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MATTHEW 15:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 15:19Matt 15:21
“These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”
These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. The conclusion: the catalog of heart-sourced sins is what defiles; eating with unwashed hands does not. The Pharisees' concern about handwashing addressed the wrong category of defilement. The washing that matters is the washing of the heart — the circumcision of the heart that Deuteronomy 30:6 promised and Jeremiah 31:33 elaborated.

Church Fathers on Matthew 15:20

The Lord was used to speak in parables, so that Peter when he heard, 'That which entereth into the mouth, defileth not a man,' thought it was spoken as a parable, and asked, as it follows; 'Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.' And because he asked this on behalf of the rest, they are all included in the rebuke, 'But he said, Are ye also yet without understanding?'

Remigius · 9th century

He is reproved by the Lord, because He supposed that to be spoken parabolically, which was indeed spoken plainly. Which teaches us that the hearer is to be blamed who would take dark sayings as clear, or clear sayings as obscure.

Jerome · 4th century

Or, The Lord blames him, because it was not from any uncertainty that he asked this, but from offence which he had taken. The multitudes had not understood what had been said; but the disciples were offended at it, whence at the first they had desired to ask Him concerning the Pharisees, but had been stayed by that mighty declaration, 'Every plant, &c.'

Chrysostom · 4th century
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 15:20 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy