Home > Jesus is God in Mark's Gospel
In Christian theology, Jesus didn’t abolish the Law but fulfilled it (Matthew 5:17). This means the ceremonial aspects, like dietary laws, were temporary shadows pointing to a deeper reality. Removing food restrictions opened the way for Gentiles to enter the community without adopting Jewish customs, aligning with the Kingdom’s universal scope.
Mark 7:14–19 - And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
The writer of Hebrews explains this as well.
Hebrews 9:9–11 - (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
Jesus declares all foods clean (v. 19), asserting authority over the Mosaic Law—an authority reserved for the Lawgiver Himself. This is one of the most radical moments in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus calls the multitude and makes a declaration that fundamentally alters the Jewish worldview: *"There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him..." *
Why was there dietary laws at all?
Why abrogate these dietary laws. Jesus’ declaration in Mark 7 (and the later vision given to Peter in Acts 10) marks a massive shift in Redemptive History:
The "point" was never the food itself; it was the training of a people to understand holiness (clean and unclean) so they could eventually recognise the Holy One.
Mark adds the crucial editorial note in verse 19: "(Thus he declared all foods clean.)". For a first-century Jew, the distinction between clean and unclean food was the boundary marker of God's chosen people (Leviticus 11).
No prophet—not even Moses—had the authority to declare "all foods clean." Only the Creator who originally designated certain animals as unclean has the right to lift that restriction. By doing so, Jesus is claiming a status superior to Moses and equal to Yahweh.