"LET US CELEBRATE THE FEAST"
“LET US CELEBRATE THE FEAST”
This chapter brings before us the discipline which the assembly is called upon to exercise in regard to persons who have been identified with a wicked course. An extreme case of sin is before us in this chapter. At the same time the principles which apply in dealing with matters of evil, and light governing the assembly in such matters come out also. While we do not act in the formal way of delivering to Satan, or removing from ourselves the wicked person, yet we act in the light of that in withdrawing from evil. We are to “withdraw from iniquity”. The assembly enters into that. “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”, 2 Timothy 2: 19. Whilst that is an individual thought, yet we move into it together. We have here, as also in 2 Timothy, the name of the Lord. As having to separate from wicked persons the assembly acts, and associated with that act is the power which the Lord’s name brings in. It is not merely that persons do it; it is the assembly that does it. So that it is the entirety of the saints who “call upon the Lord”, moving together as in the city, and arriving at the necessity of separating from a certain person. As divine principles govern us, one mind as to the matter is reached through the light afforded and through the affections of the saints for Christ and for one another being in action.
Then the apostle immediately refers to two feasts; that is, the passover and the feast of unleavened bread. These are both rituals from the old economy brought forward to show how they apply to ourselves. The Old Testament is made serviceable to us in these matters. So that when we exercise discipline, which, alas, we have to do at times, these two feasts should come immediately into our minds. It is as if the saints need to be reminded of what has been effected by Christ,
[p. 39] and that, perhaps, it has lost its force with some of our number and therefore evil has occurred. The consideration of these feasts would take us back to Exodus. As we know, the passover especially refers to the initial deliverance of the Israelites; how they were saved from the destroying angel, who, when he saw the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and on the lintels of their houses, passed over them. Here, you will notice, Satan is used for the destruction of the flesh. Evil having come in, Satan is used for the destruction of the flesh in the person who has sinned, that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So that the passover would come into the apostle’s mind and he would enforce the meaning of this feast — also that of unleavened bread. This side of things was, perhaps, lacking at Corinth, and it should come up in our minds also, as we are exercised, to bring about a better state with us. As necessary discipline is exercised, it should bring about better conditions in our localities. The passover is not linked with the Supper in this chapter, as has been pointed out to us recently. It is linked up with the Supper in the gospels, but not here; meaning, I think, that right moral conditions are to be established before the truth of the Supper is brought forward in chapter 11. The intervening chapters have that in mind — that a better condition of things might be brought about at Corinth. And the Lord is aiming at that amongst us; that is, to bring about better conditions. So that, in going back to the institution of the passover, we would read Exodus 12 and 13. It is good that we should know these chapters; how the Israelites were protected and what was effected, typically — especially considering the suffering side that is connected with the passover, for the passover lamb was roast with fire. “For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed”. The allusion is to suffering; the suffering was not mitigated; the action of the fire was direct and powerful,
[p. 40] and it refers to the way Christ suffered. All this is brought up in this chapter because of the allowance of sin in us, in whatever form it may take, and is intended to take us back to these things so that we may get right in what is initial — the beginning of our histories in relation to Christ. The great beginning for us is the cross, from the standpoint of sacrifice, and it is important to understand that “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”, 1 Peter 3: 8. And again, as we have in Hebrews: “Wherefore also Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate: therefore let us go forth to him without the camp”, chapter 13: 12, 13. These references to the sufferings of Christ should lead us to right thoughts as to ourselves. And then, coupled with that is the feast of unleavened bread, which refers to our state being in keeping with the death of Christ. All this is intended to affect us so that we might move on in intelligent conformity to these things and be ready for the light of the Supper, for we hardly know what we are doing unless we pass this way.
The allusion to the leaven here is most instructive for us, for it is possible that the matter for which a person must be dealt with may spread. The leaven would allude to the way evil has its effect in persons who may be immediately connected with the person involved, or who is under his influence, or is sympathetic with such, and therefore the need of being rigid as to this; each one of us dealing with the leaven that might be in his heart — and often is there. So the apostle uses this strong word: “Purge out the old leaven”. Purge it out! It is the old leaven! “... that ye may be a new lump”. That is the idea of a new position, involving better conditions. It is not that we do not sorrow over those who are dealt with, because the point in mind here, in regard to such a person, is that he might be saved: “... that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”. We never lose sight of that in regard to persons with whom we must deal in discipline. There have been many cases of sorrow in this city. We should think of all such in that way; but at the same time, the Lord is looking at our state, as of the assembly, and we must purge out the old leaven. And so the word is, “So that let us celebrate the feast”. The children of Israel were to keep it seven days, which refers to the whole of the believer’s time down here. It is, “not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness”. The apostle, in alluding to these things, had in mind that the state of the Corinthians might change for the better, and so he goes on to say, “... but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. May every one of us move in sincerity, which involves that we are not double-minded, but that we are free and clear from all personal feeling: and then, that the truth may govern us in our feasts!