Translated by Qwen.
1 Cor 5:6. Struck with horror and grief, the Apostle exclaims again: “Your boasting is not good” (by litotes for: it is bad, indeed your boasting is the worst). Chrysostom and others wrongly suspect that here too the Apostle is reproving the Corinthians for having boasted about the wisdom of that sinner; rather, he speaks of that very pride which he had already reproved earlier (5:6 sqq., 18 sq.). Certainly they could not boast, who retained such a wicked man in their church. Whence now, of its own accord, flows the precept that they should cast him out; yet he first prefixes a certain proverb, by which they may recognize how great the danger is if they allow him to remain longer in their midst. “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (read: ferments). The metaphor of leaven, which quickly imparts its sourness to the whole dough with which it is mixed and makes it like itself, is drawn by the Lord Himself both for good (Matt 13:33; Luke 13:21) and for evil (Matt 16:6 sqq.; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1), but by Paul here and in Gal 5:9 only for evil. Almost all the ancient commentators and many modern ones hold that the sinner is designated by the leaven, though most moderns prefer to understand it as sin itself; but there is no reason why we should depart from the older explanation, by which the discourse is rendered more elegant. For if it is objected that such a wicked sinner is not a “little” leaven (Godet, etc.), we answer that the question is not of quality but of quantity; one single sinner, if tolerated in the church, can infect all the members of the whole church with his vices and make them like himself.
1 Cor 5:7. From the proverb cited, the Apostle deduces the precept in such a way that in its form he alludes to the Jewish law, which, ordering all leaven to be removed from houses before the Passover feast, symbolically indicated with what purity of soul the feast ought to be celebrated and the paschal lamb slain: “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as indeed you are unleavened.” Therefore, the sense of the precept is that they should cast out the fornicator; and Chrysostom rightly notes that the Apostle did not say καθαράτε (cleanse) but ἐκκαθάρατε (purge out, i.e., thoroughly purge), because he wished nothing of the kind to remain. He calls the sinner “old leaven” according to the property of the allegory he employs, since the Jews, with the Passover feast approaching, had to cast out the leaven of the preceding year; yet with Thomas Aquinas and others we may add that the sinner is compared to old leaven, “because by sin he had returned to the oldness of former corruption.” Moreover, the purpose of the expulsion is that the church may again be a new lump, i.e., a new unleavened mass, which is required because, according to their calling, all the faithful are unleavened, i.e., holy. Chrysostom indeed thinks the Apostle speaks this way only because it is fitting for Christians to be holy; but we shall more rightly say that he recalls to the faithful what they are according to their calling (cf. 1:2, called saints), so that he may indirectly exhort them to seek purity and holiness. To confirm this indirect exhortation, he gives a special reason by which Christians are obliged to continuous holiness. The Jews remove leaven before the Passover feast so that they may eat the paschal lamb in unleavened bread; but Christians always celebrate the Passover: “For indeed our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed,” or more accurately from the Greek: καὶ (and/indeed) our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed. That “Passover” here is used for the paschal lamb (cf. Luke 22:7, “to kill the Passover,” etc.) is clear; but as soon as the paschal lamb was slain and offered in the temple court, it was no longer permitted for the Israelites to eat leavened food. Now, however, even our paschal lamb, Christ, whom the lambs of the Jews prefigured, has already been slain; wherefore it is no longer permitted for us either to retain leaven. The Jews, indeed, who annually slaughtered their typical lambs, celebrated their Passover feasts for only one week, abstaining from leaven; but we have only one antitypical Lamb, who, having been offered once, has by His single offering perfected for eternity those who are sanctified (Heb 10:5); therefore we ought always to abstain from leaven and to keep the feast in unleavened bread.
1 Cor 5:8. “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” The Greek ἑορτάζωμεν the ancient version (cf. S. Cyprian, De Habitu Virginum 16; S. Augustine, Contra Epistulam Parmeniani III.2, etc.) had more accurately expressed as “let us celebrate the feast,” although that “let us feast” is also aptly explained: “because Christ has been sacrificed as our Passover, let us feast, not only by sacramentally eating Christ, but also spiritually by enjoying His wisdom” (Theodoret/Till.). Most of those commentators who explain “leaven” in the preceding verses as referring to the sinner, prefer in this verse to understand it as sin. Undoubtedly it was possible for the Apostle to pass from one meaning of the metaphor to another neighboring one; and the admonition is also most fitting that Christians, removing even the last traces of the old leaven from their souls, should strive to lead a pure life. But nothing prevents us from saying that he remained in the same meaning; indeed, this explanation seems preferable. For the preposition ἐν (as in Hebrew ב) is used by the Alexandrian translators (Num 20:20; 3 Kings 10:2, etc.) and also in the New Testament (Luke 15:31; Jude 1, etc.) for association/companionship (i.e., “with”); therefore, since the faithful themselves were just called “unleavened,” it is fitting that the word here be understood in the same way regarding persons. However, we must add that this statement is universal, so that by “leaven” not only that one incestuous man is designated, but all who are infected with the vices of their former life. These vices are expressed by two words: ἐν ζύμῃ κακίας καὶ πονηρίας; but “evil” (κακός) according to Theophylact is anyone who indulges in vices, while “wicked” (πονηρός) is he who gives himself over to vices with hypocrisy and deceit. To these are opposed the “unleavened bread of sincerity” (εἰλικρινείας) and “truth” (ἀληθείας); for εἰλικρινής, meaning candid and upright, is opposed to the evil man, and ἀληθής, true, in whom there is no deceit, is opposed to the hypocrite, who strives to cover his vices with a pretense of piety. Therefore, with all sinners cast out, let genuine and sincere Christians alone celebrate their continuous feast.
All the ancient commentators seem to suppose that the Apostle was led to explain this allegory more accurately and fully merely by the proverb cited (cf. v. 6): “When he says, ‘Let us celebrate the feast,’ Chrysostom remarks, he does not say this because it was Passover or Pentecost, but to show that every time is a feast for Christians on account of the abundance of bestowed blessings. For what good is not at hand for us? The Son of God was made man for you, delivered you from death, called you to the kingdom. Since, therefore, you have already obtained and will obtain so many and such great blessings, how ought you not to keep a feast throughout your whole life? Let no one, therefore, be sad,” etc. These things are most truly said; nevertheless, modern commentators rightly judge that the Apostle was moved by the very time at which he wrote this letter to polish this allegory. For we assert with confidence that our epistle was written shortly before Passover, since in 4:19 he promises to come to Corinth soon, but in 16:8 sq. he adds that he will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great work remains for him there. Therefore, the very condition of the time, the approaching Passover, practically supplied him with this allegory. We also rightly conclude from this that Christians at that time, i.e., about thirty years after the Lord’s death, retained the rite of unleavened bread; for the Corinthians, most of whom had come from paganism, would not have understood the allegory if the use of unleavened bread at the Passover feast had been purely Jewish.
CONTINUE
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