The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees
| << Matthew 16:6 | Matthew 16:8 >> |
What Does Matthew 16:7 Mean?
Matthew 16:6-12
Jesus warns His disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." Seeing their puzzlement, He explains further. "Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (verse 12). Both testaments use leaven as a symbol of sin because of what it does to a lump of bread dough. Once yeast enters the dough, it immediately begins to spread by breaking down in reaction to the dough's sugars and producing a gas that puffs the bread up.
Like leaven, when sin enters a person's life, it begins to corrupt and fill him with vanity. A person enslaved by habitual sin will have a difficult time growing in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ because of sin's corrupting influence. Sin defiles and can permanently destroy relationships with God and man.
Throughout the year we hear frequent exhortations to produce fruit and grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. During Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, we give special emphasis to "getting the leaven out." These three actions are all parts of the same process. Though not technically the same, they are related closely enough to say they are simply different ways of describing the same process. "Getting the leaven out" is the most negative, "growing" is the most general, and "producing fruit" is the most specific. All three emphasize that a Christian should not stand still after entering the New Covenant. God expects him to take steps to ensure that these actions will occur in his life.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Five Teachings of Grace
Matthew 16:6-12
In addition to representing sin, leaven represent false doctrine as well. Jesus points out the error of the Pharisees' doctrines, and Paul advises the Corinthians to partake of the bread of sincerity and truth. False doctrine causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. True doctrine promotes sincerity, humility, and obedience to the Sovereign of the Universe, the overall lesson of the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Staff
Holy Days: Unleavened Bread
Matthew 16:7-8
These men were witnessing of all of these awesome things that Jesus was doing, yet He accused them, indicted them, of not having much faith. One would think that if miracles build faith, there surely should have been faith in those men above all people on earth. They knew Jesus' works were genuine. But miracles do not have much value in terms of building faith, which is why God is not concerned about working miracles for us all the time. They really do not help us spiritually all that much.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Is God a Magician?
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Matthew 16:7:
Amos 4:4-5
Matthew 13:33
Luke 13:21
| << Matthew 16:6 | Matthew 16:8 >> |
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