In 1st Corinthians 5:6-8 we have an admonition not taken too seriously by some: “Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened, For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” So serious were some of the participants of the passover feast in ridding themselves of any leaven that they demanded new vessels both with which to bake the bread and partake. They paid close attention to this admonition that many of us overlook and that to our damnation.
In every respect, every demonstration of piety should be paid to the partaking of the emblems that were given to us as typical of the body and blood of Christ. In every sign or type, the thing being signified or patterned points to something beyond itself and must be understood to have certain properties consistent to what it is that it is prophetically showing. Bread, could have been an emblem apt enough to show the body of our Lord, but the Holy Spirit wanted us to see more concerning the disposition of the participant. We must partake in sincerity and truth, the very opposite of malice and wickedness. The very taste of the bread was at the very first instructive, it was unleavened! As the symbol shows by taste the extreme concern to show the purity of Him of whom we partake, so the attitude of the partaker. He who comes to this remembrance of the offering of the body of Christ with malice or ill-will against anyone present or absent shows the lack of respect demanded for the offering of His body, itself. Again, if he come with a profligate or sinful life, we are damning and judging ourselves for we have not determined to understand the type of life this bread represents!! “He is eating and drinking damnation to himself, not discerning the purpose the Lord had in mind when He sacrificed His body.” Like represents like!! Christ died that all sin might be destroyed and the absolute purity of Christ life denies anyone actively “continuing in sin.” The clearest light should not be able to discern sin, only truth. The Law of truth which it represents, can never show itself anything in common with sin or profligacy. Had the bread used been one of common kind, it would might have allowed mockery, but His was of the purest of the pure. For this bread communicates to the participant a story of utmost sinlessness, and as it is rarely used (as a type of bread) its representation is deeply more impressive. The sign and the thing signified have an agreement so that to destroy one you must destroy the other, not only in correspondence but also in influence!! Unleavened bread MUST be the type bread used in this offering to God! It is the only type bread that is fitting what it represents!!
In like manner, the wine. Most denominations use fermented wine. It is here, it could be argued, that the communicate gets his first taste of an influence not of his nature. It is man-made, not God made!! The influence attending the cup is not only adulterated by making the wine intoxicating, but shows the demeaning disrespect to Him who’s blood it represents! Imagine coming into the presence of Deity, by invitation mind you, and showing the detestable disrespect and lack of appreciation man-made wine brings!! Since no one who partakes is sinless, why would we practice adultery in substance. Children, imbeciles, nor those without control of the mind are invited to this celebration. If the symbol of the container in which the blood was sealed be without contamination, how could the blood which was contained not be as pure? How improper and indecent to mock the Lord of Glory in His celebratory remembrance!! How could we lift this fruit of the vine to our lips if these lips were mocking the truth that the “life of the flesh is in the blood: and God has given it to us upon the altar of sacrifice to make an atonement for our souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul!!” Leviticus 17:11 Let him who enters into the presence of God fear, but let him fear in a far greater sense who has the audacity to enter here with the contamination of sin and its fruits on his lips!! The church at Corinth was busy setting itself up as supporting those who practiced sin instead of falling on its knees before a holy God fearful to enter into His presence!! and there they had to come every first day of the week!! Can you imagine the pain and insult to the great apostle to the Gentiles when an assembly he was solely responsible for bringing into existence partook in such fashion!!
