What does the leaven represent, which must be cast out?

Tumah said:

I've noticed that some Christians, or perhaps many, think that the Pharisees were a group of leaders, rather than a sect of Judaism with leaders and laymen like any other. I think that explains this type of statement.

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Tumah said:

I've noticed that some Christians, or perhaps many, think that the Pharisees were a group of leaders, rather than a sect of Judaism with leaders and laymen like any other. I think that explains this type of statement.

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Rival said:

This is how the NT portrays them. IIRC it never seems to differentiate between Scribes, Pharisees and Saducees. Probably the authors just assumed familiarity. Also Paul speaks of being 'A Pharisee the son of a Pharisee' which makes it sound like some kind of special position.

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2ndpillar said:

In Preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, one is to cast out the leaven from the household. What does the leaven spiritually represent.

Matthew 16:11 NAS "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread ? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

If the unleavened bread represents the "Word of God", what does the leaven represent, which must be removed from the house?

It simply refers to the traditions of men, and particularly to that of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The bread of life, must be consumed without the leaven (hypocrisy) of the Pharisee.

Matthew 23:15-28 NAS "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,.....So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

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2ndpillar said:

Dear Muffled,
Actually I baked some leaven bread the day before yesterday, and the process under ideal conditions, took less than 4 hours. Although if I had been on the road, I would have not have been able to replicate the procedure, but I used leaven in a jar, and the Israelites probably used a starter. I would think the problem would be one of timing and the method of baking and not the leaven itself.

Bread - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There were multiple sources of leavening available for early bread. Airborne yeasts could be harnessed by leaving uncooked dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples." Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast. The most common source of leavening was to retain a piece of dough from the previous day to use as a form of sourdough starter.[7]

The Israelis probably had wine and grape juice, so that could also be a good source of new leaven. The yeast grows on the skin of a grape.

The use of leaven was similar to that of the use of parables, in which is explained by Isaiah 6:10,"You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;" The feast days are lessons based on past events, put focused on the future of Israel, such as nations in the millenium, will keep the feast of booths. (Ze 14:18) The judges of Israel (traditions of men) will be replaced with a judge who judges not by what he sees or hears, but by righteousness. (Isaiah 11:4)

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metis said:

Actually both Jesus and Paul were indeed working from the Pharisee paradigm, although it's not possible to know whether Jesus considered himself to actually be a Pharisee. Jesus' basic teachings are Pharisee, especially liberal Pharisee, if you take them one at a time and compare them. Even the Wikipedia page on the Pharisees provides enough information to allow you to compare, and let me encourage you to look especially on what it says about the more liberal elements within that movement.

Secondly, most Pharisees were not rich nor powerful, so it seems that you may be confusing them with some of the Sadducees. The Pharisee movement especially appealed to a more grass-roots approach that was not reliant on Temple sacrifices. Jesus attending a synagogue and speaking there is just one piece of evidence that he was indeed a Pharisee.

The latter two sentences above appear to be correct based on our limited information.

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12jtartar said:

Why then did Jesus come to the earth?? Jesus told his listeners to repent and get saved from that wicked generation. There was only one WAY in the first century, there is only one WAY today, Ephesians 4:3-6. Any time you have divisions, one is not right, so there is no reason to have more that one religion, 1Corinthians 1:10. God only accepts truth, John 4:23,24, 2Thessalonians 2:7-14. The first century Christians followed The WAY, which was ONE way, no other way is acceptable to God, Acts 4:12,13. Only the followers of Jesus and the APostles received the free gift of the Holy Spirit, Acts 5:32. There is only one way today that is being blessed by God, Ephesians 4:3-6, 1Corinthians 1:10.

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Muffled said:

I believe I doubt very much that God (Jesus) supports any particular group but rather that He keeps His own counsel.

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omega2xx said:

Basically leaven symbolizes false teaching.

The leaven of the Pharisees is legalism---you must obey the law to become righteous.

The leaven of the Sadducces is liberalism. They did not believe in a resurrection. That is why they were sad u see

There is also the leaven of Herod, which is secularism. Religion is not important.

Bread symbolizes God's word, Unleavened bread would be God's word with no false teaching in it.

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