second time without sin unto salvation. It appears from 2 Cor. V, 9-12, that this solemn exercise of the judicial power of the apostle, had its appropriate effect. It led the offender himself, and the whole church, to sincere and deep repentance.
6. Your glorying (is) not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ?
Your boasting, (KavxqfJi^a,) ground of boasting. You have no good reason to boast of your religious state ; on the con- trary, you have abundant reason to be alarmed. Kiiow ye not / do ye not consider the obvious and certain danger of this evil spreading ? A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. This proverbial expression is not here intended to express the idea that one corrupt member of the church depraves the whole, because, in the following verses, in which the figure is carried out, the leaven is not a person, but sin. The idea, therefore, is, that it is the nature of evil to diffuse itself This is true with regard to individuals and commimities. A single sin, however secret, when indulged, diffuses its corrupting in- fluence over the whole soul ; it depraves the conscience ; it alienates from God ; it strengthens all other princij^les of evil, while it destroys the efficacy of the means of grace and the disposition to use them. It is no less true of any community, that any one tolerated evil deteriorates its whole moral sense.
7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us :
Purge out the old leaven is an exhortation to purity, as the old leaven is afterwards said to be malice and wickedness. This leaven is said to be old, because in the present apostate state of our nature, what is old is evil. Hence, the old man is a scriptural designation of our corrupt nature. That ye may he a new lump. New, i. e. pure — as the new man is the renewed nature. As ye are unleavened. Leaven in this con- nection is a figurative expression for sin. To say, therefore, that they were unleavened, is to say that they were holy. This was their normal state — as Christians. A Christian is a new or holy man. The argument, therefore, is drawn from the acknowledged fact that Christians, as such, are holy. ' Purge out the leaven of wickedness, that ye may be pure,