What’s The Significance Of Yeast In The Bible?

Yeast in the Bible: Old yeast to signify life before Christ

We’ll look at Old Yeast, through the writing of Paul, in a topic that’s still an issue today: sexual immorality.

As with The Passover, I’ll make no attempt to say anything about the topic of any kind of immorality in our culture today. My point is to show how yeast is used as an analogy to show how things spread. I’m going to stay with what the Bible defines as immorality. If you disagree, that’s between you and God not, you and me.

Expel the Immoral Brother!

 

1Co 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

So, there it is. A believer in that scenario. Not a good thing. And yet, some other believers are taking pride in what happened. Not good either. Pride goes before a fall, and they are set for a big fall.

But now, let’s get to the yeast.

1Co 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

In this passage, Paul isn’t writing about expired yeast. He’s not talking about yeast that’s so old it won’t make the bread rise. No such analogy exists here.

In fact, Paul is saying any yeast, no matter how new or how old, must go. Must be removed.

There’s something I came across that also isn’t what Paul’s writing about. I bring this up in case you read something like it, or think of it yourself. At first, it sounds good. But a bit of reflection will show it doesn’t belong here.

7. Leaven. Not the sinful man, but evil of every kind, in accordance with the more general statement of the leavening power of evil in ver. 6. The apostle’s metaphor is shaped by the commands concerning the removal of leaven at the passover: Exod. 12:19; 13:7. Compare Ignatius; “Dispense, therefore, with the evil leaven that has grown old (παλαιωθεῖσαν) and that has gone sour (ἐνοξίσασαν), and be changed into new leaven which is Jesus Christ”.  ⁴Vincent, M. R. (1887). Word studies in the New Testament (Vol. 3, p. 211). Charles Scribner’s Sons.

This excerpt talks about Jesus as a new leaven. The problem is this. The passage addresses a need to be unleavened. Not new leaven – but no leaven.

Here’s why no leaven is important.

Purge the sin (vv. 6–13). The image here is that of the Passover supper (Ex. 12). Jesus is the Lamb of God who shed His blood to deliver us from sin (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18–25). The Jews in Egypt were delivered from death by the application of the blood of the lamb. Following the application of the blood, the Jewish families ate the Passover supper. One of the requirements was that no yeast (leaven) be found anywhere in their dwellings. Even the bread at the feast was to be unleavened.

Leaven is a picture of sin. It is small but powerful; it works secretly; it “puffs up” the dough; it spreads. The sinning church member in Corinth was like a piece of yeast: he was defiling the entire loaf of bread (the congregation). It was like a cancer in the body that needed to be removed by drastic surgery.

The church must purge itself of “old leaven”—the things that belong to the “old life” before we trusted Christ. We must also get rid of malice and wickedness (there was a great deal of hard feelings between members of the Corinthian church) and replace them with sincerity and truth. As a loaf of bread (1 Cor. 10:17), the local church must be as pure as possible.  ⁵Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 587). Victor Books.

There’s the key. In this context, the leavening agent, the yeast, represents sin. As such, it makes no sense to substitute the old yeast (existing sins) for any kind of yeast if the goal is life in the Spirit, life as a follower of Jesus.

This concept also breaks some of the claimed ties back to a fuller integration with the original Passover, as pointed out below, in a Jewish New Testament Commentary.

I question the common assumption that Sha’ul’s Passover language here is entirely figurative. I see no compelling reason in the context to excise the plain sense (p˒shat) from the phrase, “Let us celebrate the Seder.” Instead, it seems that the early believers, Gentiles included, observed the Jewish feast of Pesach. As we will see, their service combined traditional Jewish Passover symbolism with new symbolism relating to Yeshua the Messiah’s central role in Jewish and world history. Evidently the Corinthian congregation observed Passover without supposing that, as many of today’s Christians might think, they were “going back under the Law.”  ⁶Stern, D. H. (1996). Jewish New Testament Commentary : a companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed., 1 Co 5:6). Jewish New Testament Publications.

We have to walk that fine line between not being under the law, but also of recognizing that Jesus said He didn’t come to abolish the law, but that He is the fulfillment of the law.

Again – more will come in later posts, with links entered as they’re published. For now, the important thing is to notice the link here between yeast and sin. In the next segment, we’ll get into the yeast of the Pharisees. Jesus certainly never said The Law was bad. Not did Jesus say there was any yeast in The Law. His problem was the yeast of the Pharisees.

1Co 5:9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

1Co 5:12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

I just want to make a quick note here in verse 12. It’s not our place to judge those outside the church. Everything Paul wrote here was to address the sinner, the yeast, within the church.

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Yeast in the Bible: “bad” yeast

Now we get to bad yeast. Once again, not expired. Not yeast that won’t make anything happen. In fact, bad yeast can make all sorts of things happen. They are, of course, all bad.

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

Mt 16:5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Mt 16:7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

Mt 16:8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Obviously, this wasn’t about bread either.

Also, notice what I mentioned earlier about the distinction between God’s Law and what the Pharisees and the Sadducees taught about that Law.

We read a bit more on that from Luke.

Warnings and Encouragements

12:2-9 pp — Mt 10:26-33

Lk 12:1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

Lk 12:4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Lk 12:8 “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9 But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Lk 12:11 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

Hypocrisy. Jesus warned about their tendency to say one thing and do something else. For more, check out the seven woes.

Seven Woes

23:1-7 pp — Mk 12:38, 39; Lk 20:45, 46
23:37-39 pp — Lk 13:34, 35

Mt 23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Mt 23:5 “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’

Mt 23:8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Mt 23:13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

[Mt 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”]  Is not included in the NIV, but is in some other translations.  It would, of course, make eight woes.  ⁷New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Mt 23:14). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Mt 23:15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

Mt 23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

Mt 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Mt 23:25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Mt 23:27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Mt 23:29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

Mt 23:33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

Mt 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’’”

Once again, it’s not my intention to go into the details of the Seven Woes here.

The point was to show an example of the bad yeast. Not expired. Very active. And very much destructive.

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Yeast in the Bible: good yeast

At this point, you may be tempted to just assume all yeast is bad. But please, don’t do that.

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast – Matthew

13:31, 32 pp — Mk 4:30-32
13:31-33 pp — Lk 13:18-21

Mt 13:31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

Mt 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Mt 13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

While yeast mixed in with the Word of God is bad, if it represents sin mixed in with God’s Word and accepted as OK, this case is different.

This time, yeast is good. At least, that’s what I believe. I did encounter some who want to continue with the theme of yeast as sin or evil.

However, I agree with ones like this:

33 The general thrust of this parable is the same as that of the mustard seed. The kingdom produces ultimate consequences out of all proportion to its insignificant beginnings. Efforts by most dispensationalists (e.g., Walvoord) to interpret the yeast as a symbol for evil are not very convincing in this setting because they require the introduction of anachronistic ideas like “the professing church.” Moreover, though yeast is normally associated with evil in the OT, this is not always so (cf. Lev 7:13; 23:15–18). Metaphors may have diverse uses: the lion at different times symbolizes both Satan and Jesus. In any case the anomalous metaphor is here best explained along the lines suggested by Dupont (on Mt 13:31–32).  ⁸Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, pp. 318–319). Zondervan Publishing House.

Yes – it’s different. We have many possible reasons for yeast being included in the Bible. And it’s up to us to determine, with help from the Holy Spirit, what those meanings are. Otherwise, at best we read a story about baking bread. At worst, we misread the real story and end up in the wrong place.

Conclusion: What’s The Significance Of Yeast In The Bible?

It’s dangerous to go with one person whose views you like. There’s a reason I have the library I do for research. It includes people I generally agree with. However, it also has people I generally do not agree with. Plus, as I’ve pointed out, I have writings from Jews, Christians, and Messianic Jews. I read stuff from atheists and Muslims.

Most importantly, I try to read the Bible as a whole. With an intention to know, not a lot, certainly not all about, but as much I can about the God who gave us that Bible.

And my goal is to find Him – not to find problems with Him. I did plenty of that when I was younger.

Now, I spend the time to find God. To use the Help Jesus left for us to try to fit the pieces together as best I can. And to share what I find.

I was in the middle of writing one of the things I mentioned above. And then someone asked me about why the Passover included bread with no yeast. He was surprised when I said it was because they didn’t have time to bake bread with yeast.

That got me to thinking about the other times the Bible uses yeast as an example for something other than bread. And yet, if we know nothing about baking bread with/without yeast, we may very well not get the point from the example.

Even the disciples thought Jesus was talking about bread. Not bread they didn’t bake themselves, but bread they didn’t buy. The examples in the Bible were familiar to the majority of people back then. Not so much for us today. How much do we lose from not taking/having the time to learn those things? Like how to bake bread, and the role yeast plays. How it works.

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Never made bread?

If you’ve never made bread, here’s a simple recipe. It’s not one I use, but it formatted nicely over here from breadtopia

It will give you a flavor, or is it a taste – both puns intended – for what it takes to make a simple yeasted bread.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup lukewarm water (60 grams)
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (1 packet or 9 grams)
• 1 tsp sugar (5 grams)
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (300 grams)
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (455 grams)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt (9g)

Instructions

Check (“bloom”) the Yeast

• In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup lukewarm water with a teaspoon of sugar. If you have a thermometer, aim for under 110F. Pour the instant yeast onto the water-sugar mix and let everything sit for 5 minutes. The yeast should get foamy as in the photo above captioned “Five-minute yeast test”. If your yeast does not bloom (foam up) in 5 minutes, then you may have some dead yeast which you will want to replace before you continue with the recipe.

Mix and First Rise

• Combine bloomed yeast with the rest of the ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Cover and let sit 1-2 hours until roughly doubled in size. See photo above for target dough expansion. For the shorter end of the time range, use warm water to mix the dough (1 cup cold mixed with 1/4 cup boiling) and place the dough somewhere warm but under 85F to rise (e.g. the inside of your oven with the light on).

Shape and Second Rise (aka Final Proof)

• Lightly grease your bread pan. With damp fingers, scoop the dough away from the edges of the bowl until it is a smaller ball. After re-wetting your fingers, lift the dough out of the bowl and place it into the loaf pan. Spread it out in the pan and smooth the top of the dough with a little more water.
• Cover the dough and let it rise for 30-60 minutes or until it just barely crests over the top of the loaf pan. Don’t put it in the lit oven to rise because the oven will be preheating during this time. See the photos above for target dough expansion in the pan.
• About 20 minutes before the second rise is complete, begin preheating the oven to 425F with a rack one position up from the lowest.
• When the dough has finished the second rise, you can score it if you want. Dust the dough surface with flour so the blade of your lame or knife doesn’t catch.

Bake

• Put the loaf pan in the preheated oven on the second-to-lowest rack and bake for:
• 15 minutes at 425F
• 15 minutes at 375F
• 5 minutes out of the pan, directly on the rack, at 375F
• The internal temperature of the bread should be at least 190F when it is done.
• The bread might be irresistible, in which case feel free to cut it after about 15 minutes, though the inside will likely still be a little moist and shaggy at this point. The more “proper” thing to do is to let the bread cool for a couple of hours.
• After the bread is completely cool, store it covered or wrapped at room temperature for about 3 days; then slice, double bag, and freeze for optimal freshness.

Notes

Active vs. Instant Yeast: If using instant yeast that you know is good, you can skip the blooming step and simply incorporate your yeast and the extra 1/4 cup of water in with the rest of the ingredients. But don’t skip the blooming step if you use active yeast. Also expect slightly longer rise times. 

Different Flours: Use more water in the dough if you substitute some or all of the flour with whole wheat flour or bread flour. Note that whole wheat flour tends to ferment faster than white flour, and the presence of bran makes a whole wheat dough less stretchy and the final bread a little less airy. Also, bread flour tends to have more oven spring, so you may want to score the dough to control the bursting if you make this substitution. 

Extending the Process with Refrigeration: The easiest time to refrigerate the dough is probably overnight after it is shaped and in the bread pan. To ensure the shaped dough doesn’t overproof, don’t use warm water or the lit oven for the first rise and then put the loaf pan into the coldest part of your refrigerator as soon as it is shaped. You can then bake the dough from cold and simply add a few minutes to the total bake time. 

Extending the Process at Room Temperature: A good way to extend the rising time at room temperature is to use cool water and very little yeast (1/8 – 1/4 tsp). The dough will then take 8-12 hours to rise while you are sleeping or out all day. You may need to do some trial and error based on your kitchen temperature to figure out the best amount of yeast to use.  

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image from Bing / DALL-E

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