July 12
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UNLEAVENED BREAD OF SINCERITY AND TRUTH
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. – 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
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In this letter, Paul deals with the sin of arrogance and boasting. Previous to this part of his letter, he was calling out a brother in Christ who was in the Corinthian church who was engaging in a sexual sin with his father’s wife. In those times, some men have multiple wives but it doesn’t mean that God approved that. Deuteronomy 17:17 says: “And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.” The Old Testament mentions some men who had over one wife such as many important figures like Esau (Gen 26:34; 28:6-9), Jacob (Gen 29:15-28), Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:1-8), David (1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13-16), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3) so, we can assume that some men in the Corinthian church that probably had over one wife. This man that Paul called out must have had a father who had over one wife aside from his own mother.
In this part of his letter, Paul emphasizes the importance of keeping a sanctified life for every believer. He confronts those members of the church who tolerates this man who committed sexual sin with his father’s wife. He wants them to understand that when the whole bunch of believers are corrupted by just even one sinner, it will affect other believers and compromise their purity. Paul likens it to making bread, where a little leaven affects the whole lump of dough. He advises them to cleanse themselves from the old leaven so they can be a new lump just like they were unleavened. He reminds them of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that made the old leaven a new one. In other words, the only way we can have a new life, is by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In verse 8, he tells the Corinthian church to celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth instead of the old leaven of malice and wickedness. This is how important it is for all the believers to joyfully wear their new nature in Christ and give up all the old sinful ways that isn’t becoming of a true believer. This is why he rebukes those who were arrogant in tolerating the sinful believer in their church at Corinth.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it important to wear Christ and never let ourselves be corrupted by sin?