Mark 7:1-23, What’s the Problem?

Mark 7:1-23 and the Tradition of the Elders

Mark chapter 7 be reading verses 1 to 23. Hear the word of the Lord. Now when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem They saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled that is unwashed for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands holding to the tradition of the elders and When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash and there are many other traditions that they observe such as the washing of cups and pots and Copper vessels and dining couches.

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands and he said to them? Well that Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites as it is written This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me in vain.

Do they worship me teaching his doctrines the commandments of men? You leave the commandment of God and hold fast to to the tradition of men and he said to them You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition.

For Moses said honored your father and mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say if a man tells his father or his mother who have whatever You would have gained from me as a Corban that is dedicated to God given to God.

Then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother thus making void the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do and He called to them the people To him again and said to them Hear me all of you and understand there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him.

But the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he had entered the house and left the people His disciples asked him about the parable and he said to them Then are you also without understanding?

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart. But his stomach and is expelled thus he declared all foods clean and He said what comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery coveting wickedness deceit sensuality Envy slander pride foolishness all these things come from within and they defile a person.

And the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word. What's your problem?

The Problem of the Heart

I.

Say that in the wrong way. It sounds rude, doesn't it? What's your problem? We all have problems. What's yours. There are many different kinds of problems. They talk about first world problems like slow internet access TV remote not working.

Can't find your earbuds. Maybe a bad haircut. We joke about those kinds of problems to remind ourselves that a lot of the things we think of as problems.

Aren't.

But we still have problems everyone. I know here. With some depth has I know has problems. Maybe a child you're worried about marital problems health problems business problems troubles in the family.

We all have the problem of a declining body. Young people just aren't aware of it. You can have a serious problem, but not know it. That's why doctors often give us blood tests or look for telltale signs.

Problems we may not know about not have no awareness of. I have to go to dermatologist at least once a year. So we can look me over and see. Problems that maybe I'm not aware of. I've had three or maybe four have lost count actually of cancerous skin growths.

Removed they look like just weird freckles or abrasions. Like nothing serious. I might think a little little lotion on it. That'll solve it. It'll be okay. But if the doctor doesn't take care of them they could grow to kill me.

What's your problem? Sometimes our problems are a lot bigger than we think. Once when I was living in Pasadena, California, I was going to drive to the Rose Bowl to run. As soon as I turn the ignition on To my car the key soon as I turn that key the car began to shake for several seconds.

Now I assumed I had a problem with my engine. Maybe a bad spark plug and I turned off the engine and the shaking stopped. Was it correlation or causation? Hmm? Well, I'm not much of a mechanic but I popped the hood and I looked out it looked at the engine and it looked okay and I got back in.

I Turned the car back on again. It started fine this time. No shaking. I couldn't figure out what it was. The radio came on and the announcer said We just had an earthquake here in the Southland. I Thought my problem was This my car shaking instead.

It was something much bigger. It was the entire tectonic plate. Well, is your problem bigger than you think. And Medicine finding the right problem is key to finding the right solution. You hope it's something small.

But sometimes it could turn out to be much bigger than you think. Doctors are intent on finding what exactly your problem is. They even have a special word for it diagnosis when I had my accident about two months ago.

We had a little problem with the diagnosis first. We went to the Castle Medical Center where they gave me an x-ray and the doctor there Diagnosed me as having a femoral neck fracture means that part of the upper leg bone near where the ball joint is is broken and we took their x-ray to the Danville Hospital and At first the doctor there looking at it looking at the very same x-ray wasn't sure that it was really broken.

He said it doesn't look broken to me and but. And I thought well, that's good. Maybe it's not just had I strained something and it was some ice and elevation and I'll be okay. I'll be back to normal in a couple of days, but they gave me a CT scan.

To check and yes, the doctor in the Anseville was right. I Had hoped my problem was minor. But it wasn't. What's your problem? It's important to get it right. It might be bigger than you think. You could hurt yourself if you think it's a small thing.

Something that you can easily take care of by yourself with a few changes maybe with ice and elevation, but it's broken. Maybe with a spark plug. But it's really an earthquake. Maybe with lotion, but it's really cancer.

You need to know what your problem is. We see that here in three major parts first the problem the response and then finally third the Explanation the Pharisees and the Scribes is the religious people.

They think Jesus's disciples have a problem and they've come to him some from Jerusalem. That's the big city the headquarters that show us that he's become more and more prominent. He's known now even in even in the big city.

They come to check Jesus out to see if if he has a problem now. We already seen this up at the Scribes think he does. What are these experts from Jerusalem? What are they gonna think. They probably heard good and bad things about him at least.

False bad things, but they've heard rumors and now they want to diagnose him themselves after all they're the you know. The doctors of the law they're the experts and they say in verse 2 that some of Jesus and disciples eat with unwashed hands.

What they consider defiled. Now notice they didn't accuse Jesus of that. They didn't say Jesus you eat with unwashed hands which suggested Jesus himself Did indeed wash his hands before eating as was the custom with religious Jews at the time.

But still some of Jesus and disciples didn't wash. Maybe the ones like like Matthew who weren't so religious before joining Jesus's disciples to the religious leaders. That is a problem. Since Jesus is their leader He has a problem.

I mean after all he's he's their master. He could just tell them to wash your hands before eating and they would have to do it. So when they say Matthew or whoever it is eating without washing, they wonder why Jesus hasn't Taught them to wash the problem is With Jesus they think even if he's personally washing in verses 2 to 4 Mark kind of pauses and describes for us quite helpfully because mark is written for people like us Gentiles.

And he describes for us why these religious leaders were asking this. The Jews do not eat unless they first wash their hands and he calls it a verse to a a Tradition of the elders. In other words, it's not something that commanded by God from Scripture.

There's no verse anywhere in the Old Testament says you must wash your hands before eating. It's a tradition that developed over time to help them. Keep the law they think. It was what they all building a hedge around the law they saw what the law commanded and then they They made even traditions that did more than the law so you can't even get close to violating God's law and so when they when they came from the marketplace, they don't eat unless they wash because They may have gotten they think they may have gotten defiled there.

You can be defiled by touching something unclean or even coming close to a Gentile like like us. Just having the shadow of a Gentile following you was defiling and so you need to wash that off. It's kind of like what we do with the virus is now this obsession.

You've got to get rid of it get it off. It's the same with Muslim halal food. It's not good enough just to not eat unclean food like pork. To be halal that is legal clean. It has to be prepared with pots and pans and utensils that have it have never even touched have not touched Unclean food lest the uncleanness gets on the clean food.

Making it unclean and then making you unclean if you eat it now understand they're washing wasn't for hygiene. We think everyone now we now we kind of think well washing sure. That's a good thing to do.

Why would they why would Jesus disciples not be doing that keep themselves clean? We think everyone ought to normally wash our hands to keep the germs off, but here it has nothing to do with hygiene but with holiness.

If your hands are defiled and you eat with those hands. The uncleanness could go into you. And so how you become holy was by keeping Uncleanness from going into you that assumes that they are from the start.

That they are clean that they are not defiled that God accepts them. Just as I am without one plea. But that Abraham was the father of me. I May thought by default.

Clean.

Kind of like a new computer. You know, it's brand new right out of the box. Factory settings are good and it'll stay good. It'll stay clean as long as it doesn't catch a virus from a from the Internet or from something some one plugs into it.

To wash to keep it clean. Didn't wash or scan everything in coming to stay clean. They assume we're not depraved as we are we're good as we are. Sin is something outside of us that when coming in makes us originally good clean people unclean.

That's what they believed. And so then the problem is why was Jesus allowing some of his disciples not to wash? Don't they know that makes them unclean make that makes them sinful. Second the response.

From verses 6 to 12. What's your what's your problem? Jesus a response to what the religious people thought was the obvious problem. Why are they not washing? Jesus is a response. Do you notice? It's to ignore that issue.

At first.

Jesus will eventually answer that Later, but notice here in response to the question Publicly to the religious leaders these big shots from Jerusalem Jesus doesn't answer it. He goes deeper than their question who says.

Who says that that's defiling according to who who says that the disciples eating with unwashed hands are Defiling themselves. By what authority are you claiming that they are being defiled by eating with unwashed hands?

That's who. Well, they would say well the tradition of the elders and Jesus says back here. This is his response. That's not an authority. If it contradicts God's Word. Here we see him clearly teaching what we now call in in Latin sola scriptura Scripture alone.

Now if you've ever encountered a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox defender online or maybe in person. They will almost always say if they kind of been trying to say get trained to say this because they almost always say the same thing.

And they're thinking they're they're clever. They're thinking they're showing how we're contradicting ourselves. They will almost always say the Bible nowhere teaches sola scriptura. Okay, that word never occurs.

They have the term doesn't but they're wrong. It clearly does he said it in fact right here here and in a similar passage in Matthew 15 Jesus describes exactly What we call now sola scriptura that Scripture alone is the final Authority.

If there's a conflict between Scripture and tradition the teachings of men Scripture wins. That's that's what the doctrine means and that's what this passage teaches. That's what Jesus himself teaches.

Scripture is the Supreme Court that ultimately decides. If Scripture has issued a teaching it is final. Now there are other authorities that we can appeal to especially when Scripture is silent when it doesn't teach on something we can use reason.

You know, shall we use electrical lights in? Worship where Scripture doesn't prohibit it there's no verse says you shall not use electrical lights and It helps us see so with reason. Yes, we can do that.

There's a place for tradition. When shall we serve the Lord's Supper. By tradition we want to do it regularly. First Sunday of the month seemed like a good time. It's easy to remember so you prepare yourself.

That's kind of a tradition and again remember here that Jesus was apparently washing his hands or they would have accused him personally. So he was keeping the tradition himself. The tradition of washing hands doesn't violate Scripture so you can do it but it's not commanded of God and so you shouldn't impose it on others and Pronounce them unclean if they don't obey it if another church has a Lord's Supper at a different time than the first Sunday of the Month.

Well, as long as they're having it, that's okay. We can't pronounce them. You're on biblical you're you're on Christian because you have it the last Sunday of the month or something like that. That would be that would be ridiculous.

Now some Christians denounced tradition as if it were all bad. What really is going on is they're not aware of their traditions. Everybody has traditions. Some people have traditions about when to have the offering or how to have the offering and.

Maybe they'll even have a fancy kind of procession of deacons and ushers coming down the aisle and placing it on the table the offering. Have a traditions about what kind of songs to sing. Only hymns, that's our traditions to what we've been doing all the time.

How often have the Lord's Supper as I mentioned what translation of the Bible to use? And if you tell those people that's your tradition. They'll say no, we don't believe in tradition. Oh, yes, you do.

You're just not aware of your traditions. Tradition itself is not bad. In fact, they can help you Obey God as possible that they can be things made by faithful people at the traditions by faithful people in the past.

They've been handed down to us that help us be faithful. Just know where God's command ends and where your tradition begins. Use tradition that is what believers did in the past to help you have faith.

And be faithful like them, but don't believe in the tradition itself. By keeping these things these traditions I therefore obedient to God and I'm pleasing to him. That's traditional ism. Someone said tradition is the living faith of the dead.

Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Well here the religious leaders think the problem is being defiled by not washing but Jesus says the problem is Traditionalism. Now we have a tradition here of singing psalms every service as based on the command twice in the New Testament to sing psalms.

Now the way we do it kind of sequentially one by one. Through the through the Psalter through the book of Psalms to the tune of a familiar hymn. Well, that's a tradition. Churches should sing psalms. That's God's command how they do.

It is a tradition. Hopefully the living faith of the dead Churches can do it differently than we do. We could we could change our tradition on how to sing psalms. We could we're gonna sing another at least part of a psalm later after this sermon from Psalm 51.

You could do it that way little verses here and there. At least that's partly doing it and that would be okay. As long as we are somehow singing them singing only psalms is a tradition because the Bible is a command.

Sing only psalms if never occurs anywhere in the Bible in 1st Corinthians 14. Paul's Church wasn't singing only psalms. He talks about them singing in the Spirit now, whatever you want. I don't want to debate what that is, but it's not singing psalms singing.

No psalms is a tradition is traditionalism that violates Scripture again because that is commanded. So many Christians today give so little thought so everything I've just said about kind of about the worship service to many Christians.

They look at you. What are you talking about? They never even think about it. You just got to leave the worship service up to pragmatics what works what helps get people in what makes people happy what they want.

To hear or tradition. This is what we've always been doing. That's traditionalism. They leave it up to that. They hardly think about it. And so they're not even aware that there's a problem that they are flouting the authority of God's Word.

Now here the religious people are condemning Jesus's disciples. And so Jesus himself. For defiling themselves Jesus first doesn't deal with that issue. But he gets right to the heart of the problem. Defiling according to who?

What authority says that they are defiling themselves? The religious people just assume. Their tradition was the authority. No said they just assume it. They don't give an argument like first. We got a step you accept our authorities, right?

No, they just assume it like it's taken for granted and Jesus won't let them smuggle that assumption in. He catches that assumptions, no, I don't. I don't agree with that assumption. Often if you want to win a debate by the way want to win a debate just if you can smuggle an assumption in.

That proves your point.

Then you won.

Without having examined it's much easier than actually proving your point kind of smuggle it in. Abortion is a woman's right to choose what to do with her body. Hmm. Well, they just assume that the person who was killed by abortion doesn't have a body of his or her own.

They're just assuming that the baby isn't a person. They just assume that and state it and If you let them get by with that assumption, well, they win the debate. Here the religious leaders have just assumed that the disciples not washing their hands are defiling themselves.

They're just assuming the authority of their tradition. They assume its authority that it is the rule and Jesus won't let get them. Let them get by With that assumption. So notice in verse 5 the question.

Why do your disciples not wash according to tradition elders, but evil defiled hands. Jesus's response your traditions are wrong. You know, they weren't asking about traditions. They didn't come to Jesus.

Jesus. What do you think of our traditions? Well, they're wrong. No, why are they eating about washing their hands? Your traditions are wrong. Your assumptions are wrong and even deeper than that What's going on in the hearts of people of religious people?

That they are choosing to believe traditions over God's Word. Why are they doing that? What's the real problem? Jesus's response in verse 6. Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you? Hypocrites.

Its actors.

You frauds.

Looking like something you're not you looking like your people who believe God, but you're not can tell by. What you're asking. What you're believing. What you're thinking. This people. He's quoting from Isaiah there this people honors, but he's applying it to the these people asking this question.

This people honors me God says with their lips with empty words, but their hearts. What's the problem? Their heart is far. From me their worship is superficial. Yes, they're not even thinking about God at all.

The thing about traditions. Think about people think about themselves their ego. They certainly sang psalms, but it wasn't from the heart it was external it was like washings. It was all about things that could be done or seen.

It was about performance not love in. Vain as emptily. Do they worship me? Their worship is is for nothing. It achieves nothing. It's vain. It's like air nothing there it doesn't please God or Transform the worshipers.

And one expression. Our example of that empty worship. It's all about superficiality. It's all about appearances. About looks is Jesus says they're teaching as doctrines as if it's God's Word. They're teaching his doctrines the commandments of men like wash your hands before you to keep yourself on the file.

They're putting man-made traditions in the place of God's Word. Traditionalism. The dead faith of the living then Jesus says in verse 8 You leave the commandment of God knows how many times Jesus says that he repeats at least three or four times here of this same idea.

Your traditionalism replacing God's God's Word with your own made up whatever you think it's convenient your traditions you leave the commandment of God. Here's the commandment of God. You're leaving that and you're holding to the tradition of men.

Why do you do that? That's the real problem. Not how Matthew or whoever it was is eating. That's not the problem. Doesn't make any difference. It's that you care about traditions about the way people around you.

About your parents your elders your community. Maybe just your own opinion your esteem your egos at stake your community. You care about that. You care about what how they've done things about what they approve of.

You care about all that more than what God wants. God does not even really appear occurring at all into what they want what they're thinking. The people you're interested in pleasing above all maybe yourself.

Even more than pleasing God. Well, they only here they want us. They want you to wash your hands or maybe today. They only want to sing hymns that were written before they were born the ones they grew up with.

Or maybe they only want to Sing newer songs because that's what I and the people around me want to hear. The real problem. Is it new or old? It's why are we more interested in that? Than in what God wants?

Well, Jesus gives an example in verses 9 to 13. He gives a specific example been sort of abstract. Theoretical by now gives a particular. Example you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition.

That's traditionalism. Rejecting God's command whatever it is like psalm singing practice church discipline baptized disciples in order to keep what. Keep doing what you've been doing what you're comfortable with.

What you like singing whatever you like. You like enabling or ignoring sin. Baptizing infants or children or even adults have just been manipulated into saying a quick quote sinners prayer and the Indian and then Rushed at the baptism, but they don't know what it means.

The practical example Jesus uses is the fifth commandment to honor your parents. It's backed up by the law. It says whoever reviles father and mother that is he he curses he hates he denounces them a child that does that to his parents must surely die.

I Think it's kind of ironic the skeptics. Often who score in the Bible for commanding that reviling disobedient rebellious kids be put to death. They'll score in that is the most what they think is the most barbaric and absurd thing they can think of.

Probably because they raise those kind of kids. That's probably what's going on there with most of them and it is precisely that command that the Lord Jesus says, you know. Your failure to implement it Shows that you believe in your traditionalism more than you believe God.

Now here they had a tradition that if you dedicated your property to God if you if you declared your money consecrated to the Lord. Right. Maybe you had got real holy and you I'm gonna give about this bank account.

This is dedicated to God and That they had even this particular word for it a term for it Corban. If you did that for some property then you didn't have to use it to support your elderly parents. In fact, you can't it now belongs to God.

Sorry mom and dad it's God's you can't use it. You have to reserve the money for you know. Practically means giving to the temple or the synagogue or maybe here and here where the Pharisees come in. They love money.

They get it. Uh-huh. That's why they like this tradition. Now this tradition sounds very pious. Godly doesn't righteous. We'd be reluctant to criticize it because if you're dedicating your property to God That must be a good thing, right.

You know like you say I'm when I die my house goes to God sell it and give the money to whatever. That must be a good thing, right? But Jesus says no you're breaking the commandment to honor your parents your honoring Should be practical.

That's what he's assuming here, right? You're honoring is practical. If your parents are poor you honor them by giving them money. If they need help you honor them by helping they need a place to live.

You honor them by giving them a place to live. But their traditionalism here their dead faith of living was to tell mom and dad. Well tough luck. He warm be filled. This money here at his house it belongs to God.

I'm giving it to the religion and Jesus said in verse 13 thus that is in this way. You make void you make empty you make it vain like your worship is vain. It's meaningless. You make vain the Word of God.

By your tradition that you have handed down here by the way Jesus sounds very Chinese. You just have to recognize that in this context Jesus sounds completely Chinese. I mean honoring parents means practically helping them.

That's what he's saying here. It's not just having a good feeling about them. Honoring mom and dad doesn't mean we'll send mom a Card a Mother's Day and ignore her a list of time. That's a saying nice words.

Here with us being cross-cultural can help us see. Hey, hey my traditions my culture has blinded me to the Word of God. Because after all here we see Chinese culture. I Don't think Chinese culture would ever let his people get away with a tradition like this.

With this tradition that Jesus is condemning here. You know when I first went to Singapore now we interviewed with a pastor there for a position in a Bible college and He told me kind of typical interview stuff, but then he said though If you're leaving your mom to take care of herself.

We don't want you you go back home. First I thought if I went back home with my mom, I'm gonna take care of you. She'd probably call the sheriff you evict me, but you know, whatever that's not my tradition and you might think the same.

That's their tradition. That's not our tradition in our culture. Well, maybe but which tradition according to Jesus here is More in line with God's Word. Well the question that the problem according to the religious people was why are they defiling themselves by eating with unwashed hands?

Jesus gets to the heart of the problem to file according to who your tradition. Why do you believe it? More than God now beginning of verse 13 He'll finally get To that question. Why are they eating with unwashed hands.

Why External Religion Cannot Cleanse the Heart

Third part? The explanation the answer is. Because that's not the problem. What's your problem? The heart of the problem Jesus has is the problem of the heart. The religious people were misdiagnosing the problem because they assumed that their hearts were fine that sin came from outside them.

From something they touched or something they ate. And Jesus finally starting in verse 14 He clears that up. And he calls people to himself probably the same people that heard him respond to the traditionalist.

And he says hear me all of you and understand why the eating with unwashed hands. I'm gonna finally tell you I'm not. I didn't tell them. Because I got deeper with him. Pay careful attention. This is important.

He says hear me all of you. Notice he called. Call him to himself understand this is important in verse 15. Nothing. Nothing, not a thing. Outside a person. Did by going into him? Can defile him. That's not the way you become sinful before God.

Something you eat drink or touch. Being sinful doesn't come from catching it from others like you catch a virus. Wearing a mask and distancing. Is it going to help? Wash of your hands. Won't keep you clean of sin.

The things that come out of a person or what defile him sinfulness comes from the inside out and.

That.

Blows apart their assumption that people are clean originally and then kind of catch sin like we catch an infectious disease. Jesus has no it comes from within you. That explanation is so foreign to them.

I just that thought they get they never fathom such a thing. They can't understand it. So they call it. They even call it a parable. It's not really a parable. It's not a riddle, but they thought it was because it was something so Out of the expected that they think it can't possibly be literal.

He can't possibly be meaning what he just said because there's like of course sinfulness comes by. By eating or doing certain things after all that's why we don't eat that stuff. That's why we don't eat pork or shrimp.

To keep ourself from being sinful unclean. So they can't understand it. They're just so saturated in that point of view. And so later Jesus the disciples asked Jesus what it what is that strange riddle mean?

What do you mean that nothing outside of us externals. It defiles us. Now what Jesus expects them to know better by now, they should know better by now. Why do you disciples? Think I let you eat with unwashed hands.

If being defiled comes from outside of you these religious leaders. They would have been right that you should eat with washed hands. I don't let you eat with unwashed hands because we take sin lightly.

It would be after all remember it would be better to cut off your hand than to be made sinful by it if. That's where your sinfulness came from.

But it doesn't.

Jesus the response isn't Here what we would call Under you got to understand their culture. Appreciate their culture. He understands our culture pretty well. He just rejects it completely. They should know the heart of the problem by now to in verse 18.

He sounds annoyed with their slowness then you also are. Like those hypocritical religious people, you know, you also you're just like them. After all this time, you're just like them. You're also without understanding.

You know, why are you so dull? Why are you like them why are you misdiagnosing the problem thinking it's a small thing. That you can keep yourself from being sinful just by washing your hands. Really you still believe that by now.

Are you really that foolish? Jesus asked he's very curt here direct. And he says don't you see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him. That's not the source of the problem. It's not as though sin is some ingredient in pork or in shrimp.

But it's not in chicken or beef or lamb or mutton goat mutton not in those but it's a pork. It's a trip and if you eat it, then you ingest sinfulness and that's how you get sinful. No food just goes to the stomach and then out it's it's not the problem and.

Then mark explains at the end of verse 19. That by saying this look at that phrase at the end of verse 19 Jesus declared all foods clean in Greek is literally thus he cleansed all foods. So you're now free to eat or drink.

Anything.

Okay.

Now some are so stuck though the disciples mindset here. It's just so natural I guess too many people that to this day. Many are stuck on the idea that sin that offending God is about externals. It's about eating or drinking or doing certain things that they can't accept this idea.

Even though the Word of God here plainly says that Jesus cleansed all foods. It's what it says and he means what he says and so we said so we've had throughout churches. We people have said that eating this or that or drinking this or that is wrong for for centuries.

It was eating meat on Fridays. That's sinful. I don't know why it's not sinful on Saturdays, but whatever beginning in the 18th and then into the 19th century. When liquor began to be mass-produced first be able to mass-produce liquor.

So there's a lot of drunkenness around a big problem with drunkenness. Christians began asserting that drinking alcohol was defiling demon rum. They called it and church covenants like ours had added into them the prohibition.

Against drinking alcohol as a beverage. That was the phrase no drinking alcohol as a beverage. So to join a Baptist Church, you usually had to pledge you've been drinking an alcohol as a beverage. You can I guess you can take it as a medicine.

But not a beverage and we've had some groups that still teach that we should keep the Old Testament food laws.

To this day.

No pork, no shrimp. That kind of thing. It's traditionalism. Now one reason many have taught that is because the King James Version mistranslates the parenthetical statement at the end of verse 19 thus cleansed all foods the KJV kind of vaguely translated as Purging all meats.

And you what does that mean purging all meats? It sounds like it's.

Excretion and.

So some of the traditionalists said thus cleansed all foods is not in some of the manuscripts like verse 16. Everyone look at verse 16. You want to get up and read verse 16? Wait, did you notice there's no verse 16 skips from 15 to 17 that's because Verse 16 is not in the best manuscripts.

It's not in most manuscripts. It was likely added later some later manuscripts. Verse 16 is if anyone has ears to hear let him hear. Which is what Jesus have already said in Mark chapter 4 verse 23. But it was probably accidentally added sometime way back by some copyist and some say well that explains That phrase thus cleansed all foods.