| by John Leitch (Canada) |
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| Christ Defines the Meaning of Leaven. This writer finds it strange why people will lock into John’s definition of sin (1 John 3:4) but completely ignore Christ’s definition of leaven (Matt. 16:11-12). Christ’s explanation of leavening in this case is doctrine (Strong’s #1322-didache- meaning instruction or teaching-Matt. 16:11-12. I believe a broader definition of leaven would be “something that causes change by its influence” and teaching is just one way. Teaching can be based on sincerity and truth (God the Father’s leavening) or can be based on deception and untruth (Satan’s leavening). Teaching (or doctrine) in and by itself, can be either correct or it can be misguided. As humans, we all have been deceived into accepting a wrong type of leavening which allows Satan to influence us, but few people realize the Bible also speaks of a good type of leavening (Lev. 7:13, Lev. 23:17, Matt. 13:33) that influences in a good way. Sincerity and truth, leavened with correct teaching (Strong’s #1322). This paper’s purpose is to show the bread Christ offered His disciples at the Last Supper, was a kind of bread, different than the unleavened type. Unleavened bread typifies affliction, remembering coming out of the bondage of Egypt (Deut 16:3) and also typifies sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8). The bread that represented Christ was bread much different than the unleavened type. The bread that represented Christ, had an effect of comfort (Matt. 11:29-30) not affliction; and hope of eternal life (John 6:51), not fear that death was a certainty because of sin. The bread offered at the Last Supper was symbolic of sincerity and truth leavened with correct teaching. Jesus Christ is the living word of God (truth) and is the light (teacher who supplies doctrine (Strong’s #1322) of the way (John 14:6 & John 1:4). In eating unleavened bread for seven days each Passover season, we gain a knowledge and appreciation for the true bread (Jesus Christ) that came from heaven, offered to us by the Father (John 6:32-33). Is sincerity (attitude) and truth (God’s word=the Bible) all that’s needed? If all a person needed was a bible and the right attitude, then the gift of a teacher supplying doctrine and influence would not be necessary (Eph 4:11). The bible is the most published book ever and most people in North America have one in their home, but what influence has it had on their lives? The Ethiopian eunuch was sincere and had the truth (scripture) in his hand but was in complete confusion until Philip supplied the teaching (or leavening—Acts 8:27-35). The teaching (or leavening) of the Pharisees had an opposite effect, it led people away from God (Matt. 23:15). This is the type of “old” leavening Christ warned about and Paul wants us to purge out. Was Jesus Christ Devoid of Leaven (Doctrine or influence)? It seems strange that a person could think Jesus Christ is devoid of leavening (influence); after all, there is a lot of teaching in the “sermon on the mount” alone. One of the titles people addressed Christ by, was “teacher” (John 3:2). The main purpose of a teacher is to have an influence on their students. If we let Christ explain the meaning of leaven as doctrine (Matt. 16:11-12), then has not “traditional Christianity” missed the mark by saying “His body is represented by bread that is lacking leaven”? After all, if unleavened bread is the bread of affliction and with no leavening (influence), then is a person not saying “The bread which represents Jesus’ body is an affliction to me, and without any influence? As Paul would say “let it not be”. Christ equated His words (doctrine) to spirit (John 6:63) and His influence, will have its effect (Proverbs 22:6) if one does not rebel against it. The symbolic bread of “the last supper” changed in the 8th century AD. Christ established true doctrine and people were amazed by His doctrine or teaching (Matt. 7:28, Matt. 22:33, Mark 1:22). Unger’s Bible Dictionary makes the claim (under the “Lord’s Supper” heading) that the Latin Church changed its representation of Christ from leaven to unleavened bread in the 8th century C. E. and I presume they have documentation of this. Are we to believe the early church that had been taught by the Apostles or had been taught by teachers the Apostles taught, had no idea what kind of bread typified Christ? Did it take approximately 600 years removed from the fact, to finally have teachers from Rome come and explain the proper type of bread to use? This writer finds this hard to believe. People today seem to disagree with the meaning Christ gave to leaven. Many people today understand leaven to be a Bible representation of only sin, rather than an alternative meaning Christ gave it as doctrine (Matt. 16:11-12). When leaven is understood as an influence (teaching in Matt. 16:11-12) it becomes clearer why they left the leavening or influence of Egypt behind (Ex. 12:39) and pressed on toward the mountain. At the mountain we find two loaves that are strangely enough, now leavened (Lev. 23:17). If leaven is only sin, as some would speculate, then why is it in these two loaves? God does not accept sin or a blemished offering. Could these two loaves represent Israel and the Gentiles who came out of Egypt with them? The Church in the New Testament also seems to be two distinct groups; the circumcised and the uncircumcised (Acts 11:1-3 & 1 Cor. 7:18). The two groups that escaped Egypt now had Jesus Christ’s leavening (teaching and influence) in their midst (1 Cor. 10:3-4). This is only speculation on my part. Throwing out the “old leaven” and becoming a new lump is the responsibility of called out people; not Christ. The culture of Egypt was nothing more than men influenced by Satan (Rev. 12:9). Satan’s influence is not only false (John 8:44), but it also leads to malice and wickedness. Paul called it the “old leaven” (influence or teaching) in 1 Corinthians 5:8. It is the called-out people who are to throw out the “old” leaven and influences that lead to malice and wickedness. It is the people who are to become a new unleavened lump, not Christ. Christ never did or ever will have this “old” type of leaven. The Messiah brings the true doctrine and influence to be added to the called-out people after they have dispelled the “old” teachings and influences (or leaven). Repentance (purging out the “old” leaven) comes before receiving the Holy Spirit (the true leaven). This true influence will act much in the same way as “the starter” in sour dough bread. Strong’s Definitions In the Bible, the Greek word for unleavened (bread) is “azumos” (Strong’s 106) used nine times in the New Testament and the Greek word for ordinary leavened bread is “artos” used at least seventy-two times (Strong’s #740). When a person mentioned leaven at the time of the Apostles, “artos” automatically came to mind (Matt. 16:6-7). The two were related in the people’s minds of that day. In the Last Supper accounts (the day before The Feast of Unleavened Bread) in Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22 and Luke 22:19, Jesus took bread (artos), blessed it, broke it and gave it to the disciples. Christ claimed this artos (strong’s #740) represented His body. Christ also compared himself to leavened bread (artos) in John 6:33 where He called Himself the bread of life. Why did Christ, repeatedly compare Himself to “artos”? Artos is a word with its primary meaning, “a raised loaf”. Did the witnesses of the last supper, really witness “azumos” (unleavened) but instead recorded “artos”? What motive would they have to use a word with its primary meaning opposite to what they had witnessed? Also, a word which people of that day related to leaven (Matt.16:6-7). This writer believes the witnesses recorded “artos” because it was artos, the same bread the early church used up until the 8th century when it was changed by the Latin Church (according to Unger’s Bible Dictionary). Christ did not come to abolish the law. We all realize the law requires all bible-believing people to eat unleavened bread for only seven days once a year (Lev. 23:6). If unleavened bread is commanded to be eaten also on the 14th of Nisan, would that not make eight days in a row, instead of seven? By cleaning our house of leaven each year, we are symbolically throwing the “old leaven” (old doctrine and vile influences) out of our lives much in the same way as Israel left the leavening of Egypt behind. Christ did not come to abolish the law (Matt. 5:17-18) so this is still required of us today. This unleavened bread is called the bread of sincerity and truth (I Cor. 5:8) but is also called the bread of affliction (Deut. 16:3). We must throw out the old leaven (“old” influences) and strive for sincerity and truth (thy word is truth-John 17:17). Sincerity and truth, in and by their selves are entirely unleavened as far as the “old leaven” to which Paul referred. Paul also orders the people to not observe the feast with the leaven (influences) of malice and wickedness. If malice and wickedness are not purged, they will grow and spread. Their influence can be seen at a church gathering in 1 Corinthians 11:18-22. Lesson learned by the baking of bread. Paul, in 1 Cor. 5 draws a parallel between the spiritual growth of a Christian and the bread making process. Paul points out, that we should not keep the feast with the old leaven (or teaching). Much of the old doctrine of men, constituted teachings leading to bondage (Acts 15:10 & Gal. 5:1) and a behavior of malice and wickedness. Sincerity and truth, explained by a person with the gift of teacher (Eph. 4:11) are the opposite of that. We should not be leavened with either the old influences or evil practices (1 Cor. 5:11 & 1 Cor. 11:18-22). Discarding these old influences has given us the opportunity of a new beginning. The idea is to get back to the basic pure ingredients (sincerity and truth) and to start again. People who throw away their old doctrines and evil practices (“old” leaven) are compared to a new batch of dough. The point most people miss is that in bread making, the first thing you do to a new batch of dough is to mix in the leaven starter. The starter (the piece that has influence) is sometimes called the living bread because it contains a living organism. Christ also referred to Himself as the living bread that brings life (John 6:51 & verse 57). Does this living bread sound like unleavened bread with no life in it that cannot influence, or reproduce itself? A small amount of the living bread (the starter) changes the whole loaf. Bread through most of history, was made by a process that is known as “sour dough”. A small amount of leavened dough from the previous batch is mixed into the new batch. The pioneers used this method to make their bread. Sometimes the starter could live on (it contains a living organism) for many years. If people thought their neighbor had better tasting bread, they would request a piece of that neighbor’s starter. The starter contains life and under its influence would reproduce (with the proper conditions and time) a product identical to the original loaf the starter came from (if the ingredients were the same). “The property of a leavened product is to change or assimilate to its own nature the meal or dough with which it is mixed” (Adam Clarke) and Christ’s leavening (influence) will have a similar effect. Christ came from the Father and is now residing in each called out person. Using Christ’s definition of leaven as teaching (Matt. 16:11-12) we can see that if we are subject to His influence, then we will become more Christ like as time goes by. Throwing out the “old leaven” and baptism, teach a very similar lesson. A person, when they understand how bread was made throughout much of history, can see the similarity between de-leavening and baptism. Baptism represents the death of the old person who was deceived by “old” teaching and influences and sometimes was full of malice and wickedness (I Cor. 5:8). The average person, with their focus mainly on the concerns of how they can make it in this competitive world, views the laws of God as foolishness. This is the very person that we put to death through baptism. Although baptism symbolizes death, we must not remain dead, flat and lifeless. The Christian must rise in the newness of life (Rom. 6:4-5, Col. 3:9-10) and renewed in knowledge. De-leavening also represents death because leaven is a living organism that will multiply and by removing it, you take that influence out of the host substance. (In this case, the influence that caused the old person to be off track and sometimes filled with wickedness and malice). When this old leaven is removed, all that is left is, the basic pure ingredients of sincerity and truth. Being sincere and having truth is not enough. We need Christ’s leavening (teaching and influence) to understand truth. That is what the “sermon on the mount” was all about. A person needs a life-giving force, (like the leaven starter in the sour-dough bread), to give them the knowledge to obey God’s laws (Rom. 2:13): feed the hungry, visit the sick, watch over the fatherless, etc. Nature hates a vacuum. If a person remains in an unleavened state (of no teaching or good influence) for an extended period of time, sometimes the old leaven (the bad influence) will return stronger than before. Matthew 12:43-45 brings out this principle, although in this case it is about demons. The old man who was buried in the baptismal waters, could possibly return even more powerful than when he was buried, if no good influence replaces the bad influence. I realize this is opposite to what many have believed over the years, but I would like the reader to notice how Christ’s doctrine or teaching makes the law come alive, with the parable of the “good Samaritan” (Luke 10:30-36). Without Christ’s teaching, the people who passed the injured man without offering assistance reasoned that they had transgressed no law. Is Christ required to throw out his true doctrine (Leavening) to comply with the law? Is Christ’s leavening (doctrine and influence) regarded as the “old leaven” to which Paul referred? Some people point to Christ giving bread (Artos = Strong’s 740) to the two men in Luke 24:30, and say that it would be against the law to have leavened bread because it was the Days of Unleavened Bread. The bread offered to the two men was leavened (artos) but not with the leaven that represented the “old influences”, but it was bread that symbolically represented the Messiah and His true doctrine. The two men, when supplied this bread which symbolized Christ Himself, recognized the Messiah instantly and we will also. Is there anyone that would believe there is old leaven in bread that represents Christ, who is the bread of life and leavened with the pure leaven (or influence) of the Father (John 6:57)? The only leaven Paul orders people to discard is the “old leaven” (old false teachings and influences). Why else would Paul use the word old, if there was not a new type to replace it? During “The Feast of Unleavened Bread”, all bread leavening belonging to humans is symbolically regarded as “old”, but this was bread, which was offered by and represented Christ Himself, the bread of life. This was a one time symbolic supernatural event. Just to restate again; “The property of a leavened product (good or bad) is to change or assimilate to its own nature the meal or dough with which it is mixed”. Many people see the seriousness of purging out the old false leaven so it will not grow and engulf their whole person but are totally blind to the effect that the true leaven will have on them. We as Christians must choose life and feed on Christ’s symbolic body. After all, that was one of the main reasons Christ came to mankind (John 10:10). “Christ is the bread of life” (John 6:48). This writer finds much comfort in knowing that the true influence (Christ) will act in a similar way as did the “old”. It will be a process that will never stop until it is complete. The end result (if a hostile environment is not created to replace it) will be a person in the very image of God. We are in the process of being transformed (II Cor. 3:18). This has been God’s will from the beginning (Gen. 1:26); to create a man that will not sin (1 John 3:9). This, of course, can only come about with the fulfillment of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31 – 34, Heb. 8:8 – 13). In summary, just as there are two ways to mark the death of the Messiah (the first way is the biblical Passover and the second, the traditional Good Friday), there also seems to be two ways to partake of the bread and wine. A Use unleavened bread, that has never had life in it and is incapable of reproducing itself. This bread has no leaven (represented as doctrine in one place-Matt. 16:11-12 but I believe in a broader sense, can mean influence that causes change) contained in it. This method of traditional Christianity frequently has unleavened bread and most often is supervised by an official representing their particular religious division. B Use leavened bread, the same as was used by the early called out people for over 600 years, up until it was changed to unleavened bread by the Latin Church. Each person has their own personal responsibility. Each reader must personally determine what best typifies Christ for their self (Phil. 2:12), unleavened bread that lacks any influence or doctrine (Christ’s definition of leaven) and could never in its existence reproduce; or the leavened bread that has no limitations on its influence. If you answered leavened, the bible does seem to agree. The bread is called “Artos”, with its primary meaning as, “a raised loaf” (Strong’s 740). |
| Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Are You Sure Leaven Is Symbolic of Sin? Article by John Leitch Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota) |
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| Many times, an article can be true but the conclusions the writer comes to can be wrong. Not because the writer is trying to deceive anyone on purpose, but because he or she does not understand a certain point that he or she is writing about and it throws the entire conclusion off. In this instance, the Bible does talk about good and bad leaven and I like the way John has described that in this article. On the other hand, because they ate leavened bread for the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23) and I did check, it is leavened bread, John then comes to the conclusion that for the Passover we can choose to eat leavened bread. What makes the conclusion wrong is as follows: Exodus 12:15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. (KJV) That means the Days of Unleavened Bread are only seven days long. According to the Hebrew Calendar Passover week starts on the 15th of Nisan and runs to the 21st. Or from the 14th at even until the 20th at even. Either way you word it, it is seven days, and it is talking about the same period of time. Because the Worldwide Church of God taught Passover on the early part of the 14th which coincides with what is known as the Lords Supper in the Bible this has caused a lot of misunderstanding as well as contention. Where the problem comes in is that Christ had to keep His last Passover Meal the day before the preparation for the Passover because he was going to die the next day as the Passover Lamb with all the other Passover Lambs. The thing is that you cannot eat the Passover Lamb before it is killed but you can eat lamb. So, Christ was killed with the Passover Lambs the day after what is known as the Lords Supper in the Bible. The Passover Lambs were killed on the preparation day for the Passover which would be the latter part of the 14th of Nisan. Passover/Days of Unleavened Bread starts the minute that the 14th of Nisan turns into the 15th of Nisan or at Even. Days are reckoned from one evening to the next evening instead of from 12 Midnight to 12 Midnight. So, since the Lords Supper was kept before Passover/Unleavened Bread started, it was perfectly okay for Christ and His disciples to eat leavened bread. But once Passover/Unleavened Bread starts we are commanded to eat unleavened bread for seven days. Worldwide Church of God taught that Passover (Bread and Wine) should be kept on the beginning of the 14th and that a night to be much observed should be kept on the actual night of Passover/1st Day of Unleavened Bread when in reality both the bread and the wine and the meal should all be on the same night, the very beginning of the 15th of Nisan. Then scripture fits perfectly, and it explains exactly why it was leavened bread they ate at what is called the Lords Supper. Also, the wave offering is a grain offering which is offered during the Days of Unleavened Bread and the Wave Loaves which are leavened do not happen until Pentecost. |
| Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Are You Sure Leaven Is Symbolic of Sin? Article by John Leitch Comments by John Leitch (Canada) and by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota) |
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| John Leitch writes: It’s good to see your newsletter is back and I hope you and Darwin are in good health and doing fine. I was looking at your summary of my article and think you missed the point I was making. There is nowhere in my article that I suggest leavened bread could be eaten with the “Passover lamb”. That would be a transgression of the covenant that is to last throughout all of Israel’s generations. Laura Lee writes: Then your article is misleading as first you say: “In summary, just as there are two ways to mark the death of the Messiah (the first way is the biblical Passover and the second, the traditional Good Friday), there also seems to be two ways to partake of the bread and wine.” And then you go into people having to choose leavened bread or unleavened bread when they partake of the bread, the wine, and the foot washing. You are certainly making it sound like you are either talking about Passover or Good Friday and we all know they don’t do bread, wine and foot washing on Good Friday. John Leitch writes: Laura, you correctly state that the “Feast of Unleavened bread” is only for 7 days, and it begins with the “Passover meal”. Christ’s last supper was many hours before this meal and it did contain leavened bread. Has anyone attempted to make a sop out of unleavened bread? The liquid it soaks up is very limited (John 13:26). Laura Lee writes: I totally agreed with you in my response that the bread used at “The Last Supper” was leavened bread. However, The Lord’s Supper was a onetime event and Christ was not dead yet. John Leitch writes: A second point I would like to make is, my Father has given Israel a calendar for them to observe His appointed times (Leviticus chapter 23). If the Passover meal can be moved to a different date on that calendar to suit a person’s personal preference, then there was nothing wrong with Jeroboam moving Tabernacles to the eighth month (1 Kings 12:32). Also, there would be nothing wrong with delaying my Father’s rest day (Sabbath) one day to the first day of the week as Rome has done. Laura, with all due respect, my Father does not allow anyone to mess with His calendar unless written permission is given beforehand as it is in Numbers 9:11. Permission is given here to move the Passover meal & sacrifice one month. It is not a license to shuffle the appointed times to whatever date on the calendar suits us. Laura Lee writes: As far as the calendar goes, I am using the exact same Hebrew Calendar that has been used for centuries. The same calendar that was used at the time of Christ and was calculated by the Sanhedrin. We keep the original Holy Day dates on that calendar. If you want to accuse someone of changing the calendar and then teaching the wrong dates to several thousand people, please look to Herbert Armstrong and The Worldwide Church of God for that problem. Herbert Armstrong taught many true and correct things to thousands of people, but he did not have everything right. He also taught some things that were wrong. The Hebrew Calendar we use here is the exact same calendar that Herbert Armstrong used and taught, but he taught Passover and Pentecost on different dates than the original calendar. We keep Passover on the early part of Nisan 15, with the bread, the wine, the foot washing and a meal. We do not keep a Lord’s Supper on the early part of Nisan 14 because we are not commanded in scripture to do so. John Leitch writes: The Passover season is an 8-day celebration with preparation day (the day the lamb is sacrificed) being the 1st day in that celebration (Deuteronomy 16:4). Preparation day is followed by the 7-day celebration of Unleavened bread. What was Christ doing on this His last “preparation day supper” on this earth? To be simply put, Christ was preparing His disciples for what was to happen later on this same day. Laura Lee writes: Deuteronomy 16:4 tells us about the Feast of Passover being kept for seven days and that the lamb that was killed on the latter part of the 14th of Nisan “between the two evenings” (Noon to Sunset) should not be left until morning or in other words the morning after the Passover kept on the 15th of Nisan at Sunset. Deu 16:4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. Exo 34:25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. Since the bread symbolically represents Christs body and the wine symbolically represents Christ’s blood, then what does Exo. 34:25 say? “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.” That should clear up your argument that it is okay to have leavened bread with the wine and the foot washing on the early 14th or any other time. The Lords Supper was a one-time event and Christ wasn’t dead yet. Once Christ was killed with the Passover Lambs there was no longer a need to sacrifice Lambs and the symbols of Passover were changed from the Lamb to the bread, the wine, and the foot washing. What was Christ doing at His last supper on the early part of the 14th of Nisan? He was telling all of us that because He was the Passover Lamb, that sacrifice was no longer needed and to replace the Lamb with the bread, the wine, and the foot washing and to do it with a meal. The “Last Supper” was not the Passover, but it was symbolic of what we are to do on the night of the Passover. Again, there is no command anywhere in the Bible for us to keep the “Lord’s Supper” on one day and the Passover the next day. That teaching came from Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God. John Leitch writes: The “last supper” and the “Passover meal” cannot be combined because one contains leavened bread and the other unleavened bread, also they have different lessons to be taught. –The “last supper” (14th) is a somber meal that is a memorial of Christ’s sacrifice (1 Corinthians 11:21) and if a person looks into a mirror, they will see who is responsible for that death. The bread & wine memorial is so important that if it is not given the respect it deserves, sickness or death could be the result (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). –The “Passover meal” (15th) on the other hand, is a very joyous celebration of freedom. The best dishes & food comes out, and the story of Moses and Pharaoh is retold. It celebrates our forefathers being broken free from Egypt but more importantly us today, being broken free from the bondage of this modern world. Laura Lee writes: The bread, the wine, the foot washing and the meal were all meant to be kept on Passover. The splitting of these two events was the invention of Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God because of their misunderstanding of scripture. The Passover is still a somber occasion and what follows is a joyous time. The Passover is the memorial of Christ’s Sacrifice. You cannot have a memorial of something before it has died or been sacrificed. A memorial is always something that is done after the fact. So, claiming that “The Lord’s Supper” is a memorial of Christs death is FALSE. “The Lord’s Supper” took place before Christ and the Passover Lambs were killed. The Passover Lambs were not killed until the end of the 14th “Between the two Evenings” or between Noon and Sunset. The Passover on the early part of the 15th is what is the Memorial of Christ’s death. It is on a Holy Day. The following scripture is talking about Passover being a Memorial. Exo 12:14 And this day shall be to you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations: ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. John Leitch writes: It appears this misunderstanding is coming from the common idea of some people that the “last supper” was an early “Passover Meal”. To start with, could a person have an official “Passover meal” without a Passover lamb (while the temple was still standing)??? Why would the disciples think Judas was leaving the “last Supper” to go buy supplies (John 13:29)? Does any person leave the very important and commanded “Passover meal”, to go shopping? The focus of the article was to point out that leaven was an influence (whether it be bad or good) and both our enemy (Satan) and our Messiah (Christ) have influence. The whole idea is to throw out the former and embrace Christ. It is unsettling to think that anyone thought my aim was to persuade people to transgress the covenant by eating leaven with the Passover Sacrifice. Laura Lee writes: There is no misunderstanding John, you are teaching that “The Lord’s Supper” (or for those that call this Passover) is to be kept on the early part of the 14th of Nisan. There is no Biblical command to do this. You are also teaching that the bread that represents Christ’s body be leavened bread and it is okay to eat it with the wine which represents Christ’s blood. Exo 34:25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. |
| Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Are You Sure Leaven Is Symbolic of Sin? Article by John Leitch Comments by Alfio La Spina (Victoria British Columbia) |
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| Joh_13:26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Joh_13:27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Joh_13:30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night. G5596 (Strong’s) ψωμίον psōmion pso-mee’-on Diminutive from a derivation of the base of G5597; a crumb or morsel (as if rubbed off), that is, a mouthful: – sop. Total KJV occurrences: 4 If the sop was a piece of bread, it was leavened because that was not the first day of Unleavened Bread. Editor’s Note: I think Strong’s let us down. There should have been an explanation in Strong’s to show that artos could include both leavened and unleavened bread. I think John W. Ritenbaugh has this right in his article titled “Was the Sop Leavened or Unleavened? (John 13:26-27)” See Issue #27. (Laura Lee) |
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