The Hard Sayings: Matthew 15:11:

What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.

This article is part of a series explaining the sayings of Jesus that are hard to understand. To see a list of these verses, go to this page.

In translation this verse seems simple, but its keyword is simply translated incorrectly. This dumbs down the verse and makes it seem more judgmental than it is. This is ironic because this verse exposes the Pharisees as being judgmental. This verse is used to justify lifting Jewish dietary restrictions, does that make sense in terms of what Jesus really said?

This was spoken to a large crowd after Jesus concludes a discussion with the Pharisees about how they twist the law. He ends that discussion by quoting Isaiah describing their rules as “the commandments of men.” He then turned to the crowd and told them this. To his listeners, this verse had a clever double meaning that is lost in translation.

Below is this verse from a modern Biblical translation of Matthew 15:11:

NIV: What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.

The words in boldface are those that need explanation.

Incoming and Outgoing

First, the “goes” and “comes” here are reversed. The “goes” is a compound word where its root is the word usually translated as “comes.” The “comes” is also a compound word but its root is the Greek word usually translated as “goes.” Neither is an active verb as translated.

However, these words should not be translated simply as “comes” and “goes” because they are compounds, with prefixes. And both words are followed by prepositions that have the same meanings as their prefixes. This is typical of Jesus’s wordplay to emphasize a point. Both are also participles, with endings of “-ing.”

He says something like “the incoming into” and “the outgoing out.“ As I have pointed out in this article, repetition is a key element of Jesus’s humor. We can also see this repetition in these two clauses which echo and reverse each other. This is another common feature of Jesus’s wordplay.

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