Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Jesus warned His followers to be on guard against the teaching and influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees, rival parties united in opposition to Him, meaning a spiritual corruption and not a lack of bread. The leaven is hypocrisy and unbelief toward the Spirit of God, a self-seeking, self-exalting spirit that hides self-serving aims under religious appearance and blinds even disciples to His mission of self-sacrifice. It sets aside God's commands for human theories, traditions, maxims and opinions that seem to explain His law while weakening its force, and it embraces false doctrines and deceptive reasonings that undermine faith and make God's messages ineffective. Once admitted it works quietly like leaven, spreading through a person and through the community to change character, corrupt faith, sicken spiritual life, and mislead new converts. Therefore the warning calls for self-examination instead of condemning brethren, guarding the simplicity of faith from error, and shunning critical, exaggerating speech that spreads doubt, resentment and alienation through envy and jealousy.
Words and Setting
The warning is directed against the teaching and influence of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, two rival groups that joined together against Christ. It is not about lack of bread but about spiritual corruption working inwardly like leaven, which was regarded as a type of sin. Their deceptive reasoning and teaching threatened to spread unbelief among the disciples and to lead them to think lightly of Christ's works. What was warned against as leaven was afterward explained as caution against hypocrisy.
The warning was given to the disciples in parables containing great truths, because that was the only way to show His followers their true situation. Those truths were to be remembered distinctly, so that they would later be brought vividly to the minds of new converts added to the church. Though spoken to the disciples, it was spoken also in the hearing of the listening Pharisees, in hope they would feel its force under the Holy Spirit and be deeply convicted. If not before the crucifixion, then after the resurrection and ascension they might yet be converted from Phariseeism and receive the truth.
What Leaven Means
Leaven is regarded as a type of sin, meaning unbelief, especially unbelief toward the teachings of the Spirit of God. Its deceptive reasoning and teaching can spread that unbelief among disciples, lead them to think lightly of Christ's works, and make it difficult for people to receive Christ's words. It is hypocrisy and self-seeking that quietly spreads through a person and corrupts the soul, concealing self-serving principles beneath religious appearances, including neglect of family duty disguised as a gift to the temple.
It replaces God's commands with human theories, traditions, maxims, customs, and opinions. This includes teachings that appear to explain God's law but undermine its principles and weaken its force. It leads people to exalt themselves, seek human approval and an easier way, and be blinded to Christ's mission of self-sacrifice, keeping even His disciples from understanding it, and the warning applies to His followers as well.
It represents false, dishonoring doctrines, heresies, misconceptions, and delusions. These include philosophical and false-scientific ideas and spiritualistic views that distort God's messages, undermine faith, and make those messages ineffective while claiming to agree with inspired writings to promote deceptive theories. Believers must therefore guard the simplicity of faith and not mingle error with truth, but discover and counteract errors by bringing God's light to the world, since neglecting plain warnings leaves people accountable and error spreads and deepens spiritual darkness. Here that corrupting influence is also the schemes and dishonest practices of people who profess the truth but act against Christ and injure God's cause.
Spread and Application
Once taken in, this influence works as leaven does, quietly spreading and changing character until it permeates the person and the community, corrupting faith and misleading new converts as they are added to the church. The maxims, customs, and opinions of the Pharisees act in this way, as do philosophical and false-scientific ideas and spiritualistic views that distort God's messages, undermine faith, and make those messages ineffective while claiming to agree with inspired writings. When it spreads generally through the church it sickens the spirit and cripples energy, so that the majority no longer receive testimony and faithful witnesses find no freedom to unburden their minds and cease to bear testimony there.
Here the leaven is critical, misrepresenting speech and excessive talk and criticism, a tongue that exaggerates the faults of others, spreads doubts and mistrust, draws others into resentment, turns people against one another, and spreads alienation through neighbors and churches. Envy, jealousy, unbelief, and self-focus feed this influence. As the Pharisees' influence spread and corrupted in Christ's time, so dishonest plans and schemes of those who profess the truth while acting against Christ and injuring God's cause spread and corrupt those who follow them. A wrong, harmful spirit in those in positions of trust fosters harmful attitudes, leads others astray, and is copied by others.
Pharisaism spreads like leaven through pride, a combative spirit, and the desire to rule, drawing people away from the Bible standard and influencing others wrongly when human authority and plans displace divine instruction by seeking to rule without God's authority. To be leavened is to have seeds of evil insinuations sown in the mind by those who use every opportunity to sow them, so that when temptation comes those in whom the seeds were sown are worked upon to divert others from the truths God is urging to be borne to the world. The warning is therefore against being leavened by insinuations that weaken confidence in God's ministers and message, so that students should not be advised to go where they will be leavened. In this application the corrupting influence is Pharisaism in the Battle Creek church and in the Seventh-day Adventist churches, which must be expelled and replaced with the grace of Christ, while truth in the heart, guided by Christ's Spirit, controls human passions and affections.
The warning calls for examining one's own faults rather than condemning brethren, guarding against those who draw out and circulate hostile opinions, and beware of speech that serves envy and jealousy and magnifies others' faults while ignoring one's own. Believers must guard the simplicity of faith and not mingle error with truth, for the leaven is false, dishonoring doctrines. The leaven of error — false doctrines, heresies, misconceptions, and delusions — spreads and deepens spiritual darkness, and errors must be discovered and counteracted by bringing God's light to the world, since neglecting plain warnings leaves people accountable.
Jesus warned His followers to be on guard against the teaching and influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees, rival parties united in opposition to Him, meaning a spiritual corruption and not a lack of bread. The leaven is hypocrisy and unbelief toward the Spirit of God, a self-seeking, self-exalting spirit that hides self-serving aims under religious appearance and blinds even disciples to His mission of self-sacrifice. It sets aside God's commands for human theories, traditions, maxims and opinions that seem to explain His law while weakening its force, and it embraces false doctrines and deceptive reasonings that undermine faith and make God's messages ineffective. Once admitted it works quietly like leaven, spreading through a person and through the community to change character, corrupt faith, sicken spiritual life, and mislead new converts. Therefore the warning calls for self-examination instead of condemning brethren, guarding the simplicity of faith from error, and shunning critical, exaggerating speech that spreads doubt, resentment and alienation through envy and jealousy.
Words and Setting
The warning is directed against the teaching and influence of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, two rival groups that joined together against Christ. It is not about lack of bread but about spiritual corruption working inwardly like leaven, which was regarded as a type of sin. Their deceptive reasoning and teaching threatened to spread unbelief among the disciples and to lead them to think lightly of Christ's works. What was warned against as leaven was afterward explained as caution against hypocrisy.
The warning was given to the disciples in parables containing great truths, because that was the only way to show His followers their true situation. Those truths were to be remembered distinctly, so that they would later be brought vividly to the minds of new converts added to the church. Though spoken to the disciples, it was spoken also in the hearing of the listening Pharisees, in hope they would feel its force under the Holy Spirit and be deeply convicted. If not before the crucifixion, then after the resurrection and ascension they might yet be converted from Phariseeism and receive the truth.
What Leaven Means
Leaven is regarded as a type of sin, meaning unbelief, especially unbelief toward the teachings of the Spirit of God. Its deceptive reasoning and teaching can spread that unbelief among disciples, lead them to think lightly of Christ's works, and make it difficult for people to receive Christ's words. It is hypocrisy and self-seeking that quietly spreads through a person and corrupts the soul, concealing self-serving principles beneath religious appearances, including neglect of family duty disguised as a gift to the temple.
It replaces God's commands with human theories, traditions, maxims, customs, and opinions. This includes teachings that appear to explain God's law but undermine its principles and weaken its force. It leads people to exalt themselves, seek human approval and an easier way, and be blinded to Christ's mission of self-sacrifice, keeping even His disciples from understanding it, and the warning applies to His followers as well.
It represents false, dishonoring doctrines, heresies, misconceptions, and delusions. These include philosophical and false-scientific ideas and spiritualistic views that distort God's messages, undermine faith, and make those messages ineffective while claiming to agree with inspired writings to promote deceptive theories. Believers must therefore guard the simplicity of faith and not mingle error with truth, but discover and counteract errors by bringing God's light to the world, since neglecting plain warnings leaves people accountable and error spreads and deepens spiritual darkness. Here that corrupting influence is also the schemes and dishonest practices of people who profess the truth but act against Christ and injure God's cause.
Spread and Application
Once taken in, this influence works as leaven does, quietly spreading and changing character until it permeates the person and the community, corrupting faith and misleading new converts as they are added to the church. The maxims, customs, and opinions of the Pharisees act in this way, as do philosophical and false-scientific ideas and spiritualistic views that distort God's messages, undermine faith, and make those messages ineffective while claiming to agree with inspired writings. When it spreads generally through the church it sickens the spirit and cripples energy, so that the majority no longer receive testimony and faithful witnesses find no freedom to unburden their minds and cease to bear testimony there.
Here the leaven is critical, misrepresenting speech and excessive talk and criticism, a tongue that exaggerates the faults of others, spreads doubts and mistrust, draws others into resentment, turns people against one another, and spreads alienation through neighbors and churches. Envy, jealousy, unbelief, and self-focus feed this influence. As the Pharisees' influence spread and corrupted in Christ's time, so dishonest plans and schemes of those who profess the truth while acting against Christ and injuring God's cause spread and corrupt those who follow them. A wrong, harmful spirit in those in positions of trust fosters harmful attitudes, leads others astray, and is copied by others.
Pharisaism spreads like leaven through pride, a combative spirit, and the desire to rule, drawing people away from the Bible standard and influencing others wrongly when human authority and plans displace divine instruction by seeking to rule without God's authority. To be leavened is to have seeds of evil insinuations sown in the mind by those who use every opportunity to sow them, so that when temptation comes those in whom the seeds were sown are worked upon to divert others from the truths God is urging to be borne to the world. The warning is therefore against being leavened by insinuations that weaken confidence in God's ministers and message, so that students should not be advised to go where they will be leavened. In this application the corrupting influence is Pharisaism in the Battle Creek church and in the Seventh-day Adventist churches, which must be expelled and replaced with the grace of Christ, while truth in the heart, guided by Christ's Spirit, controls human passions and affections.
The warning calls for examining one's own faults rather than condemning brethren, guarding against those who draw out and circulate hostile opinions, and beware of speech that serves envy and jealousy and magnifies others' faults while ignoring one's own. Believers must guard the simplicity of faith and not mingle error with truth, for the leaven is false, dishonoring doctrines. The leaven of error — false doctrines, heresies, misconceptions, and delusions — spreads and deepens spiritual darkness, and errors must be discovered and counteracted by bringing God's light to the world, since neglecting plain warnings leaves people accountable.