Thursday 09 March 2023

Psalm 13

Background

1 Corinthians is one of several letters written by the apostle Paul to various churches. It was written in approximately  55 AD and the purpose was to keep in touch and to address relevant issues.

Corinth, in Greece, was occupied by the Romans and was a major trading port. The study passage comes after Paul’s discussion of the arrogance of some of the people and some of the divisions in the Church. It is followed by more teachings on morality.

Paul was unhappy that the Church in Corinth had not taken seriously a case of incest that had come to Paul’s attention. Verse 5 sounds harsh to 21st-century ears, but Paul wanted the Corinthians to know how seriously he took the fact that they seemed indifferent to sexual immorality.

The use of the image of yeast (or leaven) refers to the Passover. The Israelites left Egypt in a hurry, so they had to bake bread without yeast. It was the custom among Jews, as it is today, that before Passover, the kitchen would be cleaned to get rid of the yeast, a substance which caused fermentation.

The Paschal lamb in verse 7 refers to Jesus. People believed that the fact that Jesus had been crucified during Passover was no coincidence and that Jesus was the Passover lamb, sacrificed in order to deliver people from sin, just as the blood of the lambs, which was rubbed on the doorposts, saved the Israelites from bondage in the Exodus story (Exodus 12:13-28).

 In verse 8 Paul called for renewal: to replace malice with sincerity and truth.

To Ponder:

• It takes only a small quantity of yeast to make bread rise. What might some examples be of yeast which can have a positive influence in a church context?
• The image of yeast in the Bible usually refers to a bad influence. Why do you think that is?