Professor Hobson's Word Study - Mark 7:22

I am in a small group Bible study and we just finished studying Mark chapter 7.   Today I am thinking of Jesus' words on the evil which comes from the heart.     In Mark 7:20-23 Jesus says this:

[20] And he said, "What comes out of a man is what defiles a man.
[21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
[22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
[23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man." 
Mark 7:20-23 (RSV). 

In verse 22, we see the word "licentiousness," the Greek ἀσέλγεια (transliteration: aselgeia).   As pointed out here, this word appears in nine other places in the NT.  Professor G. Thomas Hobson of St. Louis' Concordia Seminary   argues here that ἀσέλγεια in Mark 7:22 may have been Jesus' one and only allusion  to homosexual sin.  Hobson cites William Barclay: 

William Barclay considers ἀσέλγεια to be possibly the “ugliest word” in the list of NT sins. He capsulizes the word’s meaning as “utter shame­lessness”. It is variously translated as “licentiousness”, “wantonness”, and “lasciviousness”. It’s a word that Jesus (translated through the tradition that Mark presents) could easily turn to as a synonym for homosexual ac­tivity and other similarly shocking behavior forbidden by the Jewish law.  

Filología Neotestamentaria   (Vol 21   2008)   at 65,    online at http://www.bsw.org/Filologia-Neotestamentaria/Vol-21-2008/-7936-963-941-955-947-949-953-945-In-Mark-7-22/523/

There is no space here to review Hobson's  defense of his position, that ἀσέλγεια refers to shockingly evil deeds including wrongful sexual behavior.  My presupposition is that Jesus did say the substance of  what has come down to us in Mark 7:20-23.  I will have to study Hobson's article further to consider whether Jesus among other things may have had homosexual acts in mind when he listed these sins.      Hobson concludes:

Jesus says that both πορνεία and ἀσέλγεια come from the heart, along with murder, theft, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness (Mark 7,21-3). As the debate about sexuality continues in today’s society, Jesus’ word about shameless disregard for boundaries in the area of sexual behavior deserves further consideration in this debate.

Hobson at 74.   

Yes, followers of Jesus must show  tolerance and love for those who are bogged down by the kinds of evil listed here in Mark 7.   And we search our  hearts to see it clearly in our own lives, so that we turn  from the ways of the world to follow God's ways.    It's clear to me from the ten places that ἀσέλγεια appears in the NT that  ἀσέλγεια includes wrongful sexual conduct.   Shocking personal behavior which includes  shameless violation of  sexual norms, does make the "sin list" of Jesus in Mark chapter 7.  The striving for tolerance in the culture has put into question traditional understanding of  sexual  immorality.   But the word of Jesus here is a sharp rebuke  to believers  who might surmise  that some forms of  sexual evil ought to come off the list.     


The mobile version of this post corrupts the Greek text references above.