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Effective communicators will use illustrations and analogies to strengthen their message. The apostle Paul was a master teacher, and in 1 Corinthians 5:6–8, he applied the analogy of leaven (or yeast) and the illustration of the Passover festival to a problem of blatant sin in the church: “Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old ‘yeast’ by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6–8, NLT).
The above passage is part of Paul’s incredulous response to hearing about a case of sexual immorality defiling the Corinthian church (see 1 Corinthians 5:1–13). A male church member was reportedly living in sin with his stepmother, and some of the believers in Corinth were bragging about it (verses 1–2). Complacency toward sin and open immorality had spread throughout the church, blinding the believers to their perilous spiritual condition as well as that of the man. Paul ordered the church to repent in sorrow over their sinful boasting and to take corrective, disciplinary action by removing the man from the church fellowship (verses 3–5).
Paul’s concern was not just for the man involved in the scandalous act of incest but for the entire church body. He was deeply troubled by their casual attitude and proud acceptance of a sin that had infected the whole church. To illustrate the pervasive nature of sin, Paul used the metaphor “a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough” (1 Corinthians 5:6). Yeast, a symbol of sin here, is a small ingredient that works secretly but powerfully throughout the entire batch of dough, causing it to rise or puff up. Paul’s message was clear: a small amount of sin can spread and infect the entire body of Christ. The church has a need for vigilance against the danger of spiritual complacency.
In Jesus Christ, the church is to be “a fresh batch of dough made without yeast” (1 Corinthians 5:6). Believers are new creations in Christ; the old, sin-infested nature was done away with at the cross, and the new life has begun (2 Corinthians 5:17; see also Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:24). The church is to be a clean, morally upright community because it exists in Christ. The reason for removing the “old yeast” of the sinful person from the church fellowship was rooted in the implications of Christ’s death.
Paul draws a picture from the Passover festival. At the first Passover, Moses had the people of Israel slaughter a lamb (Exodus 12:21, 42) and spread its blood on the entrances to their homes in Egypt (Exodus 12:7). The blood protected the people from God’s wrath. Every subsequent Passover likewise required the sacrifice of a lamb.
Jesus Christ is our Passover. Just as lambs were slaughtered during the Passover to atone for sin, Jesus died for the same purpose. His blood was sacrificed for us on the cross to deliver us from sin (1 Peter 1:18–25). He saved us by causing the wrath of God to “pass over” our sins (Romans 3:25; 5:9; Ephesians 2:13). The ancient Passover feast has always foreshadowed the ultimate atoning work of Christ’s shed blood on the cross as the full and final payment for our sins (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:11–14; Revelation 13:8).
Further developing his analogy, Paul referred to the solemn Passover customs of purging all yeast or leaven from the home and baking bread without it during the feast (Exodus 12:33–34, 39; 23:15; Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:17; Deuteronomy 16:3). The unleavened “bread of affliction” was to remind the people of their hasty departure from bondage in Egypt.
The Corinthians required a similar reminder as we all still do today—we need to remove the old yeast of sin from our lives and the church because Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Every day is our Passover, and we must continually walk with a sincere desire for holiness and freedom from the yoke of sin (Romans 6:22; Galatians 5:1; 1 Peter 2:16). The symbolic bread of fellowship we eat must be free, as much as possible, from the leaven of sin. Scripture challenges all believers to live morally upright lives as we follow Christ daily.
