What is the context?
Jesus calls the crowd to listen and says that what comes out of the mouth defiles a person. The disciples report that the Pharisees are offended. Jesus responds with pictures of an uprooted plant and blind guides, warning against following guidance that leads people into danger.
Peter asks for an explanation. Jesus contrasts the ordinary path of food through the body with words and actions that come from the heart. He names evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. The problem He exposes is moral corruption within a person.
The verb for defile is κοινόω, koinoō (koy-NOH-oh), to make unclean or profane. Thayer's entry includes these verses. The discussion begins with unwashed hands, but Jesus uses the language of uncleanness to bring the hearers face to face with the evil expressed in their lives.
He closes by returning to the original complaint: eating with unwashed hands does not defile someone. Mark 7:17–23 gives the related explanation and its implications for food. In Matthew, the list of harmful thoughts and deeds makes clear why outward religious practices cannot substitute for a changed heart.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly read this as teaching that moral uncleanness comes from the heart and appears in a person's thoughts, words, and deeds. Wesley on Matthew 15:19 follows that movement from evil thoughts into the sins Jesus lists. The US Catholic bishops' note on 15:1–20 likewise emphasizes the inner source of defilement and the return to the handwashing question. The warning calls people to examine their lives more deeply than outward observance alone.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
God's promise of cleansing reaches the heart. In Ezekiel 36:22–28, He promises Israel cleansing, a new heart, and His Spirit enabling obedience. That is a related promise of God addressing what His people cannot repair merely by maintaining appearances.
James 1:21–25 calls people to receive the planted word and put it into practice. God's renewing work is meant to shape what a person does. The larger biblical answer to the heart's corruption includes both His gift of renewal and the life of obedience that grows from it.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.