Yeast is a term used in the Bible for evil.  In the Passover ritual a devout family will search the whole house to expel any yeast.  It is considered so evil that they won’t touch it.  Sin is like this.  In our modern society we think of sin as ‘naughty but nice’.  We will refer to cakes as sinful because they taste good but contain calories.  We will refer to clothing as sinful because it arouses sexual desire.  These examples do not really use the word ‘sinful’ appropriately.  The desire to eat too much cake leads to obesity.  Unchecked sexual desire leads to isolation and despair.  In this passage Paul refocuses our approach to sin – eradicate it don’t flirt with it.  This may be hard for a society that thinks a dark side rounds out the character.  Sometimes eating cake and wearing exciting clothing is appropriate.  We don’t have to make things evil to have fun.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

 ⁶Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? ⁷Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

Questions

1. What is not good?
2. To what is the Corinthian boasting compared?
3. What kind of yeast does the new batch contain?
4. How much sin and evil can you flirt with safely?
5. How do you interact with an evil corrupted world and destroy evil in your own life?