1 Corinthians 5:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Peter 2:1-2 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
Exodus 12:15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened brea…
Deuteronomy 16:3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou cames…
Matthew 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
Luke 12:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began…
Matthew 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
Here the apostle exhorts them to purity, by purging out the old leaven. In this observe,
I. The advice itself, addressed either, 1. To the church in general; and so purging out the old leaven, that they might be a new lump, refers to the putting away from themselves that wicked person, Co1 5:13. Note, Christian churches should be pure and holy, and not bear such corrupt and scandalous members. They are to be unleavened, and should endure no such heterogeneous mixture to sour and corrupt them. Or, 2. To each particular member of the church. And so it implies that they should purge themselves from all impurity of heart and life, especially from this kind of wickedness, to which the Corinthians…
not . . . old leaven--of our unconverted state as Jews or heathen.
malice--the opposite of "sincerity," which allows no leaven of evil to be mixed up with good (Mat 16:6).
wickedness--the opposite of "truth," which allows not evil to be mistaken for good. The Greek for "malice" means the evil habit of mind; "wickedness," the outcoming of the same in word and deed. The Greek for "sincerity" expresses literally, a thing which, when examined by the sun's light, is found pure and unadulterated.
Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the feast - It is very likely that the time of the passover was now approaching, when the Church of Christ would be called to extraordinary acts of devotion, in commemorating the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ; and of this circumstance the apostle takes advantage in his exhortation to the Corinthians. See the Introduction, Section 12.
Not with old leaven - Under the Christian dispensation we must be saved equally from Judaism, heathenism, and from sin of every kind; malice and wickedness must be destroyed; and sincerity and truth, inward purity and outward holiness, take their place.
The apostle refers here not more to wicked principles than to wicked men; l…
Just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump, an evil life corrupts the whole man. Therefore Paul wants us to avoid not only evil acts but all interest in sin, so that sincerity may cleanse our lives and truth may exclude all deception.
"For our Passover also hath been sacrificed for us, even Christ; wherefore 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." So also Christ called His doctrine Leaven. And further he himself dwells upon the metaphor, reminding them of an ancient history, and of the Passover and unleavened bread, and of their blessings both then and now, and their punishments and their plagues. It is festival, therefore, the whole time in which we live. For though he said, "Let us keep the feast," not with a view to the presence of the Passover or of Pentecost did he say it; but as pointing out that the whole of time is a festival unto Christians, because of the excellency of the good things which have been given. For what hath not come to pass that is good? The Son of God was made man for thee; He freed thee from death; and called thee to a kingdom. Thou therefore who hast obtained and art still obtaining such things, how can it be less than thy duty to "keep the feast" all thy life? Let no one then be downcast about poverty, and disease, and craft of enemies. For it is a festival, even the whole of our time. Wherefore saith Paul, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice." Upon the festival days no one puts on filthy garments. Neither then let us do so. For a marriage hath been made, a spiritual marriage. For, "the kingdom of Heaven," saith He, "is likened unto a certain king which would make a marriage feast for his son." Now where it is a king making a marriage, and a marriage for his son, what can be greater than this feast? Let no one then enter in clad in rags. Not about garments is our discourse but about unclean actions. For if where all wore bright apparel one alone, being found at the marriage in filthy garments, was cast out with dishonor, consider how great strictness and purity the entrance into that marriage feast requires. However, not on this account only does he remind them of the "unleavened bread," but also to point out the affinity of the Old Testament with the New; and to point out also that it was impossible, after the "unleavened bread," again to enter into Egypt; but if any one chose to return, he would suffer the same things as did they. For those things were a shadow of these; however obstinate the Jew may be. Wherefore shouldest thou enquire of…
Dictionary and topics
Leaven — (1.) Heb. seor (Ex. 12:15, 19; 13:7; Lev. 2:11), the remnant of dough from the preceding baking which had fermented and become acid. (2.) Heb. hamets, properly “ferment.” In Num. 6:3, “vinegar of…
Passover — The name given to the chief of the three great historical annual festivals of the Jews. It was kept in remembrance of the Lord’s passing over the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12:13) when the first…
Bread · Sometimes unleavened — Sometimes unleavened
Communion Of The Lord’s Supper · Prefigured — Prefigured
Feast Of The Passover, The · Illustrative of redemption through Christ — Illustrative of redemption through Christ
Influence · EVIL — EVIL
Leaven · Illustrative of: Malice and wickedness — Illustrative of: Malice and wickedness
Leaven (Yeast) · A symbol for sin — A symbol for sin
Malice · 8:44;18:22,23; — 8:44;18:22,23;
Paschal Lamb, Typical Nature Of · Eaten with unleavened bread — Eaten with unleavened bread
Sincerity
John Gill on 1 Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the feast,.... Not the feast of the passover, which was now ceased, though this is said in allusion to it; when the master of the house used to say (l),
"everyone that is hungry, let him come and eat; he that hath need, let him come "and paschatize", or keep the feast of the passover:''
but rather the feast of the Lord's supper is here meant, that feast of fat things Isaiah prophesied of; in which are the richest entertainments, even the flesh and blood of Christ; though it seems best to understand it of the whole course of a Christian's life, spent in the exercise of spiritual joy and faith in Christ; he that is of a merry heart, as the believer of all men in the wo…
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
6. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
6. Non est bona gloriatio vestra: an nescitis, quod exiguum fermentum totam massam fermentat?
7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.
7. Expurgate ergo vetus fermentum, ut sitis nova conspersio, sicut estis azymi: nam Pascha nostrum pro nobis immolatum est, Christus. [284]
8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
8. Proinde epulemur non in fermento veteri, neque i…
Paul draws an analogy between the traditional Jewish Passover celebration and the sacrifice of Christ. In the Passover celebration, a lamb was sacrificed and unleavened bread was eaten (see Exod 12:1-27; 13:3-7). The sacrifice of Christ, which occurred at Passover (Matt 26:2; cp. John 1:29; 1 Pet 1:19), results in the removal of sin for believers.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
· Exhortations to
— Exhortations to
Truth · Keep religious feasts with — Keep religious feasts with
Zeal, Religious · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
