I CORINTHIANS 5:8
Stephen M. Reynolds, Ph. D.
w[ste
e`orta,zwmen( mh. evn zu,mh| palaia/|( mhde. evn zu,mh| kaki,aj kai. ponhri,aj(
avllV evn avzu,moij eivlikrinei,aj kai. avlhqei,ajĹ
“Therefore let us keep the
Feast, not with old leaven nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with
unleavened elements of sincerity and truth”
The reason for this
translation is that the Apostle Paul, writing under inspiration the Holy
Spirit—and therefore inerrantly—put no word for bread in this verse.
In the last part of the
verse there is an expression which has been dealt with in a misleading fashion
throughout the ages by translators. It is probable that the first readers
understood it well and obeyed it. Jerome, that most learned man, in his Latin
translation (the Vulgate) wisely did not put any word for bread in this verse. Instead, he carried over the Greek word avzu,moij
into the Latin as "azymis." No doubt his readers understood this. The
best we can do is to translate unleavened
things and in this context unleavened
elements.
The
inspired Apostle is describing the Lord's Supper which he calls our (the
Christians') Passover (verse 7). He (without mentioning bread in any way) says “Let it be with things (plural) without
yeast,” and then immediately by mentioning sincerity and truth (two things) he
draws our minds to the conclusion that the things without yeast were two things
and not more than two. The only two elements of the Jewish Passover
mentioned as being used at the Last Supper by Jesus were the bread and the cup.
It follows that Paul is speaking of the two elements of the Christian Lord's
Supper when he speaks of
avzu,moij
(without yeast). He immediately likens them to two moral virtues, sincerity and
truth.
Someone to avoid the
conclusion that Paul was excluding yeast from both elements of the Christian
Lord's Supper has seized on the word fu,rama in verse 6 which the NIV translates batch of dough. The standard Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon
revised and augmented by Jones and McKenzie says that fu,rama
may mean dough
mixed with yeast or grape juice mixed with yeast. This understanding of fu,rama
as mixture is not necessary, however, to amend verse 8 from bread
without yeast to elements without yeast. Paul may have been referring to the
dough alone in verse 6, but in verse 8 both elements are in view.
The whole verse, which
forbids Christians to have yeast in the grape juice or the bread at Communion,
should be translated as follows: "Therefore let us keep the Festival not
with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with elements
without yeast, of sincerity and truth."
This
teaches that the physical elements are to be without yeast, the Biblical symbol
of evil, and at the same time Christians should realize that not only are the
elements the symbols of Christ's body and blood, but they also are to be
regarded as symbols of sincerity and truth, without which virtues the physical
elements would be of no avail.
The Lord's Supper, according to this passage, should be celebrated with unleavened bread and grape juice. The latter is the pure fruit of the vine without the extraneous product of yeast (alcohol). Yeast is a symbol of evil in Holy Writ.
