Twin City church of Christ Blog
“March 27, 2024 - A Little Leaven”
Categories: 2024 Reading DevotionalsA Little Leaven
Reading: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Paul is not just concerned about the Christian in Corinth with the incestuous relationship. He also warns about the impact this situation can have on the others in the group. “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”(1 Cor 5:6). If we turn a blind eye to one person’s continual sin, that attitude of permissiveness catches on. How likely are we to call out future sins? How likely are we to take our own sin seriously? Paul likens this style of thinking to leaven, which has a pervasive, unseen impact on the whole lump of dough. Leaven makes the bread into something entirely different. This is why “your boasting is not good”; before long, the entire group stands for nothing.
Leaven was also a key part of the Jewish Passover feast, in which unleavened bread was eaten as a sign of the haste with which the people left Egypt after God’s deliverance (Ex 13:6-7, Deut 16:3). “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”(1 Cor 5:7-8). Since Jesus has died as “our Passover lamb,” we too have been saved and made holy. So we need to “cleanse out the old leaven”(removing sin from the group) and honor God with “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” God’s people do not harbor sin, nor do we comfort unrepentant sinners. Instead, we are characterized by sincerity and truth—brutal honesty about our own sin and diligent zeal about living righteously.
Leaven is a metaphor for influence. Paul does not seem concerned that the entire group will begin incestuous relationships. His focus is on their “boasting”(v. 6) about tolerating open rebellion against God. Christians are not harsh and uncaring toward sinners; we know that we struggle too. But we are united by a determination not to sin. Any sense that continual sin is acceptable is dangerous because we influence one another to accept what God does not. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
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One Thing to Think About: Why is it so hard to maintain the proper attitude toward sin?
One Thing to Pray For: Sincerity and truth in my life—and in my local church
