📖 Biblical Definition
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the seven-day festival immediately following Passover, during which Israel was commanded to remove all leaven from their homes and eat only unleavened bread (Exodus 12:15). Leaven in Scripture consistently symbolizes sin, malice, and corruption. Paul draws the direct application: "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The feast typifies the believer's call to sanctification -- putting away sin after being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Leaven: a mass of sour dough used to ferment other dough; anything which makes a general change in the mass.
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LEAV'EN, n. [L. levare, to raise.] 1. A mass of sour dough, which, mixed with a larger quantity of dough, produces fermentation. 2. Any thing which makes a general change in the mass. In Scripture, leaven represents sin and false doctrine that corrupts what it touches.
📖 Key Scripture
• Exodus 12:15 — "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses."
• 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 — "Cleanse out the old leaven... let us celebrate the festival with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
• Matthew 16:6 — "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The call to purge sin is softened into general spiritual self-improvement.
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The Feast of Unleavened Bread teaches that redemption (Passover) must be followed by sanctification (removing leaven). Modern Christianity celebrates the cross but resists the call to holiness. The church affirms forgiveness but refuses to purge the leaven of false teaching, sexual immorality, and worldliness from its midst. Paul commanded the Corinthians to expel the unrepentant sinner precisely in the context of this feast imagery. A church that celebrates grace without pursuing holiness has eaten the Passover lamb while leaving the leaven untouched -- and that is exactly what God forbade.
Usage
• "The Feast of Unleavened Bread teaches that the redeemed life is a purged life -- you cannot keep the Passover lamb and the leaven of sin in the same house."
• "Paul's command to 'cleanse out the old leaven' is the New Testament application of this ancient feast to the life of every believer and every church."