There is nothing from outside a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
All Commentaries on Mark 7:15 Go To Mark 7
Tertullian of Carthage
AD 220
Let us, then, his servants, follow our Lord and patiently submit to denunciations that we may be blessed! If, with slight forbearance, I hear some bitter or evil remark directed against me, I may return it, and then I shall inevitably become bitter myself. Either that, or I shall be tormented by unexpressed resentment. If I retaliate when cursed, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of our Lord? For his saying has been handed down that one is defiled not by unclean dishes but by the words which proceed from his mouth.
