proceeding are the things defiling the man. If anyone has ears let him hear!
– Mark 7:15-16
An important note is that the word translated as “defile” is the Greek koinōsai
• from the root “koinos”
• unclean; in a ceremonial sense
Whereas akathartos is the word for “unclean” as when describing Torah dietary category; what is explicitly forbidden in Leviticus 11. Yeshua doesn’t use akathartos– so He is not referring to dietary commands in Torah.
He was merely stating a biological reality. Any food touching unwashed hands passes through the digestive tract and is eliminated. It goes to the sewer, it does not defile a person’s heart. He was not rewriting Leviticus; he was defending his disciples against a non-biblical Pharisaic bullying.
He then goes into a house with His disciples who ask Him to elaborate this:
So also you are without understanding? Not do you understand that everything from outside entering into the man not is able to defile him? Because not it enters into his heart, but into the belly and into the privy goes out, purifying all of the food. That out of the man going forth is that what defiles a man.
– Mark 7:18-20
He goes on to say what does defile a person: evil thoughts of sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, covetous desire, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, the evil eye, slander, pride and foolishness (Mark 7:21-22)
In Hebrew thought:
The heart (lev) is the control center of obedience. Yeshua’s argument is covenantal: Defilement is a heart issue. Sin proceeds from within. External traditions cannot fix internal rebellion.
He is not lowering God’s standard- He is aligning with it.
Why this is Not about “Clean vs Unclean” eating
If Yeshua were abolishing Leviticus 11 dietary Law here, it would contradict:
– Isaiah 66:17 Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens after one in the midst, eating flesh of swine and abominations and vermin together shall be consumed” says YHVH.
– Peter’s reaction in Acts 10, long after resurrection has taken place
– Deuteronomy 13: if a teacher, prophet or dream comes to change the Torah, it is a test of YHVH to know if we love Him, and they would be stoned to death so the people are not ensnared by them.
– The entire character of God; but His standards of righteousness do not change: “I AM YHVH. I change not.” (Malachi 3:6)
So, that’s not what’s happening.
Still, some will cite “Thus He declared all foods clean.” (a tag onto Mark 7:19)
The Greek phrase is: katharizōn panta ta brōmata
which translates as: “cleansing/purging all the foods”. This could be either be
- Mark/ writer of Mark making a theological explanation
- or, a continuation of the process of food being eliminated
Either way, unclean animals were never considered “food” within the covenant definition- and that’s simply not up for debate in this passage.
Peter’s Vision
He became hungry and then desired to eat. As they were preparing however, a trance fell upon him. And beholds heaven opening and descending a vessel certain as a sheet great being let down by four corners upon the earth, in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth and birds of heaven.
And came a voice to him: “Having risen up Peter kill and eat.”
And Peter said, “In no way Lord! For never have I eaten anything common or unclean.”
And a voice came again for the second time saying to him. “What God has made clean you not call common.”
This took place three times and immediately was taken up the vessel into heaven.
– Acts 10:10-16
Let’s note:
- Peter’s response, if Yeshua had declared unclean to be clean, would not have been horrified “Never have I eaten!”
- this took place 3 times: repetition often a signifier of importance in scripture (Genesis 41:32, Isaiah 6:3, 1 Samuel 3)
- the sheet is taken up- Peter doesn’t eat
Peter gives us the correct interpretation in the same chapter, the following day:
As then was entering Peter having met Cornelius, who having met him fell at his feet to worship him. But Peter lifted him up saying. “Rise up; also I myself am a man.”
And talking with them he entered and he finds having gathered together many.
He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to unite himself or to come near a foreigner. To me, however, God has shown not to call men common or unclean.”
– Acts 10:25-28
- Acts 11:5–18 recounts the vision and it’s meaning: God has also given Gentiles repentance unto life
- It was “unlawful” by oral tradition and Jewish law; not by Torah
- Contrarily, Torah readily accepted anyone cleaving to YHVH (Exodus 12:49)
This reinforces the point of Mark 7 that uncleanness does not come from objects, food or Gentiles; defilement comes from the unclean heart of the person who makes himself “holier” and refuses to humble himself.
Isaiah 65:3-5 “A people who provoke Me to anger… Who say ‘keep to yourself, not do come near me for I am holier than you’. These are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.”
Eating as a Spiritual Act of Fellowship
Eating in scripture is not just an act of flesh- it’s an act of fellowship.
- Exodus 24:9-11: They eat and drink after the Covenant is confirmed at Sinai
- Leviticus 7: Peace offerings are eaten before YHVH by the worshipper and the priests
- Isaiah 25:6: The future Kingdom is described as a feast
- Proverbs 6: Eating represents aligning with Wisdom (One of the 7 Spirits)
- Luke 5:29-32: Yeshua eats with sinners & tax collectors because eating together symbolizes acceptance
But Torah and the New Testament are equally clear: you cannot mix tables.
- 1 Corinthians 10:21 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”
- Leviticus 11:43-44 After defining clean & unclean: “Not shall you make abominable yourselves with any creeping things which creeps, nor shall you make yourself unclean with them least you be defiled by them. For I AM YHVH your Elohim. Therefore you shall consecrate yourselves and you shall be holy for I AM holy.”
A table represents participation, fellowship and partnership.
So what does it mean to set a table and then place on it what YHVH Himself calls abomination?
YHVH is Holy and His standards so not change. He tells us what is clean for eating and what is not. Isaiah says those who sanctify themselves while eating swine’s flesh and abominable things will face judgment (65:3-5, 66:15-17). Ezekiel says judgment falls because leaders blurred the line between what YHVH separated- unclean and clean, holy and common. (22:26)
If eating is fellowship, then serving what God forbids is not neutral.
It is saying, “It’s fine- sit with us anyway.”
It is inviting His presence while disregarding His holiness.
We cannot claim covenant intimacy while consciously setting before Him what He has rejected- and if we truly love Him, why would we want to?
- God’s holiness is absolute – His standards do not change.
- We cannot invite Him to a table and expect true fellowship if the food on that table violates His standards of holiness.
- Rituals, traditions or attempts to redefine unclean as clean break the spiritual integrity of sharing a meal.
Thanksgiving and prayer over food (Timothy 1:4) sanctify what God has already declared clean and holy, not what humans arbitrarily declare edible. Simply saying a blessing does not make unclean animals acceptable to God. True fellowship honors God by obeying His commands, not circumventing them with ritual or reinterpretation.
- When we eat with gratitude, we should choose only what God Himself has deemed clean.
- Eating with God in mind is a reflection of obedience, gratitude and reverence.
- Meals become genuine acts of worship, fellowship, and obedience, not attempts to bend God’s holiness to human convenience.
Bottom line: Obedience and heart holiness matter more than human traditions or reinterpretations.
Eating is sacred, and honoring God means aligning every part of our life, even our meals, with His unchanging standards.
If this stirred your heart, we invite you to dive deeper with our other teachings and grow stronger in Spirit and truth:
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