Bearing in mind the short discussion of the historical facts of the symposium that has been previously presented, while also keeping in mind that Paul’s letter will be read to the gathered church, and perhaps strategically read in the midst of the meal that will eventually devolve into the symposium (which some in the church were probably imagining to be an example of the messianic banquet), we attempt to hear the Apostle in the same circumstances in which his initial hearers found themselves. As we saw in our reading of much of the sixth chapter, when read in the light of the meal and the symposium, a great deal of illumination comes our way when we find words such as “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast affects the whole batch of dough?” (5:6) The mention of bread could function as an indicator that Paul wanted this letter read in conjunction with the church’s meal, while the mention of boasting calls attention to the boasting that was a regular component of the symposium.
Going on, Paul writes, “Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough---you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (5:7). This terminology presumes that this church has been well-instructed in the history of Israel, so as to see themselves as a part of that continuing narrative, as apart from an understanding of the exodus the talk of Christ as Passover would fall on ignorant ears. At a meal, with the messianic feast of the Lord’s Supper and what it communicates about the church and its role as emissaries of the kingdom of God in view, the recipients of the letter go on to hear “So then, let us celebrate the festival (whether the actual Passover or simply the Lord’s Supper in recognition of the messianic feast in which the Passover is consistently called to mind to provide the messianic-banquet-informed communion with its depth of meaning) not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (5:8).
Not only does the talk of yeast and bread indicate that a meal is taking place (much like we surmised that Jesus used ready-at-hand examples in His speeches at meals---perhaps an old wineskin had burst because new wine had been poured into it), and not only does the mention of yeast and bread serve as additional references to the Passover in particular, but it is also the case that such talk calls to mind that which would have been part of the oral traditions concerning Jesus that were then in circulation---specifically, Jesus’ reference to the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod, which would certainly produce thoughts of the two great feasts over which Jesus presided (found in Mark, which may have been the earliest and most widely know thread of Jesus traditions within the orally oriented church community).
With this foundational context in place, we now go on to let Paul speak for himself at length, as we have properly situated ourselves at a meal (with symposium not far from our thoughts) together with this particular Christian body and read, “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside? But God will judge those outside. Remove the evil person from among you” (5:9-13).
When we attempt to consider how this is to be interpreted first by its recipients, and then by the later church (throughout the centuries) that should make every effort to hear and understand as a first century listener so as to make proper application to practice in an attempt to live out what it would mean to be a Christian in their own situation (place and time), we cannot read this apart from a comprehension of the social forces that were at work and in place in that time. Just as the celebration of the Lord’s Supper would be a microcosm of all that was intended for the kingdom of God, so too would a celebratory meal and attendant symposium be a microcosm of the larger society in which such are taking place.
Additionally, this section demands to be heard as a whole, without division or isolation of independent thoughts, and it also demands, because of the mention of not eating with such people and with the dis-association list given here that is repeated and expanded upon in the sixth chapter, to be heard in the context of a meal. It also demands to be heard in the context of what the meal says about the body of believers; and for our purposes here, because of his mention of judging, it must be heard with mindfulness of what Paul says about eating and drinking without careful regard for the body and the eating and drinking of judgment that such would entail.
Yes, we must read this letter as the mounting argument that it is. We do violence to the text and to Paul’s thesis when we carelessly isolate statements to use them as aphoristic-truth clubs with which to beat people over the head in an effort to reinforce our own previously arrived at conclusions. While we recognize that Paul deals with a variety of problems, failing to see that there is a substantial progression, based upon an underlying movement with a particular point of reference, is a wanton abuse of the Apostle’s work that might lead us into all sorts of erroneous conclusions while missing the larger point altogether.
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