sincerity – The Core of the Bible

Biblical Calendar: Unleavened Bread and Its Symbolism

The festival of Unleavened Bread symbolizes separation, sincerity, and provides a reminder of God’s deliverance.

Core of the Bible podcast #131 – The Biblical Calendar and Unleavened Bread

We have been reviewing the biblical calendar, and how it is filled with symbolism of the Kingdom and God’s relationship with his people. I believe it is as we maintain recognition of these days that we can be reminded of God’s, and our, purpose. These days become practical object lessons that point to the totality of God’s work among his people, and his presence in this world.

Last time we reviewed Passover; today we will be going over the second of the annual memorials: the week of Unleavened Bread. The narrative explaining this memorial is found in Exodus 12. Here we find the command to Israel to de-leaven their houses and eat unleavened bread for seven days during the year—the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Exodus 12:14-15, 17-20 – “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to Yahweh. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute. You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off from Israel. … You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute. You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day. Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a resident alien or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel. Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”

Yahweh says that this memorial is a remembrance of how “on this very day I brought your hosts out of Egypt.” Besides the narrative here in Exodus, Unleavened Bread is also mentioned in Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 28:16-25 and Deuteronomy 16:1-8. Each of these mentions seems to have a slight difference in emphasis. Here in Exodus, the focus is on creating an annual memorial of how Yahweh delivered their hosts from Egypt. In Leviticus, the emphasis is on the first and last day being holy days of rest with offerings of fire made each day during the week. The Numbers narrative goes into further detail on the daily offerings to include bulls, goats, and grain offerings throughout the week. In Deuteronomy, the focus returns to the week being a remembrance of how Yahweh brought them out of Egypt “in haste.”

In general Hebraic practice, the eating of unleavened bread would begin with the Passover memorial on the evening of the 14th of Nisan, the 15th was a sabbath rest, and unleavened bread would be required through the evening of the 21st, which was also a sabbath rest. These commands were enjoined with the severity of being cut off from Israel if they were not practiced.

Exodus 12:19 – “Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a resident alien or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.”

This demonstrates how the memorial of this time was to be universally recognized throughout the land, not just within each household, to where even resident aliens, those who were not Israelites, were to also be abstaining from leaven during this time. This universal observance would help to ensure the maintenance of the observance to future generations. Here we are, almost 3,500 years later, still discussing the significance of this observance!

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

For believers in Messiah today, the recognition of this weeklong tradition stems from the mention of it within the apostolic writings of the New Testament. Not only is the practice mentioned within the gospels, it was brought out in a specific application by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthian congregation:

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 – Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Messiah our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In this passage, Paul’s thoughts have been explained as enjoining believers to observe the week of Unleavened Bread. In reality, I believe he is using the traditional annual practice of Unleavened Bread that they would all have been familiar with to make a point about their pride in tolerance of sin. In the overall context of the passage, Paul is actually mocking their self-righteous pride by confronting their skewed perspective of sexuality (most likely influenced by the Hellenistic social scene) as “leaven which leavens the whole batch of dough.” Here is some of the wider context:

1 Corinthians 5:1, 9-11 – It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles — a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. … I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

Paul seems to be making the point that even the smallest expression of “tolerance” of sexual perversion (according to God’s Torah) is like leaven that would begin to expand its way through the whole congregation. This is a great and useful analogy in which its wisdom is readily apparent. If leaven is likened to sin, then “unleavened-ness” is akin to holiness and righteousness. Paul seems to be analogizing how the sincere practice of God’s Torah and truth had the ability to overcome the “leaven” of unrighteous practices which were evident within the congregation.

Paul builds on a principle which was taught by Messiah, as well.

Matt 16:5-12 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Yeshua said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to perceive that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Mark 8:14-15 Now they had forgotten to bring bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

In these passages, Yeshua taught that the religious hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the political duplicity of Herod could be likened to leaven stealthily working its way through the pure dough of the righteous remnant, the lost sheep that he had been sent to call out from among the people of Israel. This is the same sense that Paul is using the analogy of leaven: as an insidious microbe that eventually encompasses the whole with its unrighteous influence.

Leaven in the Bible is simply a “spreading agent,” and while typically represented in the negative sense as we have just seen, it can also be a representation of positive influence. Yeshua was shown to have used the concept of leaven in a positive manner as an analogy of the Kingdom of God, illustrating how the spreading of the good news of the kingdom of God would be fulfilled throughout the world.

Matthew 13:33 – He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Luke 13:20-21 – Again he said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God to? It’s like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”

In this example shared by both Matthew and Luke, Yeshua appears to be sharing the inevitability of the Kingdom of God to become fully established.

Comparing both of these analogies, he seems to be illustrating how doctrines, both good and bad, have a way of working through the whole. A little bad doctrine, like that promoted by Herod and the Pharisees, can leaven all of the dough; likewise, the smallest spark of the gospel of the Kingdom of God can also work its way through the dough.

Once again, the Bible here presents another example of the duality of this life: hot and cold, light and dark, righteous and wicked, good doctrine and bad doctrine. Either one, like leaven, can continue to grow until it consumes the whole.

In Paul’s example, to refuse the perverted social tolerance of the day was to remain “unleavened” in the purity of sincerity and truth. In Yeshua’s example, to explore the Messiah’s expression of the Kingdom of God is to become leavened with positive doctrine. It’s not that these are contradictory teachings, just different emphases for the specific teaching at hand; both have merit from which we can learn.

“Bad” leaven has a way of unexpectedly influencing the whole; left to its own devices, a batch of dough will become leavened on its own, through its association with the air all around it. But in the Kingdom example, the woman specifically chose to add “good” leaven of the Kingdom to the dough, and it likewise consumed the whole. The key difference is that the woman intentionally added “good” leaven to the dough, while the “bad” leaven was simply absorbed from the atmosphere around it.

In a moment, we will see how these principles come together in the ongoing memorials of the biblical calendar.

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Closely attached to this week of Unleavened Bread is another annual occurrence known as Firstfruits.

Leviticus 23:10-11 – “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He will present the sheaf before Yahweh so that you may be accepted; the priest is to present it on the day after the Sabbath.”

While not another festival in and of itself, the day has significance in that the Israelites’ agrarian economy was at a standstill until the offering of the first sheaf of the barley harvest at the temple. In fact, the timing of the first ripe barley was one of the drivers of the start of the biblical calendar.

Exodus 12:2 – “This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year.

Exodus 13:3-4 – Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the LORD brought you out of here by the strength of his hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.”

The word abib means “green in the ears” as it relates to grain and crops. As each new year approached, it was customary in Israel to have trusted men go throughout Israel to check the condition of the barley (as the first of the spring crops) to see if it would be ripe within two weeks of the next new moon. If it was, that new moon was declared to be the first of the month Abib (which later came to be known as the month Nisan), the beginning month of the year, the month when the grain became green in the ears.

Only after the first sheaf was offered during the week of Unleavened Bread could full harvest proceed with the remainder of the barley crop. So the timing of this event was critical to the success of the overall harvest that year.

While being an important driver of the economy, the barley firstfruits is a minor notation within the biblical calendar, and not an official chag or feast in and of itself. The holiday that most Hebrews associate with Firstfruits is Shavuot: Weeks, or Pentecost. That is when the summer wheat harvest begins in full swing.

The principle of firstfruits in general has to do with honoring God with a primary offering, often considered the best, the freshest, or the strongest. It is closely tied to the principle of the firstborn:

Genesis 49:3 – “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power.”

As for the offerings presented to Yahweh by the Israelites, the priest was to be the receiver of Yahweh’s firstfruits as his representative; this was also commanded for them since the priests did not have a land inheritance within Israel.

Deuteronomy 18:4-5 – “You are to give him [that is, the priest] the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and fresh oil, and the first sheared wool of your flock. For Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and minister in his name from now on.”

However, within Christendom, the barley firstfruits during the week of Unleavened Bread has significance because of its association with the resurrection of Messiah. This comes primarily from the writing of Paul to the Corinthian congregation:

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 – But as it is, Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Messiah, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Messiah.

Here, Messiah is specifically listed as the firstfruits, using this firstfruits language to describe how the new resurrection life of all believers (those who belong to Messiah) will be as the fuller harvest that comes after the firstfruits have been presented to Yahweh.

The reason this resurrection firstfruits language is associated with the barley firstfruits is because that event takes place during the week of Unleavened Bread, “on the day after the Sabbath,” (Lev. 23:11). Since Messiah was seen alive on the day after the Sabbath of that week, this connection is typically drawn together.

APPLICATION FOR TODAY

Unleavened bread symbolizes separation, haste, vulnerability, and sincerity. It represents separation, as unleavened bread (while still bread) is distinct from other, regular bread. It also represents haste because it must be formed and cooked quickly to prevent the leavening process from starting. While full, natural leavening can take days, the leavening process can begin in as little as 20-30 minutes. This is how how temporary and vulnerable the condition of the dough is in its uncooked state. It is representative of how quickly the Hebrews had to leave Egypt when their deliverance was provided, and how vulnerable they were until they could be formed by God into the Kingdom people he desired them to be. In this sense, it can also be representative of believers who are separating from the worldliness around them, and how vulnerable they are to becoming consumed again by the things they just left, just as many of the Hebrews wanted to return to Egypt.

It is also representative of sincerity and holiness. According to both Yeshua and Paul, believers were to avoid the natural leavening of both corrupt doctrine and the natural social mores around them. Tolerance of false doctrine and unrighteous social practice have a way of ultimately consuming the whole.

But one cannot remain in an unleavened state permanently. In the annual calendar, Unleavened Bread is a week long observance that ultimately ends. The next seven weeks move toward the memorial of Pentecost or Weeks, an observance where the first harvest of the new wheat crops are brought to Yahweh in the form of two purposely-leavened bread loaves. It is believed that the Hebrews during the first Exodus received the Ten Commandments at that time. This suggests that the “good” leaven of the two loaves or tables of Commandments sets a baseline for Kingdom living.

Deuteronomy 8:3 …man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

In his parable of the Kingdom regarding the woman adding yeast to the dough, Yeshua encourages believers to not remain in an unleavened state, but to intentionally add the “good” leaven of the “right” doctrine (that which proceeds out of the mouth of God, the Commandments) so that the dough can be consumed with the right kind of leaven. In this way, the purity and sincerity of the unleavened batch can rise to become the Kingdom people God desires.

Firstfruits is representative of the freshest, strongest, and best being offered to Yahweh. Messiah certainly qualifies in all of those respects. But those attributes should also apply to our own offerings we bring before Yahweh. Are we truly offering the best of our time and resources (that is, our firstfruits) to Yahweh, or are we focused more on our own plans and desires and only providing him with what is left over?

Observing this weeklong memorial of these events with these principles in mind can revitalize our faith through reflection on our practice of these qualities in our lives. Is there a sense of urgency in our ongoing separation from the world, or have we become vulnerably complacent? Is the practice of our faith leavened with hypocrisy and duplicity or is it sincere and from the heart? Are we committed to only leaven our loaves with the “good” leaven of that which comes out of the mouth of God?

If we observe this week by avoiding leaven and eating only unleavened bread, that which sustains us (the unleavened bread) is a reminder to us that that which ultimately sustains us as believers is based on sincerity and truth. Additionally, reflecting on the firstfruits pattern of Messiah’s resurrection should provide us the confirming hope that he has truly overcome death for all of us, and at the appropriate time of our “harvest” we will be bearing fruit for him.

In my opinion, an annual memorial which causes us to contemplate sincerity and truth in our daily practice while providing us hope for a future eternal life cannot be overrated.

Always speaking the truth from a renewed heart

Truthfulness among the people of God is a quality that God desires his children to represent in this world.

Core of the Bible podcast #100 – Always speaking the truth from a renewed heart

Today we will be looking at the core Bible principle of the Kingdom of God, and how the establishment of the Kingdom is dependent on the truthfulness of its population. This was represented by the simplest of commands among the Ten Commandments that God spoke from Sinai.

Exodus 20:16 – You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

As I have mentioned many times before, when God set the Hebrew people apart as a people for himself, he provided them a basic set of community rules, the Ten Commandments, to maintain order within their new society. I believe these rules were the baseline of God’s expectations for all humans that would become evident in the continual outworking of his Kingdom throughout all history for all time.

As such, this specific commandment about bearing false witness includes the restriction against telling an intentional falsehood for the purpose of causing a neighbor harm. To bear false witness against someone is to misrepresent the truth of a situation that one has personal knowledge of to the detriment of someone else. It is intentional deception for the purpose of vengeance or personal gain. Simply stated, falsehood is the simplest way to subvert any relationship or institution. Jealousy and selfish ambition lie at the root of deception. Recognizing this, and knowing the tendency of men to preserve themselves at all costs, God built in to the kingdom charter, the Ten Commandments, a specific command about the necessity of not bearing a false witness against another.

Not only did God provide the clear instruction against bearing false witness, but he also knew that this was an unfortunate reality that would have to be dealt with. So in his wisdom, God also provided a definitive way of handling offenders of this commandment once a falsehood was found out by judges who would be overseeing the civil life of the community. One of the corroborating safeguards against arriving at an incorrect conclusion in a matter of judgment was to ensure that there was always more that one witness to bear record of what had occurred.

Deuteronomy 19:15 – “One witness cannot establish any iniquity or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

This helped to overcome the potential for a single person to willfully or maliciously bring down someone else through false testimony. Unless there was some sort of collusion between all parties, the fact that there would have to have been multiple witnesses agreeing to the same course of events was in fact a type of safeguard for the rights of the accused, a practice still in place in our civil courts to this day.

This process is outlined further in the book of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 19:16-21 – “If a malicious witness comes forward and accuses someone of a crime, then both the accuser and accused must appear before Yahweh by coming to the priests and judges in office at that time. The judges must investigate the case thoroughly. If the accuser has brought false charges against his fellow Israelite, you must impose on the accuser the sentence he intended for the other person. In this way, you will purge such evil from among you. Then the rest of the people will hear about it and be afraid to do such an evil thing. Do not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

This ancient principle of “eye for an eye” has been known in old Latin as the Lex Talionis, or the law of retaliation. So the punishment for the crime of falsifying a report (that is, bearing false witness) was to apply to the deceiver the same action he intended for the other, and to do so publicly. In this way, a deterrent to falsification would be established within the community.

In reviewing other ancient near Eastern cultures of the time, there are few surviving examples of legal codes of these early civilizations. However, there are a few of them which have been found in archeological digs, and they even pre-date the law of Moses. These ancient legal codes also speak about the necessity of truthful witnesses.

For example, the Code of Ur-Nammu of Mesopotamia, ca. 2100 BC:

If a man appeared as a witness, and was shown to be a perjurer, he must pay fifteen shekels of silver.
If a man appears as a witness, but withdraws his oath, he must make payment, to the extent of the value in litigation of the case.

So, at least during the reign of Ur-Nammu, there was at a minimum a type of financial accountability for those who would provide false witnesses.

There was also the famous Code of Hammurabi of Babylon, ca. 1750 BC. Interestingly, this code begins with the necessity of having a truthful witness as its very first legal determination. However, the penalty under the reign of Hammurabi in most cases was much more severe than getting fined: his penalty was death for the false witness.

If a man bring an accusation against a man, and charge him with a (capital) crime, but cannot prove it, he, the accuser, shall be put to death.
If a man, in a case (pending judgment), bear false (threatening) witness, or does not establish the testimony that he has given, if that case be a case involving life, that man shall be put to death.

There are also several other laws in the code that relate to truthful witnesses in regard to transactions involving goods and property, not all of which end in death for the perjurer. However, from these few examples, it is clear that having truthful witnesses was a standard measure of determining civil legal issues in the ancient world.

While some Bible detractors might point to these ancient examples and say, “See, Moses didn’t bring anything new to the world. Civilizations always recognized the need for some sort of legal code.” I don’t disagree. However, to my way of thinking, what distinguishes the commandments of God from these other cultures is how simple and direct they are. Yes, the bulk of the Code of Moses is very similar to some of these ancient documents, but the Ten Commandments stand apart as the firmest of foundations for any type of societal structure.

We have to remember that while Ur-Nammu or Hammurabi crafted their codes through their leaders and officials, the Ten Commandments were not just made up by Moses and some hand-picked officials but were delivered directly from God to not only Moses, but to an entire assembled multitude at Sinai.

Exodus 19:17-18 – Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the LORD came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

There was not just one witness, Moses, to God’s provision of these commands, but an entire nation of people saw the display of fire on the mountain and all of them personally heard the direct words of God himself. In fact, they became so fearful that they asked Moses to intercede for them, since they were so frightened to hear God himself speak to them.

Deuteronomy 4:33, 35-36 – “Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived? … “You were shown these things so that you would know that Yahweh is God; there is no other besides him. “He let you hear his voice from heaven to instruct you. He showed you his great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the fire.
Deuteronomy 5:22 – “Yahweh spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

To the Bible believer, this requires faith to believe that God himself delivered the Ten Commandments to his fledgling earthly Kingdom. But we can become more firmly established by recognizing that he did so by providing not just one, two, or three witnesses, but a multitude of thousands of witnesses to corroborate the story. This is why I believe that, since the ancient times of the legal codes of past civilizations, the words that Moses recorded have been spread wider and farther than those of Ur-Nammu or Hammurabi. There has always been an underlying reliability within the biblical records themselves that demonstrate the faithfulness of God in providing a firm foundation for his eternal kingdom.

So with this simple foundational principle against bearing false witness revealed for all at Sinai, God’s Kingdom could now begin its upward trajectory to encompassing the world. But before that could become a reality, it would need to transcend every earthly nation or community to do so. This, as we shall see, was to occur during the ministry of Yeshua and his disciples.

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Now that we have looked at the ancient evidences for the necessity of truthful witnesses, how is all of this interpreted and put into practice within the context of the Kingdom during the time of Yeshua and his disciples?

In determining the truth of a matter between individuals, Yeshua taught to approach an offender on a personal basis, and seek to be reconciled. If that was ineffective, then one was to bring several others who also could corroborate the offense to confront the offender. These additional witnesses would be bearing the truth of the situation to bring additional weight of truth to the one who is unrelenting.

Matthew 18:15-16 – “If your brother sins [against you], go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.

This direction of having multiple witnesses to establish the truth of a matter is based squarely on the instruction of Moses.

Yeshua further teaches that lying is an indication of a larger issue that can affect all of one’s mode of life. In a confrontation with Jews who were conspiring to kill him, he responds to them by equating lying with that which is spawned of the devil, which is to equate lying with all that is adversarial to God in all things.

John 8:43-44 – “Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Yeshua taught that a liar, a falsifier who misrepresents, distorts facts, or misleads others (for that is what the word means) has an innate tendency to do so. They cannot be trusted in anything because the ability to lie and spread falsehood can be present in anything they say. He uses the representative word picture of being born of that which is adversarial to God, and it is therefore within their nature, just as the child has the representative traits of the parent. Once one is consigned to lies, misrepresentations and distortions come more easily as new situations arise, and unfortunately they then spiral into layers of falsehoods piled one on top of another.

As an example of this, in an attempt to protect his disciples from the false and hypocritical teaching of the religious leaders, Yeshua used an analogy of bread dough and the effects of yeast or leavening.

Matthew 16:6-7, 11-12 – Then Yeshua told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.” … “Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread? ” Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The apostle Paul also emphasizes that same principle in teaching the Galatians about their own confusion over some doctrinal issues.

Galatians 5:7-9 – You were running well. Who prevented you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough.

Paul here states that falsehoods, misrepresentation, and bad character are like a leavening agent. Once they become manifest in a person’s life, they continue to spread like yeast working its way through an entire batch of dough. This appears to have been a proverb that he quoted regularly:

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 – Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Notice the opposite of leaven is expressed as the positive, “unleavened” principles of sincerity and truth. During this time while God’s Kingdom was moving from the natural to the spiritual, Yeshua and his disciples taught that it was even more critical that truthfulness be the bedrock within the community of believers. Rather than always having to rely on external judges to decide the truth of the matter, however, the emphasis was on the arbiter moving from the external judges’ seat to a place within the heart of every believer, as had been prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Jeremiah 31:33 – “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” – Yahweh declares. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 – And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

This is why James could speak so harshly to the remnant about the corrupting influences that could disrupt the community of God.

James 3:13-16 – If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

James relates that selfish boasting and lying could be used to hide the truth, and had the potential result of causing “disorder and evil of every kind.” This was the end result of the leaven working its way through the entire batch of dough.

Paul used the analogous contrast of the “old man” and the “new man” of the heart. As believers’ hearts were renewed, it was as if there was a new person who could only do what was right, and who would stand in judgment of the practices of the old man.

Ephesians 4:22-25 – …that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, “[Let] each one [of you] speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.

The encouragement to truthful dealings within the community was to be based on this newness of righteousness and holiness of heart. Because of this community in which all were “members of one another,” that is, parts of an integral body, they were to always provide a truthful and honest example in everything, with everyone, in all of their words and actions.

So, we can see that from the initial Sinai revelation against false witness, the necessity of truthfulness among the people of God is a quality that God desires his children to represent in this world. The simplicity of this aspiration is realized in the words of the commandment, but the effectiveness of God’s desire is realized when the heart has been renewed in the likeness of its Creator to always be truthful.

Today, all who consider themselves believers in Messiah, who was the embodiment of truth, should have this virtue imbedded deeply within their hearts. Instead of deception and falsehood should come forth righteousness and truth for the good of the entire community within the Kingdom of God.

If you enjoy these articles, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the archived blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

The fruit of the heart

Our words and actions have real consequences in the world around us to influence for good or wickedness, to produce wisdom or foolishness.

Throughout the Proverbs are numerous references to the speech of the wise, and how a righteous person is known by what they say or profess. In just the tenth chapter alone are some select verses that indicate how important and influential is the speech of the wise.

11 – The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life
13 – Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning
20 – The tongue of the righteous is pure silver
21 – The lips of the righteous feed many
31 – The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom
32 – The lips of the righteous know what is appropriate

By contrast, the mouths of the wicked and the foolish demonstrate the results of their perversity and foolishness.

11 – the mouth of the wicked conceals violence
13 – a rod is for the back of the one who lacks sense
20 – the heart of the wicked is of little value
21 – fools die for lack of sense
31 – a perverse tongue will be cut out
32 – the mouth of the wicked [speaks] only what is perverse

In just these few examples, it becomes readily apparent as to what are the benefits of righteous speech, and also the consequences of wicked and foolish chatter. This is especially relevant for those who claim to be followers of the Messiah, for he was very clear in teaching the importance of what people say.

Luke 6:45 – “A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.“

The issue then becomes not how wise or foolish an individual is, but what is in the heart. The things that we say illustrate outwardly what our heart is concealing inwardly. This principle is so basic as to be almost an embarrassment of childlike instruction. The context of this teaching of Yeshua is placed in the midst of this teaching on what he calls the “fruit” of the heart.

Luke 6:43-44 – “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit…”

The flipside to this principle is carried forward in the continuing teaching of Yeshua in this passage, as the secondary aspect of this fruit of the heart is applied toward actions.

Luke 6:46-49 – “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great.”

So, the balance is not just what we say, but do our actions line up with our speech? Yeshua rightly questions the sincerity of those who claim with their lips to be obedient disciples, yet they do not carry out his teachings in their lifestyles: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?”

This question of our Messiah and Lord leaps across the millennia to our day and age and into the relevance of our daily actions, as well. In the words of Solomon’s proverbs, could our speech be considered a fountain of life? Is it the pure silver of wisdom that satisfies the needs of those who hunger for truth? Is it appropriate at all times so that it produces wisdom in others?

Are these the things that are in our hearts and overflowing to all others, or something else? Either way, according to Yeshua, the things we say and do will reveal the true contents of our hearts for all others to see.

If you enjoy these daily articles, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

A kingdom of sincere obedience

God does not desire forced subjection, but willing faithfulness.

1 Chronicles 28:5, 7, 9 – “And out of all my sons – for Yahweh has given me many sons – he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of Yahweh’s kingdom over Israel. … “I will establish his kingdom forever if he perseveres in keeping my commands and my ordinances as he is doing today.’ … “As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for Yahweh searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will reject you forever.

As David was bringing to conclusion his life’s activities, one of his greatest desires was to build a magnificent temple for Yahweh as a permanent replacement for the Mishkan or tent of the Tabernacle. However, Yahweh had refused him this privilege due to his warrior background, but would allow David’s son Solomon to continue and finish the task. In this grand speech recorded for us at the close of 1 Chronicles, David transfers the kingdom and authority to Solomon, along with tasking him with the building of the temple.

More importantly, he charges Solomon with the keeping of the commandments of God, since a grand temple means nothing without sincere hearts of the faithful. In this instruction, we find that the real foundation of the temple was not all of the stone and gold and silver that David had set aside for the task; no, the real foundation was to be based on the sincere faithfulness of Solomon and all of the people.

David charged Solomon with the lofty ideals of a true heart that seeks out an obedient lifestyle in the presence of God: “know the God of your father, and serve him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for Yahweh searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought.”

A thousand years later, the writer to the Hebrews would convey the same convicting sense of God’s immanence to his readers.

Hebrews 4:12-13 – For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

It is upon this recognition of God’s individual attention to every person that the kingdom of God is built. To become part of his kingdom, the individual opens his or her heart to the ultimate scrutiny of an all-knowing Creator. There is nothing outside of God’s gaze in his kingdom; not even what we would consider the hidden recesses of our individual hearts.

The permanent dynasty that David was seeking to establish for God’s glory was based on heart obedience. The message of the kingdom did not change over a thousand years. Even today, a further two thousand years removed from the writing to the Hebrew congregation, God’s kingdom is still based on heart obedience.

And to ensure that we have the ability to remain faithful, he still desires believers to hold each other accountable to the truth of his word so that all may be able to overcome the deceptive nature of sin.

Hebrews 3:12-13 – Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

If you enjoy these daily blog posts, be sure to visit the growing archive of the Core of the Bible podcast. Each week we take a more in-depth look at one of the various topics presented in the daily blog. You can view the podcast archive on our Podcast Page, at Core of the Bible on Simplecast, or your favorite podcast streaming service.

Now also on YouTube, find us at: Core of the Bible on YouTube.

Questions or comments? Feel free to email me directly at coreofthebible@gmail.com.

The powerful witness of integrity

We can stand out as God’s own children by speaking and acting in truth at all times.

Titus 2:7-8 – “Show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.”

Throughout the letter to Titus, Paul is instructing him how to effectively oversee the people of God who have been left in his care. Titus was to appoint leaders over the congregations in each town in Crete, and to encourage godly behavior among them all.

In the process of doing so, however, Paul is aware he may encounter opposition from detractors, especially “those of the circumcision,” (1:10). He reminds him that “[t]hey profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work,” (1:16).

To counter those who would oppose him, Paul instructs Titus in a couple of areas. First, he encourages him to “be a model good deeds” in all things. In order for believers to be taken seriously, we must practice what we preach. We all know that if we say one thing but do another, we can be accused of hypocrisy which can hurt the message of the gospel of the kingdom.

Secondly, Paul relates to Titus that “in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and wholesome speech that is above reproach…” It’s not only in our actions that we must be consistent, but even in the smallest of things we may say that may be out of bounds. Those who would oppose the things of God will look for any inconsistency in what we say to try to detract from the kingdom message.

Yeshua exhibited this ability when he was confronted by those who would oppose him. Time after time, his firm and truthful responses would silence the crowd.

Matthew 22:46 – “No one was able to answer a word, and from that day on no one dared to question Him any further.”

Luke 14:6 – “And they were unable to answer these questions.”

Luke 20:39 – “Some of the scribes answered, ‘Teacher, You have spoken well!’ And they did not dare to question Him any further.”

The apostle Peter in a similar fashion encourages the believers’ deeds to match up with what it is they professed:

1 Peter 2:12 – “Conduct yourselves with such honor among the nations that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”

The integrity of the believer should be exhibited in the consistency of the message as well as the actions that go along with that message. If we profess to know God, then we should speak and act as those who have been renewed in the image of the One who calls us to himself. This is the greatest witness to the truth of the Word of God.

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The surpassing righteousness of love

The truly righteous actions can’t be legislated.

Matthew 5:20 – “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”

Many of the scribes and the Pharisees were famous for abiding by the letter of the law in scrutinizing detail, yet they were guilty of disobeying the spirit of it.

Matthew 23:23 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.”

They had become examples of legalistic rule-following; outwardly appearing to obey the law when in their hearts they were just as wicked as the vilest law-breakers whom they would condemn. Yeshua continually called them out for their hypocrisy, and this is what enraged them against him.

For Yeshua, outward actions should stem from the sincerity of the heart; it is not possible to make the heart right just by conducting some outward ritual. This is why it is impossible to legislate morality; it must be something that springs from a place of inward purity, not just outward conformity.

Not every Pharisee or scribe was wicked, and many ultimately came to faith in Messiah among the early believers, albeit struggling to understand how the law would apply to believers in Messiah, as is demonstrated in Acts 15. However, for Yeshua, of primary concern was regenerative work of God’s Spirit on the heart.

John 3:6-8 – “Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. “The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

When the heart is right, the actions will be right. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees can only be surpassed when the actions that conform to the Word of God are sincere with no agenda or motivation for self-aggrandizement.

1 John 3:14, 16 – We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. … This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

If our true motivation is love for others, not just rule following to make ourselves look good, then we can be confident that we are doing the right thing for the right reasons. When the Spirit of God is present in our lives, we can’t help but do things that benefit others, because God is love. And only when we act in truly loving ways towards others is when our righteousness surpasses that of the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. We can then see the kingdom, and others can see the kingdom in us. It is then that the kingdom of God is manifest in our lives.

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Love unfeigned

It’s how we show true compassion for one another.

Romans 12:9-10 – “Let love be unfeigned. Abhor that which is evil; cling to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another…”

When love is encouraged in the NT writings, it is expressed with a Greek adjective sometimes translated in older versions of the Bible as unfeigned. While this can come across as an antiquated English word, the concept is a valid one. I think the word unfeigned captures it well and deserves much more use among believers today.

In ancient Greek culture, actors were called hypocrites because they would wear masks and pretend to be someone else. To feign can mean to impersonate someone else, or to act hypocritically, or to disguise one’s true intent. To feign is essentially to fake something. By contrast, if someone’s intent is unfeigned, it is therefore without hypocrisy; it is sincere, with no hidden agenda or misrepresentation.

Peter encouraged the believers to practice unfeigned love among themselves, saying it was an indication of pure souls who were following the truth of the Spirit of God.

1 Peter 1:22 – “Seeing you all have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you all love one another with a pure heart fervently…”

Paul also encouraged compassion and love for one another that is real and without hypocrisy. It was not to be just for show or out of sense of compulsion, but it was to be genuine, sincere and from the heart. Paul stated this was characteristic of how the apostles operated within their physical service to the congregations:

2 Corinthians 6:3, 6 – “[We have given] no offence in any thing, that the ministry would not be blamed: … By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned…”

They had demonstrated all of their compassionate help and the sincerity of their ministry by providing shared resources and diligent teaching among the scattered believers through the most unimaginable difficulties of physical circumstances.

2 Corinthians 6:4-5 – “But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchfulness, in fastings…”

All of these things, Paul says, were demonstrations of their unfeigned love for the brethren; this is what unfeigned love looks like in practice.

The apostle John also condemns love that is expressed as lip service only and juxtaposes that aberration to the ideal of biblical love.

1 John 3:18 – “Little children, let us not love in word or speech only, but in action and in truth.”

Peter, Paul, and John were all pointing believers toward true compassionate love for one another that actually produces fruitful actions on behalf of others. John especially gets right to the heart of the matter by stating that Yeshua set the standard by laying down his life as an act of the purest and most sincere love.

1 John 3:16-17 – “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brethren. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him – how does God’s love reside in him?”

According to these biblical principles, love unfeigned is a love that acts sincerely and through all difficulties to place the needs of others above ourselves. This should prompt us to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the true level of our love and compassion for one another today.

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Loving actions prove the sincerity of belief

Love must be proven, not just stated.

1 John 3:16-20 – “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a brother in need but withholds compassion from him – how does God’s love reside in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and truth. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.”

The apostle John has much to say when it comes to the love of God and the love of brethren for one another. Many believe this was due to John being within the “inner circle” of Yeshua’s disciples (Peter, James, and John). Others believe it is due to John’s insights into the Greek culture and being relatable to a wider audience than just the Jews of his day. While there could be many indications of John’s perspective on love, this famous portion of his first epistle carries a weighty and convicting central theme: “let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.”

It is easy to love in word or speech, to say that we love someone and yet not meet their basic needs or provide any evidence to them that we do honestly care. James has a similar thought in mind when he writes the following:

James 2:15-16 – If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?

Peter also encourages his hearers to be actively using their gifts to serve others in love.

1 Peter 4:8-10 – Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

Those who put their love into action by serving others in sincerity are the ones who are really demonstrating their compassion to others. However, John also mentions that these compassionate actions must be based on the truth. On this aspect of John’s teaching, the Cambridge Bible Commentary says:

“[Let us not love in word or speech, but] in deed and in truth: Omit the second ‘in’: the preposition is not repeated in the Greek. Tyndale and the Rhemish Version have no second ‘in’.”

This original language construction then ties the word “truth” directly to “action.” The very action itself shows the truth of the intent of the heart. The Pulpit Commentary broadens this principle a little further.

“…to love with the tongue only … is to say kind things which one does not mean, and which one knows to be unreal. Deeds are needed to complete the kind word; truth is needed to correct the insincere tongue.”

Truth is always based on something concrete, some action or real evidence, not just something someone has said. It must be proven, not just stated. Until the action is completed, the intent behind it is not demonstrated to be sincere.

Paul also reinforces this idea when he encouraged the Roman congregation to exhibit ideals that are worthy of all believers.

Romans 12:9-10 – “Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another.”

True love is not hypocritical or stated only; it is lived out and demonstrated to be true in the life of every believer. John concludes by saying, “This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.” We can know we belong to the truth when our actions line up with what we believe in our hearts. This is true compassion.

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True compassion is not hypocritical

Our lives of faith should be based on genuine care and concern for others to meet their needs.

Matthew 6:2 – When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do–blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get.

We live in an age where everything we do gets posted online, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat, our family moments, and where we spend our vacations. We have become so accustomed to “sharing” everything we do, that sometimes even our good acts of helping others get brought into the limelight of social media, as well.

Yeshua is very particular about ensuring that if we are helping others, we are doing so from a genuine concern for their welfare, not for the opportunity to appear to others as being generous. He states this privacy in an unusual way, saying that the left hand shouldn’t even know what the right hand is doing. This is a hyperbolic way of stating how the privacy of our acts of charity to others should be viewed.

When we do things for others expecting to get rewarded for it in some way, whether from our social group or from God, then the act loses its honest intent. Suddenly we are simply doing things for our own benefit, and not truly for the benefit of others. At its root, this is hypocrisy.

Yeshua had no kind words to say about hypocrisy:

Matthew 6:5 – “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.
Matthew 6:16 – “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.
Matthew 23:23 – “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law–justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

The apostle Peter, following his Messiah’s lead, includes hypocrisy in a list of evil behaviors that believers should be done with.

1 Peter 2:1 – So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.

Our lives of faith should be based on genuine care and concern for others to meet their needs, not out of a selfish desire to appear righteous to others. Be sure to always check motives when you are in a position to help someone else, and that you are doing so out of a sincere desire to love and help them in their distress, not to benefit yourself.

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Personal and Private Kindness

A true act of kindness rests within the act itself, solely for the benefit of another.

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 6:1-4

Be privately and sincerely compassionate toward those in need.

Helping others who are unable to help themselves should be a cornerstone of the practices of all believers. However, those who give or help others merely for outward recognition demonstrate the hypocrisy and pride hidden in their heart.

Yeshua relates that there is a lasting spiritual power in the sincere acts of compassion that are done for the benefits of others with no outward recognition. These are the actions that God “sees,” that are accounted as vital human interactions with real, eternal worth.

Compassion is not a business transaction where we may assist another with the hope of some sort of gain for ourselves or our organization. Real compassion is demonstrated when there is no chance of benefit to oneself. A true act of kindness rests within the act itself, solely for the benefit of another.