What Does Mark 7:15 Mean in the King James?
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word behind “defile” means “make common,” so the verse locates the profaning force in what proceeds from within, not in what enters from outside.
THE MEANING
What enters from outside does not make you common before God; what proceeds from within can. The verse locates defilement in the inward life from which a person’s outward expression comes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that contact with an external thing, by itself, makes you inwardly profane.
THE ROOT
κοινόω
koinoō
GROWS FROM
κοιν-
koin-
To make common, or treat as ordinary or profane.
The Greek verb translated “defile” comes from the word for “common.” The verse presents defilement as a making-common that proceeds from within, while what merely enters from outside does not do this.
ALSO GROWS
koinos: Common, shared, or ordinary; in some contexts, profane or unclean.
κοινός
This is the base word behind “defile,” revealing that the word carries the idea of making something common.
koinōnia: Sharing in common; participation or fellowship.
κοινωνία
This related word shows the broader family’s sense of what is shared or held in common.
THE PATTERN
Defilement is traced to what proceeds from within, while what enters from outside does not make the person common.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.THE THREAD
And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.The Greek word-family behind “defile” in Mark appears here as “common.” Mark locates the making-common in what proceeds from within; Acts uses the same word-family when Peter is told not to call common what God has cleansed.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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