ACC ~ Matthew 15 v11

NOT WHAT ENTERS INTO THE MOUTH MAKES ONE HOLY

ORIGEN: Now anyone who has come to this place in the text can agree that it is “not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man,” even if it is considered to be defiling by Jews. In exactly the same way it is “not what enters into the mouth” that makes the person holy. This is so even if that which is called the bread of the Lord is considered to make the person holy by some of the more impeccable disciples. The two cases are similar. It is not the food but the conscience of the one who eats with doubt about its propriety that defiles the person who has eaten. For “the one who doubts is condemned if one eats, because one is not eating from faith.” [1] It is also like the case in which “nothing is pure to the one who is defiled and unbelieving.” [2] The thing involved is impure not because of itself but because of the person’s defilement and unbelief. In the same way, that which is “made holy through the word of God and prayer” does not on its own account make the one who uses it holy. [3] For if it did, it would also make holy the one who eats of the Lord “in an unworthy manner” and no one would become “weak” or “sickly” or would “sleep” because of this food. For this is what Paul showed in the statement, “Because of this many among you are weak and sickly and a significant number are falling asleep.” [4] Therefore, in the case of the bread of the Lord, the one who uses it derives benefit when one shares in the bread with a mind that is undefiled and a conscience that is pure. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.14-15. [5]

[1] Rom 14:23.

[2] Tit 1:15.

[3] 1 Tim 4:5 (cf. 1 Tim 4:3-5).

[4] 1 Cor 11:30.

[5] GCS 40:57-58; ANF 9:443.

THE SPRING OF SINS

ORIGEN: We are accused by the Jews and Ebionites [1] of being violators of the laws that we read in Leviticus and Deuteronomy concerning clean and unclean food. But by means of what is said in this passage we are clearly taught by the Savior not to think that the simple meaning of these laws is the aim intended in the Scripture. For Jesus says, “Not that which enters into the mouth defiles a person but that which comes out of the mouth.” Especially significant is what is said in the Gospel of Mark: “Thus he declared all foods clean.” [2] Since all this is so, it is obvious that we are not defiled when we eat things that are said to be unclean by Jews, who want to serve the letter of the law. Instead, we are defiled when we say whatever happens to be on our mind and we talk about things that we should not talk about, even though our lips should be bound “with perception” and we should make for them “a measuring balance and a standard of measure.” The spring of sins comes to us from such talking. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.12. [3]

[1] Christians of strongly Jewish tendencies. From the end of the second century they were considered heretics.

[2] Mk 7:19.

[3] GCS 40:52-53; ANF 9:440.

FOOD AS SUCH DOES NOT DEFILE

CHROMATIUS: The Lord wanted to show up the uncalled-for offense taken by the scribes and the Pharisees about unwashed hands. So he beckoned the crowd to him and said, “What goes into the mouth does not defile a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, that defiles a man.” He explained that a man is defiled not from the food that enters his mouth but from the perverse thoughts of his mind, which proceed from his heart. For the food we receive for eating was created and blessed by God to sustain human life. So, it cannot defile a man. Indeed, wicked and perverse thoughts that proceed from the heart, as the Lord himself noted—“murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy,” [1] the author of which is the devil—these are the things that really defile a man. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 53.2. [2]

[1] Mt 15:19.

[2] CCL 9a:463.