The NIV translation of the Bible makes a sincere attempt to translate the Bible into modern, easily understood language, and rework archaic language and misunderstood concepts. But in so doing it has selected English words which often dilute the meaning and SPIRIT of the original text. LEAVEN is one such word.
At the time of Jesus, women didn't simply go down to their local grocery store and buy a package of YEAST. In fact, the ACTIVE ingredient, YEAST, was not well understood until modern Micro-biology came along. Taking the Greek word "ZUME," and translating it to YEAST, rather than the original LEAVEN, belies the understanding of the times, and leaves misunderstood in our time, the deeper mysteries of leaven. YEAST can remain in a sealed packet for months, possible years, dormant. LEAVEN on the other hand is NOT dormant. It works its life-giving magic, unseen within the BODY of the dough where it was placed.
That is why LEAVEN is so illustrative of the mysterious internal spiritual growth that is compared the Kingdom of Heaven.
MATTHEW 13:33 "He [Jesus] told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like LEAVEN which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.'"
In THE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE COMMENTARY, by Walvoord and Zuck, we read: "... some feel that Jesus had in mind here the dynamic character of yeast. The nature of yeast is such that once the process of leavening begins, it is impossible to stop. Perhaps, Jesus was implying that those who profess to belong to the kingdom would GROW IN NUMBERS [emphasis added] and NOTHING would be able to stop their advance. This idea fits with the nature of yeast and makes sense in the flow of these parables."
To "grow in numbers" is better illustrated by fire or even seeds at harvest time, than of flower and leaven. To illustrate growth in numbers, Jesus might have used a parable about the spreading of a wildfire. And "nothing would be able to stop their advance" is a direct rebuttal to the parable of the sower where some seed fell victim to birds, dry, rocky ground, thorns and finally to weeds.
Leaven works its mystery INTERNALLY, hidden within the dough, not EXTERNALLY to be seen by others. How it is done, was a mystery, although they could see the dough coming to life, growing, becoming consumed and enriched by the unseen forces within it. For what is leaven but dough that has been given LIFE?
As the dough is divided into three portions, one portion becomes the leavening for the next days preparation of bread. But you cannot let that leaven die, else you must start again from scratch with berries and cane, let that ferment, and kneed that into dough to form new leavening.
Pioneer housewives understood the tremendous worth of a good lump of leavening. They always saved out a portion of the day's leavened dough for the next batch and great care was taken to see that the lump of leavening would not harden and loose its effectiveness. The cost in time and labor to produce new leaven from scratch was a terrific burden compared to now, when we simply purchase a small packet of yeast from our local grocer. Clearly there is a difference between YEAST and LEAVEN, and between dough that has LIFE and the dough that does NOT. Equal portions of both, the eye cannot tell them apart, but inside, ONE has LIFE within it, and the other one is DEAD. In another use of the LIFE within DOUGH, Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees:
JOHN 6:30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? [prove to us who you say you are!] What will YOU do? (v.31) Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" (v.32) Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is NOT Moses who HAS GIVEN you the bread from heaven [the OLD Covenant], but it is my FATHER who GIVES you the TRUE BREAD from heaven [the NEW Covenant]. (v.33) For the bread of God is HE who comes down from heaven and gives LIFE [leaven] to the whole world." (v.34) "Sir," they said, "from now on, give us THIS bread." [Compare this to Matt 6:11, "Give us this day our daily bread."] (v.35) Then Jesus declared, "I AM the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and him who believes in me will never be thirsty." [see: LIVING WATER: John 4:10]
In vs. 48-51, Jesus talks again of "the bread of Life," Then, in verse 63: "The Spirit gives LIFE; the flesh counts for nothing. The WORDS I have spoken to you are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE."
This point is placed squarely into the parable of the leaven: The LEAVEN gives LIFE; the FLOUR, the world, counts for nothing. As pointed out by Jesus in John 3:6: "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit." So now, a truer picture develops as to the real significance of the Parable of the Leaven: The Woman is Jesus Christ, the Leaven, his WORDS, his TEACHING, and the lifeless flower, is us, the whole world, in the flesh, and of the flesh, spiritually lifeless.
Why three measures? Here the parable illustrates the reality of the day. Just as in reality, seeds do fall to the floor, some grow, some don't, the women in Jesus day did all the baking once a day, not before every meal. Getting the oven hot enough for baking and then baking a single loaf of bread was a terrible waste of energy and resources. The use of three in the parable, simply illustrates the way in which break making was done in those days. Looking back now, we could assign to this a meaning which were clear only later, that being the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But certainly LIFE does not need to be worked into any of these three. The dough represents the flesh, human beings.
The use of leaven to illustrate the Word, the doctrine, of Jesus Christ come to reside within us, d the internal, personal, and dynamic, nature of his Word. How, when you take a lifeless lump of dough, as we are, and give LIFE to, it in the form of the teachings of Jesus (leaven), within such a short time, the entire batch is entirely consumed by his Holy Word.
By extension, it is also illustrative of how the kingdom of God is passed on. As one batch of dough has the LIFE put into it, it must be FULLY CONSUMED before the cook can TRUST completely that any smaller pieces broken from this larger one, will them selves, be full of that LIFE; before it can be passed on, and, internally, consume the next. Passed on too soon, that Word is fragmented, misunderstood, and may be harboring impurities which could only become known if we, (the leavened dough), are allowed enough time to fully comprehend that Word; to become fully matured in Christ.
Again Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and the Sadducees:
MATTHEW 16:4 "A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." [Jonah was sent to warn the Ninevites, just as Jesus was sent to warn his generation and us of the fate that awaits us.] Jesus then left them and went away. (v.5) When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. (v.6) "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the LEAVEN of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
(v.7) They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread." (v.8) Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about HAVING no bread.? (v.9) Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? (v.10) Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? (v.11) How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about BREAD? But be on your guard against the LEAVEN of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
(v.12) THEN they understood that He was not telling them to guard against the LEAVEN used in the BREAD, but against the TEACHING of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
LEAVEN, therefore, is to be found in the dynamic nature of TEACHING.
"Leaven" as used in the BIBLE, in neither GOOD nor EVIL. The term is used to illustrate the consuming nature of the SPIRIT that we accept into our lives, wheather that Spirit is the SPIRIT of malice and evil (I COR. 5:6-8) or the Heavenly spirit (Matt 13:33).
So where does the popular idea of LEAVEN being EVIL come from. In Matthew 16:6, the deciples are warned to (NIV) "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees," which the deciples first took literally, as they had brought no bread with them. But in verse 11-12, Jesus spoke: (NIV) How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast(leaven) of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharasees and Sadducees.
It is clear in this passage that it was the TEACHINGS of the Pharasees and Sadducees that was to be avoided, not their literal LEAVEN. Leaven here is an illustration of TEACHING and how teaching, especially EVIL teachings can CONSUME you until you are filled with FALSE teachings. Be careful not to be seduced by false teachings. That is the message of the LEAVEN used here.
In I Corinthians 5:6-8, Again we see the word EVIL in association with the word LEAVEN, But is it the LEAVEN which is evil? The CORINTHIANS were proud of their spirituality to the point of CONCEIT. Paul rebuked them that rather than PRIDE they should feel SHAMED at the behavior which was allowed to take placed unchecked by the church. They were told to rid themselves of those who engaged in immorality, much like we today are told that "One bad apple can spoil the entire bunch." The illustration Jesus used was not of apples but one of YEAST and how it can start as a small portion of the dough, but soon will inevidably consume the entire dough. If that leaven is evil, it must be cut out, lest EVIL work its way through the entire congregation: (v.6;NIV) "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast [leaven] works throught the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast [leaven] that you may be a new batch without yease [leaven] - as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old [leaven], the [leaven] of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."
So once again, it was not the literal LEAVEN, but the figurative LEAVEN that is to be purged, this time the EVIL DOER is to be purged out, before it was the EVIL teaching. Either way, once you accept evil into your congregation, into your life, it must be rid of, lest it totally consume you.
In Luke 13:21, and Matthew 13:33, after comparing the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed, Jesus searches for another, perhaps better example of what the Kingdom is like. He reaches for an example which is easily understood by every household of the time: (v.20; NIV) Again he [Jesus] asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast [leaven] that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."
Once again, a very fundament example of how something can consume you spiritually from the inside out. Even by today's standards a better example would be difficult to imagine. Leaven is not just yeast. Yeast is merely the agent. But until just a very few years ago, when a woman baked bread, she would always set aside a small portion of the leavening, to be used with the next days bread. As that leavening grew, it too can be mixed with three portions of dough, two for baking, one for leavening for still another day. The leavening, though it be the smallest of portions grows and causes the entire batch of dough to become as it was. And that is the finest example of how the kingdom of God starts small within us and grows, soon to consume our every thought, our every action. If any portion of you is held aside where the leaven cannot get to it, your pride and those earthly things which you hold precious, then God's leaven cannot grow to its full measure. We are asked again and again to RID ourselves of all that EVIL leaven which has consumed us, that part of us which prevents us from accepting the kingdom of God into our lives.
We cannot served two masters. Either we accept the kingdom of God into our lives, along with our obedience to his will, or we accept into our lives those thing of earth, of man, of evil which destroys God's leavening, his kingdom which once grew to abundance