A Little Leaven

 Leaven is a symbol for sin throughout the Bible, except for one passage. I believe God intended it to show us how sin spreads, just like leaven does when put in a lump of dough. (I Corinthians 5:6) When Paul heard from the church in Corinth that there was a case of immorality in the church that was so bad, not even the Gentiles did that kind of thing, a man was living with his father's wife, his step-mother, he had to admonish the church to do the right thing. He told them to put that man out of the church fellowship, so Satan might attack his flesh, but his spirit would be saved from that sin by repenting of it. He referred to the sin as leaven, because he knew if they did nothing, that and other sins would spread through the church and destroy it. The same is true today.

There are not many churches that are Biblical in this area today. Not many churches practice church discipline for open, public sins like the one in the church in Corinth. That is one reason for the lack of power in the church today. God can't bless sin. He won't bring new souls into a church just to have the sins of the congregation spread to them and destroy their lives. This is why we must be diligent to encourage each other to stay holy, and when anyone strays, we much go to them in private and call them to repent. If they will not listen, we must go back with one or two witnesses and do it again. Finally, if there is not change, the person is brought before the church body, so they can admonish him. The final step is to put them out of the church, so hopefully they will repent and come back to the church clean from that sin. If we do not handle it in this Biblical way, the sin will spread like a little leaven in a lump of dough.

#NHBaptistdotorg

Tomorrow, I intend to read I Corinthians 6-8.