for believers are holy.' For even^ {koX yap,) or, for also. This is a second reason why they should be pure ; for Christ our passover is slain for us. Is slain / rather, is sacrificed., as Oviii means to kill and offer in sacrifice., or, to slay as a vic- tim. When the paschal lamb was slain, the Hebrews were required to purge out all leaven from their houses, Ex. 12, 15. The death of Christ imposes a similar obligation on us to purge out the leaven of sin. Christ is our passover, not be- cause he was slain on the day on which the paschal lamb was offered, but because he does for us what the paschal lamb did for the Hebrews. As the blood of that lamb sprinkled on the door-posts secured exemption from the stroke of the destroy- ing angel, so the blood of Christ secures exemption from the stroke of divine justice. Christ was slain for us., in the same sense that the passover was slain for the Hebrews. It was a vicarious death. As Christ died to redeem us from all ini- quity, it is not only contrary to the design of his death, but a proof that we are not interested in its benefits, if we Hve in sin. Our passover, viz., Christ. The words vTrcp i7/>toji/, {for us)^ are omitted in all the older manuscripts, and are not necessary to the sense.
8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wicked- ness ; but with the unleavened (bread) of sincerity and truth.
Let us therefore keep the feast. That is, since our pass- over Christ is slain, let us keep the feast. This is not an ex- hortation to keep the Jewish passover — because the whole context is figurative, and because the death of Christ is no reason why the Corinthians should keep the Jewish passover. Christians are nowhere exhorted to observe the festivals of the old dispensation. Neither is the feast referred to the Lord's Supper. There is nothing in the connection to suggest a reference to that ordinance. A feast was a portion of time consecrated to God. To keep the feast means, 'Let your whole lives be as a sacred festival, i. e. consecrated to God.' As a feast lasting seven days was connected with the slaying of the paschal lamb ; so a life of consecration to God should be connected with the death of our passover — Christ. This feast is not to be celebrated with the old or corrupt leaven, which is explained to mean the leaven of malice and wicked-