Verse of the Day
Author Spotlight
Loading featured author...
Report Issue
See a formatting issue or error?
Let us know →
Verse Takeaways
1
Ceremony, Not Sanitation
Commentators stress that the Pharisees' complaint was not about hygiene but about religious ceremony. The disciples were accused of breaking a man-made tradition regarding ceremonial purity. This distinction is crucial for understanding Jesus's subsequent teaching on what truly defiles a person.
See 3 Verse Takeaways
Book Overview
Mark
Author
Audience
Composition
Teaching Highlights
Outline
+ 5 more
See Overview
Commentaries
6
Albert Barnes
On Mark 7:2
18th Century
Theologian
Defiled hands. The hands were considered defiled, or polluted, unless they were washed before every meal.
AT Robertson
On Mark 7:2
With defiled, that is unwashen hands (κοιναις χερσιν, τουτ' εστιν ανιπτοις). Associative instrumental case. Originally κοινος mean…
Charles Ellicott
On Mark 7:2
19th Century
Bishop
With defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands—the first word means literally common. This came to be associated, as …
Go Ad-Free
Go ad-free and create your own bookmark library
Expositor's Bible Commentary
On Mark 7:2
Another delegation of fact-finding theologians came down from Jerusalem (cf. 3:22) to investigate the Galilean activities of Jesus. They discovered…
John Gill
On Mark 7:2
17th Century
Pastor
And when they saw some of his disciples
An opportunity soon offered of giving them an handle against him: for observ…
Matthew Henry
On Mark 7:1–13
17th Century
Minister
One great design of Christ's coming was to set aside the ceremonial law; and to make way for this, he rejects the ceremonies men added to the law o…