Hands Kneading Leavened Dough on a TableBible World
5:61 Corinthians 5:6
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Your glorying is not good was a rebuke to the Corinthian church for tolerating serious open sin while feeling superior, urging them to act against those involved and to put away self interwoven with the work. The old leaven to be purged out is malice and wickedness, including removing the wicked person and corrupting evil from the community, so that life may be marked by sincerity and truth because Christ as the passover is sacrificed. Like leaven in dough, a small beginning works silently and invisibly until the whole lump is permeated, spreading from mind to mind and church to church into dissension, distrust and loss of spirituality. That leavening power belongs to cherished evils such as malice, envy and jealousy, faultfinding and evil speaking, unbelief and doubt, false doctrine, worldliness and pride, moral impurity, covetousness and oppressive self-exaltation, which must be met by thorough heart-work, separation of corrupting influences, and steadfast vigilance against evil at its first appearance. Yet truth itself also works like leaven, silently permeating the whole by obedience and righteous character, and God's people are to spread that sanctifying influence through the world rather than be leavened by the world's evil.
Words and Setting
Your glorying is not good is a rebuke against interweaving self with the work, for a little leaven of self leavens the whole lump and spoils much good that could be done. That same rebuke applies to a sense of superiority that tries to direct others, as in Sister Daniells' attempt to direct her husband and to influence the conference through him.
The verse was written about the Corinthian church tolerating serious, open sin in its midst, allowing its corrupting influence to spread through the whole community as leaven spreads through dough. Paul's first letter exposed lascivious conduct that was disgracing the church and urged action against those involved before he visited them. Churches affected by such influence disgrace Christ's religion, and God will expose workers of iniquity rather than endure their perversity indefinitely.
The surrounding context explains the leaven as malice and wickedness, which must be put away so that life is marked by sincerity and truth. This warning applies to faultfinding and accusations against brethren, as in Frank's case. The reason given is that Christ as the passover is sacrificed, and therefore the feast is to be kept not with old leaven but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The command is to purge out the old leaven to become a new, unleavened lump. That means putting away the wicked person and removing corrupting evil from the community before going further. It is the very first Scripture to be followed by believers in conflict with one another.
Evils Called Leaven
The leaven is malice cherished in the heart, with wickedness permeating minds and hearts and making conduct harmful, and it must be put away so that life is marked by sincerity and truth, as seen in faultfinding and accusations against brethren. Like leaven through dough it spreads through the church, darkening minds, stirring suspicion, injuring the innocent and tearing people down until unity and work are hindered. Envy, jealousy and secret influence work the same way, bringing oppression and harm that must be faced and confessed, with those persisting in it standing under divine disfavor.
The leaven is envy, evil surmising and jealousy working quietly until the whole lump is leavened, driving out humility and lowliness of mind and working against the health and good of the cause. This occurs when one controlling human mind, a sick man, dominates the General Conference Committee and ministers become only his shadow and echo, leavening the whole body of leaders, and such control lasts only as long as it is healthy and for the good of the cause. The same leavening work of criticism, evil feeling and evil speaking spreads its un-Christlike work through believers, showing no one can truly be a Christian without cherishing love for brethren, and it went on more decidedly since that conference. In the churches jealousies and evil surmisings spread until whole congregations are affected, and their cruelty calls for constant earnest appeal to love one another and to keep hearts tender by remembering the love Jesus showed in what He did. Envy, evil suspicion and other traits forbidden by the Word act as evil leaven so that those cherishing them must be separated from the work. Distrust, dissension, envy and jealousy began in Israel as slight temptations but grew until they affected the whole camp, warning that such divisive attitudes corrupt many and undermine those entrusted with responsibility.
The leaven is faultfinding, criticism, evil thinking and evil speaking, which spread like leaven through dough and must be put away with the tongue brought under divine control, lest contention, alienation and strife result. A suspicious, critical spirit affects all it touches, displeases God and gives room to an opposing influence. Evil reports put evil into other minds and increase harm until the whole church suffers, while disaffection spreads from one person to others through words and conduct fostering criticism, self-exaltation and desire to rule, contrary to unity in judgment and spirit. Selfish and bitter complaints poison the minds of people who do not know the situation, defile those who receive them and produce harmful results.
The leaven is unbelief working in the heart spreading to others like little leaven through the whole lump, so that those walking away from Christ must change or their unbelief will harm others. It is continuing doubt, jealousy and opposition to divine leading, and unresolved doubt, jealousy and resistance to reproof, which must be purged by frankly acknowledging God's work and taking a firm stand or further division and distrust will follow. One mind filled with unbelief leavens other minds, with despising of reproof and warning spreading from mind to mind, and if the leaven of evil is not cast out it keeps working great harm through deception, falsehood and selfish ambition. Falsehoods and misrepresentations about testimonies, God's work and His ministers corrupt, and can leaven young people coming to Battle Creek for education. One youth unsettled in faith by doubt about Scripture may lead others into the same skepticism.
The leaven is false principles spreading, tainting and corrupting churches and institutions like leaven. It is false philosophy, false science and spiritualistic views spreading through minds, making divine messages of no effect and damaging faith, warning against introducing or promoting such teachings including by misusing inspired writings to support deceptive theories. A little false doctrine under satanic inspiration works much harm to those not rooted and grounded and unmovable in present truth, and safety requires being riveted to the eternal Rock and firmly established in Christ. Strange things preached in human wisdom act as leaven spreading new ideas through minds ready to receive them, followed up by an adversary, making the work of true servants much harder, hindering the advancement of the cause and grieving the Spirit, calling instead for proclaiming the clear distinct message of truth for this time and presenting what Christ commanded rather than launching out to preach what was not given.
The leaven is the spirit of the world leavening the church as members depart from holy calling, join fellowship with darkness and unbelievers, join works of darkness and make peace with unbelievers, and neglect light received, bringing divine displeasure and danger of losing sight of what would bring peace. Older members leaven those newly come to the faith, for when members disregard light on health reform and continue selfish health-destroying indulgences they reap spiritual and physical degeneracy and counteract the message to prepare a people for the great day of God, and unconverted and backslidden members make of no effect the God-given message by unconsecrated influence so churches lose strength. Pride and extravagance in dress spread like leaven until affecting the church as a whole, when members use divine means to gratify pride instead of supporting missionary work, and following worldly fashions and displaying wealth corrupt others including new believers. Worldliness like leaven spreads through the mind and weakens spiritual discernment and must be cleansed from the soul.
The leaven is idolatry brought into the church through union with idolaters, working like foul leaven until unsound doctrines, superstitious rites and idolatrous ceremonies entered faith and worship, corrupting religion and causing loss of purity and power.
The leaven is moral evil in familiarity between men and women, including coarse commonness, loose unguarded familiarity, improper liberties and attentions as of man and wife, which once allowed a foothold in an institution works as an active leavening power through the whole. A small imprudence giving occasion for reports will be exaggerated, cast a dark shadow on a divine institution for unknown time, make it most difficult to work with real facts and declare truth from falsehood, and to vindicate the wrongdoer creates deeper evil by making light of what is condemned in others, especially too great commonness of men with women and women with men, which is demoralizing and death to spirituality with a harvest eternity alone will reveal. Coarse commonness, improper liberties with married women and girls, and demoralizing example of men in responsible positions leaven a whole public institution, quickly imitated by others especially those whose moral standing is not high, until the whole is in danger of becoming leavened before a careless sentinel suspects anything objectionable. In a public institution such as the Health Retreat at St. Helena as a special instrumentality, such leaven of low morals and want of vigilance, discernment and spirituality demoralizes worse than before, destroys confidence, courage and hope to elevate it, closes mouths of defenders because occasion was given, and leaves stigma and reproach abroad far and near that cannot be untangled so exact justice is done. Once permitted even through one person's example it works unseen like evil poisonous roots springing up constantly to produce a harvest staining lives and blotting characters, next to impossible to eradicate and clear away, whose full extent is revealed only in judgment, requiring spiritual eyesight, discernment, vigilance, spirituality and close connection with God to see and stop evil at the first. Unchecked sexual corruption, married men charmed with other men's wives and married women and girls seeking attention of men, and ministers polluting souls and bodies of those they shepherd, will spread through the entire community as satanic slime, so faithful watchmen must not aid it but stay its progress with positive decided movement, crying aloud and sparing not to show transgressions and sins and taking decided measures to arrest the tide of moral pollution sweeping the world. Such indiscretion is wrong in divine sight, displeases Him, grieves the Holy Spirit, brings guilt, throws influence on the side of wrong until a whole institution's condition is changed, and leaves lasting injury on those involved.
The leaven is strange principles of covetousness and grasping after higher wages leavening many minds with doubt and unbelief until permeating nearly the whole body, weakening spirituality and leading some to withhold tithes and offerings. Small evils like perversion of the canvassing work and increase of wages spread to corrupt a whole work and body of workers, requiring standing stiffly against it and refusing to receive it, for to be leavened is to become puffed up and filled with malice, lose spirituality, create lasting difficulties and reap what was sown. Building before the time, breaking promise not to go into debt, making venturesome investments, giving the work the mold of the world and opening work in a way becoming a bad example are that leaven spoiling the whole work, which must not be followed at any time or place, but edges must be bound about, inclination to debt guarded against, and advance made no faster than indicated with means in hand even if good work must wait and new work begin in narrow quarters. Evil of using talent for commercial enterprises holding workers back from feeding souls with bread of life and bringing people to truth spreads and corrupts the whole work as leaven through dough, becoming a snare from which servants must turn to given work.
The leaven is an oppressive prideful spirit regarding one's own opinions as better than fellow believers' and focusing on others' faults, threatening loving unity and harmony so it must be completely removed, with humility readier to recognize one's own faults and less ready to speak of others'. Men assuming authority over fellow men without divine authority leaven others with that harmful influence. Suspicion and distrust are leaven bringing disunion, while unity bears witness to power of truth. Careless words and disrespect for those in authority spread like leaven harming welfare of others, so conduct must be guarded and speech kind and peaceful. Coldness, heartlessness and lack of tender sympathy leaven the church and if allowed to grow will bring churches into deplorable condition. Men carrying a spirit that cannot be favored, if retained in the work, can leaven the president and imperil the cause.
The leaven includes parents' insubordination and discontent absorbed by children as rebellious spirit, spreading unbelief and harming others who might have accepted truth. Parents allowing children very much their own way let evil influence spread until permeating other households among Sabbath-keepers with great light, and parents will be called to account if they do not bring sound doctrine into home life, for holding form of sound words is unfinished unless leading to right acts. Undisciplined children if not carefully guarded spread harmful character and conduct to other children as leaven through dough. In the Fairfield household a daughter's disregard for parental authority affected younger children and put the family at risk. Association with one treating sacred things lightly weakens a young Christian's religious impressions, whereas proper companions strengthen faith, good resolutions and Christian character, and close association with rejecters of truth gradually shapes ideas and conduct, weakens resistance to temptation and puts sacred things below worldly concerns, which is what becoming leavened means especially for the young whose minds are strongly shaped by company.
How Leavening Spreads
Like dough, a small beginning works silently and invisibly until the whole lump is permeated, so that evil can spread through and corrupt the whole community without being recognized by those who know truth but do not cherish its principles. Even a little false doctrine under satanic inspiration works much harm to those not rooted and grounded and unmovable in present truth, and prevailing apostasy can spread among people who have received great light until without corresponding faith and obedience they are controlled by another spirit and fall into worse condition than those without their opportunities. Truth itself when introduced also silently passes on its qualities until it permeates the whole, while evil unbelief spreads and obstructs reformation, and some may be led astray by deception while tested for eternal life. No one is safe from its spread now unless riveted to the eternal Rock, yet there is reason for gratitude and trust because the Lord Jesus knows those who are His, died to save a lost world, is gathering an army to serve under His banner, and will present to Himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.
The work spreads from person to person and mind to mind, for one mind filled with unbelief will leaven other minds, and despising reproof and warning spreads until the leaven of evil if not cast out keeps working great harm through deception, falsehood and selfish ambition. A small amount of evil corrupts a whole community, as seen when the harmful influence of two professed Christians worked like leaven instead of the help and encouragement they should have given one another and the school. Disaffection brought into an office spreads evil to others and puts souls in danger, especially apprentices serving under one whose mind and will are not clean and sanctified through the truth but remain selfish and unsubdued. Evil surmisings and evil speaking spread from mind to mind as those who despise Christ's words and refuse conversion sow mistrust toward God's servants, going house to house under pretense of missionary work until the little leaven speedily germinates, turns souls from Christ, develops into a root of bitterness and distrust, and leaves hearts that will not hear so that no earthly or heavenly power can gain access. Even one entrusted to read true communications to physicians and helpers becomes permeated by taking in the spirit that controls another person.
In churches a small amount of evil produces dissension, alienation, strife, suspicion and distrust, destroying love and weakening the community unless purged so God's love can unite hearts. Strife and dissension are evil leaven whose makers introduce spreading evil results for which they must answer to Christ. A divisive spirit produced by judging one another and drawing apart spreads like leaven through dough until it becomes common and leavens the churches, filling conference meetings and camp meetings with strife and confusion. Dissension, disunion and discouragement leavened the Ohio Conference after the missionary spirit was diverted from its proper work, showing how a small influence spreads through a whole community.
In institutions, offices, publishing houses and sanitariums a corrupt irreligious element slowly influences the entire workplace and must be purged out with God in control or general dissipation will prevail to dishonor God and grieve His Spirit. Unfaithful, irreligious or unconverted workers endanger others by example and influence, especially apprentices, and should be separated so the institution's character remains pure with sincere examples of Christian fidelity, since even those serving sincerely can be affected and serious harm done by those claiming to represent Christ while unconverted and morally degraded. Disaffection brought into an office leavens others with evil and imperils souls, particularly apprentices under its influence. The warning against letting bodies of death leaven the sanitarium applies the image to introducing unrepentant people into positions where their influence harms the institution, and unless all workers stand firm for truth and righteousness there is no purpose in having a sanitarium because unconsecrated workers bring leaven causing much trouble and heartache and intangible yet strong difficulties for evil. In the Review and Herald office denouncing others, excluding God's Spirit, hindering books and despising testimonies gave reasons for the destruction of the building.
In personal experience evil works as leaven, so any inconsistency in thought and word and act discovered by facing God's law as a mirror and testing faithfulness to His requirements must be repented before God and corrected at once or the whole experience will be leavened, and the revelation of the divine mirror must not be forgotten because nothing God declares impure or false makes a life more fit for the kingdom. Cherished self-seeking spreads defilement and can ruin the soul, applying especially to desire for personal praise which mars service to Christ and fellowship with others. A cherished character defect may cause no visible harm for a time but its evil influence appears when opportunity comes. Believers must keep heart, mind, soul and body free from its pollution, including pollution of thought and sight.
The spread can be swift and far-reaching, for doubt sown by one person over two years affected her own mind and others, clouding confidence in the work with effects reaching farther than can be known until judgment reveals them. Criticism is an evil leaven Satan introduces to shake confidence in those entrusted with important parts of the Lord's work, and brought in over fifteen years with marked success a small amount spreads place to place creating suspicion and leading men to charge one another with deception and dishonesty on perversion of facts, with cruel false representations the Lord does not endorse and requiring painstaking searching work to set in order once entangled. Wicked works act as leaven among God's people whom the Lord bears long with, and though He has many precious souls in Battle Creek the leaven strengthens with absorbing power until the whole mass is leavened one here and one there. One persisting in sin without true sense of it becomes dangerous and leavens many by disguising wrongdoing as righteousness, attacking the character of correctors and stirring distrust until those accepting such claims are drawn into the same harmful spirit. Murmurings by instigators would soon have leavened the whole camp if God had not stopped them by consuming them with fire from the cloudy pillar. Satan through evil angels forms alliance with professedly pious men, with fallen men and fallen angels in the same confederacy leagued against good, inducing men as he induced angels to join rebellion while appearing as God's servants, inspiring under godliness his own accusing spirit to charge others with evil and using them as trained detectives to create feuds, discord, bitterness, set tongues in Satan's service and sow dissension by watching for evil.
Purging Out Leaven
Purging out the old leaven is thorough heart-work that puts away malice and wickedness and keeps the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. It requires frankly acknowledging God's work, taking a firm stand against continuing doubt, jealousy and opposition to His leading, and rooting out deceptive, heartless wrongs that weaken the whole church. It requires making restitution for past robbery, redeeming the time, and repenting and being converted in heart and mind until a new heart is hid with Christ in God and the soul is sanctified and purified by truth to honor God. Until that change is effected the work is not acceptable to God.
Protection of others requires separating corrupting influences, beginning with putting away the wicked person so the community may become a new unleavened lump. Unfaithful, irreligious, unconverted and morally degraded workers endanger fellow workers and especially apprentices by example, and must be removed from office, institution and sanitarium rather than be introduced as bodies of death to leaven it. Deceptive workers whose sly conduct would leaven the whole school, as in the case of Judge, must be dismissed, and students who persist in sin and demoralize companions after efforts to reform them must be separated from the school to keep others from contamination.
Purging requires standing stiffly against evil leaven and refusing to receive it, or the whole is corrupted, puffed up, filled with malice, emptied of spirituality, and left with lasting difficulties and a harvest of what was sown, as seen in the perversion of the canvassing work and the grasping increase of wages. Building before the time, breaking the promise not to go into debt, making venturesome investments, molding God's work to the world, and opening work in a way that becomes a bad example are leaven that must not be followed at any time or in any place. The safeguard is to bind about the edges, guard against the inclination to go into debt, advance no faster than the Lord indicates and means in hand allow, and do work in narrow quarters even if good work must wait, rather than involve the Lord's work in debt.
Moral evil in coarse commonness, loose unguarded familiarity, improper liberties, low morals, and want of vigilance, discernment and spirituality, especially in men in responsible positions in a public institution such as the Health Retreat at St. Helena, is quickly imitated and spreads until the whole institution is in danger of becoming leavened before a careless sentinel suspects anything objectionable. Once permitted entrance even through one example it works unseen like evil poisonous roots springing up constantly, demoralizes the institution, destroys confidence, courage and hope of elevating it, closes the mouths of defenders, leaves stigma and reproach abroad far and near that cannot be untangled to do exact justice, stains lives and blots characters, and is next to an impossibility to eradicate and clear away. Guarding against it requires spiritual eyesight, discernment, vigilance, spirituality and close connection with God to see and stop evil at the first, while the full extent of the harvest from the seed sown will only be revealed in the judgment.
Safety requires being riveted to the eternal Rock and firmly established in Christ and present truth, for even a little false doctrine under satanic inspiration works much harm to those not rooted and grounded and unmovable. The safeguard against disaffection and evil spreading from one unclean, selfish, unsubdued mind and will through office and workplace to imperil apprentices and others is to become sensitive to the Holy Spirit, soften and subdue the disposition, let self be crucified, and let truth refine, purify and ennoble mind and heart, will and purposes. Evil thinking and evil speaking, talking against one another to hurt, wound and tear down a brother from fear of his influence, must be put away by bringing the tongue under God's control and seeking God with all the heart, while hardheartedness, complaining, criticism and a cold hard unamiable spirit toward those who disagree must give place to cherished mercy and love, removal of differences by careful study of God's Word, and perfect harmony reflecting the light of heaven.
The leaven of Pharisaism leavening the camp at Battle Creek and affecting the churches must be expelled by pen and voice until it is gone, and a new leaven introduced, which is the grace of Christ, through a reformation that cures spiritual weakness and blindness. Yet surmising evil against an erring member and spreading prejudice and unfavorable reports puts evil into other minds and sows corruption through the church, so members have no right to follow impulse, judge and condemn hastily, give the cold shoulder, or talk of separating the erring from fellowship. Such talk harms the whole body and drives the erring into discouragement instead of restoring them.
Good Leaven Contrasted
Truth itself operates as leaven, quietly imparting its qualities until the whole is permeated, while evil unbelief spreads in the same way and obstructs reformation. A small influence can affect the whole, so the falsehood of the world must not shape God's people, who are instead to spread God's truth through the world. Their contact with the world is not a call to withdraw from it but to spread the sanctifying influence of truth and correct principles within it. That witness is borne constantly through obedience and righteous character rather than by being influenced by its evil.
A right influence can leaven others for good, since even a small influence can spread through an entire church and affect a larger body. A school rightly placed acts like such leaven in helping the whole church become leavened, and locating it too far from the church would limit the help it could give. In the same way, Seventh-day Adventists joining the W.C.T.U. on temperance could act as leaven, influencing the wider work with an effect beyond themselves.
Your glorying is not good was a rebuke to the Corinthian church for tolerating serious open sin while feeling superior, urging them to act against those involved and to put away self interwoven with the work.
The old leaven to be purged out is malice and wickedness, including removing the wicked person and corrupting evil from the community, so that life may be marked by sincerity and truth because Christ as the passover is sacrificed.
Like leaven in dough, a small beginning works silently and invisibly until the whole lump is permeated, spreading from mind to mind and church to church into dissension, distrust and loss of spirituality.
That leavening power belongs to cherished evils such as malice, envy and jealousy, faultfinding and evil speaking, unbelief and doubt, false doctrine, worldliness and pride, moral impurity, covetousness and oppressive self-exaltation, which must be met by thorough heart-work, separation of corrupting influences, and steadfast vigilance against evil at its first appearance.
Yet truth itself also works like leaven, silently permeating the whole by obedience and righteous character, and God's people are to spread that sanctifying influence through the world rather than be leavened by the world's evil.
Words and Setting
Your glorying is not good is a rebuke against interweaving self with the work, for a little leaven of self leavens the whole lump and spoils much good that could be done. That same rebuke applies to a sense of superiority that tries to direct others, as in Sister Daniells' attempt to direct her husband and to influence the conference through him.
The verse was written about the Corinthian church tolerating serious, open sin in its midst, allowing its corrupting influence to spread through the whole community as leaven spreads through dough. Paul's first letter exposed lascivious conduct that was disgracing the church and urged action against those involved before he visited them. Churches affected by such influence disgrace Christ's religion, and God will expose workers of iniquity rather than endure their perversity indefinitely.
The surrounding context explains the leaven as malice and wickedness, which must be put away so that life is marked by sincerity and truth. This warning applies to faultfinding and accusations against brethren, as in Frank's case. The reason given is that Christ as the passover is sacrificed, and therefore the feast is to be kept not with old leaven but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The command is to purge out the old leaven to become a new, unleavened lump. That means putting away the wicked person and removing corrupting evil from the community before going further. It is the very first Scripture to be followed by believers in conflict with one another.
Evils Called Leaven
The leaven is malice cherished in the heart, with wickedness permeating minds and hearts and making conduct harmful, and it must be put away so that life is marked by sincerity and truth, as seen in faultfinding and accusations against brethren. Like leaven through dough it spreads through the church, darkening minds, stirring suspicion, injuring the innocent and tearing people down until unity and work are hindered. Envy, jealousy and secret influence work the same way, bringing oppression and harm that must be faced and confessed, with those persisting in it standing under divine disfavor.
The leaven is envy, evil surmising and jealousy working quietly until the whole lump is leavened, driving out humility and lowliness of mind and working against the health and good of the cause. This occurs when one controlling human mind, a sick man, dominates the General Conference Committee and ministers become only his shadow and echo, leavening the whole body of leaders, and such control lasts only as long as it is healthy and for the good of the cause. The same leavening work of criticism, evil feeling and evil speaking spreads its un-Christlike work through believers, showing no one can truly be a Christian without cherishing love for brethren, and it went on more decidedly since that conference. In the churches jealousies and evil surmisings spread until whole congregations are affected, and their cruelty calls for constant earnest appeal to love one another and to keep hearts tender by remembering the love Jesus showed in what He did. Envy, evil suspicion and other traits forbidden by the Word act as evil leaven so that those cherishing them must be separated from the work. Distrust, dissension, envy and jealousy began in Israel as slight temptations but grew until they affected the whole camp, warning that such divisive attitudes corrupt many and undermine those entrusted with responsibility.
The leaven is faultfinding, criticism, evil thinking and evil speaking, which spread like leaven through dough and must be put away with the tongue brought under divine control, lest contention, alienation and strife result. A suspicious, critical spirit affects all it touches, displeases God and gives room to an opposing influence. Evil reports put evil into other minds and increase harm until the whole church suffers, while disaffection spreads from one person to others through words and conduct fostering criticism, self-exaltation and desire to rule, contrary to unity in judgment and spirit. Selfish and bitter complaints poison the minds of people who do not know the situation, defile those who receive them and produce harmful results.
The leaven is unbelief working in the heart spreading to others like little leaven through the whole lump, so that those walking away from Christ must change or their unbelief will harm others. It is continuing doubt, jealousy and opposition to divine leading, and unresolved doubt, jealousy and resistance to reproof, which must be purged by frankly acknowledging God's work and taking a firm stand or further division and distrust will follow. One mind filled with unbelief leavens other minds, with despising of reproof and warning spreading from mind to mind, and if the leaven of evil is not cast out it keeps working great harm through deception, falsehood and selfish ambition. Falsehoods and misrepresentations about testimonies, God's work and His ministers corrupt, and can leaven young people coming to Battle Creek for education. One youth unsettled in faith by doubt about Scripture may lead others into the same skepticism.
The leaven is false principles spreading, tainting and corrupting churches and institutions like leaven. It is false philosophy, false science and spiritualistic views spreading through minds, making divine messages of no effect and damaging faith, warning against introducing or promoting such teachings including by misusing inspired writings to support deceptive theories. A little false doctrine under satanic inspiration works much harm to those not rooted and grounded and unmovable in present truth, and safety requires being riveted to the eternal Rock and firmly established in Christ. Strange things preached in human wisdom act as leaven spreading new ideas through minds ready to receive them, followed up by an adversary, making the work of true servants much harder, hindering the advancement of the cause and grieving the Spirit, calling instead for proclaiming the clear distinct message of truth for this time and presenting what Christ commanded rather than launching out to preach what was not given.
The leaven is the spirit of the world leavening the church as members depart from holy calling, join fellowship with darkness and unbelievers, join works of darkness and make peace with unbelievers, and neglect light received, bringing divine displeasure and danger of losing sight of what would bring peace. Older members leaven those newly come to the faith, for when members disregard light on health reform and continue selfish health-destroying indulgences they reap spiritual and physical degeneracy and counteract the message to prepare a people for the great day of God, and unconverted and backslidden members make of no effect the God-given message by unconsecrated influence so churches lose strength. Pride and extravagance in dress spread like leaven until affecting the church as a whole, when members use divine means to gratify pride instead of supporting missionary work, and following worldly fashions and displaying wealth corrupt others including new believers. Worldliness like leaven spreads through the mind and weakens spiritual discernment and must be cleansed from the soul.
The leaven is idolatry brought into the church through union with idolaters, working like foul leaven until unsound doctrines, superstitious rites and idolatrous ceremonies entered faith and worship, corrupting religion and causing loss of purity and power.
The leaven is moral evil in familiarity between men and women, including coarse commonness, loose unguarded familiarity, improper liberties and attentions as of man and wife, which once allowed a foothold in an institution works as an active leavening power through the whole. A small imprudence giving occasion for reports will be exaggerated, cast a dark shadow on a divine institution for unknown time, make it most difficult to work with real facts and declare truth from falsehood, and to vindicate the wrongdoer creates deeper evil by making light of what is condemned in others, especially too great commonness of men with women and women with men, which is demoralizing and death to spirituality with a harvest eternity alone will reveal. Coarse commonness, improper liberties with married women and girls, and demoralizing example of men in responsible positions leaven a whole public institution, quickly imitated by others especially those whose moral standing is not high, until the whole is in danger of becoming leavened before a careless sentinel suspects anything objectionable. In a public institution such as the Health Retreat at St. Helena as a special instrumentality, such leaven of low morals and want of vigilance, discernment and spirituality demoralizes worse than before, destroys confidence, courage and hope to elevate it, closes mouths of defenders because occasion was given, and leaves stigma and reproach abroad far and near that cannot be untangled so exact justice is done. Once permitted even through one person's example it works unseen like evil poisonous roots springing up constantly to produce a harvest staining lives and blotting characters, next to impossible to eradicate and clear away, whose full extent is revealed only in judgment, requiring spiritual eyesight, discernment, vigilance, spirituality and close connection with God to see and stop evil at the first. Unchecked sexual corruption, married men charmed with other men's wives and married women and girls seeking attention of men, and ministers polluting souls and bodies of those they shepherd, will spread through the entire community as satanic slime, so faithful watchmen must not aid it but stay its progress with positive decided movement, crying aloud and sparing not to show transgressions and sins and taking decided measures to arrest the tide of moral pollution sweeping the world. Such indiscretion is wrong in divine sight, displeases Him, grieves the Holy Spirit, brings guilt, throws influence on the side of wrong until a whole institution's condition is changed, and leaves lasting injury on those involved.
The leaven is strange principles of covetousness and grasping after higher wages leavening many minds with doubt and unbelief until permeating nearly the whole body, weakening spirituality and leading some to withhold tithes and offerings. Small evils like perversion of the canvassing work and increase of wages spread to corrupt a whole work and body of workers, requiring standing stiffly against it and refusing to receive it, for to be leavened is to become puffed up and filled with malice, lose spirituality, create lasting difficulties and reap what was sown. Building before the time, breaking promise not to go into debt, making venturesome investments, giving the work the mold of the world and opening work in a way becoming a bad example are that leaven spoiling the whole work, which must not be followed at any time or place, but edges must be bound about, inclination to debt guarded against, and advance made no faster than indicated with means in hand even if good work must wait and new work begin in narrow quarters. Evil of using talent for commercial enterprises holding workers back from feeding souls with bread of life and bringing people to truth spreads and corrupts the whole work as leaven through dough, becoming a snare from which servants must turn to given work.
The leaven is an oppressive prideful spirit regarding one's own opinions as better than fellow believers' and focusing on others' faults, threatening loving unity and harmony so it must be completely removed, with humility readier to recognize one's own faults and less ready to speak of others'. Men assuming authority over fellow men without divine authority leaven others with that harmful influence. Suspicion and distrust are leaven bringing disunion, while unity bears witness to power of truth. Careless words and disrespect for those in authority spread like leaven harming welfare of others, so conduct must be guarded and speech kind and peaceful. Coldness, heartlessness and lack of tender sympathy leaven the church and if allowed to grow will bring churches into deplorable condition. Men carrying a spirit that cannot be favored, if retained in the work, can leaven the president and imperil the cause.
The leaven includes parents' insubordination and discontent absorbed by children as rebellious spirit, spreading unbelief and harming others who might have accepted truth. Parents allowing children very much their own way let evil influence spread until permeating other households among Sabbath-keepers with great light, and parents will be called to account if they do not bring sound doctrine into home life, for holding form of sound words is unfinished unless leading to right acts. Undisciplined children if not carefully guarded spread harmful character and conduct to other children as leaven through dough. In the Fairfield household a daughter's disregard for parental authority affected younger children and put the family at risk. Association with one treating sacred things lightly weakens a young Christian's religious impressions, whereas proper companions strengthen faith, good resolutions and Christian character, and close association with rejecters of truth gradually shapes ideas and conduct, weakens resistance to temptation and puts sacred things below worldly concerns, which is what becoming leavened means especially for the young whose minds are strongly shaped by company.
How Leavening Spreads
Like dough, a small beginning works silently and invisibly until the whole lump is permeated, so that evil can spread through and corrupt the whole community without being recognized by those who know truth but do not cherish its principles. Even a little false doctrine under satanic inspiration works much harm to those not rooted and grounded and unmovable in present truth, and prevailing apostasy can spread among people who have received great light until without corresponding faith and obedience they are controlled by another spirit and fall into worse condition than those without their opportunities. Truth itself when introduced also silently passes on its qualities until it permeates the whole, while evil unbelief spreads and obstructs reformation, and some may be led astray by deception while tested for eternal life. No one is safe from its spread now unless riveted to the eternal Rock, yet there is reason for gratitude and trust because the Lord Jesus knows those who are His, died to save a lost world, is gathering an army to serve under His banner, and will present to Himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.
The work spreads from person to person and mind to mind, for one mind filled with unbelief will leaven other minds, and despising reproof and warning spreads until the leaven of evil if not cast out keeps working great harm through deception, falsehood and selfish ambition. A small amount of evil corrupts a whole community, as seen when the harmful influence of two professed Christians worked like leaven instead of the help and encouragement they should have given one another and the school. Disaffection brought into an office spreads evil to others and puts souls in danger, especially apprentices serving under one whose mind and will are not clean and sanctified through the truth but remain selfish and unsubdued. Evil surmisings and evil speaking spread from mind to mind as those who despise Christ's words and refuse conversion sow mistrust toward God's servants, going house to house under pretense of missionary work until the little leaven speedily germinates, turns souls from Christ, develops into a root of bitterness and distrust, and leaves hearts that will not hear so that no earthly or heavenly power can gain access. Even one entrusted to read true communications to physicians and helpers becomes permeated by taking in the spirit that controls another person.
In churches a small amount of evil produces dissension, alienation, strife, suspicion and distrust, destroying love and weakening the community unless purged so God's love can unite hearts. Strife and dissension are evil leaven whose makers introduce spreading evil results for which they must answer to Christ. A divisive spirit produced by judging one another and drawing apart spreads like leaven through dough until it becomes common and leavens the churches, filling conference meetings and camp meetings with strife and confusion. Dissension, disunion and discouragement leavened the Ohio Conference after the missionary spirit was diverted from its proper work, showing how a small influence spreads through a whole community.
In institutions, offices, publishing houses and sanitariums a corrupt irreligious element slowly influences the entire workplace and must be purged out with God in control or general dissipation will prevail to dishonor God and grieve His Spirit. Unfaithful, irreligious or unconverted workers endanger others by example and influence, especially apprentices, and should be separated so the institution's character remains pure with sincere examples of Christian fidelity, since even those serving sincerely can be affected and serious harm done by those claiming to represent Christ while unconverted and morally degraded. Disaffection brought into an office leavens others with evil and imperils souls, particularly apprentices under its influence. The warning against letting bodies of death leaven the sanitarium applies the image to introducing unrepentant people into positions where their influence harms the institution, and unless all workers stand firm for truth and righteousness there is no purpose in having a sanitarium because unconsecrated workers bring leaven causing much trouble and heartache and intangible yet strong difficulties for evil. In the Review and Herald office denouncing others, excluding God's Spirit, hindering books and despising testimonies gave reasons for the destruction of the building.
In personal experience evil works as leaven, so any inconsistency in thought and word and act discovered by facing God's law as a mirror and testing faithfulness to His requirements must be repented before God and corrected at once or the whole experience will be leavened, and the revelation of the divine mirror must not be forgotten because nothing God declares impure or false makes a life more fit for the kingdom. Cherished self-seeking spreads defilement and can ruin the soul, applying especially to desire for personal praise which mars service to Christ and fellowship with others. A cherished character defect may cause no visible harm for a time but its evil influence appears when opportunity comes. Believers must keep heart, mind, soul and body free from its pollution, including pollution of thought and sight.
The spread can be swift and far-reaching, for doubt sown by one person over two years affected her own mind and others, clouding confidence in the work with effects reaching farther than can be known until judgment reveals them. Criticism is an evil leaven Satan introduces to shake confidence in those entrusted with important parts of the Lord's work, and brought in over fifteen years with marked success a small amount spreads place to place creating suspicion and leading men to charge one another with deception and dishonesty on perversion of facts, with cruel false representations the Lord does not endorse and requiring painstaking searching work to set in order once entangled. Wicked works act as leaven among God's people whom the Lord bears long with, and though He has many precious souls in Battle Creek the leaven strengthens with absorbing power until the whole mass is leavened one here and one there. One persisting in sin without true sense of it becomes dangerous and leavens many by disguising wrongdoing as righteousness, attacking the character of correctors and stirring distrust until those accepting such claims are drawn into the same harmful spirit. Murmurings by instigators would soon have leavened the whole camp if God had not stopped them by consuming them with fire from the cloudy pillar. Satan through evil angels forms alliance with professedly pious men, with fallen men and fallen angels in the same confederacy leagued against good, inducing men as he induced angels to join rebellion while appearing as God's servants, inspiring under godliness his own accusing spirit to charge others with evil and using them as trained detectives to create feuds, discord, bitterness, set tongues in Satan's service and sow dissension by watching for evil.
Purging Out Leaven
Purging out the old leaven is thorough heart-work that puts away malice and wickedness and keeps the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. It requires frankly acknowledging God's work, taking a firm stand against continuing doubt, jealousy and opposition to His leading, and rooting out deceptive, heartless wrongs that weaken the whole church. It requires making restitution for past robbery, redeeming the time, and repenting and being converted in heart and mind until a new heart is hid with Christ in God and the soul is sanctified and purified by truth to honor God. Until that change is effected the work is not acceptable to God.
Protection of others requires separating corrupting influences, beginning with putting away the wicked person so the community may become a new unleavened lump. Unfaithful, irreligious, unconverted and morally degraded workers endanger fellow workers and especially apprentices by example, and must be removed from office, institution and sanitarium rather than be introduced as bodies of death to leaven it. Deceptive workers whose sly conduct would leaven the whole school, as in the case of Judge, must be dismissed, and students who persist in sin and demoralize companions after efforts to reform them must be separated from the school to keep others from contamination.
Purging requires standing stiffly against evil leaven and refusing to receive it, or the whole is corrupted, puffed up, filled with malice, emptied of spirituality, and left with lasting difficulties and a harvest of what was sown, as seen in the perversion of the canvassing work and the grasping increase of wages. Building before the time, breaking the promise not to go into debt, making venturesome investments, molding God's work to the world, and opening work in a way that becomes a bad example are leaven that must not be followed at any time or in any place. The safeguard is to bind about the edges, guard against the inclination to go into debt, advance no faster than the Lord indicates and means in hand allow, and do work in narrow quarters even if good work must wait, rather than involve the Lord's work in debt.
Moral evil in coarse commonness, loose unguarded familiarity, improper liberties, low morals, and want of vigilance, discernment and spirituality, especially in men in responsible positions in a public institution such as the Health Retreat at St. Helena, is quickly imitated and spreads until the whole institution is in danger of becoming leavened before a careless sentinel suspects anything objectionable. Once permitted entrance even through one example it works unseen like evil poisonous roots springing up constantly, demoralizes the institution, destroys confidence, courage and hope of elevating it, closes the mouths of defenders, leaves stigma and reproach abroad far and near that cannot be untangled to do exact justice, stains lives and blots characters, and is next to an impossibility to eradicate and clear away. Guarding against it requires spiritual eyesight, discernment, vigilance, spirituality and close connection with God to see and stop evil at the first, while the full extent of the harvest from the seed sown will only be revealed in the judgment.
Safety requires being riveted to the eternal Rock and firmly established in Christ and present truth, for even a little false doctrine under satanic inspiration works much harm to those not rooted and grounded and unmovable. The safeguard against disaffection and evil spreading from one unclean, selfish, unsubdued mind and will through office and workplace to imperil apprentices and others is to become sensitive to the Holy Spirit, soften and subdue the disposition, let self be crucified, and let truth refine, purify and ennoble mind and heart, will and purposes. Evil thinking and evil speaking, talking against one another to hurt, wound and tear down a brother from fear of his influence, must be put away by bringing the tongue under God's control and seeking God with all the heart, while hardheartedness, complaining, criticism and a cold hard unamiable spirit toward those who disagree must give place to cherished mercy and love, removal of differences by careful study of God's Word, and perfect harmony reflecting the light of heaven.
The leaven of Pharisaism leavening the camp at Battle Creek and affecting the churches must be expelled by pen and voice until it is gone, and a new leaven introduced, which is the grace of Christ, through a reformation that cures spiritual weakness and blindness. Yet surmising evil against an erring member and spreading prejudice and unfavorable reports puts evil into other minds and sows corruption through the church, so members have no right to follow impulse, judge and condemn hastily, give the cold shoulder, or talk of separating the erring from fellowship. Such talk harms the whole body and drives the erring into discouragement instead of restoring them.
Good Leaven Contrasted
Truth itself operates as leaven, quietly imparting its qualities until the whole is permeated, while evil unbelief spreads in the same way and obstructs reformation. A small influence can affect the whole, so the falsehood of the world must not shape God's people, who are instead to spread God's truth through the world. Their contact with the world is not a call to withdraw from it but to spread the sanctifying influence of truth and correct principles within it. That witness is borne constantly through obedience and righteous character rather than by being influenced by its evil.
A right influence can leaven others for good, since even a small influence can spread through an entire church and affect a larger body. A school rightly placed acts like such leaven in helping the whole church become leavened, and locating it too far from the church would limit the help it could give. In the same way, Seventh-day Adventists joining the W.C.T.U. on temperance could act as leaven, influencing the wider work with an effect beyond themselves.