“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Therefore let us keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth — the extended metaphor: 'keep the feast' (heortazō) by living ethically. 'Old yeast' (palaias zymēs) symbolizes 'malice' (kakia) and 'wickedness' (ponēria); 'unleavened bread' symbolizes 'sincerity' (eilikrineia, purity, lit. 'judged by sunlight') and 'truth' (alētheia). Christian life is continuous Passover, continuous celebration of freedom through Christ, manifest in ethical purity.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 5:8
“Purge out the old leaven,” that is, this evil one. Not that he speaks concerning this one only; rather he glances at others with him. For, “the old leaven” is not fornication only, but also sin of every kind. And he said not, “purge,” but “purge out;” “cleanse with accuracy so that there be not so much as a remnant nor a shadow of that sort.” In saying then, “purge out,” he signifies that there was still iniquity among them. But in saying, “that you may be a new lump, even…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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