Shocking News for Many Christians
I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but washing your hands before you eat isn’t a biblical teaching. I say this because “Cleanliness is next to godliness” isn’t something the Bible emphasizes. That saying is attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas, who lived in the thirteenth century hundreds of years after the New Testament was written.
Hear me on this: I am not against handwashing. It has its place. According to foodsafety.gov:
Handwashing is especially important when handling food and at other times when you are likely to get and spread germs. Protect yourself and your family by washing your hands at these key times: Before, during, and after preparing food. Before eating.
But it may be the case that Jesus Himself didn’t always wash His hands before eating. I say this because we know for sure that His disciples didn’t:
Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault. (WMB Mk 7:1-2)
Here’s what Jesus told the multitude after His run-in with the Pharisees and scribes:
He called all the multitude to himself and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing from outside of the man that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him, because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, making all foods clean?” He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile the man.” (WMB Mk 7:14-23)
I personally think (based on Romans 14:3-8) that it’s not our place as New Testament believers to tell other believers what to eat. I do think, however, that our Bible translators should stick to what the Bible actually says instead of adding and subtracting words to fit with their theologies. They have done a terrible job with Mark 7:19, the passage I cited above. In Greek, the last four words of Mark 7:19 are καθαρίζων πάντα τὰ βρώματα, translated above as “making all foods clean.” They should be translated as “purging all the food.” “Purging all the food” is the literal translation of καθαρίζων πάντα τὰ βρώματα. But here’s how some other “translations” have handled this:
The KJV doesn’t even try to translate καθαρίζων πάντα τὰ βρώματα -- it simply leaves those four words out.
CEV: By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.
ESV: (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
HCSB: (As a result, He made all foods clean.)
NASB 1995: (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
NET: (This means all foods are clean.)
NIV: (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
NLT: (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
So what WAS Jesus saying here? It seems pretty clear that He was saying this:
It is what comes OUT of a person's heart that defiles him
And He was saying nothing about diet or hand washing - ceremonial or actual.
Margot Armer
