Can External Things Defile?

Mark 7:18-23
And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Jesus as a teacher demonstrates classic teaching techniques. First he imparts the teaching through a parable and an explanation. Then he demonstrates the lesson with a life experience or test. This was the teaching: evil does not enter into our bodies from outside; evil comes out of us from our heart. The very next life experience recorded in the Scripture is Jesus casting out the devil from the daughter of the Syrophenician woman.

So evil resides within us. So does that mean that externals are spiritually neutral?

Romans 13:11-14
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Paul's teaching is clear. We are to "cast off the works of darkness" first and then we can "put on the armor of light" (protection of illumination/ understanding). Paul goes on to list the works of darkness as rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness (lasciviousness), strife and envy.

Paul goes on to say that there's something else we must do after casting off the works of darkness and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. We still have to "make no provision for the flesh" because we still carry the lusts around in our hearts.

There is a prescribed order to getting victory: cast off the works of darkness, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh.

Placating a "lesser sin" under the guise of grace in order to control a "bigger sin" is futile. So is feeding the lust with "christian-ized" versions of sinful environments; that may give you the illusion of control, but in reality it's just making provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. It's baiting the evil that resides within. The works of darkness (rioting, drunkenness, chambering, wantonness [lasciviousness], strife, envy) will only continue to grow...