1 Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Study Note
Study Note
The call to 'keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' allegorises the festival of Unleavened Bread as the ongoing moral state of the redeemed community. Paul's ethical application of liturgical calendar — translating the Passover observance into a year-round posture of moral purity — demonstrates his hermeneutical method of reading Israel's cult as a map for Christian practice. The antithesis leaven-of-malice versus unleavened-bread-of-sincerity presents Christian ethics as a matter of interior quality (sincerity, aletheia-truth) rather than external observance. This verse has been central to Eucharistic theology, especially in discussions of the proper disposition required for participation in the Lord's Supper.
Other Translations
wherefore 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.
so that we may keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with unleavened food of sincerity and truth.
Let us then keep the feast, not with old leaven, and not with the leaven of evil thoughts and acts, but with the unleavened bread of true thoughts and right feelings.
Cross References
Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as …
And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast …
That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but …
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your …
And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.