17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") NIV
This passage has to be read in it's full context. The issue here is if or not Jesus and his disciple were braking any laws because they didn't wash their hands. Washing hands is a good practice today but the pharisees missed the entire point; it symbolizes Christ as the one who washes away sin. (Remember that every time you wash up for dinner) If I was with Jesus, I would have said something like "You're plotting to kill me yet you're worried about me and my friends washing ours hands? You gotta be kidding me. Who has the greater sin?" Take these things into consideration when reading verse 19. This really has nothing to do with food, but hand washing. If I forget to wash my hands and then eat a sandwich, my stomach should take care of the dirt. I remember my grandmother telling me about the time she made mud pies and then told the neighbor girl they were chocolate. She ate them. We've all had the situation in verse 19 happen to us. It doesn't mean we are unclean because we didn't wash up before hand.
The act of washing our hands does not make us clean, but rather how we use our hands. I have a sister who travels. She told me about the caste system in India. People who are seen as untouchables are looked down upon. Higher classes avoid them and try to remain clean by doing so. Should we not help and stay away from them? No, because we can show them how Jesus has purified us. We don't need to wash our hands for the spiritual application because Jesus has done so for us. We should still wash our hands to prevent disease and illness.
We start to run into problems with the NIV and most modern translations. Lets compare—
NIV
17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
KJV
17And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;19Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
"and then out of his body" is the equivalent of "purging all meats". Finally, the last part "In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean."" isn't even found in the original greek, so it was clearly added later.
parallel translations — http://bible.cc/mark/7-19.htm
greek — http://biblelexicon.org/mark/7-19.htm
—What others say—
"...Also, the phrase in Mark 7:19, “Jesus declared all foods ‘clean’” is a mistranslation from the Greek (likely a deliberate act of antinomist scribes)."
– from http://jewsandjoes.com/blog/pastor-joel-osteen-teaches-christians-ephraimites-about-pork/
"In the New Testament, Jesus never once even hinted that all meatswere made clean. For example, in Mark 7 the entire context of thechapter is a vital concept involving our MIND and not physicalfood. The first rule of Bible Study is to study scriptures intheir context, and not to pull them out of context to try toestablish a doctrine or point of truth."
- from http://www.keithhunt.com/Food20.html (Answers magazine, a non-adventist, creationist publication.)
—More Resources—
Joel Osteen video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5kek3D-4I
http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/PetersVision.pdf
http://www.tnnonline.net/theonews/messianic-issues/basic-apologetics/Basic_Messianic_Apologetics.pdf
http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/porkfacts.html
http://www.amazingfacts.org/Radio/JoeCrewsRadioSermons/tabid/90/ctl/PlayMedia/mid/423/MDID/1875/PID/848/SID/4/SQT/1000/7/Questions-and-Answers---Part-3/Default.aspx
http://www.amazingfacts.org/Radio/BibleAnswersLiveQuestionArchive/tabid/212/ctl/PlayMedia/mid/731/MDID/2339/PID/1178/SID/13/SQT/1000/7/Is-it-unhealthy-to-eat-pork/Default.aspx
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081126124328AARb2YB
