[Jesus said] 18b “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled? (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery . . .

Mark 7:18b-21 (ESV)

Everyone knows to speak differently to children than to adults, for a child lacks the maturity and understanding needed to handle adult matters. The same is true of God’s dealing with His people in Scripture. He had to begin with the rudiments of authority, civilization, piety, and hygiene. Only later could He reveal the full gospel. This doctrine of “progressive revelation” is common knowledge to Christians. Unfortunately, foes of the faith act as though they, and the believers they castigate, have never heard of it.

These critics are fond of saying the Church is inconsistent in condemning homosexuality, while at the same time approving the consumption of shrimp and other shellfish such as prawns. The same book of Leviticus which says, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination” (Lev. 20:13a), also says, “Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is detestable to you” (Lev. 11:12). How then can Christians approve the latter while condemning the former?

The answer is simply that God’s further revelation, the New Testament, continues to denounce homosexuality (Rom. 1:26-27) and other sexual sins, while setting aside the dietary precautions of that earlier day. Jesus makes this point abundantly clear in this passage from Mark 7.

The Pharisees criticized His disciples for not washing their hands before eating (vv. 1-5). Their concern was ceremonial impurity, not hygiene. Jesus took this opportunity to show that His coming had changed things, that the priestly regimen was being replaced by the once-for-all sacrifice of the sinless Priest who offers Himself for atonement. In this New Covenant, “whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile him” (v. 18). Now the focus would fall upon “the heart of man” (v. 21).

The Levitical food laws no longer applied, but essential Levitical teaching still stood. Porneia (sexual immorality) was lastingly wrong. The list of defilements found in Leviticus 18 and 20 (e.g., fornication, bestiality, prostitution, and homosexuality) remained valid. Thus, in practically the same breath, Jesus condemned sexual activity outside of monogamous-heterosexual marriage, and declared all foods clean.

Of course, the advocate of homosexuality is not concerned with careful, biblical exegesis. He is not so much looking for an “authoritative” text as a pretext for continuing in sin. However, careful students of Scripture need not be dismayed by their Scripture twisting. Tutored by their pastors, they will know how to answer the sometimes clever arguments of those who hold God’s clear teaching in contempt, whatever the heresy or iniquity.

 
from Kairos Journal