Articles
One Unleavened Loaf
One Unleavened Loaf
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 - 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
We become disciples of Jesus, and as such we are not only baptized into Christ but raised to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-4). We are to be a HOLY PEOPLE unto God (2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Peter 1:14-16, etc.) We do this TOGETHER, being joined to our brethren in the local congregation.
Sometimes, one of those among us, one of our brethren, one who is a member in the body, chooses to return to a life of indulging sin. As a holy body of people we must then:
1. Remove the leaven
· ‘judge’ such a one – 3
· Deliver unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh – vs. 5
· Clean out the old leaven – 7
· Not associate with – 11 no, not ‘eat with such’ –
o Gk. συναναμ(ε)ίγνυμι. Gerhard Schneider points out (EDNT 3:297) that in the New Testament the verb “refers in every instance to association of believers with those who have fallen away from faith in Christ, which is warned against.”
· Remove the wicked man - 13
2. THUS we ‘protect’ the ‘lump’ …
· NOT to be done by ‘hypocrites’ – but those who are spiritual!
· Is to be done in LOVE – looking for, if possible, the salvation of the sinner
· Thus, he is yet a ‘brother’, but a brother in need of correction!
3. This is NOT about worldly associations: those who are immoral people, or those who are covetous,, swindlers, or idolaters. They are in the world, and as such we are to shine as lights among them. Rather, this is about a BROTHER: one who is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard. We, all of us, together are to be a holy body of people. Being part of a body of people comes with personal responsibilities, in this case, not actively and willingly practicing sin.
As Blomberg states: “Christian fellowship should be a periodic retreat from and revitalization of our regular involvement with the immoral and unbelieving in our world, and not vice versa.”
Am I my brother’s keeper? In this situation, the holiness and pureness of the local congregation, YES. We are obligated to be HOLY TOGETHER.
How are YOU doing with such collective responsibility?
Hugh DeLong
For an Old Testament example of collective responsibility regarding a brother, see the example in Joshua 7.
