How does 1 Corinthians 5:8 relate to the Passover? Text of 1 Corinthians 5:7–8 “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. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Literary Setting in 1 Corinthians Paul addresses gross immorality tolerated in the Corinthian assembly (5:1–2). He commands church discipline (5:3–5) and then employs Passover language (5:6–8) to frame corporate purity. The sandwiching of the Passover appeal between the sin and the call to expel the offender shows Paul sees the festival’s logic—remove leaven before the lamb is eaten (Exodus 12:15)—as the paradigm for removing sin from the congregation purchased by the Lamb. Historical Background of Passover 1. Institution: Exodus 12 establishes Passover on the 14th of Nisan, followed by the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:14–20; Leviticus 23:5–8). 2. Ritual elements: a spotless male lamb (Exodus 12:5); blood applied to doorposts (12:7); eating in haste with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (12:8–11). 3. Removal of leaven: households searched and burned all yeast (Exodus 12:15; Deuteronomy 16:3–4). Leaven thus became a stock symbol of corruption or permeating influence (cf. Matthew 16:6, 12). Typological Fulfillment in Christ Paul’s explicit clause “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” identifies Jesus as the antitype of the Exodus lamb: • Spotless—sinless life (1 Peter 1:19). • Substitutionary blood—deliverance from judgment (Romans 5:9). • Corporate redemption—forms a covenant community (1 Peter 2:9–10). John’s Gospel echoes the timing (John 19:14, 36), and the Synoptics align the Last Supper with Passover motifs (Luke 22:7–20). Leaven as Moral Metaphor Paul shifts from literal yeast to “malice and wickedness,” contrasting it with “sincerity [Greek εἰλικρίνεια, purity tested by sunlight] and truth [ἀλήθεια, reliability].” The call is not to observe the Mosaic festival per se but to live its fulfilled moral reality continually. ‘Let Us Keep the Feast’—Present Imperative The verb ἑορτάζω is present-subjunctive (“keep on celebrating”). The redeemed community’s entire life becomes an ongoing, Passover-shaped celebration—free of the leaven of sin because “you really are” unleavened through union with Christ. Connection to Church Discipline Just as leaven left in dough affects the whole lump, tolerated sin spreads (v. 6b). Removal of the offender (5:13) mirrors Old-Covenant leaven removal to preserve communal holiness. This functional parallel explains why Paul interweaves Passover theology with ecclesial praxis. Jewish Reception and Early Christian Practice Early believers—predominantly Jewish—continued Passover remembrance (Acts 20:6; 1 Corinthians 16:8). By the second century, the Quartodeciman controversy shows how central the Passover-resurrection nexus was; Polycrates of Ephesus insisted on keeping the 14th of Nisan because John and Philip had done so, underlining apostolic recognition of Jesus as Passover fulfillment. Archaeological Corroboration of Exodus Setting • The Brooklyn Papyrus (c. 17th century BC) lists Semitic servants in Egypt. • The Merneptah Stele (c. 1210 BC) is the earliest extrabiblical reference to “Israel” in Canaan, consistent with an Exodus under a 15th-century‐BC Pharaoh and subsequent conquest. • Excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir (potential Ai) reveal a Late Bronze destruction layer aligning with Joshua’s chronology, reinforcing the historical reliability of the Exodus narrative that undergirds the Passover. Passover Imagery in Later New Testament Books • Peter echoes unleavened holiness (1 Peter 1:13-19). • Revelation presents the triumphant “Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6), showing the enduring Passover motif. These allusions validate Paul’s reading as canonical. Practical Implications for Believers Today 1. Celebrate Communion with Passover consciousness—remembering substitutionary atonement. 2. Pursue congregational purity—consistent church discipline is a gospel imperative. 3. Cultivate personal holiness—daily “search and remove” moral leaven. 4. Live in continual gratitude—our whole life is the feast of redeemed freedom. Summary 1 Corinthians 5:8 relates to Passover by portraying Christ as the sacrificed lamb and the church as the unleavened community. The mandate to “keep the feast” transforms the historical Exodus event into an enduring, lived reality: pure worship grounded in the Cross and Resurrection. Paul’s argument, textually secure and theologically seamless, anchors ecclesial ethics in the redemptive pattern God ordained from Egypt to Calvary. |
    |