Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 5:6
Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
6. Your glorying is not good ] Rather, that state of things of which you glory is not good. The word here translated glorying signifies that whereof a man glories, and is so translated in Rom 4:2. Cf. ch. 1Co 9:15-16 ; 2Co 1:14; 2Co 5:12; 2Co 9:3, &c., where the same word is used, but is variously translated in our version. The Corinthians are once more reminded how little cause they had for self-glorification. As long as they permitted such an offender to defile their society they were in a measure partakers of his sin.
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ] The presence of a very small amount of evil in the Christian society imparts a character to the whole a truth only too folly exemplified in the after-history of the Christian Church. From the evil that has crept into the Christian society men have taken occasion to deny its divine origin. The student of history will remember how dexterously Gibbon contrives to throw discredit upon Christianity by enlarging upon the shortcomings of the early Church, and by evading the comparison between its moral elevation and the shocking demoralization of heathen society. The same words are to be found in Gal 5:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Your glorying – Your boasting; or confidence in your present condition, as if you were eminent in purity and piety.
Is not good – Is not well, proper, right. Boasting is never good; but it is especially wrong when, as here, there is an existing evil that is likely to corrupt the whole church. When people are disposed to boast, they should at once make the inquiry whether there is not some sin indulged in, on account of which they should be humbled and subdued. If all individual Christians, and all Christian churches, and all people of every rank and condition, would look at things as they are, they would never find occasion for boasting. It is only when we are blind to the realities of the ease, and overlook our faults, that we are disposed to boast. The reason why this was improper in Corinth, Paul states – that any sin would tend to corrupt the whole church, and that therefore they ought not to boast until that was removed.
A little leaven … – A small quantity of leaven or yeast will pervade the entire mass of flour, or dough, and diffuse itself through it all. This is evidently a proverbial saying. It occurs also in Gal 5:9. Compare the note at Mat 13:33. A similar figure occurs also in the Greek classic writers – By leaven the Hebrews metaphorically understood whatever had the power of corrupting, whether doctrine, or example, or anything else. See the note at Mat 16:6. The sense here is plain. A single sin indulged in, or allowed in the church, would act like leaven – it would pervade and corrupt the whole church, unless it was removed. On this ground, and for this reason, discipline should be administered, and the corrupt member should be removed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 5:6-13
Your glorying is not good.
The true Church a feast
These verses lead us to look upon the true Church–
I. In its internal enjoyments. The association of Christly men is a feast, because it contains the choicest elements for–
1. Spiritual nourishment. The quickening and elevating ideas current in such fellowships constitute a soul banquet, a feast of fat things.
2. Spiritual gratification. What higher delight Shah the loving intercourse of kindred souls. The true Church is not a melancholy assemblage, but is the most joyous fellowship on earth.
II. In its external relation to the ungodly. There is a connection with ungodly men–
1. That it must avoid. As the Jews put away leaven at the Passover, so all corrupt men must be excluded from the Church feasts. Their presence, like leaven, would be contagious. No Church that has such leaven in it has any occasion for exultation (1Co 5:6).
2. That it cannot avoid (1Co 5:10). You cannot attend to your temporal affairs without contact with the ungodly, and as Christians you are bound to go among them to do them good. Over such you have no jurisdiction; they are without, and God is to judge them, not you. But if they creep into the Church you are to deal with them (1Co 5:11). Observe here–
(1) That sin takes many forms. What is temptation to one man is not to another. One is tempted to be a fornicator, another a miser, &c.
(2) In whatever form this leaven shows itself it must not be tolerated for one moment. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The evil of self-complacency
I. The spirit condemned.
1. Self-complacency.
2. Vanity.
3. Pride.
II. The evil of it.
1. Foolish, man has nothing to glory in.
2. Sinful in itself, often in its occasion.
3. Pernicious, it brings shame, humiliation, ruin. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
The leaven of sin works
1. Constantly.
2. Imperceptibly.
3. Powerfully.
4. Perniciously. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Sin a malignant leaven
I. In its nature.
1. Corrupting.
2. Spreading.
3. Assimilating.
II. In its effects–
1. Upon communities.
2. Upon individuals. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Purging out the leaven
What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Evermore in Scripture the doctrines of grace are married to the precepts of holiness. Salvation in sin is not possible, it always must be salvation from sin. The apostle, while he was showing the Corinthians how wrong they were to tolerate an incestuous person, compared the spirit of uncleanness to an evil leaven; then the leaven suggested the passover, and turning aside for a moment he applied that, so as to make his argument yet more cogent. Hard by any Scripture wherein you find the safety of the believer guaranteed, you are sure to see needful holiness set side by side with it. The purity of the house from leaven went side by side with its safety by the blood.
I. The happy condition of all true believers in Christ. Christ our passover, &c. The habitual state of a Christian is that of one keeping a feast in perfect security. Observe how the apostle puts it: Christ is our passover–that by which Gods wrath passes over from us who deserve its full vengeance: Christ is sacrificed, for He gave Himself for us. No new victim is expected or required. Let others offer what they will, ours is the Lamb once slain, and there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. This completeness of sacrifice indeed is the main part of the festival which the Christian should perpetually keep. If there were anything yet to be done, how could we celebrate the feast? Therefore, says the apostle–and it is a natural inference from it let us keep the feast.
1. The paschal lamb was not slain to be looked at, to be laid by, or merely made the subject of conversation; but it was slain to be fed upon. So it is your daily business to feed upon Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed. At the paschal supper the whole of the lamb was intended to be eaten; and thou art to feed upon the whole of Christ. No part is denied thee, neither His humiliation nor His glory, His kingship nor His priesthood, His Godhead nor His manhood.
2. A feast is not only for nourishment, but for exhilaration. Let us in this sense also keep a lifelong feast. The Christian is not only to take the doctrines which concern Christ, to build up his soul with, but he may draw from them the new wine of delight. At the passover the Jews were accustomed to sing. Let us keep the feast in the same way. Let your praises never cease.
3. At the passover the devout Jew was accustomed to teach his family the meaning of the feast. Let it be a part of our continual festival to tell to others what our Redeeming Lord has done. This precept does not refer merely to the Lords Supper; it is of continuous force. Let us keep the feast always, for the Lamb is always slain.
II. A holy duty commended to us. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven. Let us keep the feast; not with old leaven, &c.
1. Leaven is used in Scripture in every case but one as the emblem of sin. This arises from–
(1) Its sourness. Sin, which for awhile may seem pleasant, will soon he nauseous even to the sinner; but the very least degree of sin is obnoxious to God. We cannot tell how much God hates sin.
(2) Its corruption and corrupting influence. Sin is a corruption, it dissolves the very fabric of society and the constitution of man.
(3) Its spreading character. No matter how great the measure of flour, the leaven will work its way. Even thus it is with sin. One woman sinned, and the whole human race was leavened by her fault. If the leaven of evil is permitted in a Church, it will work its way through the whole of it.
(a) A little false doctrine is sure to pave the way for greater departures from truth. The doctrines of the gospel have such a close relation to one another, that if you snap a link you have broken the whole chain. He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all.
(b) The leaven of evil living, too, tolerated in one it will soon be excused in another, and a lower tone of thought with regard to sin will rule the Church. Sin is like the bale of goods which came from the East to this city in the olden time, which brought the pest in it. In those days one piece of rag carried the infection into a whole town.
2. This leaven must be purged out. In consequence of the command the head of the household among the Jews, especially when they grew more strict in their ritual, would go through the whole of the house on a certain day to search for every particle of leavened bread. With as scrupulous a care as the Israelite purged out the leaven from his house we are to purge out all sin from ourselves and in our conduct.
(1) The Jewish householder would very soon put away all the large loaves of leavened bread, just as we gave up at once all those gross outward sins in which we indulged before.
(2) Then perhaps the stray crusts which the children had left were put away. So there may be certain minor sins in the judgment of the world which the Christian man, when converted, may not put away the first week; but when they are seen he says, I must have done with these.
(3) But the most trouble would be caused by the little crumbs. We must not retain even a crumb of the evil leaven; we must earnestly desire to sweep it all out.
(4) The whole house was searched. A Christian man may feel that he has got rid of all the leaven from his shop, yet it may be there is leaven in his private house.
(5) A candle was used to throw a light into every corner of the house, that no leaven might escape notice. Take you the candle of Gods Word, the candle of His Holy Spirit.
(6) To purge out the old leaven many sweepings of the house will be wanted. For, mark you, you are sure to leave some leaven, and if you leave a little it will work and spread. It is hinted in the text that there are forms of evil which we must peculiarly watch against, and one is malice. I have known believers who have had a very keen sense of right, who have too much indulged the spirit deprecated here, i.e., they have been severe and censorious. Take good heed also that every form of hypocrisy be purged out, for the apostle tells us to eat the passover with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let us leave off talking beyond our experience, let us never pray beyond what we mean.
III. The happiness of the believer acts upon his holiness, and his holiness upon his happiness.
1. The happiness acts upon the holiness.
(1) If I feed upon Christ, who has been sacrificed for me, the happiness I feel leads me to say, My sins slew my Saviour, and therefore will I slay my sins.
(2) Sitting as you do within the house, and knowing that you are all safe because the blood is on the lintel outside, you will say, The firstborn sons of Egypt are slain, and I am preserved. Why I must be Gods firstborn, and must belong to Him. Ye are not your own, &c.
(3) Moreover, the Christian is encouraged to put away his leaven of sin because he has the foresight of a profitable exchange. The Israelite gave up leavened bread, but he soon had angels food in the place of it.
(4) The Christian, too, who knows that his sin is forgiven, feels that the God who could put away his load of sin will surely help to conquer his corruptions.
2. Holiness produces happiness. How quiet doth the soul become when the man feels, I have done that which was right, I have given up that which was evil. What is it that makes Gods people look so sad? It is the old leaven. Let us keep the feast; but it is useless to hope to do so while we keep the leaven. Conclusion: There are some here who are not saved. Notice how salvation comes–not through purging cut the leaven; that operation is to be seen to afterwards, but because the Paschal Lamb is slain. Do not begin at the wrong end, begin with the Cross. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The purification of the Church
I. Its necessity arises from–
1. The existence of sin (1Co 5:1).
2. Pride.
3. Disregard of the corrupting tendency of sin.
II. Its means.
1. The removal of that which offends.
2. Renewal.
3. Through the sacrifice of Christ.
III. Its motives.
1. The full enjoyment of fellowship in Christ.
2. Which is interrupted by malice and wickedness.
3. But enhanced by sincerity and truth. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Little sins
No man reaches at once an extremity of sin; the descent is not abrupt, but sloped. Little sins must creep in before great sins can find room. First the thin end of the wedge, to make way for the broader part. The ordinary laws of motion seem to apply to the spiritual ease; the speed increases fast after a time. So is the chain of sin slight at first and weak, like a single thread that seems scarcely to hold the soul, and which the soul hardly feels; and then it changes into a twisted skein, and then into a corded rope, and then into links of iron. So it is like a little leaven, that works on from part to part, till it has leavened the whole lump. Speak of a murder to a boy, and he will start in horror at the very word, and his blood run cold, as he thinks of tales of violent death. Yet the murderer was once a boy shuddering at the sight of a little blood, putting his hand with an uneasy conscience to some little sin. Little sins grow into great, first as it were a mere scratch on the flesh, and then a putrefying sore. Satan works like the leaven, not spreading his net over every part at once, but stealing his way to the dominion of our souls. So have we seen a little stream creeping through the fields, and then it has gathered other streams like itself, and these being joined to one another, have gone down together widening into a mighty river, that has swept down to the sea with its broad breast of waters and its strong rushing tide. Even so have we seen a small seed cast into the fruitful earth, and before long the seed has put forth its arms and opened for itself a way through the yielding soil, and the little stalk has risen with its green head above the earth, and the stalk has gradually broken forth into a strong plant, and the plant into a tree overshadowing the field. Allow little sins, suffer them to stay for a moment in our souls, and little they will not remain; open the door of our souls ever so little to any sin, and the sin will be soon master of the house and all that is therein. (J. Armstrong, D. D.)
Little sins–their injuriousness
Some brittle gold, having been accidentally melted with a quantity of well-refined and tough gold, was found to have rendered the whole mass brittle with a highly crystalline fracture, and therefore useless for coinage. The impurity causing brittleness in the whole 75,000 ounces was a small fraction of an ounce, probably one three-hundred-thousandth, or less, of the original weight. It will be seen from this that the saying holds good in metallurgy as well as in morals, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, rendering it totally unfit for current uses, until it has been passed through a purifying process. (I. C. Booth, LL. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Your glorying is not good.] You are triumphing in your superior knowledge, and busily employed in setting up and supporting your respective teachers, while the Church is left under the most scandalous corruptions-corruptions which threaten its very existence if not purged away.
Know ye not] With all your boasted wisdom, do you not know and acknowledge the truth of a common maxim, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? If this leaven-the incestuous person, be permitted to remain among you; if his conduct be not exposed by the most formidable censure; the flood-gates of impurity will be opened on the Church, and the whole state of Christianity ruined in Corinth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
You boast and glory because you have men of parts amongst you, persons whom the world count wise;
your glorying is not good; what do you glory for, when you have such a scandalous person amongst you, and take no care to cast him out? Can you be ignorant, that as
a little leaven taken into the midst of the meal, and there kept, presently soureth the whole mass, and leaveneth the whole lump; so one notorious, scandalous sinner detained in the bosom of a church, casts a blot upon the whole church?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Your glorying in your ownattainments and those of your favorite teachers (1Co 3:21;1Co 4:19; 1Co 5:2),while all the while ye connive at such a scandal, is quite unseemly.
a little leaven leaveth . . .whole lump (Ga 5:9),namely, with present complicity in the guilt, and the dangerof future contagion (1Co 15:33;2Ti 2:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Your glorying is not good,…. Their glorying in their outward flourishing condition, in their riches and wealth, and in their ministers, in their wisdom and parts when under such an humbling dispensation; and especially if their glorying was in the sin itself, and their connivance at it, it was far from being good, it was very criminal, as the consequence of it was dangerous:
know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? This, in nature, is what everybody knows; and the proverb, which is much used by the Jews f, was common in the mouths of all, and the meaning of it easy to be understood: thus, whether applied to the leaven of false doctrine, nothing is more manifest, than when this is let alone, and a stop is not put to it, it increases to more ungodliness; or to vice and immorality, as here; which if not taken notice of by a church, is not faithfully reproved and severely censured, as the case requires, will endanger the whole community; it may spread by example, and, under the connivance of the church, to the corrupting of good manners, and infecting of many.
f Neve Shalom apud Caphtor, fol. 41. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Not good ( ). Not beautiful, not seemly, in view of this plague spot, this cancer on the church. They needed a surgical operation at once instead of boasting and pride (puffed up). is the thing gloried in.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ( ). This proverb occurs verbatim in Ga 5:9. (leaven) is a late word from , to boil, as is , to leaven. The contraction is regular (-=) for the third person singular present indicative. See the parables of Jesus for the pervasive power of leaven (Mt 13:33). Some of the members may have argued that one such case did not affect the church as a whole, a specious excuse for negligence that Paul here answers. The emphasis is on the “little” (, note position). Lump ( from , to mix, late word, in the papyri mixing a medical prescription) is a substance mixed with water and kneaded like dough. Compare the pervasive power of germs of disease in the body as they spread through the body.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Glorying [] . Not the act, but the subject of boasting; namely, the condition of the Corinthian church.
Lump [] . See on Rom 12:21. A significant term, suggesting the oneness of the Church, and the consequent danger from evil – doers.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) Your glorying is not good.” (ou Kalon to kauchema humon) not even outwardly good is your boasting, gloating. Remember that contentions and gloatings prevailed among these Corinth brethren over who was the greatest minister.
2) Know ye not. (Greek ouk oidate) Do you all not perceive, recognize, or comprehend? Paul was appalled that these brethren had not recognized the inconsistency in their ministerial gloating while treating immorality so lightly.
3) That a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. That a (Greek mikra) very minute amount of leaven (putrefication) leavens or putrefies the whole lump? Cant you recognize this? Paul chided! Leaven is used in the Bible, as it relates to moral and religious conduct, to immorality, false doctrine, or heresy. Mat 16:6; Mat 16:11-12; Gal 1:6-9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. Your glorying is not good. He condemns their glorying, not simply because they extolled themselves beyond what is lawful for man, but because they delighted themselves in their faults. He had previously stripped mankind of all glory; for he had shown that, as they have nothing of their own, whatever excellence they may have, they owe the entire praise of it to God alone. (1Co 4:7.) What he treats of here, however, is not that, God is defrauded of his right, when mortals arrogate to themselves the praise of their excellences, but that the Corinthians are guilty of arrant folly in extolling themselves without any just ground. For they proudly gloried as if everything had been in a golden style among them, while in the meantime there was so much among them that was wicked and disgraceful.
Know ye not That they might not think that it was a matter of little or no importance that they gave encouragement to so great an evil, he shows the destructive tendency of indulgence and dissimulation in such a case. He makes use of a proverbial saying, by which he intimates that a whole multitude is infected by the contagion of a single individual. For this proverb has in this passage (286) the same meaning as in those expressions of Juvenal: “A whole herd of swine falls down in the fields through disease in one of their number, and one discolored grape infects another.” (287) I have said in this passage, because Paul, as we shall see, makes use of it elsewhere (Gal 5:9) in another sense.
(286) “ Ha en ce passage un mesme sens comme ce qu’on dit communeement, Qu’ilne faut qu’vne brebis rongneuse pour gaster tout le troupeau;” — “Has in this passage the same meaning as what is commonly said: — There needs but one diseased sheep to infect a whole flock.”
(287) —
grex totus in agris Unius scabie cadit, et porrigine porci: Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva Juv. II. 79-81.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Your glorying is not good.There is possibly a reference here to some boasting regarding their spiritual state contained in the letter which had reached St. Paul from Corinth, and to which part of this Epistle is a reply. (See 1Co. 7:1.) So long as there is that one bad person amongst you it gives a bad character to the whole community, as leaven, though it may not have pervaded the entire lump, still makes it not the unleavened bread which was necessary for the Paschal Feast. This Epistle being written shortly before Pentecost (1Co. 16:8), it was very likely some time about or soon after Easter, hence the leaven and the Paschal Feast naturally suggest themselves as illustrations. The Apostle passes on rapidly from the mention of the leaven to the whole scene of the feast. As with the most minute and scrupulous care the Jew would remove every atom of leaven when the Paschal lamb was to be eaten, so our Paschal Lamb having been slain, we must take care that no moral leaven remains in the sacred household of the Church while she keeps her perpetual feast of prayer and thanksgiving.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
b. Sin, like a pervading leaven, must be purged from the Church, 1Co 5:6-8 .
6. Your glorying Rather, your ground of boasting; namely, an entire forgetfulness of your disgrace from this sensuality.
Not good Not honourable or noble. It was a base insensibility to moral reproach.
Know ye not A solemn phrase indicating a truth it behooved them well to know: used by St. Paul in this epistle ten times.
Leaven Is a portion of old dough in a high state of fermentation, which, added to a new mass of dough, spreads the fermentation through the whole lump, and so renders the bread, upon baking, porous and light. As this fermentation is a sort of disintegration, and proves so pervasive, the ancients saw in it an image of moral corruption. So Plutarch (quoted by Wetstein) says: “Wherefore is it unlawful for the priest of Jove, called Flamen Dialis, to touch leaven? Because leaven itself comes of putrefaction, and being commingled corrupts the mass; and leaven itself seems, indeed, a putrifying; for by abounding, it altogether acidifies and corrupts the flour.” Wetstein also thus quotes a Jewish author: “Our rabbins call lust a leaven in the lump; for as a little of the yeast impregnates the whole mass and corrupts it, so lust corrupts the whole man.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For our Passover has also been sacrificed, even Christ.’
The Corinthians were glorying in what they saw as their high spirituality and their tolerance, but Paul points out that they have no right to glory while there is open sin prevalent among them. A small amount of leaven will soon permeate and affect a whole lump of dough. In the same way a relatively small amount of fermenting sin is infectious, it will soon affect the whole church (compare Gal 5:9 where the same point is made about false teaching, which is also in the background here).
So the people of God must rid themselves of sin, and especially cast out those guilty of open sin unless such sinners are ready to repent and put right what is wrong, and they must begin with this man who has sinned so grievously. But having purged him from the assembly they must also purge themselves within the assembly. Thus will they become like a new lump of dough that is unleavened, for they will have removed sin from among them.
This picture of leaven leavening bread is taken from the feast of the Passover and unleavened bread. There, before the feast began, all leaven had to be removed from the houses of the participants and a diligent search made to ensure none was left. So must Christians root out sin from within and among them. Paul was probably hoping for an instant revival, while practical enough to know that it might not happen like that. But that it did happen to some extent is suggested by 2Co 2:5-11.
Leaven consisted of old dough which had been allowed to ferment. It was then introduced into new dough with its leavening effect, causing the new dough to expand. The leaven would spread through the whole which was visibly affected. It was seen as a type of corruption. There would indeed come a time when the leaven had become too acidic and was unhealthy, thus the wise necessity for getting rid of all leaven once a year and starting again.
‘Christ our Passover.’ The thought of leaven and unleavened bread leads on to the thought of Christ as the Passover lamb. Having cleared themselves of leaven the Passover would follow. So the reason why they should get rid of the leaven is because they know that the unblemished Lamb Himself has been sacrificed for us once for all (aorist) so that we might be cleansed from sin and partake of what is holy. This is why Christ died as a sacrifice, for the forgiveness and removal of sin. And God’s people, ‘the church’, must therefore be holy, set apart to Him in purity and righteousness, as they set their eyes, thoughts and hearts on Him. If the Lamb Who was sacrificed for us was unblemished and holy (that the Passover offering could not be eaten outside the dwelling established its essential holiness), with no bone broken, an indication of His complete perfection, so must we who benefit from His death, and from His sacrifice of Himself, and who partake of Him by faith, be concerned to be a holy ‘lump’ free of all corrupting leaven.
Note how it is the connection with the sacrifice on the cross that ensures that all sin is dealt with. Because He has been sacrificed for us we can and should again be made clean (1Jn 1:7-10) having set sin aside. In the light of that sacrifice all should recognise that the old leaven must be totally removed. No sin can be allowed to endure the presence of the crucified One. The word of the cross is the great purifier. No sin can be allowed to remain in its way.
‘Purge out the old leaven.’ The fact that the ‘old leaven’ is spoken of in such a way as to suggest it is different from the leaven of malice and wickedness has led some to see it as referring to the old doctrines of Judaism as incorporated into a form of Christianity by certain Teachers, which have to be done away with and rooted out (as in Gal 5:9). They bring the wisdom/folly of the scribes which must be purged out (1Co 1:20). This might then be seen as especially spoken of those who ‘belong to Cephas’.
Or ‘the old leaven’ is seen by others as something known to them and Paul, some defiling thing on which they disagree. For central to this passage here is the fact that Paul is speaking in the context of a case of gross immorality. Thus any doctrines in mind might be such as caused such immorality to be overlooked, that is, some form of lax doctrine which allows such behaviour, some form of antinomianism (lawlessness) that concentrated on spiritual gifts at the expense of morals. Thus the ‘old leaven’ might point to the teaching of some of the ‘wisdom teachers’ in the church which has resulted in sinful licence. But alternately it may refer to the gross sins and their contaminating influence which have to be put aside if they are to be restored to holiness.
‘That you may be a new lump even as you are unleavened.’ Paul desires that the Corinthians become a ‘new lump of unleavened dough’. He wants all corruption removed. He wants them as it were to come back to the word of the cross through repentance and begin again, having been cleansed in the blood of Christ (1Jn 1:7-10). He wants them to be renewed. This parallels his pleas elsewhere that Christians put off the old man and become ‘a new man’ (Eph 4:22-24 compare Rom 6:11; Gal 4:19), something which in one sense happens once for all, but in another sense has to be repeated (Gal 4:19). He wants them not only to have newness of life but to walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4). They are to become a new pure lump through their connection with the Passover sacrifice.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The general need of purification in the Christian congregations:
v. 6. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
v. 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;
v. 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. This case of the incestuous person was not the only matter which was wrong in the congregation at Corinth. It was true, in general, that their vaunt, that in which they made their boast, was not good, not of an acceptable quality. Among the members at Corinth there were many who led anything but model, pure lives, for which reason all vaunting and boasting on their part should have been omitted. That their boasting was no credit to them, and that the corruption which was to be found in their midst should rather have caused the deepest humility among them, Paul proceeds to illustrate by a familiar comparison, by a proverbial saying: A little leaven leavens the entire mass, the whole kneading. A sin of this kind tainted the entire community. Just as the individual Christian cannot tolerate any sin, even the smallest, without corrupting his entire nature, just so an entire congregation will suffer the consequences if it permits so much as one of its members to continue in an open and flagrant offense. “And herein this is the worst feature, that such corruption gains ground so powerfully and maintains its position so stubbornly that it cannot be eradicated again; just as the leaven, no matter how little is added to the dough, eats through it, so that everything is soon sour and no one can hinder it from becoming so, or make it sweet again”
For this reason Paul gives the advice: Clean out thoroughly the old leaven. He reminds his readers of the preparations for the ancient celebration of the Passover Festival. The removal of the leaven, Exo 12:18-19, was done on the 13 th or at the very latest on the morning of the 14 th Nisan, and carried out with the most minute care. All the places in the house where bread was kept or where crumbs might have fallen were searched with lighted tapers, and all the dark corners scraped out carefully, lest any leaven remain to spoil the festival for the family. In just the same way the Corinthians must put from their midst the incestuous person and remove all open offenses. And even so the Christians of all times clean out the old leaven of sin by daily contrition and repentance in themselves and insist upon the application of the power to bind in case of notorious transgressions in church-members. And the object of such purging, according to God’s will, shall be: That you may be a new mass, just as you are unleavened. If a Christian uses care to keep down his own old Adam, and does all in his power to maintain the purity of the Christian congregation, then the will of God is realized in the gradual production of a hallowed mass, from which all evil ferment is removed, which is governed by the Spirit of God only. And the ability to accomplish so much is based upon God’s gift of grace, the fact that all Christians are looked upon as unleavened, clean, and pure for the sake of Christ’s atonement, Joh 15:3. “The apostle commands the old leaven to be swept out, and gives this reason: For you are a new mass and unleavened. To be a new or sweet mass he calls having the faith which clings to Christ and believes that it has forgiveness of sins through Him; as he shortly afterwards will say of Christ, our Passover, sacrificed for us, etc. Through the same faith we are cleansed of the old leaven, that is, from sins and an evil conscience, and have now begun to be new men. Behold, that is one thing which this text teaches us, that also in the saints there yet remains weakness and much that is unclean and sinful, which is to be cleaned out, and yet is not imputed to them, since they are in Christ and purge out such leaven. ” That the Christians are considered clean and pure before God through the merits of Christ, and should therefore endeavor to maintain this purity and keep their garments unspotted, is all based upon one fact: For our Passover also, Christ, is sacrificed for us. To people familiar with the customs of the Jewish festival the very suggestion must arouse their attention: The Passover lamb slain, and the leaven not yet cast out! It was intended to make them eager for all progress in Sanctification, and in every form, since all Christians are partakers of this wonderful gift. Christ is the true Passover Lamb, and all the festival lambs of the Old Testament were but types, pointing forward to the great fulfillment, Isa 53:1-12. Christ was sacrificed, slain, as a lamb that bore the sins of the world. So great and terrible are the sins of the world that the great, serious, and terrible wrath of God because of sins, as Luther says, could not stop short of carrying out the decree of death in the case of the Substitute of all men. God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Thus Christ truly became our Passover; for His sake, for the blood which He shed, and which has been painted on the portals of our hearts, the angel of destruction passes by the believers, so that the plague of everlasting damnation cannot come nigh our dwelling.
All conditions being fulfilled in this manner: Let us, therefore, keep the feast, let us celebrate the festival meal and continue in the enjoyment of its blessings. And since, as Luther writes, we Christians have Easter always, since our Passover Lamb lasts forever, therefore the work of Sanctification which was begun in us in regeneration should continue throughout our lives; a consecrated life naturally follows from the intimate union between Christ and the believers. This the apostle explains: Not in the old leaven, neither in the leaven of badness and meanness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The old leaven, very thing that savors of the old sinful nature, has been purged out, it shall never again assume the rule in the hearts of the believers. And two specific manifestations of this old Adam are mentioned: the leaven of badness, of malice, of every trespass by which harm is inflicted upon our neighbor; and the leaven of meanness, of wickedness, whose object is to seduce men from the proper understanding of the Word and to work every manner of offense. To this vicious disposition and the active exercise of it is opposed the keeping of the feast in the unleavened bread of purity and truth, a proper inward disposition that knows no guile, with which also accords a person’s entire outward life, “that we both keep the pure doctrine of the Gospel and also with a holy life and example comport ourselves accordingly, and thus continually live properly, as on an eternal Easter festival,… wherein we, as new men in the faith of Christ, live and continue righteous, holy, and pure, in peace and joy of the Holy Ghost, as long as we are here on earth.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Co 5:6. Your glorying is not good Some would read this interrogatively,Have you not a fine subject for boasting?Glorying or boasting is throughout the beginning of this Epistle spoken, of the preference they gave to their new leader, in opposition to St. Paul. See Locke, and 2 Corinthians 12.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 5:6 . In face of the necessity for such measures as these how odious appears that of which ye make boast! Rather ought ye to consider that a little leaven, etc., and (1Co 5:7 ) sweep out the old leaven ! is not the same as , but: materies gloriandi (see on Rom 4:2 ); and what is meant by it is not the incestuous person (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Grotius) as a man of high repute for wisdom in Corinth, but the condition of the Corinthians as a Christian church, inasmuch as they boasted themselves of this so confidently, while morally it was foul enough and full of shameful abuses! , Eur. Hel. 135.
. . [801] ] Basis of the admonition which follows in 1Co 5:7 . The meaning of the proverbial saying (comp Gal 5:9 , and on the figure of the leaven, which is very frequently used elsewhere, and that in different senses, Mat 13:33 ; Luk 13:21 ; Mat 16:6 ; Mar 8:15 ; Luk 12:1 ) is ordinarily defined to be this: that a corrupt man corrupts the whole church . But 1Co 5:8 proves that Paul was thinking not of persons, but of abstract qualities in connection with and . The meaning, therefore, must be: Know ye not that one scandal in the church robs the whole church of its moral and Christian character? Comp also Hofmann. In virtue of their relation as members of a common society, all become chargeable with guilt by the toleration among them of a single scandalous offence, and their is gone!
[801] . . . .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
X[B. The duty of Church purification in general. Its motives, grounds, and limitations. Rectification of misconceptions as to his meaning in an earlier Epistle]
1Co 5:6-13
6Your glorying [That in which you glory] is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?14 7Purge out therefore [omit therefore15] the old leaven, that ye may he a new lump, as ye are unleavened. ] For even Christ our pass over is sacrificed for us [omit for us16]: 8Therefore let us keep17 the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; hut with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with for 10nicators: Yet [omit Yet2] not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or [and18] extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs19 go out 11of the world. But now20 I have written [I wrote] unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be21 a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat. 12For what have I to do to judge them also22 that are without ? do not ye judge them that are within ? 13But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore [omit therefore] put away23 from among yourselves that wicked person [ , the wicked one].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
[In this section the specific duty of excommunicating an incestuous church member is expanded into the broader one of individual and social purification in general. And this is exhibited under a familiar metaphor, and enforced by reasons drawn from it. In entering upon it Paul starts with alluding to that state of mind which presented so strange a contrast to their actual condition.]
1Co 5:6. That in which you boast is not good.In view of the word here rendered, boasting (), the question arises, whether it is the act, or the ground of boasting that is intended. The latter meaning is certainly the one which prevails in the New Testament, even 2Co 9:3, [and this is in accordance with the passive form of the noun]. Then we should render it: that of which you boast; and while with the other signification would mean: it does not become you, etc., it would in the other case be rendered: is not seemly or beautiful, implying that it is, rather, hateful. It is not, however, the incestuous person that is meant [as Hammond and Whitby singularly suggest, supposing him to have been a man of some reputation for wisdom and eloquence], but the whole condition of the Church, the complete corruption of which he proceeds to illustrate by a familiar comparison.Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?In like manner, he implies, that the whole Church was infected by one crime, tolerated in the midst of it. The little leaven here refers not so much to the person in question, as to the vice of fornication, which had broken out upon him in its worst form. It denotes some impurity of the former state, not yet purged out,a little remnant of which, if allowed, was sufficient to corrupt again the salvation already obtained, and render it ineffective. Burger. [It is not, however, says Alford, the danger of corruption hereafter by the future spread of the tolerated evil, that he here speaks of, but the character already tainted by its presence among them in this one instance. But are not the consequences merely anticipated in their certainty, and the future and present all included under one view? The leaven and is working must here be taken together]. The same comparison, used to illustrate a corrupting influence, occurs in Gal 5:9, and Mat 16:6, and the parallel passages. On the other hand, it appears in Mat 13:33, and in the parallel passages, to illustrate the penetrating and pervading power of Divine grace.
In consequence of the contagious effects of tolerated evil, Paul gives the following exhortation:Purge out. sometimes is followed by the Accus. of the thing cleansed, and sometimes, as here, with that of the thing removed. [Stanley calls it a strong expression, and remarks that the duty it enjoins was carried out in later times with such extreme punctiliousness, that on the fourteenth day they searched with candles into the darkest holes and corners to see whether any leaven remained.]The old leaven.This, in accordance with what has been said, does not indicate the incestuous person, so that the command would only be a repetition of that in 1Co 5:2; 1Co 5:13, but the moral evil which was defiling the Church. This he calls old, because it was the remains of their former unregenerate state which, like leaven, was still at work vitiating their character.That ye may be a fresh lump, ,wherein there is no leaven, hence a complete whole, morally renewed by purificationa Church holy and free from sin, evincing its early love and zeal. (Starke). (, fresh differs from , which means new, entirely different from what it was before).What follows clearly shows that the Apostle had in mind the practice of the Israelites removing leaven from their houses before the Passover began.As ye are unleavened.Thus he designates the Church ideally considered, and as it can become only through the power of Divine grace, and shows the divinely postulated character of its member ship; and hence it presents an argument for removing the existing evil, as he enjoins them to do. They are to come up to their true ideal. [Conybeare and Howson, however, interpret this clause literally, as alluding to the condition in which the Jewish portion of the Church were at that moment, it being the time of Passover: Even as ye, at this Paschal season, are without the taint of leaven. This view Alf. combats at length. His strongest argument, and one which must be deemed conclusive, is that it is wholly alien from the habit and spirit of the Apostle. The ordinances of the Old Law, he says, are to Paul not points, on whose actual observance to ground spiritual lessons, but things passed away in their literal acceptance, and become spiritual verities in Christ. Klings view is the one generally adopted, and in refutation of the one above suggested, he adds further]. It would evidently transcend the meaning of the term, to make it mean those who eat no leaven, or observe the festival of unleavened bread, i.e., the Jews, nor would such a meaning be applicable to the case of a Church composed mainly of heathen converts. But it may be fitly used of all professing Christians, inasmuch as they are themselves supposed to be free from those sinful corruptions which prevail without in the world, and which are here denoted by the leaven. And such an interpretation accords with the previous phrase a fresh lump. The translation of by: ye ought to be, instead of by: ye are [as Chrysostom, Theoph., and after them Billroth, Flatt and Pott, and many others suggest], though in itself incorrect, would point to the ideal view of Christians expressed in the word unleavened. [But the strongest argument for the interpretation given, above of the clause before us, is in what follows, where we see that the Apostles mind was moving not in the sphere of Jewish carnal ordinances, but among the higher verities which they typified].For our Passover also has been sacrificed even Christ.[Such can only be rendering of the words, . The main subject is evidently to ; and the intent of the Apostle is to show the propriety of speaking of Christians as unleavened, since they, too, had a paschal offering, which was Christ. Kling, however, goes on to raise the question]. Does this declaration furnish the ground of what Immediately precedes ? or is it a further argument for the whole exhortation? In the former case, the sense would be: ye are free from that corruption by virtue of that redemption achieved by Christ. But such connection would suit, provided only, that we took the term unleavened In the sense rejected above. [But why so ? Why not consider it as justifying the application of the term to Christians also, on the ground that they likewise had a passover which obliged them to be free from the corruption which the leaven symbolized?] We, therefore, refer the clause to the whole exhortation, as furnishing an argument for that. [And such, no doubt, is the more extended bearing of it.] As among the Israelites from the first day of the feast to the slaying of the Paschal lamb, it was the rule to put away all leaven and all unleavened bread from their houses, so likewise were Christians under obligation to put away all former sinful practicesthe leaven of wickednessinasmuch as their Paschal lamb, even Christ, had been slain. And here we have an evidence that the ancient Paschal lamb was a type of Christ. And to this also Joh 19:36, plainly conducts us. The point of comparison is, primarily, the redeeming power of the blood of the victim. It was with this that at the time of their departure from Egypt, the lintels and doorposts of the Israelites were sprinkled, and by reason of this that those within were preserved from the destroying sword, while the Egyptians fell under its stroke. In like manner under the new dispensation, which fulfils the old, it is said the hearts of believers are sprinkled by the blood of Christ (Heb 10:22; Heb 12:24; 1Pe 1:12), and thus saved from destruction. The slaying of the Paschal lamb accordingly obtains the character of a sacrifice (), and indeed of an expiatory, covenant kind, forming a distinction between the members of the covenant, whose sins are covered with its blood, and the others who are left to their doom. Worthy of consideration, though somewhat problematical, is Lckes and Meyers observation, that this designation of Christ accords with Johns account of the crucifixion which places it on the day of the slaying of the Paschal lamb24 (contrary to the account of the Synoptists), and can only be explained on this ground. But, however this may be, a powerful motive is found in this fact for moral purification. (comp. 1Pe 2:24).This is further carried out in
1Co 5:8. Let us therefore keep the feast.The previous command in a milder formthat of an exhortation to a social solemnity, for which the expression, our Pass-over, forms a fit transition. The whole context alludes to the Easter festival; and it is highly probable that the Apostle wrote the Epistle at or near the approach of Easter (comp. 1Co 16:8), and, being full of the idea, gave to his exhortation a corresponding form. That the Christian festival of Easter, commemorating the resurrection of our Lord, had already been established, can hardly be affirmed. But that Gentile converts united with the Jewish, to celebrate the Passover in commemoration of its fulfilment through Christ, is too probable to be denied. In any case, it is safe to assert with Osiander, that it was solemnized in spirit. As for the rest, the language is figurative. The duty indicated is not the outward, but the inward spiritual observance, namely, the united offering of praise to God for His redeeming grace, through the maintenance of a Christian conversation (comp. Osiander). [Hodge, Alf., Stanley, agree in the opinion that there is no reference here to the keeping of the Passover festival, nor yet to the observance of the Lords Supper (though Wordsworth regards the text as specially applicable to a consideration of the privileges and duties connected with this), but, as Kling, to that continued Passover feast, that sacred festival of a consecrated life, which should follow upon our union to Christ in His death, even as a feast, professedly of holy joy and gladness, protracted through seven days always followed upon the observance of the Pass over among the Jews].
How the feast was to be kept is explained still further; first, negatively.not with old leaven,which he had just told them to purge out. (1Co 5:7), and which he goes on further to describe in words which are to be understood, not as introducing a new thought, but as explanatory of the former.neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness.What, in point of fact is one, is here formally distinguished; or we may say with Meyer, that of the kind in general one particular is selected and made prominent. The preposition with, indicates that with which the feast was accompanied, or in which its character was violated. [The Genitives are those of apposition, the leaven which is, &c. See Winer, 59, 8, a], denotes the opposite of that love which seeks the welfare of anothera desire and effort to injure a neighbor (Eph 4:31); [is a still stronger word Hodge], and denotes wickedness, villany [the performance of evil with persistency and delight. Hence Satan is called Hodge]. In contrast with these we have the true method expressed.but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. is puritythe quality of having been proved in the sunlight () and found () genuine; , the harmony of man with himself, and with Divine truth, which is made known in the uprightness of conduct. To distinguish these terms as indicating, the one the substance, the other the manifestation of goodness, and thus as expressing the opposite to , the substance, and , the manifestation of evil would be too abstract. Bengels distinction: is vice, as contrary to virtue, and that virtue unalloyed, or insincerity, and , wickedness, as in those who strenuously defend and retain , and is opposed to the truthis very uncertain. We can better accept the distinction he makes between and the former takes care not to admit evil with the good, the latter not to admit evil instead of good. For other attempts to discriminate between these words, see Starke in loco. [Also Trench Syn. of the New Testament. 11, and W. Webster Syntax and Syn. of the New Testament, pp. 194, 195].
1Co 5:9-13. We here have an episode to the proper subject of this paragraph, which is resumed again in 1Co 5:13 The exhortation given above suggests the correction of a misunderstanding in regard to the meaning of a certain passage in a previous letter, which he had written to them about holding intercourse with fornicators.I wrote to you in the Epistle.The stringency of theological dogmatism, which refuses to admit the loss of any Apostolic writing, insists that the reference here is to a previous passage in this Epistle, viz., 1Co 5:2; 1Co 5:6. But such reference neither suits the expression in the Epistle, nor yet the contents of the verses cited. The allusion must therefore be to some earlier letter now lost. [This is the conclusion of Calvin, Beza, Bengel, de Wette, Meyer, Wordsworth, Alford, Hodge, Barnes, and most other modern commentators, and as Words. argues, is perfectly consistent with the position, that no Canonical Book of Holy Scripture has been lost. Stanley, however, ingeniously argues for the other view, advocated mainly by the Greek Fathers, also by Hammond and Whitby, and asks whether there are not indications that the whole passage from 1Co 5:9 to 1Co 6:8 is, in some sense, a distinct note, a postscript not merely to 5 :68, but also to 1Co 6:9-20? This he says has been already conjectured by two Englishmen, J. Edwards and Dr. Thos. Arnold, and he alludes in the way of comparison to a remarkable passage in Livy. 1Co 4:20, called by Niebuhr, the only instance of a note in any ancient author. Similar digressions he thinks he finds elsewhere, also in Pauls Epistles. To say the least, he makes a very plausible case, and his arguments, if not convincing, are very interesting].not to keep company with fornicators., to mingle oneself up with, as in 2Th 3:14; the Inf. after verbs of counselling, or commanding. The warning thus conveyed they had interpreted to mean, that they should hold no intercourse at all with persons of the sort mentioned; and they did this perhaps from a secret disinclination to follow Pauls instruction, and in their letter had pointed out the utter impracticability of the thing. He therefore goes on now to explain himself more exactly upon the subject.
1Co 5:10. Not altogether with the fornicators of this world.The ellipsis here is certainly to be supplied from the foregoingI wrote not to mingle with. But the question is, whether these words are to be inserted after not, so as to separate it from altogether (), or whether these two words are to be taken together; and then, in the latter case, whether the two are to be joined with I wrote, or with the nouns following. In our opinion, the separation of not altogether ( ), ought, if possible, to be avoided. But if we connect the words unitedly, to I wrote, and render the clause: I did by no means write to you not to associate with the wicked, then it has the appearance of promoting directly such intercourse. [And this, although perhaps the more common explanation, does not give so good sense. Hodge]. They had better therefore be joined with what follows, in the way of limitation; not entirely and under all circumstances with the fornicators of this world. By the epithet, of this world, the persons alluded to are distinguished from those of the same class found in the Church.Since he is treating, in this paragraph, of moral purification in general, he adds yet other sorts of persons who presented a decided contrast to the Christian character, and with whom it was unbecoming in them to associatepersons whom he had already spoken of in his previous letter.or with the converts and extortioners.These two classes go together, as may be seen by the and, which connect thema reading better supported than , or of the Rec. The is one who means to have more than his neighbors, or, more than belongs to him, and who therefore indulges in frauds, and over-reaching, and oppression. This trait is more prominently brought out in the second term, , which denotes one who manifests his greed of gain in robbery and plunder. [Conybeare renders the former of these words: lascivious person, and says that in St. Paul almost invariably means impurity. And Stanley advocates this interpretation as being more in accordance with the drift of discourse. And there is not a little to justify the view taken. Sensuality and rapine most frequently go together as branches from the same root of covetousness, and stand in close connection with idolatry. The same view is also maintained by Hammond, who explain to mean men of inordinate lusts; and in consistency with this, supported by no small show of classic authorities, translates , ravishers. But there is no special reason why the extraordinary sense should be adopted here; and the conjunction and seems to affiliate the words in meaning with the other to which it is thus connected. See Trench, N. T. Syn. 24]or with idolaters.To those who violate the rights of neighbors, he joins such as violate the highest rightthat of God. And in this religious aberration is found the source of all moral aberration. [This is said to be the earliest known instance of the use of the word ; it is never used in the LXX., although is constantly employed in that version to denote false gods. Hodge]. That the prohibition which he had formerly given could not have been meant in the broad sense supposed by his readers, he now shows apagogically by exhibiting the absurdity of the thing.Since, indeed, ye must then have gone out of the world.The , in that case, following upon , since, shows yet more definitely the consequence which would ensue upon the interpretation put on his language. Properly a protasis is here to be supplied. If it were so as you say, why then in that case, etc. [For the force of , see Winer LIII. a], , world, in this last clause, is to be taken in its physical, not, as in the first clause, in its ethical sense. The world is full of bad people, with whom we are compelled to deal, in some form, in business or traffic, by the very exigencies of our earthly lot; and if we would avoid them altogether, we can only do it by quitting the world altogether.
1Co 5:11. But now I wrote to you.He cannot here be repeating what was in the former Epistle, for had the words which follow been there, the misunderstanding could not have arisen. must accordingly imply: but now my meaning was, being taken in its logical sense, as referring back to the previous statement (comp. 1Co 15:20; 1Co 12:18; 1Co 19:6). In like manner and often stand for: this is what I mean, or meant, by what I say, or said. Son 1:12 and elsewhere. This interpretation is better suited to the context. We have here the positive explanation of a former declaration, following upon the negative one in 1Co 5:10,and not a new declaration made now (), differing from that made in the Epistle, 1Co 5:10; in which case the aorist : I wrote, must be taken after the old epistolary style as referring to what was said in process of writing (see Meyer in loco). [Thus by the right rendering, we escape the awkward inference deducible from the ordinary interpretation, that the Apostle had previously given a command and now retracted it. Alf.].not to keep company, if any one called a brother be a fornicator.The participle , called, forms an antithesis to , is, as contrasting profession with reality. To connect the participle with the following noun [as Augustine, Ambrose, Estius, and others], so as to read: be a reputed, or notorious fornicator, would be alike opposed to the drift of the passage, and to the usage of language. can mean only: to be called, or, to be honorably mentioned. Besides in this case the text would have been: ,or a covetous, or an idolater.The term idolater, as applied to one called a brother, must denote, [not an open worshipper of idols, for such a person would hardly have been found among the brethren], but one who ate of the heathen sacrifices, and participated in the heathenish customs connected therewitha practice alluded to in 1Co 10:14. Then enlarging his catalogue beyond that of 1Co 5:10, he adds,or a railer, or a drunkard,, a term which in old Greek was used of women only,or an extortioner; with such a one neither to eat.This does not refer to communion at love-feasts, or at the Lords Supper; but to association at ordinary meals, a practice which would indicate intimate companionship. The characters described, they were not to entertain as guests, nor visit as hosts, nor unite with them at a party in the house of a common acquaintance; but they were to cut them off from their society and give it to be understood that they would have nothing in common with them. Here we learn what sins justify excommunication. We must also suppose that among the converts at Corinth, here and there, a reaction towards their former state had already taken place. Neander.
1Co 5:12-13. A further reason why he could have designed his exhortation only in a limited sense. The contrary would have been an assumption of authority over those not Christians, an application of discipline to them which was not allowed him.For what have I to do, .The expression is pure Greek. It means, what concern is it of mine? It does not belong to my office.to judge also those Without., was a designation applied by the Jews to the heathen, and by Christians to unbelievers. The latter are without, because they are outside the pale of Gods Churchnot to be found among His people. In like manner Col 4:5, 1Th 4:12. His refusal to judge such he sustains by a reference to their own procedure.do not ye judge them that are within?The , holding the emphatic place, forms the antithesis to , and to . Then the argument is: since you yourselves confine your jurisdiction to those within the Church, you had no reason to ascribe to me advice which went beyond this limit. It would be clearly wrong to separate, as some [Theoph. Hammond, Michaelis, Rosenmuller] do, from what follows, and then take the verb in the Imper. q. d., No, judge ye, etc. It would then have read, , nothing, as the reply to the previous question; and , but, would have appeared after it. In saying ye, Paul does not mean to exclude himself. This would be contrary to what he had just enjoined in 1Co 5:3-5.But those without God will judge, or judgeth.This clause is best taken by itself, affirmatively, and not as continuing the previous question: The right to judge unbelievers belongs solely to God, not to you or me. Whether the verb here is to be taken in the present or future is doubtful, for the accentuation is uncertainwhether or . If the latterthe future, the reference is to the last judgment. But this is not what Paul has exclusively in mind. Taken in the present, it corresponds best with the previous clauses.25 [These remarks about judging form a transition point to the subject of the next chapter. But having now furnished his explanation of the prohibition formerly given, and with this subject of the fornicator among them, he gives, before passing on, a plain command in terms for the excommunication (but no more) of the offender. And this he does in the very words of Deu 24:7, from which the reading has come. Alf. and this he does without any connecting word, the abruptness being characteristic].Put away the wicked one from among your own selves.In this he but resumes the chief topic of this section, which had not been altogether abandoned. Even during the seeming digression, Paul clinches it. There is no sign of that momentary passionate outburst which Rckert detects. The reference in : that wicked one, is to fornicator, not to the devil, as Calvin supposes, whose power was to be averted by the removal of what was evil and impure. Such a reference is disproved by the plain citation here from Deuteronomy 26 is emphatic: from out of the midst of yourselves.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
[1. Christ the antitype of the Paschal Lamb. Thus the Old Testament pours light upon the New, and reveals to us the meaning of Christs mission. As the Paschal Lamb saved the Israelites from destruction through the sprinkling of its blood upon their habitations, so Christ saves His people, not by instruction, not by example, not by the converting grace of His Spirit, though these means are included in His workbut primarily, by giving His blood for their ransom. He is our Redeemer in virtue of His having made Himself a sacrifice for us. This truth is involved in the very word employed to designate the nature of His death, a word appropriated to denote the slaying of victims at an altar. And should it be objected that the Paschal Lamb was not, properly speaking, a sacrifice, it not having been offered at an altar, nor through a priest, nor in a consecrated place, thus answering to the requisitions of a sacrifice, it is enough to reply that it is so called in Scripture in various places (Exo 12:27; Exo 23:18; Exo 34:25; Deu 16:2; Deu 16:4-6), and had all the effect of an expiatory offering. Indeed, it seems to have been the root out of which the whole sacrificial system grew. And as its offering was the very condition on which the Israelites escaped the doom of Egypt which set them free, and as its observance was the condition of continued membership in the ransomed nation, so is the death of Christ the ground of the sinners exemption from the condemnation and curse resting upon the world, and the continued commemoration of that death is a duty imposed on all that would be numbered among His saints].
[2. Both the sanctification of the individual believer, and the purification of the Church as a body, necessarily follow from the fact of our redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. As the Israelites were redeemed to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exo 30:6), so is the Church redeemed to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation (1Pe 2:9). And this purpose is realized under the inspiring motive of grateful joy for the deliverance vouchsafed. Hence the whole of every truly Christian life becomes a holy festival, an offering of praise to God for the glorious works He hath done for us through Christ. His redemption was nothing less than the achievement of a Divine love that condescended to take upon itself the doom of the sinner, and expiate his guilt by the sacrifice of a life assumed in his nature 1. Now where this fact is known and felt, there the sin thus atoned for can no longer be tolerated in its selfishness and lovelessness. He who truly believes that Christ died for him in love, himself becomes dead unto sin (Rom 6:11). In him the body of sin with all its affections and lusts is nailed upon the cross of his Lord, and the life he henceforth leads, is maintained in fellowship with that Saviour who loved him and gave Himself for him. Thus it is that malice and wickedness are purged away, and instead thereof we see a life of simplicity and truth manifesting itself in word and deed; and this, not under the constraints of legal obligation and fear, but under the actuating power of devout gratitude and joyful devotion. Such is the ideal of a Christian life. And so far as this ideal is realized, both the Church as a whole, and every individual in the Church becomes a temple of God where He is perpetually worshipped and where a true and lasting festival goes on].
3. It follows from the above that wherever the Christian life is in full and vigorous exercise, there the Church will, as far as possible, maintain a discipline, which shall separate between the holy and the profane, and preserve its own consistency and integrity; there Christians will withhold the title of brother from every professor that walketh disorderly, and will take heed how they countenance by their friendlysociety those who openly dishonor the name after which they are called; there the vices which stain the Christian character will be regarded with greater abhorrence and put under severer censure than those which are openly practised by the world. And this discipline will be the natural operation of that holy love which the death of Christ enkindles, manifesting itself both in the ordinary intercourse of life, and through official acts. Without this vital power, Church discipline, however exercised, may indeed succeed in maintaining a creditable external order, and in carrying on a creditable conflict with public immoralities, but it never can accomplish an inward renovation, or bring to pass deep and lasting results.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
[1. The Church of God, as a body redeemed from condemnation by the death of Christ, is thereby put under obligations to purge itself from all sin and immoralities, and to preserve a saintly character and appearance. The inflation of vanity is one evidence of the working of the leaven of wickedness, and should excite suspicion of its presence 1Co 5:6.No immoralities should be tolerated under the pretext that they are small, because1, the toleration of them indicates a general laxity of principle; and 2, endangers the purity of the whole body by a vicious infection 1Co 5:6; 1 Corinthians , 3, is contrary to the ideal character of the Church 1Co 5:7. The sins of our former state are especially to be guarded against, and the remains of them to be searched for and cast out. They both desecrate the purity and mar the joy of what should be the Christians life-long feast 1Co 5:7. The Church, though separate from the world, is yet to exist in the world; and one of the problems it must solve is so to mingle with the ungodly and profane as not to compromise its character or countenance iniquity, and yet so as to maintain peace with all men and win the worst to Christ. The principles which should regulate its intercourse with the world are thus given by Barnes: a. The Church is not to be compared to the world in any of its peculiar and distinguishing features; b. It must treat all men justly and righteously; c. Its members must discharge all obligations and duties belonging to the social relations; d. They must do good to all men; e. They must so associate with sinners as to be able to work for their salvation (1Co 5:9-10).Those that are justly liable to church censure, and must be excommunicated, are the openly immoral and profane. But while these characters in the Church are to be judged by the Church, the world without is to be left to the judgment of God. And this judgment is to be exercised in the Church in order that those who are judged by it may, if possible, escape the condemnation awaiting the world (1Co 5:12).]
Starke:If evil be allowed free course, the result will be a settled wantonness of character, leading the person to commit iniquity without reserveyea, even with pleasure and determination; and then to ignore guilt, or so to varnish it over that the villain beneath shall not be suspected under the fair outside. Sin has its lurking holes, and must be hunted out through them all. Alas, for the few genuine Easter days which Christians enjoy, 1Co 5:8.Of what profit is it to leave the world and skulk away in the mountains and clefts of the wilderness? The old Adam will skulk with thee even there. Drive him out, and then will thy heart itself be a blessed solitude, where Christ will come and converse with thee. So associate with open sinners as to teach, not learnwarn, not confirmhelp to life, not hasten to death (1Co 5:9-10).Look out for home; God will take care of things abroad.In order to effective Church discipline, the majority of the Church must themselves be sound 1Co 5:13.
Berlen. Bibel:If thy wrong is made public and judged, count it not as an injury; for a genuine purification requires that we do not withdraw our iniquity from condemnation and destruction. Now that Christ has died for our justification, and sent us His Spirit for our sanctification, this personal purification may be justly required. We ought to do it, because now we can do itnot, however, in our own strength, but in that of our risen Saviour (1Co 5:7).The true Passover festival of Christians is followed by a constant succession of Sabbaths, wherein they daily rise with Christ to newness of life. He who has learned this, keeps Easter all the time, Christs life is his life; and this life is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. His festival will terminate only when Christ ceases to be 1Co 5:8.If we must be surrounded by the world, let us take care to abide with ourselves through a constant inward intercourse with God. In such a case the world will not harm us.
Heubner:The Pericope on Easter. To the worthy celebration of Easter there belongs1, repentance 1Co 5:6-7; 1 Corinthians 2, faith and joy, because of redemption 1Co 5:7; 1 Corinthians 3, new resolves for greater sanctification (1Co 5:8).The life of a Christian is a continuous Easter1, in ceaseless repentance and sorrow for mans fall; 2, in constant looking to Christ, the risen, reigning Lord.Easter as the festival of a spiritual resurrection1. Its necessity as a memorial of the Apostacy, since from one sin the whole race has been corrupted 1Co 5:6; 1Co 7:2. It shows the possibility of redemption. Only One, Christ, can raise us from our fall 1Co 5:7. 3. It is a general demand to walk in newness of life, in order to become fit for eternal life through sanctification (1Co 5:8). Heubner.
F. W. Besser:We, too, have a Paschal Lamb. It was a gift from God. What has God from us in return? We have the true-Paschal Lamb. God requires of us the true Easter-cake. What vile ingratitude, if we are disobedient! (1Co 5:7). Daily would we celebrate Easter in spirit, provided we daily acknowledge, enjoy and praise our Paschal Lamb, who was slain for us once for all (Heb 10:10). The time of the N. T. is a perpetual festal period, says Augustine. Gods word exhorts you to purge out the old leaven, and if you refuse, you make your natural- sourness altogether sourer through the vinegar and the gall of your opposition; weakness turns to stiff-neckedness and malice, and indolence, to spite and wickedness. But if, on the contrary, our old leaven is sweetened:if, we admit the purifying influence of the Spirit, then instead of wicked resistance we show honest repentance; instead of cherishing malice, we accept the truth in love. In the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth we celebrate our Easter by allowing ourselves to be reproved by the light (Eph 5:13), and by giving honor to the truth.
[F. W. Robertson:Ye are unleavened. Here is the true conception of the Church: regenerated humanitynew life without the leaven of old evil. The Church visible and invisible, however, to be distinguished; the former composed of the men who in this age or that profess Christ, the latter such as every Church is only potentially and conceivably, according to its idea. For want of keeping these distinct, two grand errors arise: 1. Undue severity towards the lapsed. 2. Wrong purism in the matter of association with the world, its people, its business, its amusements. Under, 1. The attempt to make the Church entirely pure must ever fail. Only as a Church visible she must separate from her all visible evil; she must sever from herself all such foreign elements as bear unmistakable marks of their alien birth. Her purity must be visible purity, not ideal; representative, not perfect. Under, 2. We are not to go out of the world, but only to take care, in associating with sinners, not to recognize them as brothers, or as fulfilling in any degree the Christian idea].
[J. Edwards: 1Co 5:11. The Nature and End of Excommunication. I. The nature of excommunication: 1. Wherein it consists: a. It is privative of the charity of the Church, of brotherly society with its members, of its fellowship, and of its internal privileges; b. Positively it is a deliverance unto the calamities to which those are subject who belong to the visible kingdom of the devil, and into the special power of Satan, who may be employed by God for the infliction of such chastisement, as their apostacy deserves. 2. By whom inflicted: a. Primarily, by Christ; b. Ministerially, by the Church. II. The proper subjects for excommunication. 1. Those visibly wicked by gross sin. 2. The obdurately impenitent. III. The ends of excommunication. 1. That the Church may be kept pure, and its ordinances undefiled. 2. That others may be deterred from wickedness. 3. That the guilty parties may be reclaimed. IV. Motives to the duty. 1. The honor of Jesus, and of His religion, and His Church. 2. Our own good. 3. The good of those who are without. 4. Benevolence towards offending brethren. 5. The absolute authority of Christ].
Footnotes:
[14]1Co 5:6.The variations and are glosses.
[15]1Co 5:7.The of the Rec. as well as the before , 1Co 5:10, and the before , 1Co 5:13, are connective particles that are feebly supported. [They are not found in A. B. D. P. Cod. Sin.]
[16]1Co 5:7. after is a dogmatic gloss, which has all the most important authorities against it. [This sentence ought to be rendered: For our passover has been sacrificed, even Christ.]
[17]1Co 5:8.[, A. D., but , B. C. F L. Cod. Sin. Alf.]
[18]1Co 5:10.The Rec. is feebly supported and is an alteration to conform to the general context. [A. B. C. D1. F. Cod. Sin. all have .]
[19]1Co 5:10.[The Rec. has with B3., which Alf. calls a correction from misunderstanding. Wordsworth and Meyer retain it. A. B1. C. D. F. L. Cod. Sin. have . It would then read: Ye ought to have gone. The necessity would long ago have occurred and the act passed. And this Lachmann, Tisch., Rckert, approve.]
[20]1Co 5:11.[The Rec. has with C. D. Cod. Sin1.; and so Meyer, Words. But A. B. F. L. Cod. Sin3., have all , which Alf. adopts.]
[21]1Co 5:11.The Rec. is accented according to the analogy of what follows. But is best authorized [being supported by nearly all the ancient versions.]
[22]1Co 5:12.The has indeed many important authorities against it. [A. B. C. F. Cod. Sin.] But it might very easily have been omitted as dispensable, and ought to be retained with Meyer arid Tischendorf. [Alf. omits it.]
[23]1Co 5:13.The Rec. arose from Deu 24:7. is decidedly better supported. A. B. C. D1. F. Cod. Sin.]
[24]See this disproved, and the whole chronology of our Lords last acts fully discussed in Andrews Life of our Lord, pp. 423460: also Lange on Matth. pp. 456 and 468].
[25]And yet Calvins interpretation is more in accordance with the enlarged course of thought pursued in the latter part of the chapter, and carries with it greater force. It also explains the abruptness with which the injunction is introduced. The grand finale of the whole matter is: Put the wicked one away from tho midst of youthe wicked one and all that belongs to him. This seems more natural than to suppose a recurrence to a matter already settled].
[26]See Archb. Magees conclusive argument on this subject in his Atonement and Sacrifice, Note 35 Kurtz Sacrificial Worship, 180, and articles on Passover in Kitto Bib. Ency., and Smiths Bible Dict. Also Bahr Symbolik, Vol. II., p. 627 ff., Lange Life of Christ, Edinburgh. Tran., IV., p. 149, and Lange Mat 26:1-5].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 1956
SIN A MALIGNANT LEAVEN
1Co 5:6. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
THAT ungodly men may glory in their shame, may easily be conceived: but that persons professing godliness should ever be led to do so, can scarcely be imagined. Yet, such is the force of habit, that it may blind the eyes of persons who are not otherwise destitute of discernment; and may lead them to vindicate proceedings, which, on a calmer view, they would judge deserving of utter abhorrence. The Corinthians, in their heathen state, had been proverbially addicted to lewdness of every kind. But, behold, a man after having embraced Christianity, had become guilty of incest: and when the Apostle protested against this, as an act of gross impiety, the elders of the Church at Corinth espoused the cause of the incestuous man, and refused to execute upon him the censure which his crime demanded. This conduct the Apostle justly reproved, both as detestable in itself, and as likely to prove exceedingly injurious to the whole Church: Your glorying is not good: know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Now in this expostulation we may see,
I.
The malignant nature of sin
The operations and effects of leaven are well known in every family: and it will serve, therefore, to illustrate, in the clearest manner, the nature of sin. It is,
1.
Corrupting
[The purest dough that was ever made has no sooner a portion of leaven blended with it, than it ferments, and becomes sour. And such was the effect of sin upon the soul of our first parent. Adam, when he came out of his Creators hands, was formed in the perfect image of his God: not an evil propensity of any kind was found in him. But behold him as soon as sin entered into his soul: instantly he became so alienated from his God, that he fled from him, and strove to hide himself amongst the trees of the garden: and when interrogated by God respecting the act which he had committed, he cast the blame of it upon God himself. The sin which he had committed was as small as any that could be conceived; it was not a breach of morals, properly so called; but only a transgression of a positive precept, which rendered that sinful, which, if not particularly prohibited, would have been perfectly innocent: yet did this small leaven so leaven his whole soul, that he became altogether corrupt; and the image of God was changed, as we shall see presently, almost into the image of an incarnate fiend ]
2.
Spreading
[However large the mass of dough may be, the smallest leaven will leaven it throughout. And thus did sin operate on the soul of Adam. His understanding was rendered dark; his will, perverse; his affections, sensual; his conscience, treacherous and partial. Not a member of his body, or a faculty of his soul, retained its original purity: but, as the prophet says of the Jewish people, The whole head was sick, and the whole heart faint: from the sole of the foot even to the head there was no soundness in him; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores. Gods own testimony, respecting man in his fallen state, is, that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually ]
3.
Assimilating
[The whole of the dough is by leaven changed, and will produce the same change on any other mass with which it may come in contact. So Adam begat a son in his own fallen likeness; and all who have proceeded from him inherit the very same depravity which sin had produced in him. In every age, and every place, human nature is the same: there is, in all, the same alienation from God, and the same idolatrous regard to self. Education may make a difference in the habits of men; but in their propensities there is no difference. There is, in all, the same filthiness, both of flesh and spirit; the same love to sensual indulgence; and the same disposition to pride, envy, malice, wrath, and all uncharitableness. In every living man, whether civilized or savage, there is that wisdom only which is from beneath, which is earthly, sensual, devilish [Note: Jam 3:15.].]
The appeal which the Apostle makes on this subject leads us to consider,
II.
The importance of having just conceptions respecting it
It is no curious speculation that is here suggested; but a fact, that is confirmed by universal experience, and the knowledge of which is of great importance,
1.
For the preservation of the Church
[The Church of Christ is in continual danger, both from error and corruption: and, in reference to both of these, the Apostle gave the same salutary warning. The Galatian Church were in danger of seduction by Judaizing teachers: indeed, even Barnabas himself had been seduced by Peters dissimulation. To them, therefore, St. Paul suggested this salutary admonition, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump [Note: Gal 5:9.]: and in numberless instances has the truth of that saying been evinced. Aarons calf became an object of worship to all Israel: and Jeroboams calves perverted all the tribes that were submitted to his government; and continued to pervert them, till they were all destroyed. The little leaven that, from time to time, was found amongst holy men in the primitive Church, wrought gradually to the production of all the abominations that have for centuries prevailed in the Church of Rome. And in the great majority of Protestant Churches has one error or another crept in, till all their members have become infected with it, and vital godliness been banished from their souls.
In the passage before us, the warning refers more particularly to morals; and intimates, what experience so fully proves, that evil communications will corrupt good manners. To illustrate this amongst the ungodly world is unnecessary, because it is too obvious to have escaped the observation of any. But amongst the Apostles themselves we may behold it on several occasions. Let a little leaven of pride [Note: Mat 20:21; Mat 20:24-27.], of covetousness [Note: Joh 12:3-6. compared with Mat 26:8.], of self-confidence [Note: Mat 26:35.], or cowardice [Note: Mat 26:56.], be brought amongst them, and they all immediately catch its baneful influence, and betray the weakness of their better principles. And wherever the Gospel is preached in its purity, the same awful tendency is seen and felt: one person or another indulges a proud, conceited, or contentious spirit; and his word will soon eat as doth a canker [Note: 2Ti 2:17.].]
2.
For the preservation of our own souls
[The recollection of this fact will prove extremely serviceable to every child of God. For who is there that has not felt the bitter consequences of omitting to resist the very first incursion of an evil thought? It was but a glance which David caught of Bathsheba; and we all know what sad effects it produced, to the dishonour of God, and well nigh to the destruction of his own soul. The man after Gods own heart became, in a degree that was scarcely ever exceeded, a man after the very heart of Beelzebub himself. And if this idea teaches us to resist the first motions of sin, how much more strongly does it guard us against the harbouring of any evil in the heart! How affectingly does it warn us to pluck out the right eye, and to cut off the right hand or foot, lest our whole body be contaminated, and be consigned, as utterly irrecoverable, to the flames of hell [Note: Mar 9:43-48.]! Nor does it less forcibly instruct us to guard against the means of evil, and the temptations to it. A man in the midst of many combustibles will dread the approach of fire. And who that considers how soon a fire may be kindled within him, and burn even to the lowest hell, will needlessly venture himself into those scenes of temptation, where every thing around him has a direct tendency to inflame and consume his soul? Who, that considers how great a matter a little fire kindleth [Note: Jam 3:5], will be indifferent respecting the company with which he mixes, the conversation in which he engages, the books he reads, the thoughts he indulges in his heart? Verily, if we would retain a purity of heart and life, we must never forget that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. If we pray to God not to lead us into temptation, we must take care that we run not needlessly into it ourselves.]
What now shall I say? Beloved brethren,
1.
Purge out, with all imaginable care, the leaven that is within you
[This is St. Pauls own improvement of the subject [Note: ver. 7, 8.]. The Jews, at their passover, were wont to search every corner of their houses with candles, in order to get rid of any leaven that might be found there; that so they might keep the feast with unleavened bread, according to the commandment. And is Christ our Passover sacrificed for us, and shall not we exercise the same care to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth? I call you, then, to the utmost possible vigilance in relation to this matter. Guard against every thing that is evil, whether in principle or practice; that so you may not be an occasion of corrupting others, and may yourselves be preserved blameless unto the kingdom of your God.]
2.
Endeavour to get your souls altogether leavened by divine grace
[There is a leaven that proceeds from God himself, that is intended to operate through the whole world, and to assimilate every human being to the very image of his, God [Note: Mat 13:33.]. Entreat of God to impregnate your souls with that. See to it, that its operation be progressive, through all your faculties and powers: and never rest till it has had its perfect work within you, and changed you into your Saviours image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord [Note: 2Co 3:18.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(6) Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (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: (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.
I am the more inclined to think, that the delivering of the person , before spoken of by the Apostle, to Satan, referred to the separating him from Church communion and ordinances, by what is here said of keeping the feast on the Passover, inasmuch as the Apostle bids them, at the same time he calls them to observe the feast, to purge out the old leaven. But whether so or not, it is very blessed, the authority which God the Holy Ghost hath here given to call Christ our Passover, because it clearly and decidedly proves, that that sacred service in the Jewish Church, was wholly typical of Christ. And again in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the blessed Spirit confirms the same, when telling the Church, that Moses kept it by faith. What faith? Surely an eye to Christ. See Exo 12:42 ; Heb 11:28 . Now the Christian feast is a feast upon Christ’s sacrifice. That sacrifice, as Christ our Passover, was once offered, Heb 10:14Heb 10:14 . But the feast is to be kept continually, For as often as we eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, we do shew forth the Lord’s death till he come, 1Co 11:26 . And it is a beautiful direction the Apostle gives of keeping this feast, that there is to be no leaven with it. For, as the Jews of old, before the celebration of the feast of the Passover, searched by the light of a lamp every secret corner and part of their houses, to see if there was any leaven hid away, and which if they found, they at once removed; so the true believer in Christ, is to have no leaven to mingle with Christ. His heart, he prays the light of God’s Spirit to search, and take away everything of his that might be mingled with Christ and his righteousness, that he may receive a whole Christ into a broken heart. Christ, and Christ alone, is the Lord’s Passover; and Christ, and Christ alone, is his also. Reader! it is very blessed when a child of God views Christ as God the Father views him, and makes him as Jehovah makes him, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of salvation.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Ver. 6. Your glorying is not good ] It is the height of wickedness to glory in wickedness, as Lamech, Gen 4:23-24 , and Alexander Pheraeus, who consecrated the javelin wherewith he had slain Polyphron. Protagoras boasted that he had spent forty years in corrupting of youth. (Plato.) Mark Antony vomited out a book concerning his own ability to eat and drink much. Joannes a Casa, dean of the pope’s chamber, wrote a poem in commendation of his own beastly sin of sodomy. And Stokesly, Bishop of London in King Henry VIII’s time, lying at point of death, rejoiced, boasting that in his lifetime he had burned fifty heretics, that is, good Christians. (Acts and Mon.)
A little leaven leaveneth, &c. ] One spoonful of vinegar will soon sour a great deal of sweet milk; but a great deal of milk will not so soon sweeten one spoonful of vinegar. One sinner may destroy much good, saith Solomon, Ecc 9:18 . He may be a common mischief, if tolerated, by spreading the infection of his wickedness, which is more catching than the plague.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. ] ‘How inconsistent with your harbouring such an one, appear your high-flown conceits of yourselves!’
, your matter of glorying.
Are you not aware that a little leaven imparts a character to the whole lump?
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 5:6 . “Your vaunt is not good:” , materies gloriandi ( cf. , Eurip., Helena , 135: Mr [834] ), found in the state of the Church, of which the Cor [835] were proud (1Co 4:6 ff.) when they ought to have been ashamed. , good in the sense of seemly, of fine quality; cf. 2Co 8:21 , Joh 10:32 , etc. For ; see 1Co 3:16 . The Cor [836] might reply that the offence, however shameful, was the sin of one man and therefore a little thing; P. retorts, that it is “a little leaven ,” enough to “leaven the whole kneading”: cf. the Parables of Mat 13:33 and Luk 12:1 . A sin so virulent held an indefinite power of corruption; it tainted the entire community. The ( , to mix ) is the lump of dough kneaded for a single batch of bread: see parls.
[834] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).
[835] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[836] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Co 5:6-8
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1Co 5:6 “Your boasting is not good” This comment helps interpret the attitude of the Corinthian church. They were claiming a freedom and license based on the gospel. They wanted to flaunt their new freedom instead of providing a gospel witness to their community.
SPECIAL TOPIC: BOASTING
“Do you not know” This is a characteristic phrase used often by Paul to refer to things believers should have known, things previously communicated to them, but which they often apparently (i.e., because of their actions and attitudes) have forgotten (cf. Rom 6:16; Rom 11:2; 1Co 3:16; 1Co 5:6; 1Co 6:2-3; 1Co 6:9; 1Co 6:15; 1Co 6:19; 1Co 9:13; 1Co 9:24).
“leaven” This refers to a Jewish proverb (cf. Mat 16:6; Mat 16:12; Gal 5:9) about yeast, usually in a negative sense, being likened to rottenness because of the fermentation process. However, sometimes the metaphor has a positive aspect (cf. Mat 13:33; Luk 13:20-21), which shows that meaning is related to context.
SPECIAL TOPIC: LEAVEN
1Co 5:7 “Clean out the old leaven” This is an aorist active imperative. It is an allusion to the Jewish custom of removing yeast from the house just before Passover each year (cf. Exo 12:15). The annual ritual was a symbol of repentance.
NASB”that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened”
NKJV”that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened”
NRSV”that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened”
TEV”so that you will be entirely pure. Then you will be like a new batch of dough without any yeast, as indeed I know you actually are”
NJB”so that you can be the fresh dough, unleavened as you are”
This shows Paul’s typical combination of the MORAL command linked with the POSITIONAL statement. What we are in Christ positionally, we are to become in Christlike lifestyle. They were the people of God (i.e., unleavened), but would be the eschatological people of God (i.e., new lump).
NASB”For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed”
NKJV”For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us”
NRSV”For our Passover feast is ready, now that Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”
TEV”For our Passover Festival is ready, now that Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”
NJB”For our Passover has been sacrificed, that is, Christ”
Paul relates the death of Christ to the OT concept of the Passover Lamb (cf. Exo 12:15 ff; Exo 13:7). This is one of the few places in the NT that this connection is specifically stated:
1. John the Baptist saw this connection and called Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” in Joh 1:29.
2. Joh 19:36 uses a quote from the Exodus Passover from Exo 12:46.
1Co 5:8 “Therefore let us celebrate the feast” This is a present active subjunctive (a Hortatory subjunctive calls for action). It relates to the only OT fast day (cf. Leviticus 16), called the Day of Atonement in 1Co 5:7, while 1Co 5:7 b and 8 relate to the Passover Feast (cf. Exodus 12). This refers to our continual lifestyle because of Christ’s work for us and in us, but with an element of contingency (i.e., subjunctive mood).
“not with old leaven” This refers to the New Covenant in Christ (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38). This new covenant excludes human boasting and arrogance. The death of Christ is the watershed of biblical revelation.
“nor with malice and wickedness” In context and by contrast, Paul is asserting the improper, even evil, motives and actions of some of the factions in the house churches of Corinth.
“but with sincerity” This rare word is possibly a compound term from “sunshine” and “judge.” It conveys the concept of unhidden, pure motives (cf. 1Co 5:8; 2Co 1:12; 2Co 2:17; Php 1:10; 2Pe 3:1).
“truth” The etymology of altheia is “to expose, unconceal, clearly manifest,” which is parallel with the root meaning of “sincerity.” Paul is concerned with motives! See Special Topic at 2Co 13:8.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
glorying = boasting. Greek. kauchema. See Rom 4:2.
not. App-105.
Know. App-132. See 1Co 3:16.
leaven. See Mat 13:33.
leaveneth. See Mat 13:33. Figure of speech Paroemia. App-6. Compare Gal 1:5, Gal 1:9.
lump. Greek. phurama. See Rom 9:21.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] How inconsistent with your harbouring such an one, appear your high-flown conceits of yourselves!
, your matter of glorying.
Are you not aware that a little leaven imparts a character to the whole lump? That this is the meaning, and not, that a little leaven will, if not purged out, leaven the whole lump, is manifest from the point in hand, viz. the inconsistency of their boasting: which would not appear by their danger of corruption hereafter, but by their character being actually lost. One of them was a fornicator of a fearfully depraved kind, tolerated and harboured: by this fact, the character of the whole was tainted.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 5:6. , not good) The not, is directed against the careless indifference of the Corinthians.- , glorying) This in itself is something good and becoming, 1Co 15:31; but wherever it is not anxiously watched, it is at fault, and comes very near to a puffing up of the spirit, 1Co 5:2.–) an Iambic verse of six feet [Senarius], Gal 5:9.-, leaven) even one sin and one sinner.-, lump) the assembly of Christians.-, leavens) with guilt and its example creeping on to a very wide extent. [Alas! for how long a period of time, and in how great a degree, must the Christian world, if we except those portions of it which are renewed, be a lump, or collection of filth most thoroughly leavened!-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 5:6
1Co 5:6
Your glorying is not good.-The glorying and self-justification were not good. If not put away from among them, it would soon work the corruption of the whole body.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? -As a small quantity of leaven pervades the entire mass of dough and communicates its nature to the whole of that with which it comes in contact, so the least sin tolerated affects the whole church, and communicates its nature to the whole of that with which it comes in contact. It is therefore applied to all sin voluntarily tolerated by the individual or the church. To be indifferent to grave misbehavior is to become partly responsible for it, and to lower the standard of Christian living. [Here the stress of the argument lies less in the evil example of the offender than in the fact that toleration of this conduct implies concurrence (Rom 1:32), and debases the standard of moral judgment and instinct. To be indifferent to grave misbehavior is to become partly responsible for it. A subtle atmosphere, in which evil readily springs up and is diffused, is the result. The leaven that was infecting the Corinthian church was a vitiated public opinion.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
glorying: 1Co 5:2, 1Co 3:21, 1Co 4:18, 1Co 4:19, Jam 4:16
a little: 1Co 15:33, Mat 13:33, Mat 16:6-12, Luk 13:21, Gal 5:9, 2Ti 2:17
Reciprocal: Exo 12:8 – unleavened Lev 2:11 – no leaven Lev 14:40 – take away Jdg 20:7 – ye are all Psa 106:35 – learned Pro 22:10 – General Mar 8:15 – the leaven of the Rom 6:3 – Know Rom 6:19 – unto iniquity 1Co 1:29 – General 1Co 3:16 – Know 1Co 4:6 – be puffed 1Co 4:7 – why 1Co 4:8 – ye are full 1Co 5:8 – not 1Co 8:1 – Knowledge 2Co 11:12 – they glory Gal 2:13 – the other Gal 6:13 – that they may Phi 3:19 – whose glory 2Ti 2:16 – for Heb 12:15 – and thereby Jam 3:14 – glory
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE EFFECT OF A LITTLE LEAVEN
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:6
The subject of sin pervades the entire Bible, either directly or indirectly, by precept or example, and following in its course, our Prayer Book adopts the same line of teaching, so as even to appropriate a particular portion of the year (Lent) for its special consideration, with its necessary adjuncts of contrition and repentance; and most wisely does it do so, for without first learning what sin has done to ruin us, we shall be little disposed to think of understanding what Christ has done to save us.
I. What, then, is sin?The Apostle John plainly and concisely answers in 1Jn 3:4 : Sin is the transgression of the law. Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law. All sin, then, is a violation of the law God has given to mankind as a rule to which our conduct is to be conformed. There is sin in all cases where the law is not complied with.
II. What does He tell us, Who is to be our Judge?What does He say in that infallible Word He has given to us for our guidance? He tells us this distinct truth, that Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. By which He means that whosoever fails in any one precept of the law, he is guilty of not observing the lawthat is, he is a breaker of the law; though he break only one precept, he has violated the law as a whole. Not that he who has failed in one point is as guilty as he who has violated every law, or that all sinners are culpable in an equal degree because all have broken some one or more of Gods laws. No; offences differ in degree, according to their greatness, their heinousness, or their persistency, and will be punished accordingly; but he who has been guilty of any one offence must be treated as a transgressor for that offence, his being amiable and upright in other respects cannot atone for, or screen him from, the penalty of a broken law.
III. Mark the scriptural judgment pronounced on the case: Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, shall be guilty of all. Yes, the offender, then, in one point, has mutilated the perfect law of God; for Gods holy law, although it is divided into Ten Commandments and comprehends everything that is included under them, yet is it but oneone holy, perfect, complete law, all whose precepts are united together, are, as it were, linked or bound up to one another, and must stand or fall together. Injure one limb of the human body, and you injure the whole man; so, break one commandment of Gods law, and you break the law as a whole. The perfect law, which is like a body with its many members, is insulted and injured when a single precept is transgressed.
Rev. Dr. E. J. Brewster.
Illustration
Shall we say of him whose offences are many what is not to be said of him who hath transgressed but once? If a person were only one remove from being perfect, the Divine Word will not allow us to believe that his many supposed virtues would atone for his single sin. And shall we then who have sinned so often suppose that our many sins can be covered by any supposed righteousness of our own? No, had we really those virtues to boast of which some pretend, they would not, they could not, cover our offences.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Co 5:6. The Corinthians were so full of pride over their supposed strength, that they seemed to think a single case of wickedness would not hurt them. The illustration of leaven is according to what everyone knows about that product. A woman would not use as much leaven by bulk as the amount of bread she wished to produce, for the small lump deposited in the mass would work until “the whole was leavened” (Mat 13:33). Likewise, one bad character who is permitted to remain in a congregation will finally defile the whole body. (See 1Co 15:33.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 5:6. Your glorying is not goodis out of place, unseemly.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lamp? Tis only one case, ye say; but are ye so ignorant as not to know that the communicative properties of good and evil are as leaven (Mat 13:3; Mat 5:13; 1Co 15:33), and that the leavening property of evil is greater than that of good? One sinner destroyeth much good. In a church gathered, like that of Corinth, out of a proverbially licentious city, and themselves before conversion no better than others (1Co 6:9-11), how dangerous the presence of such an offender, going out and in among them in full fellowship, must be obvious to every one.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “You Corinthians are prone to pride yourselves, in the numbers of wise and wealthy men that are found among you; you glory that Corinth is the eye of Greece, and Greece the eye of the world; but what do you glory in this for? When you have such a scandalous person among you, (the incestuous man,) who is a blot and a blemish to your whole society, know ye not that as a little leaven leaveneth and soureth the whole lump; so such a member continued among you, will defile the whole body or society of Christians with you? Therefore purge out this old leaven, (cast this scandalous person out of your communion,) that ye may be a new lump (your whole church an holy society) as ye are unleavened; that is, forasmuch as ye are by your profession of Christianity obliged to be unleavened, that is, separated from sin and sinners.”
Learn hence, 1. That all sin in general, but the sin of uncleanness in particular, is as leaven in regard of its spreading and diffusive nature: old leaven it is here called, because the Corinthians had been long infamous for this sin of uncleanness, even to a proverb.
Observe next, That the apostle having used this similitude of leaven, he pursues it in allusion to the Jewish custom before the celebration of the passover, who were to cast all leaven out of their houses with detestation and cursing, upon penalty of being cut off from the congregation of Israel. Thus the holy profession of Christianity obliges every one of us to cut off every notorious sinner from our society, every lust from our hearts, every member of the old Adam, that we may be a new lump, answering our holy and heavenly calling.
Observe here, The apostle’s reason why the old leaven of uncleanness and malicious wickedness should be put away by us; namely, because Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. We should therefore be as careful to put away sinful lusts out of our hearts, as the Jews were to cast the material leaven out of their houses.
Learn hence, 1. That Christ is our passover, or paschal lamb, in allusion to which he is often called a lamb in the New Testament. We do not find him expressed in the New Testament by the name of any other animals which typified him, but only this of a lamb, this being more significant of his innocency and sufficiency than any other. Joh 1:29 He is called God’s lamb; here he is called our passover or paschal lamb; God’s in regard of the author, ours in regard to the end; God’s in regard of designation, ours in regard of acceptation.
Learn, 2. That Christ is our sacrifice. A sacrifice was necessary for a sinful creature, to atone divine displeasure: a sacrifice for sin must be pure and sinless; no such sacrifice could be found but the eternal Son of God; for whatever any creature could do or suffer, had been but a debt or duty, and that could never have made compensation or satisfaction for a debt of rebellion.
Learn, 3. That Christ was a sacrifice for us, not for himself; for being perfectly sinless, he needed no sacrifice. Now the notion of all sacrifices, both among Jews and heathens, was this, that they were substituted in the room and place of the offender, to appease an offended deity, and exempt the guilty person from punishment.
Accordingly our sins were imputed to Christ, and he died under the imputed guilt of them, as a reputed sinner; for we cannot conceive how divine justice should inflict the punishment upon Christ, had it not first considered him under guilt. The weight of all our sin was laid upon his innocent shoulders: our guilt became his, by a voluntary susception of the punishment, and consequently the sufferings of this sacrifice are imputed to us. He took our sins upon himself, as if he had actually sinned; and gave us the benefit of his sufferings, as if we had actually suffered and satisfied.
Observe next, The inference drawn by the apostle from Christ’s dying a sacrifice for us: Therefore let us keep the feast; not an anniversary, or yearly, but a daily feast, even all the days of our Christian life; let the whole of our lives be as the Jewish feast of passover was, free from leaven, from the leaven of malice and wickedness, and full of sincerity and uprightness both towards God and man.
Learn hence, The duty of every particular and individual Christian; seeing Christ has died as a sacrifice for his sin, his duty is to live unto Christ, by living up to the rule which Christ has given him, abhorring all malice, abandoning all wickedness, acting all that sincerity towards God, and exercising that truth and uprightness towards man, which will be an ornament to our profession whilst we are upon earth, and will bring us at length to the fruition of God in heaven.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Warning Against the Leaven of Sin
They had been proud of their tolerance of sin, as if that was a badge of true righteousness. However, Paul warned them that such pride was not good. He also reminded them that even a small amount of leaven would spread through an entire lump of dough. Leaven, in this case, represents evil “illustrating the hidden constant way in which it spreads,” according to McGarvey.
The apostle said the leaven of sin must be taken away. The Jews had to put away leaven at Passover time. Jesus, as our Passover lamb, was sacrificed for us once for all, so sin must be put away once for all ( Heb 9:28 ). So, Paul urged them to keep the Christian’s Passover feast without the old leaven of sin.
He further urged them to lay aside the new leaven of malice and wickedness. Malice would be ill will in mind, while wickedness would be ill will expressed in action. Those who are in Christ’s body should strive to be pure. The church and its members should work to be completely free of flaws. “Sincerity” carries the idea of purity. It has been well depicted as a test accomplished by holding up a piece of cloth between the eye and the sun. When no flaws were found, it was said to be pure. “Truth” is simply the word of God, or the ultimate standard of judgment for Christians ( 1Co 5:6-8 ; Joh 12:48 ; Rom 2:16 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Co 5:6-8. Your glorying Of the flourishing state of your church, or of your gifts, at such a time as this; is not good Is very unseasonable, your church being defiled by tolerating such vices, and thereby exposed to Gods judgments, and also in danger of infection from such an example. Know ye not Who boast so much of your knowledge; that a little leaven One sin or one sinner; leaveneth the whole lump Diffuses guilt and infection perhaps through a whole religious society or congregation; that is, this single example, if tolerated, will infect others, and draw them to the like evil practices. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven Both of sinners and of sin; that ye may be a new lump That your whole church may be a holy society; as ye are unleavened As, by profession, you are obliged to be saints, and separated from sin, or that, being unleavened, ye may be a new lump, holy unto the Lord. For even Christ our passover Who was represented by the paschal lamb, Joh 1:29; is sacrificed for us Has been slain to make satisfaction for our sins, 1Co 15:3. As if he had said, It concerns you to let nothing of leaven, nothing of sin, be found about you, because as Christians we are now keeping a perpetual passover, of which the Jewish passover (about the time of which this epistle was written) was only a type. What exquisite skill, both here and everywhere, conducts the zeal of the inspired writer! How surprising a transition is here! And yet how perfectly natural! The apostle, speaking of the incestuous criminal, slides into his darling topic, a crucified Saviour! Who would have expected it on such an occasion? Yet when it is thus brought in, who does not see and admire both the propriety of the subject, and the delicacy of its introduction? Therefore let us keep the feast Let us feed on him by faith; or let the whole of our lives be like the Jewish feast of passover and unleavened bread. Here is a plain allusion to the Lords supper, which was instituted in the room of the passover; not with the old leaven Of heathenism or Judaism; or with such errors and vices as we were formerly addicted to, and influenced by: neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness Nor allowing ourselves in any unkind and corrupt affections, or sinful practices, or tolerating among us any scandalous conduct. Malice is ill-will in the mind; but wickedness is ill-will expressed by actions, especially such as are accompanied with treachery. Hence the devil is styled , the wicked one. But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth With the most simple and sincere desire of knowing and practising every branch of our duty; which if we really have, it will keep us from all these evils, and will ensure such a uniformity of behaviour, as will be honourable to our profession, and agreeable to the design of its glorious author. The apostle gives the epithet of unleavened to the graces of sincerity and truth, in allusion to the emblematical meaning of the unleavened bread, which the Israelites were to eat during the feast of the passover; for thereby they were taught to celebrate that feast with pious and holy dispositions.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 6. Your glorying is not good; know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
There are two ways of understanding the connection between the following passage and that which precedes: either the apostle continues to dwell on the disciplinary obligation of the Church,and we must then regard the leaven to be taken away as either the incestuous person, or rather the vicious in general,or it may be held that Paul, after upbraiding the Church with its negligence, seeks to guide its finger to the true cause of the mischief: the want of moral sincerity and firmness. This is the state which must be remedied without delay. Then reaction against the presence of the vicious will take place of itself. The first words are better explained in the second sense, for they relate to the present state of the Church in general. I have translated by vanterie (boasting), as if it had been (the act of boasting), because we have no word in French to denote the object of boasting. Chrysostom thought the word should be applied to the incestuous person himself, assuming that he was one of the eminent men in whom the Church gloried. Grotius and Heinrici have reproduced this explanation. It seems to us untenable: the Church was satisfied with its state in general, and in particular with the wealth of its spiritual gifts, on which Paul himself had congratulated it (1Co 1:5-7), and of which chaps. 12-14 will furnish proof. But this abundance of knowledge and speech was no real good except in so far as it effected the increase of spiritual life in the Church, and the sanctification of its members. As this was not the case, the apostle declares to them that their ground of self-satisfaction is of bad quality; a being vainly puffed up (1Co 4:19): Ye are proud of the state of your Church; there is no reason for it! He thus returns to the idea of 1Co 5:2.
This judgment is called forth by the softness of their conduct in regard to the evil which shows itself among them. Should they who are so rich in knowledge fail to know the influence exercised on a whole mass by the least particle of corruption which is tolerated in it?
Paul clothes his thought in a proverbial form (Gal 5:9). Leaven is here, as in many other passages (Mat 13:33; Luk 12:1), the emblem of a principle apparently insignificant in quantity, but possessing a real penetrating force, and that either for good (Mat 13:33) or for evil (Mat 16:6; Gal 5:9). Does Paul understand by this little leaven (the literal sense), the incestuous person or any other vicious member of the same kind, whose tolerated presence is a principle of corruption for the whole community? This is the meaning generally held. Or is he rather thinking of evil in general, which, when tolerated even in a limited and slightly scandalous form, gradually lowers the standard of the Christian conscience in all? It does not seem to me likely that Paul would designate as a little leaven a sinner guilty of so revolting an act as that in question (1Co 5:1), or other not less scandalous offenders. It is therefore better to apply this figure to all sin, even the least, voluntarily tolerated by the individual or the Church. This meaning, held by Meyer, de Wette, Hofmann, Gerlach, is confirmed by 1Co 5:7-8.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Your glorying is not good. [Their glorying was sinful enough at best, but much more so when it was so inopportune.] Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
6. Your boasting is not beautiful. Oh! What a rebuke is this on the proud boasting of the popular churches over their numbers! Could they only see the eliminations of the Judgment Day, when their mighty host will be cut down to a corporals guard, their feathers would fall. Do you not know that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Leaven in the Bible always means corruption, i. e., sin; the woman and the meal in the parable of the kingdom is no exception, as the woman there is Mother Eve after the Fall, and the meal humanity in its three divisions, Ethiopian, Mongolian and Caucasian, including the whole human race, and all becoming so interpenetrated with the leaven of sin as in the awful finale to expedite destruction and doom in the great tribulation; the kingdom of God simultaneously existing in the world in mystery.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 6
Your glorying; your self-complacency, and satisfaction with your condition, while such a sin remains unpunished.–Leaven. The Jews, in keeping the passover, were required to use only unleavened bread, the better to commemorate the haste and confusion in which they left Egypt, and which prevented the preparation of bread in the usual manner. From the very nature of leaven, tending, as it does, so strongly to disseminate itself, it was necessary to avoid admitting the smallest quantity into the mixture from which the bread was to be prepared. Hence leaven, as a prohibited thing which had a powerful tendency to spread from small beginnings until it pervaded the whole mass, became an apt emblem of sin, and is often so made use of by many of the sacred writers.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1Co 5:6-8. After dealing with the notorious offender, Paul turns again to the whole church, with words similar to 1Co 5:2. Your supposed wisdom is no good ground-of-exultation.
A little leaven etc.: found word for word in Gal 5:9. This suggests that it was a kind of proverb; which agrees with the metaphorical mention of leaven in Mat 13:33; Mat 16:6.
Lump, of dough, as in Rom 11:16. The proverb reminds us that there are other things besides leaven of which a small quantity silently permeates, and influences, and communicates its nature to, the whole of that with which it comes in contact. Paul assumes that in this respect sin is like leaven, and asks whether his readers are ignorant of the wide-spread effect of even a little leaven. His question, and the proverb, apply to sin both in the abstract and as embodied in the wicked church-member at Corinth. The least sin tolerated affects the whole man and the whole church.
Cleanse out: remove from your midst by cleansing.
Old, new: a spiritual contrast favorite with Paul; Rom 7:6; Rom 6:4; Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22 ff; Col 3:9 f. Sin, which like leaven communicates its nature to whatever it touches, was an essential ingredient of our old life. We must therefore become altogether new. To this end we must cleanse out all sin as belonging to the past.
Although deliverance from sin is entirely a work of God’s undeserved favor, through the death of Christ and the agency of the Holy Spirit, we are here exhorted to cleanse ourselves. Cp. 2Co 7:1; 1Pe 1:22; Jas 4:8; Col 3:5; Col 3:9 f. For, only by speaking thus can we grasp the great truth that it depends upon ourselves whether or not we actually receive the purity which God works. We receive it by faith: and by a life of faith we work out (Php 2:12 f) the salvation which God works in us. This exhortation is quite general: cp. 1Co 5:8. But it includes (cp. 1Co 5:13) the removal of the man whose obstinate sin was contaminating the whole community.
According as etc.: what Paul bids, accords with objective fact. In the purpose and command of God, and in their own profession, they are separated from all sin; which is to them what, during the Passover week, leaven was to the Jews. This objective use of unleavened accords with sanctified in 1Co 1:2.
For indeed our Passover etc.; explains unleavened, and gives a motive for the foregoing exhortation. Our position is analogous to that of the Israelites, who were forbidden (Exo 12:15-20) under pain of death to eat leaven during the seven days which followed the death of the paschal lamb. For Christ is to His people what the lamb was to Israel. This comparison, not found elsewhere, agrees exactly with Joh 1:29.
So then let us keep feast: for the death of the lamb was always followed, at the strict command of God, by the feast of unleavened bread, during which no leaven was allowed in the houses of Israel. The word old, repeated from 1Co 5:7, suggests perhaps a reason for this, viz. to teach Israel by a change of food that there must be a change of life. And, just as the death of the paschal lamb laid upon the Jews a divine obligation to put away their old food and begin to eat new bread, so the death of Christ lays us under obligation to put away sin and begin to lead a new life.
Nor with a leaven of wickedness etc.: further description of the old leaven, giving its moral constitution. Just so sincerity and truth are the moral constitution of the new spiritual food.
Maliciousness: Rom 1:29.
Sincerity: 2Co 1:12 : that which is the same throughout.
Truth: see Rom 1:18 : that which corresponds with eternal realities.
The exhortation of 1Co 5:6-8 rests upon two great truths, viz. that sin, like leaven, communicates its nature to all it touches; and that the death of Christ lays upon us an obligation to cast away all sin. Of these, the former attests itself to the conscience and experience and observation of every one. Even the least thing which God hates, if clung to, darkens our spiritual intelligence, weakens our spiritual efforts, and pollutes our entire being. Therefore sin may justly be compared to leaven. That Christ is our Passover, follows by direct inference from Doctrines 2 and 3, viz. that salvation comes through the death of the Son of God, and that God designs us to be by union with Christ sharers of the life of Christ, a life devoted to God. See under Rom 3:26; Rom 6:10; Rom 8:39. For, if we are saved from death by the death of Christ, then Christ is to us what the lamb was to the firstborn, who but for its death would himself have died. Whereas, apart from this doctrine we cannot conceive any sufficient justification for the comparison here used by Paul. Nor can we account for the institution of the Mosaic sacrifices. Thus this comparison, introduced incidentally to support a moral exhortation, strongly confirms our exposition of Rom 3:24-26. Again, if Christ died that we may become (Rom 6:6-11) dead to sin, then His death lays upon us an obligation to reject all sin, an obligation similar to that which bound Israel in Egypt to abstain from leaven after the paschal lamb was slain. In other words, Christ died that His death might be to us the gate to a life altogether new, and be a never-passed barrier between us and our old life in sin. Thus the exhortation of 1Co 5:8 implies the teaching of Rom 6:6-11.
1Co 5:6-8 also suggest the practical use, and the probable design, of the Mosaic ritual. It embodied essential truth, truth expounded fully only when Christ came, in a form which, while actually conveying important teaching, yet as evidently needing further explanation, kept alive expectation for the coming of Him who was to unlock its mysteries.
That Paul nowhere else refers to the Passover, taken in connection with 1Co 16:8, suggests that he wrote this letter about the time of the Jewish Passover, and that this comparison and exhortation were prompted by the associations of the season at which he wrote.
Paul’s mention of Christ as our Passover agrees with Joh 19:14; Joh 19:31; Joh 18:28; Joh 13:29, which assert or imply that Christ died on the afternoon of Nisan 14, at the very time prescribed in the Law (Exo 12:6) for the slaying of the paschal lamb; and with Joh 19:36, where a command about the Passover is said to be fulfilled in Christ. This agreement is not invalidated by the apparently contrary testimony, which we cannot here discuss, of Mar 14:12; Luk 22:7; Mat 26:17 ff. See The Expositor, vol. xii. p. 82.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
5:6 {7} Your glorying {d} [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
(7) Another goal of excommunication is that others are not infected, and therefore it must of necessity be retained in the Church, so that one is not infected by the other.
(d) Is nothing and not grounded upon good reason, as though you were excellent, and yet there is such wickedness found among you.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The analogy of the Passover 5:6-8
Paul argued for the man’s removal from the church with this analogy. It was primarily for the sake of the church that they should remove him, not for the man’s sake.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
It was not good for the Corinthians to feel proud of their permissiveness (cf. 1Co 5:2). Sin spreads in the church as yeast does in dough (cf. Gal 5:9; Mar 8:15). Eventually the whole moral fabric of the congregation would suffer if the believers did not expunge this sin from its midst.