What Does Matthew 15:11 Mean?
What enters the mouth does not make a person common, but what comes out of the mouth, this makes a person 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
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.THE KEY
The word translated “defile” means to make common, placing the power to profane in what comes out of the mouth.
THE MEANING
What enters through your mouth does not defile you; what comes out does. Your words carry your inward condition into the open, where they can profane you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that what enters from outside makes you unclean while what you say is harmless.
THE ROOT
κοινοῖ
koinoi
GROWS FROM
κοιν-
koin-
Common or shared; the verb means to make common, and so to profane or defile.
“make common” in this verse is koinoi. English “defile” can sound like surface contamination, but κοινοῖ carries the sense of making common. The verse locates that profaning force in what comes out of the mouth; the next verse identifies the heart as its source.
ALSO GROWS
koinos: Common, shared; also profane in some contexts.
κοινός
The adjective names the commonness that the verb brings about here.
koinōnia: Sharing in common.
κοινωνία
The same word family speaks of what is held in common; here, making common takes on the force of profaning.
THE PATTERN
What comes from within carries the inner source outward.
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.Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and curse. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.THE THREAD
But what comes out of the mouth comes forth from the heart, and that makes a person common.This verse uses the same Greek verb, κοινοῖ (koinoi), for “defile.” It opens the source behind the words of Matthew 15:11: what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us