[Steve Myers] There is an interesting feast that falls right after the Christian Passover that's called Unleavened Bread. You can read about that particular feast time in Leviticus 23. There is an outline of God's festivals in Leviticus 23. Now the question comes up. All right, we're in the book of Leviticus, that's Old Testament. And didn't the sacrifice of Christ do away with all of those festivals that are mentioned in Leviticus 23? Well there is evidence in the New Testament that says without a doubt, no. Not at all. Should a Christian observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread? Is that something that we should be doing today? Well, the Apostle Paul spoke to that very question in the book of 1 Corinthians. So at 1 Corinthians 5. He gives very direct instructions to the church in Corinth and he says this. He says, "You're glorying is not good." This is in verse 6. "Your glorying is not good. Don't you know a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" So he begins to talk about leavening, and leavening goes in the dough and makes it rise. Then he says, "Purge out the old leaven since you are truly unleavened." Then in verse 8, he goes on and says," Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:6-8 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 [6] Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? [7] Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: [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.
American King James Version×)

So Paul says a couple of interesting things here. First of all, there is an object lesson. By removing physical breads and leavening out of our home, getting rid of yeast, the things that make bread rise, there is a lesson to be learned from that. And so he uses that object lesson to say there is a spiritual thing that's involved here. The spiritual lesson is get rid of wickedness, get rid of sin, get rid of malice and now put on the new man in Christ. Be sincere. The man of sincerity and truth. So through this physical observance of the Days of Unleavened Bread and getting rid of that leavening out of our homes, we are recognizing that we should be a new creation in Christ. And so what does he say? He says, "Let us keep the feast." Because of these things, because we understand the spiritual significance, we keep the feast. Some translations say, "Observe the feast." Some say, "Celebrate the feast." Some even say, "Continue the feast." Not in a Jewish sense but in a Christian sense.

So should a Christian observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread? The answer the Apostle Paul gives for the New Testament church for us today, yes. Absolutely. And 1 Corinthians 5 bears that out.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.