IT ONLY TAKES A LITTLE LEAVEN

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Paul had just severely reprimanded the church at Corinth for allowing fornication to take place within the congregation of God's people. Without such sins being condemned and rooted out, and without scriptural discipline to remove both sin and sinner from their midst, is to allow defilement of the church of Christ. Condemnation should have taken place, but condonement resulted from their indifference. Instead of recognizing, confronting, and remedying the sinful matter, that existed within the congregation, its leaders were glorying, or rather, boasting about their spirituality that appeared to be based on human wisdom, instead of strictly relying on the wisdom of God. Only human wisdom will stare sin in its face, ignore its presence, and find ways to justify abiding with it. This appeared to be what was happening in the church at Corinth. Not only was the sin of fornication being committed within this congregation, but also it continued, due to the neglect of scriptural teaching and leadership, which was sinfully lacking from responsible elders.

When human wisdom is the guide for the sermons of preachers, and the oversight of elders, an uninformed congregation will generally accept their guidance without question. What better reason does a Christian need to accept Paul's admonition to study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15)? Without study of the word of God, the whole lump (the entire membership of a church) will be leavened, or influenced, by a few. And if that few erring leaders are ignoring God's will, and following a course that results from human desires and motives, the entire congregation will be led astray. Paul's inspired instructions to the church of Christ at Corinth was to remedy their sinful condition. That remedy was to purge out ...the old leaven so the whole lump will not be affected, or led astray, by a few that are in error.

Leaven is a substance, such as yeast, that is used to produce fermentation, especially in bread dough, to make it rise and become less dense. Adding leaven results in a chemical reaction that readily spreads throughout a substance similar to that of bacteria. Only a small amount is needed to bring about the fermentation necessary for good bread making. Although leaven is good in bread, the application here demonstrates the "fermentation effect" that results when sin enters a congregation of God's children. Sin spreads throughout the body of Christ, just as leaven affects the entire lump of bread dough. Within a short time, the whole church body can be led astray and become as sinful as the small number that introduced the sin into the congregation.

A sin, such as fornication, cannot remain in the church of Christ without affecting the whole membership. Likewise, this would be true of any other sin of the flesh. In its negative sense, leaven within the body of Christ results in individuals "rising" just as bread. Paul uses this analogy when he tells the church at Corinth that they had become "puffed up." Rather than recognizing the sin that existed in their midst, being shamefully humiliated by it, and scripturally removing it from their presence, they, with human disdain, overlooked it, effectively condoned it, and allowed it to spread until the whole body of Christ had become as sinful as the parties that committed the act of fornication.

Here, sin is likened to leaven. Paul says that when one becomes a Christian, they are to remain "unleavened." In other words, Christians are to remain pure - free from the impurity of sin and its leavening effect. When sin is allowed to enter a Christian, or the entire church body of Christ, it must be recognized and removed as quickly, effectively, and completely, in order to avoid its contagiousness. Just as leaven was put away in preparing and observing the Passover feast, so the leaven of sin is to be put away from the hearts of individual Christians, and from the body of Christ, His church, of which they are members. The church of Christ, His body, is to become and remain pure. The impurity of sin, as small as it may seem to be, must be taken away. Its leavening effect must not be allowed to spiritually affect the whole lump - the entire membership of the church. The puffed up, leavened bread of sin is, not only to be purged out of the body of Christ, but is to be replaced with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.