1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened… I. THE ANTECEDENT. 1. What is meant by Pascha? (Exodus 12:26.) Passing over is, of itself, a thing indifferent; it is good or bad according to what passes or is passed over. If any good pass over us we are the losers; if any danger the gainers. Again, if we pass from better to worse it is a detriment; if from worse to better a benefit. This is a benefit. Evil — the destroying angel — passed over Israel. They passed out of Egypt well, but the Egyptians ill. 2. What is this to us? We live in a world of which Egypt is but a corner and was a type; our Pharaoh is the devil; God's wrath is the destroying angel; death is our Red Sea through which all must pass, some well, some ill. Our abode is as dangerous as theirs; we need a Pascha to escape God's wrath and to pass well over death. Their passover, again, was nothing to ours. Theirs was but the deliverance of one poor nation from a passing bodily danger; ours frees all mankind from the destruction of body and soul, and that for ever. And what comparison is there between Canaan and heaven whither Christ shall make us pass? 3. Who is it? A sacrificial lamb — the figure of Christ, the Lamb of God, who became our passover when He was offered to bear the sins of the world. What is sin but a transgression or passing over the duty set before us in the Law of God? But for it no destroyer would have power over us: Christ was a passover from first to last. His birth was a passing over from the bosom of His Father to the womb of His mother: His resurrection a passing over from death to life; His ascension a passing over from the world to the Father. But in His death God took over our sins from us and laid them upon Him. II. THE CONSEQUENT. "Let us keep the feast." A fast rather, one would think; but by His resurrection we know that Christ is well passed over, and so we may keep our feast with joy. And a double feast it is. By His death He made the destroyer pass over us; by His resurrection He makes death passable by us. In the sacramental feast we — 1. Remember Him our Sacrifice. 2. Apply the sacrifice to our salvation. (Bp. Andrewes.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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