Mark 7:19b – A Short Technical Note

By Tim Hegg

Mark 7:18–19 is a text to which many refer when they are arguing that Yeshua did away with the the Torah.

And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) [NASB]

This belief, that Yeshua did away with the Torah, is argued from this text by logical inference: since Yeshua seems clearly to dismiss the Torah laws of clean and unclean foods, it stands to reason that He likewise could be dismissing the whole Torah. If one law of the Torah has been rendered irrelevant, the possibility exists that others have been likewise set aside, and all the more so since the Torah is presented as a unified whole by the Scriptures themselves. For instance, James says, “For whoever keeps the whole Torah and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all (James 2:10).

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Tim Hegg

President / Instructor

Tim graduated from Cedarville University in 1973 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music and Bible, with a minor in Philosophy. He entered Northwest Baptist Seminary (Tacoma, WA) in 1973, completing his M.Div. (summa cum laude) in 1976. He completed his Th.M. (summa cum laude) in 1978, also from NWBS. His Master’s Thesis was titled: “The Abrahamic Covenant and the Covenant of Grant in the Ancient Near East”. Tim taught Biblical Hebrew and Hebrew Exegesis for three years as an adjunct faculty member at Corban University School of Ministry when the school was located in Tacoma. Corban University School of Ministry is now in Salem, OR. Tim is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature, and has contributed papers at the annual meetings of both societies. Since 1990, Tim has served as one of the Overseers at Beit Hallel in Tacoma, WA. He and his wife, Paulette, have four children, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.