What Does Mark 7:20 Mean?
And he said, That which comes out of a man, that makes the man common.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.THE KEY
What leaves you can make you κοινός, common, profaned, so the verse locates defilement in what emerges from within.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to your present life: what comes out of you can defile you. It locates that harm in what proceeds from within, showing that what you express can shape your own condition.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this dissolves is that whatever touches you from outside is the only source of defilement, while what comes from within is harmless.
THE ROOT
κοινοῖ
koinoi
GROWS FROM
κοιν-
koin-
Common or shared; in this verb, to make common or profane.
“makes ... common” in this verse is koinoi. The verb belongs to the family of κοινός, meaning common or shared, and can describe making something profane. The same family names κοινωνία (koinōnia), sharing in common: the verse reveals defilement as a change in how the person is regarded, from set apart to common.
ALSO GROWS
koinōnia: Sharing in common
κοινωνία
This branch shows the family’s sense of shared participation; in the verse, the related verb describes making a person common or profane.
koinōnos: Partner, participant
κοινωνός
This branch names someone who shares in something, echoing the root’s movement between common participation and being made common.
ἐκπορευόμενον
ekporeuomenon
GROWS FROM
πορεύομαι
poreuomai
To go, travel, or proceed; with ἐκ (ek, out), to go forth or proceed out.
“cometh out” in this verse is ekporeuomenon. The word describes movement outward from a source; the movement itself does not say whether what proceeds is good or harmful. The source and what comes from it give the outflow its character, a distinction also visible in the same verb in John 15:26.
ALSO GROWS
poreuomai: To go, travel, or proceed
πορεύομαι
The base verb makes clear that the word pictures movement, not a fixed state.
ekporeuomai: To go out or proceed forth
ἐκπορεύομαι
This is the verb family used in the verse and highlights the outward movement from within the human.
THE PATTERN
What flows from within gives outward form to its source and can shape a person’s condition.
Above every watch you keep, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.A good human brings out good from the good treasure of the heart, and an evil human brings out evil from the evil treasure of the heart, for from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.But what comes out of the mouth comes forth from the heart, and that makes a person common.THE THREAD
But when the One who comes alongside arrives, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Breath of truth, which goes out from the Father, he will bear witness of me.Mark’s “cometh out” and John’s “proceedeth” use the same Greek verb, ἐκπορεύομαι (ekporeuomai, to go forth or proceed). The verb names movement from a source; here, what proceeds from the human defiles, while what proceeds from the Father is the Spirit of truth.
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