Why does the Old Testament have so many strange laws?
Galatians 3:23-25
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.
24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
New International Version (NIV)
The answer
Many Old Testament laws seem strange because they were given to ancient Israel as God’s covenant nation, not as one uniform code for every later society. Some marked Israel’s holy identity, some governed national life and restrained wrongdoing, some exposed sin, and some taught through sacrifices and purity regulations until Christ came. They are not foolish or defective: Romans 7:12 calls the law “holy, righteous, and good.”
They marked out a holy nation
God chose Israel to be His own possession and “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). Deuteronomy 14:1-3 directly connects restrictions concerning mourning and food with Israel being holy and chosen. Food, clothing, mourning and worship were not separate from faith: ordinary life came under Israel’s covenant allegiance to God.
Not every detail comes with an explanation. Deuteronomy 22:9-11 prohibits mixing seed, yoking an ox with a donkey, and weaving wool and linen together, but does not provide a separate symbolic or practical reason for each command. It is better to accept what the text says than to invent a health benefit or hidden allegory. Sometimes Scripture states the purpose; sometimes it simply records what God required of Israel.
They governed society and restrained sin
Deuteronomy 4:6-8 describes Israel’s statutes as righteous and as wisdom in the sight of other nations. Many were case laws for a real nation dealing with property, injury, marriage, worship and justice.
A regulation also did not necessarily mean that God approved everything being regulated. Jesus explains that Moses permitted divorce because of hard hearts, while God’s purpose from the beginning remained lifelong marriage (Matthew 19:8). Some laws therefore restrained existing sin without describing God’s original ideal.
The law also exposed wrongdoing rather than providing a way for sinners to boast in their goodness. Romans 3:19 says that it stops every mouth and makes the whole world guilty before God.
They taught through patterns of cleansing and sacrifice
Hebrews 10:1-4 explains that the law contained “a shadow of the good to come.” Its repeated sacrifices reminded people of sin, while the blood of bulls and goats could not take sins away. Colossians 2:16-17 similarly calls food regulations, festivals and Sabbaths shadows whose substance belongs to Christ.
Ceremonial uncleanness was also not identical to personal immorality. Jesus makes all foods clean and locates moral defilement in the evil that comes from the human heart (Mark 7:19-23). A food restriction was therefore not teaching that an animal was evil in the way that murder or adultery is evil.
They were a tutor leading to Christ
Galatians 3:23-25 gathers these purposes together. Before faith came, the law held people in custody; it became “our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Now that faith has come, believers are no longer under that tutor.
That does not make the Old Testament meaningless or authorize lawlessness. Jesus came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). The New Testament still repeats moral commandments and sums them up in love for one’s neighbor (Romans 13:8-10), while showing that the sacrifices and ceremonial shadows reach their goal in Christ. Hebrews 9:12-14 declares that Christ entered the Holy Place through His own blood, obtained eternal redemption, and cleanses the conscience to serve the living God. The tutor leads sinners away from self-justification and to Him.
Answered from Scripture · reviewed November 11, 2026
The laws of the Old Testament often seem bewildering when read as a modern checklist rather than through the lens of God's unfolding redemptive purpose. Scripture reveals that God gave His law to expose human sin, govern Israel as a distinct theocracy, and point forward to Jesus Christ. When we understand how moral, ceremonial, and civil commands function together, their ancient strangeness gives way to divine wisdom.
The Law as Tutor
The Law Exposes Sin and Leads to Christ
So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:24 (NIV)
This verse reveals the overarching purpose of the Mosaic law as a temporary guardian designed to drive us to justification in Christ.
In Galatians 3:24, Paul unveils the primary diagnostic purpose of the Mosaic code: the law was our guardian until Christ came, functioning like a strict tutor in an ancient household who restrained an heir until full maturity. The law was never given as a ladder of self-salvation; rather, Galatians 3:19 explains that it was added because of transgressions until the promised Seed should come. Before that day, Galatians 3:23 tells us we were held captive under the law, locked up until faith was revealed. Once Christ arrived and faith was given, Galatians 3:25 makes clear that we are no longer under that temporary disciplinarian. Instead of justifying, the commandment exposes our complete moral bankruptcy. Paul writes in Romans 3:19 that the law speaks to silence every human excuse and hold the entire world accountable before God, while Romans 3:20 settles the issue decisively: no human being will ever be justified by works of the law, since through the law comes the sheer knowledge of sin.
This unmasking role does not mean the commandment is flawed or malicious. In Romans 7:7, Paul asks whether the law is sin, answering with an emphatic refusal: he would not have recognized coveting had the law not forbidden it. Indeed, Romans 7:12 affirms that the commandment itself is holy, righteous, and good. Yet fallen human nature seizes upon the commandment; as Romans 7:13 teaches, sin works death through what is good, unveiling sin's horrific, exceeding wickedness. God orchestrated this diagnosis deliberately: Romans 11:32 declares that He consigned all to disobedience that He might have mercy on all. In the pastoral wisdom of 1 Timothy 1:8-10, we are reminded that the law is good if used lawfully—not as a ground of boasting for the righteous, but as an unrelenting standard that convicts the ungodly and drives sinners to the cross.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Galatians 3:19 | Paul explains that the law was added because of transgressions until the promised Seed, Jesus Christ, should arrive. |
| Galatians 3:23 | Scripture describes the people of God as being held in custody under the law before the revelation of faith. |
| Galatians 3:24 | The law served as our schoolmaster or guardian to bring us to Christ so we might be justified by faith. |
| Galatians 3:25 | Paul clarifies that once faith in Christ has arrived, believers are no longer under that temporary guardian. |
| Romans 3:19 | The law speaks so that every human mouth may be stopped and the entire world held accountable before God. |
| Romans 3:20 | Paul states that no flesh will be justified by the deeds of the law, for the law brings knowledge of sin. |
| Romans 7:7 | The law is not sin, but it uncovers covetousness and hidden wickedness in the human heart. |
| Romans 7:12 | Paul affirms that the commandment itself is holy, righteous, and good, even as it reveals human rebellion. |
| Romans 7:13 | Sin uses the holy commandment to produce death, showing sin's utter and exceeding sinfulness. |
| Romans 11:32 | God has consigned all people to disobedience so that He may have mercy upon all through faith in Christ. |
| 1 Timothy 1:8-10 | Affirms the law is good when used lawfully to convict the lawless and ungodly of sin. |
The Unchanging Standard
The Moral Law Displays God's Eternal Holiness
And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:1-3 (NIV)
God grounds all moral duty in His personal identity as the Lord who redeems His people from bondage.
In Exodus 20:1-3, the Lord establishes the enduring bedrock of all biblical ethics by anchoring His commands in His own identity: God's moral law reflects His unchanging holiness and redemptive grace. Before issuing a single prohibition, God reminds Israel that He is the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery. The Ten Commandments detailed in Exodus 20:1-17 are not arbitrary, culturally bound conventions; they define the permanent moral shape of true worship, honoring parents, guarding human life, preserving the sanctity of marriage, upholding truth, and maintaining contentment against covetousness.
The entire moral framework of Scripture coheres around this single heartbeat. In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the great Shema commands Israel to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might, declaring that undivided worship is the only rational response to the one true God. Flowing from that supreme devotion is horizontal righteousness; Leviticus 19:18 demands that God's people love their neighbor as themselves, refusing to harbor vengeance or grudge against their fellows. When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, He cited these very texts in Matthew 22:37-40, declaring that on these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. Writing to the church in Rome centuries later, Paul confirms in Romans 13:9 that the specific prohibitions against adultery, murder, theft, and coveting are all summed up in this one sentence: love your neighbor as yourself. While rituals and national borders change across redemptive history, God's eternal moral character remains absolute, demanding a life saturated with love toward God and neighbor.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Exodus 20:1-17 | The Ten Commandments lay down the permanent moral baseline regarding worship, family, life, marriage, truth, and desire. |
| Deuteronomy 6:4-5 | The Shema commands total love for the one true God with heart, soul, and all one's might. |
| Leviticus 19:18 | The moral statutes command God's people to love their neighbors as themselves rather than harbor vengeance. |
| Matthew 22:37-40 | Jesus declares that all the Law and the Prophets hang upon loving God and loving one's neighbor. |
| Romans 13:9 | Paul shows that the ancient moral commandments are fulfilled and summarized in the single command to love your neighbor. |
Shadows of Christ
Ceremonial Cleanliness Points to the True Cleanser
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
Hebrews 10:1 (NIV)
This verse directly defines ceremonial ordinances as shadows pointing ahead to the perfect reality found in Jesus Christ.
The author of Hebrews cuts through the mystery of ancient ritual in Hebrews 10:1 by explaining that the ceremonial law possessed only a shadow of the good things to come, rather than the true form of those realities. Every unusual cleanliness code was a physical sermon pointing forward to the work of Jesus Christ. The dietary separations of clean and unclean beasts in Leviticus 11:1-8 impressed holy distinction upon Israel's daily diet; yet Mark 7:18-19 records that Jesus declared all foods clean, an abolition dramatized when God commanded Peter to kill and eat in Acts 10:11-15, signaling the inclusion of Gentile believers. When Leviticus 14:33-48 meticulously commanded the inspection and scraping of mold from houses, it pictured the pervasive, defiling nature of sin that only the cleansing blood of Christ, promised in Hebrews 9:13-14, could eradicate.
On Israel's most solemn day, Leviticus 16:15-16 required sacrificial blood to cleanse the earthly sanctuary; Hebrews 9:11-12 and Hebrews 9:24-26 reveal that Christ entered the true heavenly holy place through His own blood to put away sin permanently. The peculiar prohibitions of Leviticus 19:19 against cross-breeding livestock, sowing mixed seed, or wearing woven wool and linen visibly dramatized spiritual separation, anticipating the moral purity required of believers in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17. The ritual uncleanness from touching death in Numbers 19:11-13 pointed straight to the conscience-cleansing power of Christ in Hebrews 9:13-14. As Paul states in Colossians 2:16-17, dietary rules, festivals, and Sabbaths were shadows whose substance belongs to Christ. Because Hebrews 9:8-10 teaches that these fleshly ordinances were imposed only until the time of reformation, Hebrews 8:13 declares the old ceremonial administration obsolete, fully realized in Christ's once-for-all sacrifice described in Hebrews 10:10-14.
| Passage | What it says | Fulfilled |
|---|---|---|
| Leviticus 11:1-8 | Dietary restrictions mark out clean and unclean animals to instill visible distinctions of holiness in daily life. | Acts 10:13-15, Mark 7:18-19 |
| Leviticus 14:33-48 | Meticulous laws regarding mold and mildew in houses enforce absolute ceremonial purity in the community. | Hebrews 9:13-14 |
| Leviticus 16:15-16 | The Day of Atonement requires blood sacrifices to cleanse the sanctuary and atone for Israel's sins. | Hebrews 9:11-12, Hebrews 9:24-26 |
| Leviticus 19:19 | Prohibitions against mixing seeds, breeding diverse animals, and wearing blended fabrics symbolize spiritual separation. | 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 |
| Numbers 19:11-13 | Touching a dead body causes uncleanness, requiring the ashes of a red heifer for ritual purification. | Hebrews 9:13-14 |
| Colossians 2:16-17 | Paul teaches that dietary laws, festivals, and Sabbaths were a shadow, but the substance belongs to Christ. | Hebrews 8:5 |
| Hebrews 9:8-10 | The old tabernacle regulations were fleshly ordinances imposed only until the appointed time of reformation. | Hebrews 9:11-14 |
| Hebrews 10:1 | The law holds only a shadow of the good things to come, unable to make worshipers permanently perfect. | Hebrews 10:10-14 |
| Mark 7:18-19 | Jesus declares all foods clean, showing the transitional nature of Old Testament dietary boundaries. | Mark 7:18-19 |
| Acts 10:11-15 | Peter's vision of unclean animals reveals God has cleansed Gentiles and abolished ritual food divisions. | Acts 10:11-15 |
| Hebrews 8:13 | The declaration of a new covenant makes the old ceremonial administration obsolete. | Hebrews 8:13 |
Theocracy and Justice
Civil Laws Governed a Nation under God
Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
Deuteronomy 4:6-8 (NIV)
Moses declares that Israel's civil statutes were designed to reveal God's remarkable justice and wisdom to surrounding nations.
In Deuteronomy 4:6-8, Moses presents the distinct judicial code of Israel as a light to the ancient world, asking what great nation had statutes and rules so righteous as this whole law. Israel's civil statutes were never meant to be a random assortment of peculiar taboos; they were the practical, localized constitution of a theocracy walking directly with God. These judicial rulings applied the transcendent moral law to the concrete agrarian realities of an ancient Near Eastern nation, displaying an astonishing balance of justice, proportionality, and compassion that far outshone the harsh, class-stratified codes of neighboring empires.
Scripture demonstrates this civic justice in everyday life. Exodus 21:18-19 commands fair financial restitution for lost time and medical care when a fight leads to personal injury, establishing clear accountability without excessive retaliation. In Exodus 22:1-4, thieves were required to pay back two-, four-, or five-fold what they stole, securing justice for the victim while prioritizing restitution and labor over brutal mutilation or indefinite imprisonment. In Deuteronomy 19:1-6, God ordered the creation of accessible cities of refuge, providing an orderly, state-sanctioned haven where someone who caused an accidental death could escape private vengeance and receive a fair trial. Even domestic architecture was held to a standard of civic care: Deuteronomy 22:8 required homeowners to build a protective parapet around their flat roofs so no one would fall, establishing a legal duty to protect human life through basic safety measures. These civil statutes served a specific covenant nation at a specific era, showing surrounding peoples the near presence and righteous wisdom of the living God.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Exodus 21:18-19 | Judicial laws prescribe liability and financial restitution for bodily injuries caused during personal quarrels. |
| Exodus 22:1-4 | Restitution requirements for theft establish societal justice and personal responsibility before God. |
| Deuteronomy 4:6-8 | Israel's judicial statutes were meant to exhibit God's extraordinary righteousness and near presence to observing nations. |
| Deuteronomy 19:1-6 | Cities of refuge provide orderly, state-sanctioned protection for individuals who cause accidental deaths. |
| Deuteronomy 22:8 | Building a parapet around a flat roof protects human life from accidental falls through civic safety standards. |
Life Under Grace
The Believer's Freedom and the Holy Spirit
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:14 (NIV)
This verse proclaims that the reign of sin is broken because the believer lives under divine grace rather than law.
The heartbeat of the Christian life is captured in Romans 6:14, where Paul declares, 'For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.' This profound transition does not mean God has abandoned His standard of righteousness, but rather that the believer has been transferred out from under the condemning jurisdiction of the Sinai covenant. As Romans 6:14-15 explains, liberation from the law's curse does not grant license to sin; rather, it establishes true spiritual freedom under the reign of sovereign grace.
The Mosaic system, holy and good though it was, lacked the power to transform the human heart. Romans 8:3-4 reveals that what the law was powerless to do, weakened as it was by our fallen flesh, God accomplished by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. By condemning sin in Christ's body, God met the righteous requirement of the law in those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The external code written on stone tablets could command life, but it could not grant life.
Now, under the New Covenant, believers operate under an entirely different dynamic. In Galatians 5:18, Scripture assures us that if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The Holy Spirit produces internally what external statutes could never coerce. As Galatians 5:22-23 catalogs the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance—it concludes with the triumphant reminder that 'against such there is no law.' Where the Spirit reigns, God's moral will is naturally fulfilled from the inside out.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Romans 6:14-15 | Sin no longer exercises dominion over believers because they are under grace rather than under the law. |
| Romans 8:3-4 | What the law was powerless to do, God did by sending His Son, fulfilling the law's righteous requirement in us. |
| Galatians 5:18 | Paul confirms that whoever is led by the Holy Spirit is no longer subject to the dominion of the Mosaic law. |
| Galatians 5:22-23 | Against the fruit of the Holy Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—there is no law. |
Pagan Practices
Odd Commands Cut Off Entanglement with Pagan Cults
You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Leviticus 20:26 (NIV)
It gives the core rationale for boundary laws: holiness means total separation unto the Lord from surrounding cultures.
Many commands in the Torah strike modern readers as bizarre until they are seen against the dark backdrop of ancient Near Eastern paganism. The core rationale for these unique cultural boundaries shines in Leviticus 20:26, where the Lord proclaims, 'And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.' Israel was surrounded by cultures steeped in idolatry, superstition, and ritual death cults. God called His covenant people to complete separation from pagan ways, ensuring that every daily habit testified to His exclusive holiness.
This purpose is underscored in Leviticus 18:1-5, where God explicitly forbids Israel from imitating the practices of Egypt, where they had dwelt, or Canaan, where they were going. For instance, Leviticus 19:27-28 forbids cutting the corners of hair, marring beard edges, or lacerating the flesh for the dead. As Deuteronomy 14:1-2 explains, mourning lacerations and ritual baldness were pagan grief rites meant to appease chthonic deities, behaviors wholly unfitting for children of the living God.
Similarly, Deuteronomy 14:21 commands not to boil a young goat in its mother's milk, a restriction rooted in dismantling Canaanite fertility superstitions and preserving reverence for God's creation. Leviticus 20:23-26 and Deuteronomy 18:9-12 forbid child sacrifice, divination, sorcery, and consulting the dead. What seem like arbitrary prohibitions were actually protective bulwarks, cutting Israel loose from the spiritually destructive vortex of pagan idolatry.
| Passage | What it says |
|---|---|
| Leviticus 18:1-5 | Israel is commanded not to walk in the pagan statutes of Egypt or Canaan. |
| Leviticus 19:27-28 | Prohibits cutting the corners of hair, shaving beards, or making cuts for the dead. |
| Leviticus 20:23-26 | Separation in diet and conduct is grounded in God's call to distinct holiness from neighboring nations. |
| Deuteronomy 14:1-2 | Israel is forbidden mourning lacerations because they are a holy people chosen as God's treasure. |
| Deuteronomy 14:21 | Forbids boiling a young goat in its mother's milk, distinguishing covenant life from pagan rites. |
| Deuteronomy 18:9-12 | Bans adopting the abominable practices of Canaanites, such as divination and necromancy. |
Where in the Bible
| Book | Passages |
|---|---|
| Exodus | 3 · Exodus 20:1-17, Exodus 21:18-19, Exodus 22:1-4 |
| Leviticus | 8 · Leviticus 19:18, Leviticus 11:1-8, Leviticus 14:33-48, Leviticus 16:15-16, Leviticus 19:19, Leviticus 18:1-5, Leviticus 19:27-28, Leviticus 20:23-26 |
| Numbers | 1 · Numbers 19:11-13 |
| Deuteronomy | 7 · Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Deuteronomy 4:6-8, Deuteronomy 19:1-6, Deuteronomy 22:8, Deuteronomy 14:1-2, Deuteronomy 14:21, Deuteronomy 18:9-12 |
| Matthew | 1 · Matthew 22:37-40 |
| Mark | 1 · Mark 7:18-19 |
| Acts | 1 · Acts 10:11-15 |
| Romans | 9 · Romans 3:19, Romans 3:20, Romans 7:7, Romans 7:12, Romans 7:13, Romans 11:32, Romans 13:9, Romans 6:14-15, Romans 8:3-4 |
| Galatians | 6 · Galatians 3:19, Galatians 3:23, Galatians 3:24, Galatians 3:25, Galatians 5:18, Galatians 5:22-23 |
| Colossians | 1 · Colossians 2:16-17 |
| 1 Timothy | 1 · 1 Timothy 1:8-10 |
| Hebrews | 3 · Hebrews 9:8-10, Hebrews 10:1, Hebrews 8:13 |
The story in order
- Exodus and Law Given (c. 1450 BC) · Exodus 20 · God delivers Israel and gives His law.
- Divided Kingdom (c. 930 BC) · 1 Kings 12 · Israel and Judah split into two kingdoms.
- Exile (c. 586 BC) · 2 Kings 25 · Judah is conquered and taken to Babylon.
- Return and Rebuilding (c. 538 BC) · Ezra 1 · Israelites return to Jerusalem.
- Jesus' Ministry (AD 28) · Matthew 3 · Jesus fulfills the Law's purpose.
- Apostolic Age (AD 30) · Acts 2 · The church is established under grace.
The Law Points to Christ
| Old Testament Shadow | New Testament Substance | Passage |
|---|---|---|
| Dietary laws and purity rituals | Jesus declares all foods clean (Mark 7:19) | |
| Sacrifices for sin (Leviticus 16) | Christ's one sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:10) | |
| The Law as a tutor (Galatians 3:24) | Faith in Christ as the goal (Galatians 3:25) | Galatians 3:24-25 |
| The Law reveals sin (Romans 3:20) | Christ brings justification by faith (Romans 3:22) | Romans 3:19-22 |
The Law's Purpose
| Purpose | Biblical Basis | Passage |
|---|---|---|
| Expose sin | Romans 3:20; 1 Timothy 1:9-10 | Romans 3:20 |
| Govern Israel as a theocracy | Deuteronomy 4:6-8 | Deuteronomy 4:6-8 |
| Point to Christ | Galatians 3:19, 24 | Galatians 3:19 |
| Demonstrate God's holiness | Exodus 20:1-17 | Exodus 20:1-17 |
| Separate Israel from pagan nations | Leviticus 18:1-5 | Leviticus 18:1-5 |
Key words
- Law (Torah, תּוֹרָה)
- God's revealed will, encompassing moral, ceremonial, and civil commands. · Exodus 20:1
- Sin (ḥaṭṭā'ṯ, חַטָּאת)
- Rebellion against God's law; missing the mark of His standard. · Romans 3:23
- Righteousness (ṣedeq, צֶדֶק)
- Conformity to God's law and character; the standard of His justice. · Romans 3:20
- Faith (pistis, πίστις)
- Trust and reliance on God and His promises, especially in Christ. · Galatians 3:24
- Holiness (qōdeš, קֹדֶשׁ)
- Separation unto God; moral and ritual purity. · Leviticus 19:2
- Atonement (kipur, כִּיּוּר)
- The act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing. · Leviticus 16:16
Rather than an arbitrary collection of ancient oddities, the Old Testament law is a unified, Spirit-inspired revelation displaying the beauty of God's holiness and the depth of our need. Every unusual boundary and bloody sacrifice was designed to lead us directly to Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law on our behalf. In Him, believers are freed from the law's condemnation to walk by the Spirit in righteous love.
42 passages, each cited once.
Scripture cited
- Galatians 3:23-25
- Romans 3:19
- Exodus 19:3-6
- Deuteronomy 4:5-8
- Deuteronomy 14:1-21
- Romans 7:7-12
- Hebrews 10:1-4
- Colossians 2:16-17
- Matthew 5:17-20
- Matthew 19:3-9
- Deuteronomy 22:9-11
- Mark 7:14-23