Jesus does not explicitly mention dietary laws in his comments; the discussion both begins and ends with the context of hand-washing. However, his comment about things entering the mouth, going into the stomach and being eliminated could hardly refer to anything else, as both Green and Chrysostom note, both also commenting on how revolutionary a remark this is to make in the context of the Jewish religion, of which the dietary laws were a major plank. Chrysostom notes that this is so strong a conviction that even when God shows Peter a vision of permission to eat, he still refuses at first (Acts 10:14). Chrysostom also suspects that the disciples’ mentioning to Jesus that the Pharisees were offended by his ‘saying’ was really motivated by their own doubts and perplexity.

Green, as usual, sees in this episode an opposition between ‘works’ and ‘grace’[1], saying “Judaism had almost become a religion of ‘works’ designed to win the approval of God” (p171). There is an explicitly stated contrast between ‘commandment of God’ (15:3) and ‘commandments of men’ (15:9) and Chrysostom notes further that although the Pharisees refer to the oral law as ‘the tradition of the elders’ (15:2), Christ himself refers to ‘your tradition’ (15:3). But there is nothing here to suggest that the Pharisees were involved in a religion of ‘works’ that would “win the approval of God”. It is unlikely that the Pharisees saw a need, as the elect people of God, to “win” his approval; they did, however, see a need to be faithful to that election through the keeping of the Law. Their problem (as Jesus points out) was that their priorities were wrong in keeping the details of the oral law above the cries of the prophets (as Green also points out), and in some cases, even allowing the oral law to overrule the Law given by God himself. Green’s extrapolation from the washing of hands before eating to “dead ceremonialism” (p171) also seems somewhat far-fetched.[2]

What is necessary, as Jesus points out, is a constant awareness of the heart. All kinds of evils can be conceived in the heart, and granting space in the heart to these is what defiles. Hence one’s awareness should not be focused on the external matters, but on righteousness in the heart. This whole passage is a continuation of the same teaching Matthew reported in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. 5:17-48) where Jesus asks the disciples to exceed “the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” (5:20), warns against evils in the heart (e.g. 5:28) and indicates that these are the stages of righteousness leading to perfection (5:48).

[1] This is strengthened by the translation he uses for 15:6, which gives ‘word of God’ rather than ‘commandment of God’ for ‘την εντολην του θεου’. In the reference for εντολη in Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, all of the listed meanings are related to commandment, law, or precept.

[2] … though I am not attempting to defend ‘dead ceremonialism’ where such a thing should be found.