FAITHFULWORD.ORG | TEACHINGS

I Corinthians 5:6-8; Luke 22:1, 7, 8; Matthew 13:33; I Corinthians 5:8; [Romans 6:1, 2]; Mark 7:14-23; Romans 1:28-31; Colossians 3:8-11; Titus 3:3-6; Mark 8:15; Matthew 16:1-12; Luke 12:1, 11:37-46; 18:9-14; I Corinthians 5:6-8; Exodus 12:11; Deuteronomy 16:1-3; Matthew 7:1-13; John 14:6; I Corinthians 5:7, 8; Ephesians 4:1, 5:15; I Timothy 4:7,8

We can learn many lessons from understanding how the children of Israel ate the first Passover. It was health to their flesh and involved the forgiveness of their sins and the sparing of their lives. Jesus Christ instructed his disciples to partake of the bread and wine on that final Passover in memory of him. It was symbolic of healing and forgiveness but also of how we are spared from the consequences of sin and can receive eternal life.

Many things we read of in the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of things to come, or a type. They were also at times representative of something God kept partially veiled. Such is the case with Passover. Egypt is representative of the world! The children of Israel left the world of Egypt and came into a new life with God in the Promised Land. So we, through Christ our Passover, enter into a new life as new creations in Christ Jesus, leaving the old behind. As with the children of Israel in Egypt, we must do this in haste!

In the verses leading up to I Corinthians 5:6, we see that some of the Corinthian believers were using their liberty as a license to sin and were allowing sin in others’ lives to excuse their own sin. Paul reproves them by saying to purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. What does this mean? Passover is the feast of unleavened bread. Leaven is put into dough to make it rise. A small amount makes the whole lump of dough rise. In the context of I Corinthians 5:6, Paul is referring to the leaven of malice and wickedness. He warns the believers to beware because a small amount of malice and wickedness affects everyone. This leaven of wickedness or liberalism could be equated to the notion that “anything goes” because we are free in Christ. Paul also speaks of legalism and how it affects the believers. Legalism is when others believe we are made perfect by the works of the flesh.

From the time we are saved, there is a pathway and we want to walk on it. But the pendulum swings wide and we get into liberalism. Then we swing the other way into legalism where we begin to judge others based on our inflated view of how spiritual we are. But in our growth in Christ, we want to avoid the leaven of malice and wickedness. We strive to embrace the leaven of truth and sincerity — the balanced walk. As we mature in Christ, that wide road becomes narrowed to the single, beautiful pathway through the wilderness of life. We are looking at this narrowing path of life.

We are to leave the ways of the world — legalism and liberalism — and do it with haste every moment. Paul addresses the balanced walk in our lives by writing about walking circumspectly. As we narrow our pathway, avoiding the leaven of malice and wickedness, we will have reward in this life and that which is to come!