Do We Believe God Regarding Communion: Our Purge!

Hello To All:

The revelational account: part three.

"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." (1Corinthians 5:7).

In the previous essay, we gained some insight into our "declared identity," by recognizing our status of being "unleavened." We are "unleavened," because of the truth that "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."  God our Father, has declared us to be holy, because of the continuing benefit and ever present reality of Christ's sacrifice. In this essay, we shall take a look at our obligation to "purge," in the context of our identity. We are to: "Purge out therefore the old leaven."

The word purge, appears in numerous places and in various forms, in both the Old and the New Testaments of the King's Book. But, in the New Testament, there are only two places where the purging is done by the brethren, the followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek word, translated as "purge out," in the 1 Corinthian text, is also translated as "purge," at 2 Timothy 2:21. This particular Greek word, only appears, in the New Testament,  in these two places. Most of the remaining New Testament references, all regard the purging that is done by God; and are translations of different Greek words.

Our opening text, commands us to "purge out therefore the old leaven."  We find a similar exhortation, in the second occurrence, of the purging done by the brethren, in the Timothy text, where we find written: "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."

Being reminded of the importance of context, with regards to a right understanding of any given portion of the King's Book, we need to recognize that the Corinthian text has a corporate context. In contrast to this, the Timothy text has an individual context. The full importance of this, will be more readily recognized when we look to the full revelational account of the Lord's Supper, found at 1 Corinthians 11:23-32. In preparation for the fullness of a right understanding of all of the revelational accounts, we now need to take a closer look at the Corinthian and Timothy texts.

The corporate context of the Corinthian text:

In 1 Corinthians 1:1, we have a clear statement regarding the recipients of this letter. Paul writes: "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." Please note the group designations: The church of God - Them that are sanctified - Called to be saints - With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ. The corporate context of this letter should be abundantly clear.

Now, we should be asking: what is the significance of this corporate context?

Returning to chapter five of First Corinthians, we find written at verse two: "And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you." The Corinthian church was tolerating the fornicator of verse one who had taken his father's wife as his own. Verse one also makes clear that this unrepentant sinner, this fornicator was one of their own: "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you."

"Reported commonly," can only mean one thing: everyone in the community, both in the church and outside the church, knew what was taking place: evil was being tolerated and allowed to openly continue in the "church of God." Thus, the significance of the context is the reality that the corporate body of the church of God, had become corrupted by the open and unrepentant sin of one of the members of the church. We find this conclusion confirmed in verse six: "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" The "whole lump," would be rightly understood as the "church of God."  When leaven is added to bread dough, it changes the dough - it changes all of the dough. The open and unrepentant sin of the one fornicator was changing the "whole" of the church at Corinth: "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

Thus, when the Apostle Paul wrote, in verse seven - "Purge out therefore the old leaven" - he was instructing the "whole lump," "the church of God," to cleanse itself of sin. The unrepentant sinner needed to be removed from the church. The fornicator had to be dealt with if the church was to continue to be visibly identified as being holy. Let us be reminded that the church had the status and identity, because "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," of being "unleavened." But, in the visible realms, their status had been corrupted: "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" They needed to purge out the old leaven, in order to maintain their holy standing in the visible realms. Their corporate witness and testimony, as the church of God, had been diminished in the community of Corinth. The whole lump had become leavened by the tolerated sin of one of the members.

The individual context of the Timothy text:

The Corinthian church was being corrupted by immorality. The Corinthian church needed to "purge out" the open and unrepentant sin that had leavened the whole lump.  The situation in the letters to Timothy is quite different. Timothy is a young minister, having been trained by Paul, and having been instructed in these letters, in matters relating to the work that he must do as a servant of God.  The purging that Timothy must do was related to the false teaching, that he had already encountered and would continue to encounter.

In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, we find written:

1. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;"
2. "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."
3. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"
4. "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
5. "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."

We could spend a lot of time studying the above text. But, for our purposes, in this essay, we need to understand that Timothy is being instructed to stand firmly on the truth of the King's Book. He was told to: "Preach the word ... for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." We find confirmation for this conclusion earlier in the letter at 2 Timothy 2:15-16:  "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." Take another look: "Study - approved unto God - a workman - rightly dividing the word of truth - shun profane and vain babblings." Timothy was to study the truth and to preach the truth and to avoid all that was not of the truth.

Thus, when we look again at 2 Timothy 2:21, we must conclude that Timothy was instructed to "purge" himself from all that was not the truth of the King's Book. Looking to verse twenty should help us to confirm this conclusion on the basis of the context: "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour." The "great house" should be rightly understood as a metaphor for the church. The "vessels" should be rightly understood as a metaphor for the individual members of the church.

In verse 17, two of these "vessels," these members, are mentioned: "Hymenaeus and Philetus." Verse 18, in part, says this: "Who concerning the truth have erred ... and overthrow the faith of some." Verse 19, in part says this: "Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." Verse 17 says of Hymenaeus and Philetus that, "their word will eat as doth a canker." Their "vain babblings" were far from the truth, and this was causing "ungodliness" to increase.

In contrast to this "canker" of "ungodliness," the course that Timothy was to follow was clearly stated. It is written at 2 Timothy 2:21-26: "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."

My beloved brethren, let us be counted amongst those who have purged themselves from all that is not true and from all that is not righteous: then we shall be sanctified and prepared for the master's use.

Until next time, my beloved brethren, in Christ Jesus, I continue to be:

Your servant and your fellow pilgrim,
Elder Theophilus