Beware of Leaven

What is leaven? How does it concern us today?

Photo by Nadya Spetnitskaya on Unsplash

Introduction

Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6, NKJV)

Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” (Mark 8:15, NKJV)

In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (Luke 12:1, NKJV)

In the above parallel passages, the Lord Jesus made a declaration to His disciples. This declaration is the subject of this article.

Beware; take heed

A common thread running through these parallel passages is the word ‘beware’. When you come across such a word in Scripture, you need to apply the brakes. ‘Beware’ tells us to tread cautiously; to take necessary precaution regarding a matter; to be careful. It is, therefore, a warning!

In the portions of Matthew 16:6 and Mark 8:15, the phrase “Take heed” precedes the word ‘beware’. On its own, this phrase—take heed—should get any avid listener to be attentive as it means “listen attentively” “pay close attention” or “listen closely” (because what is about to follow can save your life)!

So, when both “take heed” and “beware” are used in the same sentence, the matter must be of extreme seriousness, more so, coming from the Lord Jesus Christ!

Pay close attention and be cautious of what?

Jesus warns His disciples to be cautious of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and of Herod—or Herodians (as per Amplified Bible). In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were religious leaders, the Herodians, politicians, and the Sadducees, a hybrid of both—they were politicians using religion as a cloak. So, the Lord warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of these religious and political leaders.

The Lord’s warning requires a more in-depth probing concerning what we are to pay close attention to and be careful about! In this article, we shall focus on leaven and in another article, the purveyors of leaven.

What is leaven?

When Jesus mentioned the word ‘leaven’, His disciples thought He was referring to the bread that people ingest because the people of Jesus’ day usually referred to bread as leaven. But what is leaven?

Leaven is the equivalent of yeast today. It was mixed in the dough to make bread, and its usefulness in bread-making was to make the dough rise before it is put in the oven to bake. When the Lord told His disciples to be careful of these religious and political leaders’ leaven, they were confused, and rightly so because they never realized that religious and political leaders could engage in baking or selling bread! Matthew captures their reaction and the clearing up of their misunderstanding by the Lord thus:

And they [the disciples] reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to 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 doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:7-12, NKJV)

So, when the Lord was talking to His disciples about these religious and political leaders’ leaven, He used the word ‘leaven’ metaphorically. Thus, leaven is the religious and political leaders’ doctrine, teaching, ideology, principles, philosophies, way of life, etc.

We, today’s disciples of Jesus—Christians—would do well to take heed as well, for strange things are happening in our day that befuddles the mind.

The usage of the word ‘leaven’ in Scripture

In Scripture, generally, leaven is a metaphor for a foreign, external, evil, contaminating, or corrupting influence. But then in Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21, leaven is likened to the kingdom of God! Does that mean that the kingdom of God is evil? Absolutely not!

There are two schools of thought on the use of leaven as an allegory for the kingdom of God:  Some say that ‘leaven’ describes a fast, favourable, fascinating influence of the kingdom of God in the world. Others say that ‘leaven’ represents the crafty, creeping/crawling, contaminating spread of false doctrines as it corrupts the doctrine of Christ in the hearts of those who lack understanding or spiritual depth!

In the context of Matthew 16:6, Mark 8:15, and Luke 12:1, however, and supported overwhelmingly by other verses of Scripture (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9), leaven signifies the evil corrupting influence of false doctrine. Let me note here that doctrine is more than teaching, ideology, or philosophy; it is also a way of life and principles for living by such creed.

Let us probe a little deeper into this matter of leaven.

The characteristics of leaven

Why did the Lord use leaven as a metaphor for the religious and political leaders’ doctrine?

1.    Leaven is foreign to the dough and changes its constitution. Bread in its purest form is dough without leaven—unleavened bread. However, when you add leaven to the dough, it changes the nature of bread and the resulting bread is called leaven and rightly so—meaning leavened, corrupted, or impure bread!

2.    Only a little leaven is needed to saturate a whole dough. Hence, the Bible says,

A little leaven leavens the whole lump. (Galatians 5:9, NKJV)

Paul was here inferring the rabid spread of the doctrine of circumcision as the basis for salvation throughout Galatia.

3.    Leaven makes the dough rise, but the resulting bread or leaven is less weighty. False doctrine gives the impression of a life-transforming message but produces putrefying flatulence and nothing else when ingested instead.

Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:16, NKJV)

Indeed, false doctrines can make those who follow them feel like they are doing okay spiritually, but they fall apart when adversity arises. False doctrines make people worthless and give false hope! Sadly, people have established whole congregations on such falsehood!

4.    Although leaven takes time to fill the dough, yet once introduced, it saturates the entire dough. False doctrine starts small in a corner but soon fills Christendom, and before long gains prominence and passes as ‘gospel’! But hear what Paul said to the Galatians:

I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and are accepting another gospel. Actually, there is no “other gospel,” but I say this because there are some people who are upsetting you and trying to change the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-7, GNB)

Paul was disconcerted that the Christians in the region of Galatia had succumbed to the strange doctrine of salvation through circumcision; calling it ‘gospel’. It is important to note that Galatia was not a city or town; it was a region made up of several cities, towns, and villages, emphasizing the extent to which false doctrines can spread.

What to do about ‘leaven’

1.    Avoid them completely. In the light of the devastating and sometimes irreversible impact of false doctrine or philosophies/ideologies, Christians would do well to avoid teachings or philosophies of false prophets or politicians masquerading as religious leaders altogether.

2.    Quickly identify and neutralize them. As leaven in the dough, false doctrine is foreign to—and should never mix with—the doctrine of Christ, and is harmful to the soul. You must, therefore, quickly identify and instantly neutralize it. Unfortunately, if false teaching ever takes root, nothing can be done but to circumvent it—an arduous task for a young believer in Christ. (see Matthew 13:24-30)

3.    Continually fill your mind with the word of God. Though false doctrine may seem harmless and insignificant, yet their impact and spread are devastating. To keep it out, always fill your mind with the word of God:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2, NKJV)

Do not allow into your mind, any unscriptural teaching, no matter how well it may sound. Remember that

a little leaven leavens the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:6, NKJV)

and indeed entire congregations have been contaminated with false doctrine!

Though they may take time to corrupt or contaminate a Christian’s walk with God or a local assembly’s lifestyle, false doctrines will undoubtedly continue to work therein until they turn the believer/local congregation entirely away from God. Thus, continually fill your life with the word of God and sound doctrine! And for the ministers of the gospel,

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. (2 Timothy 4:2-4, NKJV)

4.    Be watchful and prayerful at all times. The Lord warned us to be observant and prayerful, lest we fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41). The devil does not present false doctrine as obviously abhorrent; he makes it sound right and plausible enough for the unsuspecting. If you are not watchful and prayerful, you also can be taken in. Can you imagine how many times you have fallen for Satan’s tricks?

The Lord taught us to pray,

“. . . do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13, NKJV)

The Holy Spirit, through Peter, warns us to

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9, NKJV)

Take heed and beware!

For those who are discerning and heaven-conscious, the Lord’s remark about leaven is a crucial statement of caution. Doctrines and teachings from people who seem religious can subvert and have subverted whole congregations and peoples groups.

Unleavened bread is dense and tough to tear and chew, but only a little of it is satisfying; so is the doctrine of Christ. In the absence of leaven, the doctrine of Christ seems uninteresting, but it is the bread of life! Once you introduce the leaven of false doctrine into Christian living, it becomes the bread of lies, leading to death! It may be dainty to the palate, but it leads to death!

Therefore, take heed and beware of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians' leaven—the doctrines, teachings, philosophies, ideologies, principles, manner of living, etc. of religious and political leaders. These religious leaders and their counterpart politicians masquerading as religious leaders are very much alive and in our midst—beware! We shall be looking at these individuals who introduce and spread leaven in another article—“The Purveyors of Leaven”.