Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 5:7
Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian congregation, which has failed to discipline a member living in sexual immorality (5:1). The verse is his corrective: their tolerance is the "old leaven" spreading through the whole batch.
The words — ἐκκαθαίρετε (ekkathairete), "cleanse out," is a strong imperative of thorough removal, not a gentle suggestion. ζύμη (zumē), "leaven," is the fermenting agent that works invisibly through the entire dough (5:6).
The thread — The Passover-lamb identification of Christ echoes Exodus 12 and 1 Peter 1:19. The "put off the old" language parallels Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:5.
Why it lands — Paul issues a communal command: the church must expel the corrupting element within its own body. The logic is that Christ's sacrifice has already made them "unleavened"; tolerating sin contradicts what they already are.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.
- Ephesians 4:22 to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- Exodus 12:5 Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
- Exodus 12:15 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
- Exodus 13:6 For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
- Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
- John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- Acts 8:32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
- Revelation 5:12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”