Proof That the Days of Unleavened Bread Should Be Kept«Return to Passover Paper Directory | Printer Friendly
The key scriptures that we
use to prove that gentile Christians were really keeping the Feast of Unleavened
Bread with unleavened bread are in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. Verse 6, Your glorying
is not good; know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Verse 7
states, Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump, AS YOU ARE
UNLEAVENED. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: verse 8,
Therefore let us KEEP THE FEAST not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Paul is saying to purge
out (get rid of) the old leaven (sin), that ye may be a new (unleavened) lump
(spiritually) as ye are (actually) unleavened. He wrote this to them during the
Days of Unleavened Bread.
Those who don't want to
keep the Days of Unleavened Bread twist these scriptures and try to say that
gentile Christians were not physically keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread.
They say "as you are unleavened" does not mean what it says, but is a
simile. A simile tries to make a point by comparing two things that are not
alike, for instance, a man and a turtle. "He is as slow as a turtle is a simile.
A simile uses "like or as" for this comparison. In our simile, he and turtle are
not alike, but the turtle is used to point out that the man is slow physically.
If 'as ye are unleavened' is only meant by Paul as a simile and not to mean that
they were actually unleavened, then these scriptures would by saying Be free
from leaven (sin) metaphorically), as you are free from leaven (sin) again
metaphorically."
Similes are not constructed
this way. It is illogical. Remember that a simile is a comparison between two
things that are unlike. In the case of our scripture, the spiritual is being
compared with the physical. Otherwise the simile makes no sense because it would
not be comparing two things that are different. What Paul must be writing
is "Be free from leaven" (sin) spiritually, as you are free from leaven
literally. (Physically) It would be like saying be as fast as a turtle when a
turtle is clearly not fast. Be unleavened spiritually as you are not unleavened
physically makes no sense.
The Greek gentile
Christians were literally unleavened years after Christ's death, as Acts 20:6
and 12:3 plainly show. Paul tells these gentiles to keep the Feast. He is
clearly speaking of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the New Testament Passover
or Lord's Supper.
For timing issues look
at the phrase I Cor11:23 'the same night in which he was betrayed'.
It was not the evening of the Jewish Passover.
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