Spiritual Leaven

"‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel...So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’” (Exodus 12: 14, 15, 17-20 NKJV)

There are two reasons for the institution of the Passover and of its restriction against the use of leaven (yeast) in the bread of the Passover feast and in other offerings "made by fire" to the Lord.

First, it was to be a "memorial" of the day and night in which the Israelites left Egyptian slavery "in haste." It was due to this hasty evacuation of the nation that the Israelites ate flat, unrisen, unleavened cakes of bread. Such bread is not tasty as is leavened bread. They ate this unsavory flat bread "with bitter herbs" also, so that together, they might be reminded of the hard life in Egypt and of the trial of their Exodus. The meal would not be anything akin to what one might call a "feast," in common vernacular, yet it nevertheless was the "feast of the Lord."

Yeast must be added to bread to make it rise and leavened bread is better to the taste of man than is unleavend flat bread.

Secondly, it was not simply a memorial of a past historic event, but also a symbol of something greater, of something yet to come, an ordinance designed to teach something about sin (corruption) and spiritual purity.

Leaven and yeast, in the Bible, became fitting emblems of that which corrupts and spoils, or that which, left unhindered, will completely "take over" or permeate a substance. As corruption increases, purity decreases.

“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread." (Exodus 23: 18; 34: 25 NKJV)

"No grain offering which you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the LORD made by fire." (Leviticus 2: 11 NKJV)

"Besides the (unleavened) cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering." (Leviticus 7: 13 NKJV)

"You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the LORD." (Leviticus 23: 17 NKJV)

"Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; For this you love, You children of Israel!” Says the Lord GOD." (Amos 4: 5 NKJV)

The Lord disallowed leavened offerings "made by fire," or offerings connected with atonement and forgiveness of sins, but he did allow leavened bread in "thank offerings" and the priests would be the recipients of this more tasty bread.

"Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning (literal) bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven (ordinary yeast) of (literal) bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Matthew 16: 5-12 NKJV)

"And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “ It is because we have no bread.” (Mark 8: 13-16 NKJV)

"In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." (Luke 12: 1 NKJV)

Here we have the symbolism of leaven explained to us by the Messiah. Leaven is a symbol of false doctrine and hypocrisy. Both these things are but "corruptions."

False doctrine is but true doctrine corrupted; And, Hypocrisy is but truth corrupted, either in thought, word, or in deed. In fact, when a Christian sees the words "leaven" or "corruption" in the Bible, he may view them as essentially the same thing.

Corruption, like a cancer, grows and expels purity. Purity does not grow and expel corruption, as a natural law or general rule. One places a rotting apple into a barrel of good apples - what is the result? Do the rotting, corrupting apples, become pure or do the pure apples become corrupted or leavened?

"‘You shall not offer to the LORD what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land. Nor from a foreigner’s hand shall you offer any of these as the bread of your God, because their corruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.’” (Leviticus 22: 24, 25 NKJV)

The Bible thus defines the significance of yeast (leaven) for us in the above words. Leaven represents corruption, that which spoils and takes away purity, that which represents what is "defective" in the spirit and soul of sinful man. Man's heart, mind, and complete inner being is infected and corrupted and is always increasing and growing within him.

"They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron, They are all corrupters." (Jeremiah 6: 28 NKJV)

What does it mean to "corrupt" something? It is to mix it with something else, something compounded, thus making it less pure.

"Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 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." (I Corinthians 5: 6-8 NKJV)

"This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump." (Galatians 5: 8, 9 NKJV)

"Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts (leaven) good habits.”" (I Corinthians 15: 33 NKJV)

"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted (leavened) from the simplicity that is in Christ." (II Corinthians 11: 3 NKJV)

"...men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth..." (I Timothy 6: 5 NKJV)

"Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith." (II Timothy 3: 8 NKJV)

From all these verses written by the Apostle Paul, it is clear that he understood perfectly both the teaching of the Old Testament on the subject of leaven and corruption, and of the greater teaching of Christ upon the same subject. He connects leaven with false faith, and with false teachings, and with insinceity and hypocrisy, and with an inner propensity to do evil and to misunderstand God, while he connects unleavened bread with truth, and with godliness, and with purity of motives, and such like.

"Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”" (Matthew 13: 33 NKJV)

Jesus mentioned the leaven being placed into "three measures," and may allude to the three "kinds" of leaven in the texts cited. He identified 1) the leaven of the false teachings of the Sadducees, and 2) the leaven of the false teachings and hypocrisy of the Phariseees, and 3) the leaven of the false teachings of Herod.

Early in the beginning of the institution of the church, or miniature "kingdom of heaven," leaven or false teaching continued to be placed into the pure meal of the doctrine of Christ. Today, most churches are infected with leaven of some kind. Are we near the end when the whole is leavened and corrupted? Has pure Christianity almost gone?