Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:8)

An Unleavened Life

In the midst of Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian brethren for allowing sexual immorality to continue in the church, he reminds them of the true character of the child of God. Allowing immorality to continue without taking any action was sinful in itself, polluting the church family with the influence of the ungodly. He demands they take severe action against the couple to purge their ungodly influence from among them. Paul uses the example of leaven to show that allowing sin of any nature to continue unabated and unchallenged impacted everyone.

It is easy to sit back and think what other people are doing does not impact the group. Paul tells the church they have allowed the leaven of ungodliness to continue, influencing the whole church. A little leaven will leaven the entire group if not taken care of. He commands them to purge out the leaven of wickedness to remain a body of unleavened souls seeking the purity of the gospel. Christ is the Passover as the sacrificial lamb slain to redeem men by His blood.

Paul’s plea goes to the heart of each individual. The broader subject is the couple in adultery, but the important picture is how it has affected the individuals. They had allowed the immorality of the man and his father’s wife to corrupt their lives. Every Christian must be the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth to the word of God. What was allowed to happen in the collective group at Corinth was impacting everyone on an individual level. Christians must stand for truth. This is not done simply by doing the right things in the right way in worship. It impacts how they live each day as unleavened, uninfluenced souls from a world filled with darkness.

The leaven of sin can so easily ensnare the heart. Refusing to put away sin is allowing the leaven of the devil to change the hearts of the godly to accept evil. The Corinthians had allowed the couple to remain in their immoral relationship without challenge. That was a greater sin. To be the church of the Lord, the lives of the saints must be unleavened in their attitudes toward sin. So many of God’s people act like the world, dress immodestly in the fashion of the world, accept the immoral lives of brethren, never blush at evil, and accept the norms of society as acceptable before God. The Lord demands unleavened lives.

Unleavened bread has no leaven in it. Any part of leaven can and will affect the dough. Great care is taken to remove leaven so the bread remains pure. Unleavened lives refuse to allow the leaven of the world to be a part of any form or fashion. Allowing any part of the worldly leaven to influence the heart can change the lives of the Christian. Every effort must be taken to remove the leaven of the world from the hearts of those who seek the upward call of Christ Jesus. Sincerity and truth are the elements of an unleavened life. The Christian must be true and faithful to Jesus Christ. No Christians unwilling to put away all sin can have or give evidence of sincerity.