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For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.
Verse Takeaways
1
The Heart is the Real Problem
Commentators unanimously agree that Jesus shifts the focus from external rituals to the internal state of a person. The list of sins—from evil thoughts to murder—demonstrates that the human heart, not unwashed hands, is the true source of spiritual defilement. As one scholar puts it, the heart is the 'hive' from which these 'bees' of sin emerge.
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Book Overview
Matthew
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11
18th Century
Presbyterian
Christ proceeds to state what does defile the man, or make him a sinner:
Evil thoughts. These are the first thing…
19th Century
Anglican
Evil thoughts, ... blasphemies—The plural form points to the great variety of guilt found under each category. The order is, to so…
Baptist
What a list! What must that heart be from which so many evils pour forth! These are the bees—what must the hive be! Evil thoughts, or reas…
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16th Century
Protestant
For out of the heart proceed wicked thoughts; hence we infer that the word mouth, as I have mentioned, was used by Christ in a fo…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts Of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, of fellow creatures, and of all sorts o…
Christ shows that the defilement they should fear was not from what entered their mouths as food, but from what came out of their mouths, which sho…
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13th Century
Catholic
Above, the Lord showed the power of His teaching under figures; now He shows its sufficiency. This is shown in two ways. Firstly, He shows that He …