Unleavened Bread
1 Corinthians 5
"Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?"
(1 Corinthians 5:6)
Sadly, the story is all too familiar. A relatively small conflict sparks in the life of a church. Those involved fail to deal with their differences biblically and instead allow the embers of hostility to smolder under the surface for months or even years. But before long what began as a spark is an out-of-control wildfire. Pastors are fired. Long-time members are ousted. Churches are split along party lines. Indeed, a little leaven does work through the whole batch of dough.
In times like these, the church needs to be reminded of its identity as unleavened dough. Just as the baker will not even knead dough in the same room as yeast, so also the church ought to be ever vigilant to root out any and every sin that could spread through the entire congregation - no matter how small. Christ, the Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed, constituting us as unleavened (i.e., pure). Therefore, the church today must live in light of that reality, seeking to maintain its purity through sincerity and truth.
INSIGHT
Is there any "leaven" in your life or your church that needs to be removed?
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 25-26
Psalm 143
1 Thessalonians 3-4
1 Corinthians 5
Dealing With a Case of Incest
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,[a][b] so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked person from among you."[d]
Footnotes:
a. 1 Corinthians 5:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
b. 1 Corinthians 5:5 Or of his body
c. 1 Corinthians 5:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in 8:11, 13.
d. 1 Corinthians 5:13 Deut. 13:5; 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21,24; 24:7
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