New Thoughts: (10/15/15-10/17/15)
I shall be taking something of a roundabout way through these verses, but as a starting point let me take the introductory words as guide to understanding the whole thought. In our English translations, we have something to the effect of, “Your boasting is not good.” We might look at that and decide that all boasting is included in the assessment, but in fairness, boasting of Christ cannot be construed as bad. I will note that the word boasting, kaucheema, bears that ma suffix which indicates the result or effect of. So, then, let us consider that it is not the boasting itself necessarily, but the result of that boasting which Paul is addressing. The result of your boasting is not good.
Why is that? If they had been boasting of a sound, healthy faith, would that be ‘not good’? Only if it took the form of, “look at me!” If it maintains a pure attitude of, “Look what the Lord has done!” I cannot find cause for fault. The problem here is that the boast does not match the reality, and here is the thrust of Paul’s comment, I think: If the boast does not match the reality, it only serves to spread sin wider. Boasting may not be the leaven by which Paul chooses to characterize the issue, but it is the warm room in which the leaven is left to do its work.
Now, in brief aside let me note once more the reason why this imagery might be so much on Paul’s mind. From the end of the letter, we know he was looking to spend Pentecost in Ephesus before leaving, and the suggestion of that point is that Pentecost was not too far away on the calendar. It would be reasonable to say, then, that the letter we are reading was written somewhere very near to the Passover week, perhaps even in the midst of it. That being said, there is something we should see in Paul, in order to properly set our own behaviors in this day and age.
Paul, by his own record, was a Pharisee of Pharisees, a man thoroughly versed Mosaic Law and Jewish custom both. He was, had been, scrupulous in his observance of every tenet of that strictest of sects. Now, I dare say that even the most lax of Jews would, if he had any thought left for God at all, be found in Jerusalem for the Passover. It was one of the few days of the year when this was required of the one who counted himself part of Israel. Get thee to Jerusalem for the Feast. True, provision had been made for those who, for reasons beyond their control, simply could not possibly be there. But, that does not describe Paul, at least not in geographical, commercial, or otherwise material terms. The only thing one might construe as precluding his attendance was his effort in establishing the Church. Even there, he was in a place that had been established. He could have taken the month or so to go there and back. But, there was this: “A wide door for effective service has opened to me” (1Co 16:9).
I said there was a lesson for us in this. This is what I am seeing: Paul had, for all intents and purposes, left the entire system of Old Covenant worship behind. He had not done so as rejecting that system of worship, but rather in recognition that he was living in the fulfillment of the types which were the fabric of that system. Israel had, with varying degrees of consistency, maintained the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, since arriving in the Promised Land. It had not, so far as we know, been observed during the years wandering in the desert. In the age Paul lived in, it seems there was something of a renewed fervor amongst the Israelites, even if it was only a response to Roman subjection of the land. But, there was a strain of real desire for God in that fervor.
Why, then, would Paul be disinclined to be true to his roots? I would say we have answer to that in the passage before us: The Church is the point. The Church is the fulfillment of the types and symbolism of those feasts established for Israel. What we see from these verses is that Paul senses how complete a change of situation has transpired now that Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed.
Consider the flow of that Feast. Day One, the lamb is sacrificed and eaten. Only then do the seven days of unleavened bread begin. Then, at the close of those seven days, there is another day of particular consecration. In the Church age, we can demark two great days. Paul points us to the first: The day when our Perfect Lamb was sacrificed for our sins. The second great day lies ahead of us, when the Lamb Who was Slain returns to judge the living and the dead. If these two days are the fulfillment of those days which bracket the Unleavened Bread, what remains? What remains is a perpetual week of unleavened bread, so far as our lifespans are concerned. Our entire Christian life is to be spent in observing the fulfillment of the Unleavened Bread. We don’t do so by returning to the types. We don’t do so by making annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. We don’t do so with matzah. We do so by paying head to the antitype.
The power of the Old Testament is not in calling us back to old ways, but in demonstrating more clearly to us what the reality of New Testament life is supposed to be. It is a system that points forward to our present, and beyond that to our certain future. It was written for our edification, for our instruction. That instruction doesn’t consist in recipes for incense, instructions for preparing meat, or anything else of so ceremonial and superficial a nature. The instruction consists in understanding what the ceremony was intended to convey of meaning, understanding how those feasts are fulfilled or being fulfilled in Christ, and understanding the answer the question of how we should live in light of this fulfillment.
So, what is this answer? It is to remove the leaven of sin. Here, it is useful to recognize that leaven has its opposite in our way of living. The opposite is salt. Salt is viewed as a preservative in this comparison, the thing that prevents corruption. Salt, I should note, is also quite prominent. It does its work, as it were, out in the open. Leaven is a corrupting agent. That is its purpose, whether we enjoy the result or not. Leaven, particularly as viewed in the making of sourdough bread, may well look like plain dough. The effects of its own corruption may not be visible effects, and there may be nothing about it that would lead us to expect its corrupting effect on whatever dough it may touch.
How apt a symbol for sin! The sinner is not obvious to our senses. We cannot, for the most part, look about us at our fellow citizens and tell which may be the thief, which the murderer, or which the sexual predator. For one thing, it would hardly serve their interests to be obvious to the observer. Sin generally demands to be hidden from sight, unless the society has become so corrupted that sin is no longer perceived as sinful.
Think upon that. We are in the midst of such a society today. The people around us, at least those of a certain age, find nothing shameful in pursuing their licentious lifestyles. They see nothing amiss with sexual relations that would remain sinful even pursued within the bounds of matrimony. They view the industrialization of the abortion process, the sale of butchered babies’ parts, and find nothing wrong with the idea. It’s just a woman’s rights thing. They look upon the wanton destruction of personal property and find it to be nothing more than an exercise in free speech. The society around us can no longer conceive of something so evil as to require denouncing, except, perhaps the pursuit of righteousness. How the leaven hates the salt!
Corinth was in the same situation. It was a society built on twin pillars of commerce and sex, and frankly, the two were not much separated. If there was a distinction, it may have been that the sex trade was largely a religious operation, as they counted religion. Here is the danger, and it is as clearly visible as salt on a pretzel. We are products of the society in which we dwell. Even if these corruptions seem to have come upon us as something new, they are not. Worse yet, they will tend to influence our own thoughts and behaviors unless we remain carefully on guard.
Leaven is a pernicious influence. It is pernicious because it acts in secret. It enters under the disguise of normalcy and swiftly moves to permeate the whole. For personal sanctification, the problem is plain. If we grant ourselves a taste of sin, it leads only to worse appetites until we discover that we have become incapable of resisting. In fairness, we never were capable. But, there is that perpetual struggle within. Whose influence shall we yield to: Salt or leaven? God or flesh?
The same situation applies at the corporate level. That is the point Paul is laying out here. It is not, cannot be, that he expects the church to purge itself of every incidental sinner. To do so would be to empty the church, and even Paul would have to be excluded, as he well knows. But, where the sin has become so pronounced as to be obvious to all? Discipline must come. As harsh as expulsion, excommunication, may be, it is the right answer. One doesn’t cure the cancer by ignoring it. It must be removed, and forcibly so. It must be given no foothold so ever. One cannot suppose that introducing just a little bit of leaven will leave the bread unleavened. The little bit will spread, however little it was in the beginning. One cannot suppose that tolerating the flagrant sin of one member will have no effect on others. Quite the opposite. You can count on this: Man being the weak-fleshed thing that he is, if he sees one party getting away with it, he will decide he can get away with it, too.
Think of some of our most approved adages. “A fish rots from the head down.” “If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.” Paul provides one even older, given that it appears to have been an adage even in his day. “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1Co 15:33). This does not mean that we, being the pure and holy people of God, must not associate with the lost, fallen world. Far from it! We have been left in the world by our Commander-in-Chief, for the express purpose of calling the lost out of their darkness. We have been called to be the salt of the earth (Mt 5:13), to preserve the elect, and rescue the earth from utter destruction by our influence. But, in doing so, we are called to be very aware of the countervailing tendency of worldly sin to have its effect on us.
Elsewhere, Paul gives us the famous imagery of the believer in full armor, prepared for battle. We might do well to contemplate that armor as a hazmat suit. It is not, after all, the fallen with whom we battle. In respect to them, we come on a rescue mission. No, it is their cruel taskmaster and his underlings with whom we battle, and with them, we battle in the might of the Lord Jesus, our Victorious Warrior King. In truth, He fights the battle, and we but stand in Him.
Holding these things in perspective, these mirrored characteristics of leaven and salt, it is not difficult to understand why God insists that every sacrifice given over for Him to consume must be free of leaven and must also be seasoned with salt. He is perfectly Pure. His Holiness is such that in reality no sin could ever touch Him. Sin must whither in His presence. It cannot do otherwise. This is the underlying reason why the truth holds that no man can see God and live. For, no man is without sin. No, not one.
Come back to the question of how we are to live. We are to live as salted offerings to God, scrupulously clear of all leaven. Recall how I was looking at this existence as a lifelong Feast of Unleavened Bread. What was the search and destroy operation against leaven all about? God doesn’t like yeast? No. It was emblematic of purification. Everything about approaching God requires purification. According to the author of Hebrews, even the temple in heaven stood in need of purification, and this, too, Christ accomplished in His atoning work. Let there be no doubt, then about the efficacy of His work for the elect! Let there be no doubt as to the extent of His efficacy. It is limitless in power, only limited in application by the pure and holy will of God.
Our lives are to be spent in care, remaining alert to the pernicious influence of sin’s leaven, alert to the corrupting influences of society around us. But, they are not to be spent in cowering fear, lest sin’s touch remove God’s holiness from us. No! God’s holiness, being God’s, cannot be corrupted, consumed, or comprehended by the influence of sin. It is He who is our Salt. He preserves us. But, He calls us to be an active part in that process. Watch for the sin that would creep in and take us unawares. Watch for that lying inner voice that would convince you that a little bit is OK – you can quit whenever you want. Watch for the justifying thought that would seek to get you believing the lie that your sin isn’t sinful, or that God doesn’t consider your sins anymore so you can do as you please. All of this is leaven. Remove it!
As to the house of God and the family gathered there, let us likewise heed the call of this unleavened life. We have been told how to maintain discipline in His house. We have been told in this very section of Scripture what to do with the unrepentant sinner who would put himself forward as a Christian. He is granted to repent of one or the other. Either repent of sin – actively turn away from it and live the salted life so as to truly be a Christian, or repent of claiming to be a Christian and let sin take its course. Mind you, such a dilemma is to be placed upon the sinner in hope: In hope that he will indeed repent of sin and choose life. If we must turn one over to the disciplinary activity of Satan, we must do so with an eye to eternity, with the heartfelt, soul permeating hope and desire that the one so expelled may find his soul saved at the end of days, come what may.
Here is the strength of Paul’s reminder to Corinth, as the TLB renders it. “Don't you realize that if even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected?” We who lead cannot leave this untreated. If we will not lead, I must suppose that the people of God should do so themselves, at least so far as concerns their individual households and associations. The same guiding motivation and desire must apply. We don’t shun to shame. We don’t cut off communications to spite. We isolate the disease in hope of successful treatment.
One of the articles I looked at made note of the symbolism of the unleavened bread in the life of Israel. Yes, in that initial institution of the Passover, it was a marker of haste. You don’t have time to wait for the bread to rise. You need to go now. To be sure, we should have that same sense of urgency when we find sin impinging on us. Sometimes the task of resisting the devil consists in fleeing temptation as fast as Joseph fled Potiphar’s house. But, there was another symbolism to the unleavened bread. It was a reminder that as we walk out the life of the Redeemed, we do so ‘in the strength of the pure bread of new life, in fellowship with Jehovah’. There is no other way to make it through our earthly wilderness of sin.
I note from the instructions given Israel that it was not just the house that was to be cleared of leaven. For those seven days of the feast, the command extended to the point of saying, “nor shall you allow any leaven within your borders” (Ex 13:7). I wonder how we might apply that to the Church.
Let’s back up a bit and consider what God was creating in the nation of Israel. It was not, at least primarily, a political entity. As time has made clear, God’s interest was not primarily in a specific geographical region, although He established Israel’s borders. Neither was His interest primarily in a particular genealogical line, although He went to extraordinary lengths to preserve the line of David and of Abraham in order that His promise might not fail in any regard. His interest was in a people of His own choosing and for His own purpose, a people who sought a better land, a better, heavenly city. The Passover marked the choosing of that people, and the start of their journey to that better place. It came to serve as a memorial to the God who chose them and saw them safely through that journey.
Now, come forward. The Church stands as the visibly manifest marker of the kingdom. It is not the border marker, though it is planted in what seem like borderlands. It is nearer an embassy of Home. But, as with earthly governance, so with this: The embassy is viewed as a very real, physical extension of the country it represents. Within the bounds of the embassy, homeland rules apply even though that takes place in the midst of foreign territory. So, then, in view of the commands applying to the Feat of Unleavened Bread, we may view the house as representing our personal situation, and the nation as the Church. “You shall not allow any leaven within your borders.” That is the Church. That is the application Paul is making here, and he makes it plain, going forward, that the command does not extend to those outside the borders. It is not the immoral unbeliever you are called to avoid, but the immoral one who claims to be a brother, whom Paul demotes to a “so-called brother” (1Co 5:9-11). You can’t remove the leaven from the world, nor are you called to do so. You can’t make your geographical nation holy, nor are you called to do so. You can insist on holiness in the house of God, and you are commanded to do so.
It is one thing to go to the lost and invite them to, “Come as you are.” It is another thing entirely to welcome them to remain as they are. The church that simply allows every sinful proclivity to continue unabated is no church. The church that promotes acceptance of that which God has prohibited is no church. If your congregation is inclined to make sinners comfortable it should serve to make you too uncomfortable to remain. We are participants in a lifelong Feast of Unleavened Bread. The command is clear. Not in yourselves, not in your fellow believers: No sin is to be tolerated.
Now, the obvious reality is that we all have a continued issue with sin. The Fall has been so pervasive a leavening agent that the corruption remains in us even though we have been redeemed. Old habits die hard. The flesh is weak. The good news is that Scripture does not deny this reality, nor make it a disqualifier. If it did, we could set the text aside and return to our wanton ways, for all hope would be gone. No. The Scriptures are quite clear on this: We will have our weaknesses, our relapses into sin. John goes so far as to say that if any man supposes himself free of sin, he is thereby making God out to be a liar (1Jn 1:10). His Word is not in such a one. But, there is a counterbalancing truth that must be held forth: That one who goes on in his sins, makes them to be his lifestyle, and changes not a thing? He is no believer. “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1Jn 2:4).
Clean out the leaven! When you find a new piece, repent of it. Don’t be cast down in failure. Be lifted up in confidence that the Lord of all Creation has arranged His works such that you may come to him with confidence, having repented; knowing that He not only will forgive you. He already has. It is finished!
Here is further good news for us. God Himself has taken upon Himself to clean you of your leaven. Let this be carefully balanced by the realization that this is no permit for sloth. We cannot simply, “Let go and let God.” That’s not His command. His command is, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling”, but always knowing that, “It is God who is at work in you” (Php 2:12-13). It’s a Middle Voice effort. It’s you and God together. It’s working with Him, letting Him lead, doing your utmost for the Highest God, even knowing that in yourself the utmost will never amount to anything. But, He is working in you, and that changes EVERYthing!
There is one last item I would look at from this passage, and that is the contrast Paul draws between the old life and the new. He gives us two words to describe each. Of the old life, he gives the description of malice and wickedness. That’s the leaven we are to remove. These two words might seem to describe pretty much the same thing, but there’s a distinction worth noticing. Malice is primarily a matter of thought life. It’s the inner man plotting his evils. Wickedness is the action that results. It is thought put into action. It may remain concealed from observation as it acts, but it acts. So, then, we combine thought life and its outward manifestation.
This same combination of inner reality and outward manifestation should be recognized in the two terms applied to the unleavened life: Purity and truth. Purity is an inner state. It is a matter of thought life. If the thought life is not pure, the rest of life cannot be. Think of the way Jesus explains the Law to us. It’s not enough that you didn’t commit a physical act of adultery. If you thought of some other woman with lustful desire, the sin is already as good as done. It’s not enough that you haven’t killed anybody. The angry, dehumanizing thoughts you have towards that one who annoyed you are sufficient. The sin is already as good as done. Purity must happen in the heart and mind, else we can make no progress. This is where the Spirit works in us. The fruits of the Spirit are the outward manifestation, but it requires first that inward cleansing.
As we experience this inward cleansing, what is the outward manifestation? Paul describes it as Truth. This should give us plentiful cause to rejoice before the Lord. He is the God of Truth, and here, His work of purification within us is producing an outward evidence of Truth. There is a particular definition of that term which sticks with me each time I come across it. Truth is not just statement of fact. In this application, it represents something far more beautiful: It describes the state of that in which the outward appearance reflects the inward reality. There is no deceit, no shadow of turning. What you see is what you get. The essence is seen in the display without hypocrisy, without masks.
Let us understand that from God’s perspective, the Truth is always there. Even that one whose malice has expressed in wickedness is seen truly in that his outward act really does reflect his inward essence, to his shame. To the degree that we don our masks – and sadly, I think we must accept that we all do to one degree or another – they may fool our friends and they may even fool ourselves, but they don’t fool God. He always sees the truth of us. God is Truth. But, where He is at work, the purity He is bringing about within cannot help but express itself in the fruit of the Spirit without. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). This is not, I should think, an exhaustive list, but it’s enough to keep us occupied for a lifetime.
These are the things that must be growing more evident in our day-to-day. To the degree that they are still masks we put on, they avail us nothing. But, to the degree that they express what God is creating on the inside of us, they are evidence. They are the only evidence. The fruit of the Spirit is not works. It is not evangelistic fervor, sacrificial service to the poor, or any other effort we might make to prove ourselves zealous for God. To be sure, we should be proclaiming the Gospel, for we who love Christ must surely desire to obey His commands. To be sure, we should be helping the poor, the orphaned, the widow, but not out of some perverse desire to prove our authenticity. It’s no proof! Even the heathens may help those who are down and out. The proof of God’s inward work is expressed in character: love – real love, not emotional sappiness; joy – not bubbly happiness but deep satisfaction in the God who has called us; peace – not to be confused with complacency, but ever recognizing that our Lord is with us and arranging our days; patience – for if all is by His and, what cause have we to be frustrated?; kindness – which will do more to draw the sinner from his sin than all the browbeating we can muster; goodness – even in the face of abuse, especially in the face of abuse; faithfulness – to God and to man, though it cost us dearly; gentleness – not serving as a doormat or being a milquetoast, but never harsh, even when opposed; and in all things, self-control.
That’s a tall order, isn’t it? We may manage one or two of these at any point in time, but all nine? All nine all the time? It doesn’t seem possible. It isn’t possible. But, with God, all things are possible. Consider that the best fruit tree ever planted still does not bear fruit year round. Not every piece of fruit that begins to form is perfect in its development. But, it remains a fruit tree, and that fact remains obvious in that it produces fruit. The tree that produces no fruit is either no fruit tree or is dead. So, we bear fruit. That fruit is Truth in that it reflects the inward reality of the thought life. That inward thought life is being dealt with by God because that’s what must precede the outward reality. Anything else truly would be hypocrisy and despised by God and man alike.
The final definition of truth, particularly in light of what Paul is teaching here, is that truth is a life lived in harmony with divine Truth. I take that from Thayer’s Lexicon. Listen! As we go through this joyful process of sanctification there are those things we are anxious to see cleaned up. We know ourselves to some degree, and we recognize that this behavior or that, this habit or that, do not comport with the life of faith. So, we want them gone. The question we must ask is whether that is the place God is at work on us, or whether those are merely the things we feel are most visible. See, our inclination is to work from the outside in. We want to appear better than we are, so we wash the outside of our cup of life. God wants us to actually be better than we are, so He is busily working on those inward matters that lie at the root of our troubles.
I find that He is more inclined to address the more hidden sins, those things in which we have no fear of exposure to our fellow man. We think those sins safe, and our focus goes to those outward forms that might sully our reputation. We battle with those outward things, and more often than not, find ourselves frustrated by constant failure in our battle. We give up. We return to our own vomit. But, God works on inward things, thought life, spirit life. When we discover what He is doing, and in particular when we are able to consciously and conscientiously join our efforts with His, amazing things happen. Outward issues fall aside because the inner condition that led to them is being addressed. If the mind is at peace, then outward shows of frustration are going to be a thing of the past. If the heart is consumed by the joy of the Lord, where shall outward shouts of anger find a source?
The corollary is sadly clear. If our outward expression is filled with frustration, anger, and bitterness, it only serves to point us to the inner work that remains to be done. It might be well to take that as a signpost of where our Master has His attention. Here, just as with habits as grotesque as those Paul is addressing with Corinth, the real answer is not just to try and cover the outward show. If that man with his father’s wife merely learns to hide the relationship more cleverly from prying eyes, nothing has changed. The inward lust must go. Then and only then will an outward change be real. Then, he will not merely hide away the continued life of sin, he will eschew the life of sin and seek to live in true accord with the Holiness of God.
We think that sin worse than our own, and perhaps in some ways it is. But, imagine a church full of angry, bitter people. No, we don’t really need to imagine it. We can look at the dread Westboro Baptist Church, and the damage they do to Christ and to themselves. There is nothing to be seen in their propensity for prodding other people’s pain which can be found reflecting the fruit we are called to bear. There is nothing there to attract the unbelieving soul to come into the Light. If anything, it promotes a stronger preference for darkness. If this is light, what would I want with it?
Clean out the leaven! It’s not a call to denounce sinners far and wide. It’s not a call to political activism. It’s a call to personal sanctification and to the attentive care of God’s house. It’s a call to make certain that those things which pose as Christianity but are not are given no leeway to continue in their posturing, and their defamation of God’s Holy Character. Judgment begins in the house of God. It must begin with the heart of God’s people. It must be willing to expose those who prove by their actions that their claims to being family are a lie. That is a task to be taken seriously, and taken on with utmost care. We do not wish to uproot the wheat in our desire to remove the tares, but when the tares are evident, we are by no means permitted to let them choke out the wheat.
