Luke 11:39 Meaning and Explanation
“And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →A meal begins with surprise over an unwashed hand, and Jesus turns the moment toward the condition that ceremonial concern can conceal. His words invite honest self-examination. They ask whether our public habits, speech, and religious practices arise from a heart being made clean before God.
Jesus exposes a religion concerned with visible cleanliness while the heart remains filled with grasping desire and moral evil. The God who made the outward life also sees and judges the inward person.
The Context of Luke 11:39
Luke places this saying after Jesus has taught about light, a single eye, and the danger of mistaking darkness for light. A Pharisee invites him to dine, then marvels that Jesus has not washed before the meal. Jesus addresses the Pharisees directly, using a cup and platter as an image for their inward condition. Verse 40 immediately appeals to God as Maker of both the outer and inner person. Verse 41 calls for generous almsgiving, and the following woes address tithing, love of honor, hidden defilement, oppressive legal burdens, and resistance to God's messengers.
What Does Luke 11:39 Mean?
Jesus begins with what his host could see: Pharisees "make clean the outside of the cup and the platter." A cup and dish were objects used in shared meals, so their cleanliness mattered. The rebuke concerns the way outward care had become detached from the deeper reality. "Your inward part" directs attention beneath conduct that others can inspect. Jesus names "ravening," the appetite that seizes for itself, alongside "wickedness," a broader word for moral corruption. His image is deliberately searching. A vessel may appear ready for use while what fills it remains harmful. The Lord refuses to measure holiness by an impressive surface when the heart's desires and dealings contradict it.
The verse belongs to a sequence of woes aimed at religious leaders whose practices could burden and mislead others. Jesus does not treat washings, tithes, synagogue life, or almsgiving as meaningless subjects. In the surrounding verses, he addresses how these gifts of obedience are joined to justice, generosity, and the love of God. Verse 39 identifies the root problem: an inner life governed by taking and evil cannot be healed by public observance alone. Verse 40 strengthens the point by recalling that the Creator made the inner person as surely as the outer. God therefore calls for integrity in the whole life, including motives, possessions, worship, and treatment of neighbors.
Jesus speaks here as "the Lord," with authority to uncover what human sight misses. His ministry repeatedly brings cleansing and restoration to people whose need is deeper than social appearance: he casts out evil spirits, forgives sins, and calls hearers to receive God's word. The chapter's earlier teaching about light prepares for this exposure. Light from God reaches the whole person and reveals what needs healing. The warning also accords with the prophetic call for a heart turned toward God and a life marked by mercy. In Christ's presence, hidden greed and wickedness are named truthfully so that repentance, generosity, and renewed service may become possible.
Bible Verses Related to Luke 11:39
“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
- 1 Samuel 16:7
“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”
- Psalm 51:6
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
- Jeremiah 17:9
“And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.”
- Mark 7:20
Where Luke 11:39 Echoes in Scripture
Mark 7:20 gives a strong echo of this concern when Jesus explains that evil proceeds from within a person and defiles. The saying in Luke is focused on the Pharisees at a meal, while Mark records teaching given to the disciples and crowd. Together the passages direct attention to the moral source of speech and action. External acts matter, yet the heart from which they arise remains before God.
How to Apply Luke 11:39 Today
This verse gives us a practical way to examine ordinary life. We can ask what is happening beneath a courteous answer, a careful appearance, a generous gift, or a religious routine. Are resentment, possessiveness, dishonesty, or a desire to be admired being protected inside? We can bring particular matters before God: the way we use money, speak about absent people, pursue advantage, and respond when no one notices. Confession becomes more honest when it names the inward desire as well as the visible deed. Generosity and fair dealing can then become fitting expressions of a heart being opened to God's cleansing.
Reflection & Prayer
Where does concern for appearance make it harder for us to face the desires God already sees? Consider one relationship, responsibility, or possession in which inward honesty is needed. Pray: "Lord, you made what is within as well as what is without. Search my heart, cleanse what is corrupt, and form in me a generous and truthful life."