Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Old leaven - the remnant of the "old" (Ephesians 4:22-24) paganish and natural corruption. The Jews used extreme care in searching their houses, and 'purging out' every particle of leaven at the Passover (Deuteronomy 16:3-4). So Christians are continually to search and purify their hearts (Psalms 139:23-24).
As ye are unleavened - in relation to your Christian calling, free from the leaven of sin (1 Corinthians 6:11). Paul often grounds exhortations on the assumption of Christian professors realizing their high calling (Romans 6:3-4). Regarding the Church as the Passover 'unleavened lump,' he entreats them to correspond in fact with the Christian normal state. 'For Christ our Passover (Exodus 12:1-51; John 1:29) was once for all (aorist: English version, "is") sacrificed.' The feast of unleavened bread followed the slaying of the lamb: so Christ having been once for all sacrificed, the feast is now going on, in which let there be no leaven of evil left unpurged from among you, the 'unleavened lump.' He alludes to the Passover two or three weeks before kept by the Jewish Christians (1 Corinthians 16:8). The Jewish Passover naturally gave place to our Christian Easter. The time, however, of keeping feast (of which the Lord's supper is representative) - i:e., leading the Christian life of joy in Christ's finished work (cf. Proverbs 15:15) - is not limited, as the Passover, to one season, but is ALL our time: for the benefits of the once-for-all completed sacrifice of our Lamb extends through all this Christian dispensation: in no part of our time is the leaven of evil to be admitted.
For us. So 'Aleph ('). But A B Delta G f g, Vulgate, omit.