1Cor 5:6-8, Gal 5:9, 2Ti 2:16-17 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 6. Your glorying . Your boasting; or confidence in your present condition as if you were eminent in purity and piety. Is not good . Is not well, proper, right. Boasting is never good; but it is especially wrong when, as here, there is an existing evil, that is likely to corrupt the whole church. When men are disposed to boast, they should at once make the inquiry whether there is not some sin indulged in, on account of which they should be humbled and subdued. If all individual Christians, and all Christian churches, and all men of every rank and condition, would look at things as they are, they would never find occasion for boasting. It is only when we are blind to the realities of the case, and overlook our faults, that we are disposed to boast. The reason why this was improper in Corinth, Paul states--that any sin would tend to corrupt the whole church, and that therefore they ought not to boast until that was removed. A little leaven , etc. A small quantity of leaven or yeast will pervade the entire mass of flour, or dough, and diffuse itself through it all. This is evidently a proverbial saying. It occurs also in . Comp. . A similar figure occurs also in the Greek classic writers. By leaven the Hebrews metaphorically understood whatever had the power of corrupting, whether doctrine, or example, or anything else. . The sense here is plain. A single sin indulged in, or allowed in the church, would act like leaven--it would pervade and corrupt the whole church, unless it was removed. On this ground, and for this reason, discipline should be administered, and the corrupt member should be removed. (c) "glorying" (d) "leaveneth"

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Verse 6. Your glorying. Your boasting; or confidence in your present condition as if you were eminent in purity and piety.

Is not good. Is not well, proper, right. Boasting is never good; but it is especially wrong when, as here, there is an existing evil, that is likely to corrupt the whole church. When men are disposed to boast, they should at once make the inquiry whether there is not some sin indulged in, on account of which they should be humbled and subdued. If all individual Christians, and all Christian churches, and all men of every rank and condition, would look at things as they are, they would never find occasion for boasting. It is only when we are blind to the realities of the case, and overlook our faults, that we are disposed to boast. The reason why this was improper in Corinth, Paul states--that any sin would tend to corrupt the whole church, and that therefore they ought not to boast until that was removed.

A little leaven, etc. A small quantity of leaven or yeast will pervade the entire mass of flour, or dough, and diffuse itself through it all. This is evidently a proverbial saying. It occurs also in Gal 5:9. Comp. Mt 13:33. A similar figure occurs also in the Greek classic writers. By leaven the Hebrews metaphorically understood whatever had the power of corrupting, whether doctrine, or example, or anything else. Mt 16:6. The sense here is plain. A single sin indulged in, or allowed in the church, would act like leaven--it would pervade and corrupt the whole church, unless it was removed. On this ground, and for this reason, discipline should be administered, and the corrupt member should be removed.

The old leaven. The apostle here takes occasion, from the mention of leaven, to exhort the Corinthians to put away vice and sin. The figure is derived from the custom of the Jews in putting away leaven at the celebration of the passover. By the old leaven he means vice and sin; and also here the person who had committed the sin in their church. As the Jews, at the celebration of the passover, gave all diligence in removing leaven from their houses--searching every part of their dwellings with candles, that they might remove every particle of leavened bread from their habitations--so the apostle exhorts them to use all diligence to search out and remove all sin.

That ye may be a new lump. That you may be like a new mass of flour, or dough, before the leaven is put into it. That you may be pure and free from the corrupting principle.

As ye are unleavened. That is, as ye are bound by your Christian profession to be unleavened, or to be pure. Your very profession implies this, and you ought, therefore, to remove all impurity, and to become holy. Let there be no impurity, and no mixture inconsistent with that holiness which the gospel teaches and requires. The apostle here does not refer merely to the case of the incestuous person, but he takes occasion to exhort them to put away all sin. Not only to remove this occasion of offence, but to remove all impurity, that they might become entirely and only holy. The doctrine is, that Christians are by their profession holy, and that therefore they ought to give all diligence to remove everything that is impure.

For even Christ, etc. As the Jews, when their paschal lamb was slain, gave great diligence to put away all leaven from their dwellings, so we Christians, since our passover is slain, ought to give the like diligence to remove all that is impure and corrupting from our hearts. There can be no doubt here that the paschal lamb was a type of the Messiah; and as little that the leaven was understood to be emblematic of impurity and sin, and that their being required to put it away was intended to be an emblematic action designed to denote that all sin was to be removed and forsaken.

Our passover. Our paschal lamb, for so the word πασχα usually signifies. The sense is, "We Christians have a paschal lamb; and that lamb is the Messiah. And as the Jews, when their paschal lamb was slain, were required to put away all leaven from their dwellings, so we, when our paschal lamb is slain, should put away all sin from our hearts and from our churches." This passage proves that Paul meant to teach that Christ had taken the place of the paschal lamb--that that lamb was designed to adumbrate or typify him--and that consequently when he was offered, the paschal offering was designed to cease. Christ is often in the Scriptures compared to a lamb. See Isa 53:7, Jn 1:29; 1Pet 1:19, Rev 5:6,12.

Is sacrificed for us. Margin, Or slain--ετυθη. The word θυω may mean simply to slay or kill; but it is also used often in the sense of making a sacrifice as an expiation for sin, Acts 14:13,18, 1Cor 10:20. Comp. Gen 31:54, 46:1, Ex 3:18, 5:3,8,17; Ex 8:8,25-29, 13:15, 20:24, where it is used as the translation of the word , to sacrifice. It is used as the translation of this word no less than ninety-eight times in the Old Testament, and perhaps always in the sense of a sacrifice, or bloody offering. It is also used as the translation of the Hebrew word , and , to slay, to kill, etc., in Ex 12:21, 1Kgs 11:19, 2Chr 29:22, etc.; in all, in eleven places in the Old Testament. It is used in a similar sense in the New Testament, in Mt 22:4, Lk 15:23,27,30, Jn 10:10, Acts 10:13, 11:7. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament than in the places which have been specified. The true sense of the word here is, therefore, to be found in the doctrine respecting the passover. That that was intended to be a sacrifice for sin is proved by the nature of the offering, and by the account which is everywhere given of it in the Old Testament. The paschal lamb was slain as a sacrifice. It was slain in the temple; its blood was poured out as an offering; it was sprinkled and offered by the priests in the same way as other sacrifices. See Ex 23:18, 34:25, 2Chr 30:15,16. And if so, then this passage means that Christ was offered as a sacrifice for sin--in accordance with the numerous passages of the New Testament, which speak of his death in this manner, Rom 3:25; and that his offering was designed to take the place of the paschal sacrifice, under the ancient economy.

For us. For us who are Christians. He died in our stead; and as the Jews, when celebrating their paschal feast, put away all leaven, so we, as Christians, should put away all evil from our hearts, since that sacrifice has now been made once for all.

(*) "Purge" "Cleanse" (e) "Christ" Isa 53:7, 1Pet 1:19, Rev 5:6,12 (1) "sacrificed" "slain" Verse 8. Let us keep the feast. Margin, Holy day--εορταζωμεν. This is language drawn from the paschal feast, and is used by Paul frequently to carry out and apply his illustration. It does not mean literally the paschal supper here--for that had ceased to be observed by Christians--nor the Lord's Supper particularly; but the sense is, "As the Jews when they celebrated the paschal supper, on the slaying and sacrifice of the paschal lamb, put away all leaven as emblematic of sin, so let us, in the slaying of our sacrifice, and in all the duties, institutions, and events consequent thereon, put away all wickedness from our hearts as individuals, and from our societies and churches. Let us engage in the service of God by putting away all evil."

Not with old leaven. Not under the influence, or in the indulgence of the feelings of corrupt and unrenewed human nature. The word leaven is very expressive of that former or old condition, and denotes the corrupt and corrupting passions of our nature before it is renewed.

The leaven of malice. Of unkindness and evil--which would diffuse itself, and invade the mass of Christians. The word malice--κακις--denotes evil in general,

And wickedness. Sin; evil. There is a particular reference here to the case of the incestuous person. Paul means that all wickedness should be put away from those who had been saved by the sacrifice of their passover, Christ; and, therefore, this sin in a special manner.

But with the unleavened bread, etc. That is, with sincerity and truth. Let us be sincere, and true, and faithful; as the Jews partook of bread unleavened, which was emblematic of purity, so let us be sincere and true. It is implied here that this could not be done unless they would put away the incestuous person. No Christians can have or give evidence of sincerity, who are not willing to put away all sin.

(1) "feast" "holyday" (a) "feast" Ex 13:6 (b) "leaven of malice" Mt 16:6,12

Galatians 5:9

Verse 9. A little leaven, etc. This is evidently a proverbial expression. See it explained 1Cor 5:6. Its meaning here is, that the embracing of the errors which they had adopted was to be traced to some influence existing among themselves, and acting like leaven. It may either mean that there was existing among them from the first a slight tendency to conform to rites and customs, and that this had now like leaven pervaded the mass; or it may mean that the false teachers there might be compared to leaven, whose doctrines, though they were few in number, had pervaded the mass of Christians; or it may mean, as many have supposed, that any conformity to the Jewish law was like leaven. If they practised circumcision, it would not stop there. The tendency to conform to Jewish rites would spread from that, until it would infect all the doctrines of religion, and they would fall into the observance of all the rites of the Jewish law. It seems to me that the second interpretation referred to above is the correct one; and that the apostle means to say, that the influence which had brought this change about was at first small and unimportant; that there might have been but a few teachers of that kind, and it might have not been deemed worthy of particular attention or alarm; but that the doctrines thus infused into the churches, had spread like leaven, until the whole mass had become affected.

(g) "little leaven" 1Thes 1:3, Jas 2:18-22

2 Timothy 2:16-17

Verse 16. But shun profane and vain babblings. 1Timm 6:20.

For they will increase unto more ungodliness. Their tendency is to alienate the soul from God, and to lead to impiety. Such kinds of disputation are not merely a waste of time, they are productive of positive mischief. A man fond of contention in religious things is seldom one who has much love for the practical duties of piety, or any very deep sense of the distinction between right and wrong. You will not usually look for him in the place of prayer, nor can you expect his aid in the conversion of sinners, nor will you find that he has any very strict views of religious obligation. Verse 17. And their word. The word, or the discourses of those who love vain and idle disputations.

Will eat as doth a canker. Marg. gangrene. This word-- γαγγραινα occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is derived from γραιωγραινω, graio or graino--to devour, corrode, and means gangrene or mortifications the death of a part, spreading, unless arrested, by degrees over the whole body. The words rendered "will eat," mean will have nutriment; that is, will spread over and consumes the healthful parts. It will not merely destroy the parts immediately affected, bat will extend into the surrounding healthy parts and destroy them also. So it is with erroneous doctrines. They will not merely eat out the truth in the particular matter to which they refer, but they will also spread over and corrupt other truths. The doctrines of religion are closely connected, and are dependent on each other--like the different parts of the human body. One cannot be corrupted without affecting those adjacent to it, and unless checked, the corruption will soon spread over the whole.

Of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus. In regard to Hymeneus, 1Timm 1:20. Of Philetus nothing more is known. They have gained an undesirable immortality, destined to be known to the end of time only as the advocates of error.

(1) "canker" "gangrene"