📖 Biblical Definition
Unleavened bread commemorates the speed of redemption and the purity of the redeemed. Israel ate it leaving Egypt because the dough had no time to rise (Ex 12:34-39). The Feast of Unleavened Bread (seven days following Passover) required the whole house to be cleansed of leaven (Ex 12:15-20). Paul applies it to Christian holiness: "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... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor 5:7-8).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
UN-LEAV'ENED BREAD, n.
expand to see more
UN-LEAV'ENED BREAD. Bread made without leaven, hastily baked, flat and unfermented. In Scripture, unleavened bread is the food of Israel's exodus and the perpetual Passover meal; the Feast of Unleavened Bread required the whole house cleansed of leaven. Paul applies the image to Christian sanctification: Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; let us celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 12:34 — "So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders."
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 — "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, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Exodus 12:15 — "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses."
Luke 22:7 — "Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Matzah speaks: no-time-to-rise dough of a people on the move. Christian holiness is the same speed — no space for sin to ferment.
expand to see more
The Hebrew word matzah is onomatopoeic for the crackle of flatbread. Every Passover since 1446 BC (by conservative dating), Jews have eaten this bread as the remembrance of the speed of redemption. Christians, per Paul, should live similarly — no time for sin to ferment, no tolerance of leavening influences, constant sincerity. Our Passover has been sacrificed; we celebrate in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H4682 — matzah. G106 — azymos.
expand to see more
H4682 — matzah (מַצָּה) — unleavened bread; the Passover flatbread.
G106 — azymos (ἄζυμος) — unleavened; NT feast reference.
Usage
"Matzah is the bread of a people on the move. No time for leaven; no tolerance for sin to rise."
"Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."