1 Corinthians 5:8

8 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.

1 Corinthians 5:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 5:8

Therefore let us keep the feast
Not the feast of the passover, which was now ceased, though this is said in allusion to it; when the master of the house used to say ^F12,

``everyone that is hungry, let him come and eat; he that hath need, let him come (xopyw) , "and paschatize", or keep the feast of the passover:''

but rather the feast of the Lord's supper is here meant, that feast of fat things Isaiah prophesied of; in which are the richest entertainments, even the flesh and blood of Christ; though it seems best to understand it of the whole course of a Christian's life, spent in the exercise of spiritual joy and faith in Christ; he that is of a merry heart, as the believer of all men in the world has reason to be of, "hath a continual feast", ( Proverbs 15:15 ) of spiritual mirth and pleasure, rejoicing always in Christ, as he ought to do: which feast, or course of life, is to be kept "not with old leaven"; in the old, vain, sinful manner of conversation, as before:

neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness;
not in malice to any man, or one another, nor in any sort of wickedness, living in no known sin, and allowing of it:

but with the unleavened bread of sincerity;
as opposed to malice, of sincere love to God and Christ, and to his people: and of truth; of Gospel doctrine, discipline, and conversation.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Haggada Shel Pesach, p. 4. Ed. Rittangel.

1 Corinthians 5:8 In-Context

6 This pride of yours is not good. Do you not see that a little leaven makes a change in all the mass?

7 Take away, then, the old leaven, so that you may be a new mass, even as you are without leaven. For Christ has been put to death as our Passover.

8 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.

9 In my letter I said to you that you were not to keep company with those who go after the desires of the flesh;

10 But I had not in mind the sinners who are outside the church, or those who have a desire for and take the property of others, or those who give worship to images; for it is not possible to keep away from such people without going out of the world completely: