When I was studying about salt for the “Being Salty” post, I came across the grain offering in Leviticus chapter 2. Although it brought an understanding of the meaning of the symbol of salt (faith) it also brought up more questions. Is everything in the grain offering symbolic of something? What would fine flour, oil, and frankincense mean? Why no leaven? I went back to the gospel of Mark to see if these other ingredients were mentioned.
Mark 8:15, Jesus warns his disciples, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” The disciples think this is because they had no bread. Jesus reads their minds and rebukes them for not understanding. That’s it. No explanation, just beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.
The same story is also told in the gospel of Matthew with the addition of the understanding the disciples came to. Matthew 16:12 says they understood he meant beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t teach the exact same doctrines. Was there something more specific? Luke 12:1 Jesus plainly states that the leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. But the Pharisees didn’t teach hypocrisy. They were strict adherents to the law of Moses. They didn’t say with their mouths it was ok to be a hypocrite, but that is what they practiced with their actions.
For Jesus, doctrine isn’t something you know in your head or say with your mouth it’s something you live. When what you claim and what you do don’t line up you are a hypocrite. Jesus tells His disciples don’t do that or beware of doing that.
The dictionary defines doctrine as a belief or set of beliefs. Jesus further defines it as beliefs you actually live by. They are the ideas a person or group holds that direct their decisions and therefore behavior. Does this stay consistent in the use of leaven throughout the Bible?
Paul also uses leaven as a symbol. Galatians 5:9 says, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Ok, what are you referring to Paul? At the beginning of this chapter Paul calls the believers in Galatia to “stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free”. What liberty? How are we made free? John 8:31, 32 Jesus says to the people who believe in Him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Paul is reminding the Galatians of their freedom through what Jesus taught. What is the teaching or doctrine they are practicing? Attempting to be justified (made right with God) by the law. Paul says we only have any hope of righteousness by faith. That is what Jesus taught and that is the truth they are failing to obey or live by. In Galatians 5:8 Paul says, “This persuasion (conviction or belief) does not come from Him who calls you.” He then reminds them in verse 9, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump”. Even a small or seemingly minor error in belief can cause a believer to “fall from grace”.
Yikes. Believing a lie can cause me to fall from grace? Grace can be lost? Well, isn’t that how we were lost to begin with? Genesis 3:6, Eve saw (considered, perceived) that the tree was good for food. She was deceived or persuaded to believe a lie. When we do not believe the truth about God sin will follow. Paul is saying if you do not believe that you are saved by grace based on your behavior (in the case of the Galatians insisting on circumcision as part of salvation) you have fallen from grace. This error in thinking will pervade your whole Christian life. Any wrong conception of God like leaven can lead to the whole lump being leavened. In the case of the Galatians their insistence on circumcision as part of salvation revealed they still believed, in some part, in justification by the law. This led them away from the truth of justification by faith in Jesus.
Is leaven always about a corrupt or false idea or belief? Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to leaven. The kingdom of heaven can’t be a wrong belief about God. The parable doesn’t say the kingdom of heaven is leaven it says it is like leaven. The leaven was hidden but then became apparent and spread until it had changed everything. Just like a lie can grow and control everyone that believes it so can the truth. Jesus came as the truth but not even His disciples understood fully until He rose from the dead and made the truth apparent to them. Then they went by the power of the Holy Spirit and turned the world upside down. The same way a false belief can pervade your whole life so can the truth. But the truth is not leaven because the Bible is clear that we are to be unleavened.
In 1 Corinthians 5:1-6, Paul condemns the Corinthians for their belief that grace means never holding anyone accountable for immoral behavior. He says their glorying or patting themselves on the back for accepting someone who took his father’s wife was disgusting even among nonbelievers. It caused the whole congregation to be considered immoral. Again, Paul says a little leaven leavens the whole lump but he goes on to say purge out the old leaven so you may be a new lump. You are meant to be unleavened as the bread of the Passover is unleavened which represents the sacrifice of Christ. Don’t celebrate Christ’s sacrifice while still living with malice and wickedness but by living in sincerity and truth. What would we say if someone was claiming to be a Christian but acting maliciously towards others? A hypocrite? Leavened? Corrupted by a false idea of who God is? Living a pure gospel without error about the character of God, a life of sincerity and truth is living unleavened. It is the requirement of God.
Leviticus 2:11 is clear, “No grain offering which you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven…”. When Jesus fulfilled the purpose of the sacrificial system all the physical burning of offerings to the Lord ceased but what they represented continued. Jesus continues to be the Lamb of God who atoned for the sin of the world. Romans 12:1-2 beseeches or pleads with us to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God and to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. To be an unleavened offering of thanksgiving. To believe what God Himself in His word teaches by living in action truth and sincerity. To beware of hypocrisy and have our minds renewed daily to the truth that is Jesus Christ by faith.
James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” To believe in something but never practice it in real life is meaningless. What you believe in your soul is what will be revealed by your actions. So, learn the truth (John 17:17 God’s word is truth). Study what the Bible says for yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what it means for you. Then believe the truth. Remove all false ideologies. Let go of things you have learned that don’t line up with Scripture as a whole. Purge the leaven and live unleavened in sincerity and truth today.