Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within...
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Alternative: All these worthless things come out from within and communicate [what] a person [is].
We have discussed how the world translated as "defile" actually means "communicate in the last several posts. Christ's issue in this lesson is how we judge people not how we "defile" ourselves. It starts with the Pharisee's judgments of Christ's followers for now washing their hands.
More interesting in this verse is the switch from the term used for "evil" in Mar 7:21, which was kakos and has a clearer meaning of evil to the word used here, which is ponêros, which means "worthless" or "base." This difference is discussed extensively in this page. Christ seldom uses the former word, usually preferring to describe things not as "evil" but as "worthless." The idea of "worthless" is also used in Matthew's version of Mar 7:21 in Mat 15:19.
In this longer version, Christ may be drawing a distinction between evil thoughts and worthless actions. The evil is in the motivation, the driving spirit. The actions that they inspire are merely worthless. Christ's contrasts beautiful, productive actions with base, worthless ones.
This brings us to the contrast in this series of verses between what is inside (esothen) and what is inside (exothen). Spirit and thoughts are inside, while relationships and actions are on the outside. Spirit and thought are the motivation. Relationships and actions are the end result. Of these four, only spirit is eternal and transcendent. Our thoughts, relationships, and actions are temporary.
"Evil things" is from ponêros (poneros), which we discuss extensively in this page. In a moral sense, it means "worthless," "base," and "cowardly."
"Comes" is from ekporeuô (ekporeuomai), which means "to make to go out," "to fetch out," and "to march out."
"From within" is from esothen, which means "from within" and "inward."
"The man" is from anthrôpos (anthropos), which "man," and, in plural, "mankind." It also means "humanity" and that which is human and opposed to that which is animal or inanimate.
"Defiles" is from koinoô (koinoo), which means "to communicate," "to impart," "to share," and "to make common." Only in Matthew is it translated as "defile" from the idea that to make something "common" is to defile it.
