"Let us keep the feast..."
Text: 1 Corinthians 5:8
KEEPING THE PASSOVER
The Passover was an institution that God Himself commanded the children of Israel to keep (Exodus 12:41-49; Deuteronomy 16:1-8). This Feast was to be observed and kept annually. This Feast however was only to be kept by Israel and not foreigners.
Paul used the Passover imagery and applied it to those who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not making reference to a Feast but to a way of life!
“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
1 Corinthians 5:8
1. “Therefore let us keep the feast”
a) The Passover itself was observed on one day.
b) The Feast of the Unleavened Bread lasted for a week.
c) They were meant to be observed together.
d) Paul however was not merely referring to the ritual observation of this Feast.
2. “Not with old leaven”
a) To have leaven would have rendered one impure.
b) Then the Feast of Passover cannot be kept.
c) The old leaven must be purged.
3. “Nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness”
a) Leaven described with two nouns:
i) Malice
ii) Wickedness
b) These are sins that are heinous.
i) Bad intention
ii) Evil connotations
4. “But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”
a) Unleavened bread is now associated with
i) Sincerity
ii) Truth
b) Both virtues are wholesome and are consistent with keeping the Passover properly.