Evil begins in the heart and eventually leads to action

¹⁴Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ¹⁵It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” ¹⁶

¹⁷Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. ¹⁸“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? ¹⁹Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

²⁰And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. ²¹For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²²adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. ²³All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”