1 Corinthians 5:8, commentary and pictures

Because Christ as the Passover has been sacrificed, those who receive life from Him are already made unleavened and must purge out the old leaven to become a new lump. In this verse leaven is an emblem of sin to be put away from the heart, as leaven was removed from Jewish homes during Passover, with contrition for sin while feeding on Christ. The old leaven is malice and wickedness in the form of evil speaking, hypocrisy, jealousy, divisions, evil thinking, criticism, strife, and dissension within the church. A little of such leaven leavens the whole lump, for cherished evil spreads secretly through a person, church, and community until the whole is corrupted. Keeping the feast means living without that leaven, with the soul purified and with sincerity and truth shaping words, spirit, mind, heart, will, and every act.

Passover Imagery and Context

Because the Passover sacrifice has been offered in Christ, those who believe are already counted as unleavened and are therefore required to purge out the old leaven in order to become a new lump. Keeping the feast means living as a sincere and truthful people, putting away corrupt conduct in the form of malice and wickedness, and turning from faultfinding and accusation toward a pure, Christlike life. That purging includes removing self interwoven with the work, unfaithfulness with entrusted talents, and refusal to make restitution for past robbery. Keeping the feast in sincerity and truth means self hidden with Christ in God, faithfulness in doing good, redeeming the time, and repentance and conversion of heart and mind that meets the perfect will, without which work is not acceptable. Since a little leaven leavens the whole lump and boasting is not good, the first duty of Christians drawn into contention with brethren is to put away malice, wickedness, wrongdoing and fraud instead of going to law before unbelievers.

As unleavened bread was required during Passover, those who receive life and nourishment from Christ must put sin away. Just as leaven was removed from Jewish homes at Passover, feeding on Christ is to be accompanied by contrition for sin. In this verse leaven is an emblem of sin to be put away from the heart. This use stands in contrast to the use of leaven to represent the transforming power of God's grace.

The verse belongs to Paul's first letter to Corinth, which exposed the sexual immorality in the church and called its members to repent and to act against those disgracing the church. Being purged from the old leaven is done by the priceless blood of the Son of God. That purging must produce new affections and new moral tastes through the power of Christ in the citadel of the heart, while forgetting it leaves the heart without an indwelling Saviour, occupied by a deceptive spirit and idols, with carnal lusts and the mind of the deceiver revealed in the life even under profession of Christianity. It is shown in thinking much of remuneration for service, proving the foundation is not laid on the sure Rock or the spirit of truth is lost, in lack of unselfish love that seeks and saves the lost, in loss of spiritual discernment that places the sacred and the common on the same level, in a heart where the Lord is not honored and the principles of Christ are not woven into the character, and in a cold formal service called religion where Christ is not formed within as the hope of glory.

What Old Leaven Is

The old leaven is malice and wickedness taking form inside the church as evil speaking, hypocrisy, jealousy, and malice, to be purged so that life is lived in sincerity and truth with words, spirit, and every act showing Christian refinement. It includes divisions, evil thinking, confusion, jealousy, and criticism among God's people. The old leaven is criticism that creates suspicion and leads men to charge one another with deception and dishonesty when the criticisms and charges rest on a perversion of facts. Satan brings in this leaven place after place to shake confidence in those entrusted with important parts of the Lord's work, entangling things until painstaking, searching work is required to set them in order, for false representations are cruel and the Lord endorses no such work.

Strife, dissension, alienation, and disputes that produce evil results are evil leaven in the church, spreading like leaven and corrupting the community through evil and self-serving motives rather than sincerity and truth in living and speaking. Those who create disputes and introduce this leaven must answer to Christ for the evil results of their course. The leaven is also dissatisfaction, suspicion, jealousy, doubt, unbelief, and opposition to God's work, leadings, counsel, opening providence, and plain reproof, including doubts, suggestions, and jealousy thrown in by Satan and feelings opposed to God's movings to the right or left. If left unconfessed it keeps working in secret, spreading darkness and uniting those who cherish it with evil angels against the advancement of God's work.

Cherished self-seeking defiles and ruins the soul as leaven spreads through dough, and the call to reject malice and wickedness is the call to reject self-exaltation and pretense and to seek God's glory rather than one's own through God's power, which shows faith is of the right order. Self interwoven with work is old leaven, with the leaven of malice and wickedness shown in unfaithfulness with entrusted talents and refusal to make restitution for past robbery. Keeping the feast in sincerity and truth means self hid with Christ in God, faithfulness in doing good, redeeming the time, and repentance and conversion of heart and mind meeting God's perfect will with evidence of a new heart, without which work is not acceptable to God. Thinking much of remuneration for service proves the foundation is not laid on the sure Rock and the spirit of truth is lost, with idols in the heart, lack of unselfish love that seeks and saves the lost, loss of spiritual discernment placing sacred and common on the same level, a heart where the Lord is not honored and Christ's principles are not woven into character, and cold formal service called religion where Christ is not formed within as the hope of glory. Being purged from the old leaven is done by the priceless blood of the Son of God and must produce new affections and new moral tastes through Christ's power in the citadel of the heart, while forgetting the purging leaves the heart without an indwelling Saviour, occupied by a deceptive spirit with carnal lusts and the mind of the deceiver revealed in life even under Christian profession.

Selfishness and covetousness are evil leaven, seen in covetousness and the pursuit of ever-higher wages that spread doubt and unbelief, weaken spirituality, and dishonor God. Those governed by them cannot give the work the right influence and should be separated from positions of responsibility. Among workers the old leaven is thinking self worthy of great favor, becoming dissatisfied, selling self to the highest bidder, fixing the value of one's own labor, measuring self by self and comparing self among selves over wages, and becoming wise above what is written. Such comparison leads to double-dealing, surrounds the soul with an atmosphere of unbelief, makes men harsh, discourteous, loveless and oppressive, and robs God and the treasury by appropriating means for own use and taking money that should supply brethren laboring in hard fields, which God regards as He regarded the sin of Achan. For the safety of the principles that must control all who labor, such men, even editors or managers, must be disconnected without delay and cannot be safely retained, for God is not with them, and if after testing they will not repent God removes them and gives their places to men looked upon as not qualified, working through them remarkably if they remain true and loyal, with judgment passing on every such case since they cannot give the right mold to the work nor supply fellow workers' necessities.

The perversion of the canvassing work and the increase of wages in the Review and Herald office are evil leaven that leavened the whole lump, spreading selfishness, loss of spiritual perception, wickedness and unfair dealing through the whole work with no reform. Standing stiffly for truth means refusing to receive this evil leaven, since receiving it puffs up and leavens with malice and causes loss of spirituality. The old leaven is Pharisaism and bigotry leavening the camp at Battle Creek and affecting the churches, and it must be expelled by labor with pen and voice until removed and a new leaven introduced, which is the grace of Christ. This calls for reformation to go through the churches because of spiritual weakness and blindness under great light and precious privileges, keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace while never ceasing to protest against bigotry, with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth set against that corrupting influence.

Idolatry brought in under Christian profession works like foul leaven, corrupting the church's purity and power by introducing unsound doctrines, superstitious rites, and idolatrous ceremonies into faith and worship. When professed idol worshipers join the church while still clinging to idolatry, only changing the objects of worship to images of Jesus and even of Mary and the saints, that leaven continues its baleful work and corrupts the Christian religion, whereas keeping the feast with unleavened sincerity and truth means maintaining fidelity to the Author of truth and worshiping God alone. Worldliness caught by contact with the worldly element is leaven, with falsehood and worldly practices perverting the faith, so God's people must not be corrupted by the world's falsehood or assimilate with worldlings but must spread God's truth, take a decisive stand for truth and righteousness, and bring the sanctifying influence of truth and right principles into the world with lives showing God's discipline and righteous character distinct from the world. Young men and young women cannot be called into work where they are leavened by worldliness instead of exerting an influence that wins souls to Christ, and soul-saving is to be made first, so work supplying temporal food such as restaurant and food work bears God's approval only when workers do all they possibly can to reach with the truth those they feed.

Philosophy, false science, and spiritualism are leaven, in erroneous sentiments, sophistry, deceptive theories, and dangerous writings and sayings that youth should not hear, which destroy faith, lead off the platform of truth, misinterpret inspired messages, and use them to testify to falsehood. This spiritualistic leaven has already been placed in the meal to leaven many minds and works secretly until the whole mass is leavened, making the messages God sends of no effect, so there can be no harmonizing or unifying with advocates of these wrong sentiments, whose leaven must be resolutely discarded, guarded against, and met with the decided warning, Beware. Skepticism that leavens young minds and leads to infidelity is warned against by the same image, calling for truth to be deeply impressed on the soul so it can withstand surrounding error. Human malice and evil surmising are the leaven of malice and wickedness, and those who consult human agencies and allow themselves to be leavened with it will surely be separated from God's work.

Continuing to cherish traits of character God's Word forbids, especially envy and evil-surmising, after light has come while on test and trial, makes men evil leaven in God's work who must be separated from it, with freedom coming only by union with Christ and reliance on His strength since working for Christ in one's own strength ends in utter failure. Those who have allowed a wrong spirit to control them must come to God in repentance and confess, and He will hear and pardon, but the stubborn and hardhearted will be separated unless they repent, for Christ cannot accept labor without His love burning in the heart and work done without the love of Christ misrepresents Christ and leaves the first love. Wicked works, unbelief, darkness, refusal to humble the heart and accept given light, and a wrong course injuring God's cause are leaven with strengthening, absorbing power spreading from person to person until the whole mass is leavened. The Lord bears long with such wicked works, but if light is not accepted and wrong not corrected the leavening influence brings greater darkness, loss of discernment, greater blindness unable to recognize greater light, and following one's own course to ruin, a power at work in Battle Creek where great light has shone and many precious souls remain, to be met by humbling the heart before God. Mischievous gossip sows seeds of evil and makes a family's influence displeasing to God, reflecting the contrast between sinful leaven and unleavened goodness and the call to turn from harmful conduct. Accounts of crime and cruelty act like leaven by spreading wickedness through the mind and leading readers to imitate it, so those who believe truth should not help keep such evil alive. Commercial interests that distract God's servants from bringing souls to the truth are a leavening influence that has entered the work and must be rejected so that God's purposes are fulfilled instead.

How Leaven Spreads

A little leaven leavens the whole lump, for as leaven spreads through dough so cherished evil spreads through a person, church, and community. That spreading includes self-seeking, self-exaltation and pretense defiling and ruining the soul, a spirit of disaffection influencing others and imperiling them, and commercial interests distracting servants from bringing souls to the truth. It also includes wicked works, unbelief, darkness, refusal to humble the heart and accept given light, and a wrong course injuring the cause, working with strengthening, absorbing power from one person to another until the whole mass is leavened.

If left unconfessed, the leaven of doubts, suggestions and jealousy thrown in to oppose the work keeps working in secret, spreading darkness and uniting those who cherish it with evil angels against the advancement of the work. The Lord bears long with such wicked works, but if light is not accepted and wrong is not corrected, the leavening influence brings greater darkness, loss of discernment, blindness that cannot recognize greater light, and ruin by following one's own course. Those who have received great light and privileges but do not respond with faith and obedience can become infected by prevailing apostasy and controlled by another spirit, and their greater opportunities make their condition worse than that of zealous advocates of error.

Spiritualistic leaven of philosophy, false science, erroneous sentiments, sophistry and deceptive theories that destroy faith has already been placed in the meal, and it works secretly until the whole mass is leavened, making the messages sent of no effect. A spirit of disaffection can influence others and imperil them, and evil cherished within the church spreads like leaven to produce dissension, alienation, and strife.

Living Unleavened in Sincerity

To keep the feast is to live without the leaven of sin, with the soul purified from every unholy influence and with sincerity and truth shaping words, spirit, mind, heart, will, purposes, and every act. Truth so received expresses itself in both word and spirit with Christian refinement, sanctifies those who hold it pure, and makes conduct honor God. It purifies the mind, heart, will, and purposes against malice and wickedness and against a spirit of disaffection that would influence and imperil others. Keeping the feast in sincerity and truth means self hid with Christ in God, faithfulness in doing good, redeeming the time, and repentance and conversion of heart and mind that meets God's perfect will, with self interwoven with work, unfaithfulness with entrusted talents, and refusal to make restitution put away as the old leaven. Keeping the feast unleavened is keeping the commandments of God, loving God supremely and the neighbor as oneself, seeking the present and future good of others instead of exalting self, and laboring in a Christlike manner united with one another in dependence on God, meek and teachable, with an eye single to His glory. It requires putting away all chafing and dissatisfaction, giving preference to the brother, being melted over and purified from dross mingled with words and actions, crucifying self, loving one another and respecting Christ, and humbling the self under God, lest workers become separated from Him.

Purging produces new affections and new moral tastes through Christ's power in the citadel of the heart, while forgetting the purging leaves the heart without an indwelling Saviour, occupied by a deceptive spirit and idols, with carnal lusts and the mind of the deceiver revealed in the life even under profession of Christianity. That loss is shown in thinking much of remuneration for service, in lack of unselfish love that seeks and saves the lost, in loss of spiritual discernment that places the sacred and the common on the same level, in a heart where the Lord is not honored and the principles of Christ are not woven into character, and in cold formal service called religion where Christ is not formed within as the hope of glory. The new leaven to be introduced in place of the expelled evil is the grace of Christ, whose working is plainly seen when evil is cast out of the nature. Truth must therefore sanctify those who receive it, be deeply impressed on the soul so it can withstand surrounding error, and be carried as a sanctifying influence into the world rather than letting the world's falsehood corrupt God's people. Lives so sanctified show that they are under God's discipline and have a righteous character, spreading God's truth instead of malice and wickedness.

God's people must preserve the sacredness of their consecration by keeping heart, mind, soul, and body free from contamination and from polluted thoughts or sights. The call to sincerity and truth is reflected in rejecting self-seeking, self-exaltation, and pretense that defile and ruin the soul, and in seeking God's glory rather than one's own, which comes through God's power and shows faith is of the right order. It calls for turning from faultfinding and accusations toward a pure, Christlike life as a sincere and truthful people because Christ the Passover is sacrificed. Keeping the feast with unleavened sincerity and truth means maintaining fidelity to the Author of truth and worshiping God alone, refusing to change only the objects of worship while clinging to idolatry with its unsound doctrines, superstitious rites, and idolatrous ceremonies.

Purging Leaven from Church

The first duty of those drawn into contention with brethren is to purge out the old leaven to become a new lump, for glorying is not good and a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Because the Passover has been sacrificed, believers are already unleavened, and keeping the feast means living not with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with sincerity and truth. That requires putting away malice, wickedness, wrongdoing and fraud instead of going to law before unbelievers. The leaven of evil is to be put out of the heart, the home, and the church, with consecration to God.

Purging demands thorough work in the past, frankly acknowledging with decision every step of divine work and providence. The leaven to be purged is dissatisfaction, suspicion, jealousy, doubt, unbelief and opposition to the work, leadings, counsel, opening providence and plain reproof. It includes doubts, suggestions and jealousy thrown in by Satan and feelings opposed to divine guidance, which if left unconfessed keep working in secret, spreading darkness and uniting those who cherish them with evil angels against the advancement of the work. The remedy is to take firm position that God has led when His hand moves His people to the right or to the left, even if it tears self and self-dignity to pieces.

The old leaven of Pharisaism and bigotry, leavening the camp at Battle Creek and affecting the churches, must be expelled by labor with pen and voice until it is removed. In its place a new leaven is to be introduced, which is the grace of Christ, set against the corrupt influence as the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. This calls for reformation under great light and precious privileges, keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace while never ceasing to protest against bigotry, because of spiritual weakness and blindness. Those who after light has come continue while on test and trial to cherish traits forbidden by the Word, especially envy and evil-surmising, act as evil leaven and must be separated from the work. Freedom comes only by union with Christ and reliance on His strength, for working in one's own strength ends in utter failure.

Standing stiffly for the truth means refusing to receive the evil leaven, since receiving it puffs up, leavens with malice, and causes loss of spirituality. That leaven was seen in perversion of the canvassing work and increase of wages spreading selfishness, loss of spiritual perception, wickedness and unfair dealing through the whole work with no reform. Those who consult human agencies and allow themselves to be leavened with human malice and evil surmising will surely be separated from the work unless they repent. Those controlled by a wrong spirit must come to God in repentance and confess, and then He will hear and pardon, but the stubborn and hardhearted will be separated, for labor without the love of Christ burning in the heart misrepresents Christ and cannot be accepted by Him who cannot accept work from one who has left first love.

Men governed by selfishness and covetousness corrupt the work, cannot give it the right mold and influence, and must be disconnected without delay from positions of responsibility even as editors or managers, for they cannot be safely retained. That old leaven includes thinking self worthy of great favor, becoming dissatisfied, selling self to the highest bidder, fixing the value of one's own labor, measuring self by self and comparing self among selves over wages, and becoming wise above what is written. Such comparison leads to double-dealing, surrounds the soul with unbelief, makes men harsh, discourteous, loveless and oppressive, and robs God and the treasury by appropriating means and taking money that should supply brethren laboring in hard fields, which is regarded as the sin of Achan and will meet judgment in every case. If after testing they will not repent, they are removed and their places given to men looked upon as not qualified, through whom remarkable work is done if they remain true and loyal, for God is not with the unrepentant.

There can be no harmonizing or unifying with advocates of wrong sentiments, for their spiritualistic leaven of philosophy, false science, erroneous sentiments, sophistry, deceptive theories, dangerous writings and sayings destroys faith, leads off the platform of truth, misinterprets inspired messages to testify to falsehood, works secretly until the whole mass is leavened, and makes sent messages of no effect. That leaven must be resolutely discarded, guarded against, and met with the decided warning, Beware, especially keeping it from youth. Those who believe truth must not help keep evil alive, for evil works like leaven spreading wickedness through the mind and leading to imitation, as with accounts of crime and cruelty influencing readers toward similar deeds. Soul-saving is to be made first, and worldliness caught by contact with the worldly element must not leaven God's people instead of their winning souls, so work supplying temporal food such as restaurant and food work bears approval only when workers do all they possibly can to reach with truth those they feed.

False representations based on perversion of facts are cruel and endorsed by no divine authority, and the evil leaven of criticism that creates suspicion and leads men to charge one another with deception and dishonesty is brought place after place to shake confidence in those entrusted with important work, entangling things so that painstaking searching work is required to set them in order. Strife and dissension are evil leaven in the church, and those who create disputes and introduce it must answer for the evil results of their course. Evil works like leaven with strengthening, absorbing power spreading until the whole mass is leavened, namely wicked works, unbelief, darkness, refusal to humble the heart and accept given light, and a wrong course injuring the cause. Long forbearance is shown, but if light is not accepted and wrong not corrected, the leavening influence brings greater darkness, loss of discernment, blindness unable to recognize greater light, and ruin by following one's own course. Where great light has shone and many precious souls remain, as in Battle Creek, this leavening power at work must be met by humbling the heart before God.

When corrupting influences of divisions, evil thinking, confusion, jealousy and criticism are purged, abiding love binds hearts together in unity. Casting the leaven of evil out of the nature and receiving the grace of Christ makes the working of the new leaven plainly seen. Keeping the feast unleavened is keeping the commandments, loving God supremely and neighbor as self, seeking others' present and future good instead of exalting self, laboring united in dependence on God, meek and teachable with eye single to His glory, giving preference to the brother, being melted over and purified from dross in words and actions, crucifying self, and humbling self under God. Commercial interests that distract servants from bringing souls to truth have entered the work as leavening influence and must be rejected so that divine purposes are fulfilled. Workers who retain chafing and dissatisfaction become separated and can never gain entrance into the holy city.