What Is Meant... 'Nothing Leavened'?

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is here! The LORD’s feast began at sunset on April 12th and will run through to sunset on April 19th.

What does the LORD God mean ── “’ You shall eat NOTHING LEAVENED’”? 

I have typed up an article entitled, “What Is Meant… ‘Nothing Leavened’?” on our website https://www.owensborocojc.com/. 

For nearly a century, there have been those who have taught that faithful Christians are to participate each year in a commanded traditional Jewish housecleaning ritual. But is this truly what the LORD God meant by not having any LEAVEN in all your dwellings? What is meant by the LORD God saying, ‘leaven’? Leaven (not yeast; while yeast is a type of leavening agent, not all leavening agents are yeast) causes BREAD TO RISE. To truly simplify ── To commemorate the children of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, the LORD God commanded the children of Israel to keep and celebrate a week of feasting following the holy Passover (the 14th day of the FIRST MONTH on God’s holy Calendar). It is called the “Feast of Unleavened Bread.” And, during this time, the children of Israel were commanded to remove all leaven from their homes and to eat no BREAD containing leaven ── Exodus 12:15; 13:6-7.  

Leaven is also mentioned to us in the New Testament. In Matthew 16:6-12, our Lord Jesus compares the false doctrines of the Sadducees, the Pharisees, along with the Herodians, to leaven. He was speaking metaphorically. They put significant weight on the “oral tradition,” or the traditions of the elders, believing this interpretive framework helped clarify the written Law. Ancient rabbinic sources and later compilations, such as portions of the Talmud, reflect the Pharisaic influence in codifying and teaching these traditions. This oral tradition functioned to address practical questions about Sabbath observance, dietary laws, ritual purity, and other facets of devotion. Our Lord Jesus specifies that the “leaven” of the Pharisees is indeed “hypocrisy.” Because just having a show of piety ── without true holiness ── is like leaven that gradually increases, spreads, and puffs up a person with vanity and self-righteousness. Hypocrisy can poison one’s very character. 

Here is a link to this important article: “What Is Meant… ‘Nothing Leavened’?” 

Let us always be honest with the living word of God.