ve
ἑορτάζωμεν,ὶ μὴ ἐν "ύμῃ Ε παλαιᾷ μηδὲ ev
Col.ii16;° {gun "' κακίας καὶ "' πονηρίας, ἀλλ ἐν * ἀζύμοις " εἰλικρινείας καὶ
passim in Gospp.
πι Rom. i.29. κακια, xiv.
° ἀληθείας.
20; Eph. iv. 31; Col. iii. 8; Tit. iii.3; Jas.i.21; 1 Pet. ii. 1,16; Acts viii. 22 ; Mt. vi.34. πονηρια,
Eph. vi. 12; Acts iii. 26; Mt. xxii. 18; i. 10. Acts xxvi. 25; Mk. v. 33.
k. vii. 22; Lk. xi. 39. ο In this sense, 2 Cor. vii. 14, xii.6; Rom. ix. 1; Eph. iv. 25; Phil. i. 18; 2Jo.1; 3 Jo.1;
n 2 Cor. i. 12, ii. 17; -νης, Phil.
1 εορταζοµεν, ADP, minuscc.™; by itacism.
to mix) is the lump of dough kneaded for a single batch of bread: see ‘parls.
Ver. 7. ἐκκαθάρατε, “Cleanse out” —the aor. implying a summary, and ἐκ- a complete removal (see parls.; for simple καθαίρω, John xv. 2), leaving the Church “clean”: an allusion to the pre-Paschal removal of leaven (Exod. xii. 15 ff., xiii. 7). For τ. παλαιὰν ζύμην, cf. Ignatius, ad Magn., 10, τ. κακὴν ζύμην τ. παλαιω- θεῖσαν κ. ἐνοξίσασαν, applying, however, to Judaism what here relates to Gentile vice. The ‘old leaven”’ (denoting not persons—the incestuous and his like— but influences: see 8) must be cleansed away, “in order that you may be a fresh kneading”. véov, new in point of time (see parls.)\—the mass of dough, with the evil ferment removed, kneaded over again. The Cor. are to be clear of the παλαιὰ ζύμη ‘in accordance with the fact that” (καθώς) they ‘“‘are ἄζυμοι, a term not used literally—as though the Church was at this (sc. Paschal) season eating unleavened bread: such a παρα- τήρησις of Jewish law by Gentiles P. would hardly have encouraged (see Gal. iv. ο ff.)—but morally, in consistency with the allegorical strain of the passage ; “in the purpose and command of God, and in their own profession, they are separated from all sin, which is to them what, during the passover week, leaven was to the Jews. This objective use of unleavened corresponds to that of sanc- tified ini, 2” (Bt.). Cf. the ἤδη καθαροί ἐστε of John xv. 3; and for the general principle, i. 30, vi. 11, Rom. vi. 1-11, etc.
Ver. 8 explains the symbolical ἄζυμοι. Participation in the sacrifice of Christ presumes unleavenedness in the partici- pants; the unleavened bread and the passover are related (objectively) as re- pentance and faith (subjectively): ‘‘ For indeed our passover has been slain, even Christ”. τὸ πάσχα . . . ἐτύθη (aor., of historical fact)—the Passover Lamb killed, and leaven not yet cast out: what a contradiction! The Law prescribed no exact time, but usage required every
scrap of leaven to be got rid of from the house at the beginning (eve) of the day, Nisan 14, on which the Lamb was slain. πάσχα stands for the Paschal Lamb, the sacrifice of which legally constituted the Passover (Mark xiv. 12, cf. John i. 29).
“Our (Christian) passover,” cf. Heb. xiii. 10; and for Paul’s appropriation to the Church of the things of the Old Covenant, Rom. xi. ry, Gal. iv. 26, vi. 16, Phil. iii. 3. This identification of Christ crucified with the Paschal Lamb lends some support to the view that Jesus died, as the Fourth Gospel appears to represent, on the 14th Nisan; but the precise coincidence is not essential to his interpretation. The Pascha (Aram. pascha = Heb. pesach)—in O.T. “ Je- hovah’s Passover ”’—was the sacrificial covenant-feast of the kingdom of God in Israel. It contained three essential ele- ments: (1) the blood of the victim, sprinkled at the exodus on each house- door, afterwards on the national altar, as an expiation to God (cf. Rom. iti. 25), who “passes over’? when He “sees the blood”; (2) the flesh of the lamb, sup- plying the food of redeemed Israel as it sets out to the Holy Mount and the Promised Land (see x. 16 f., John vi. 32, 51); (3) the continued feast, an act of fellowship, grounded on redemption, be- tween Jehovah and Israel and amongst the Israelites; cf. x. 16-22, xi. 20, and notes.