[topcat54]

I have supported mine with Scripture, you have yet to.

You have supported nothing. You have made unsubstantiated assertions. Would you care to explain the simple fact that leaven was used in the ceremonies of God at His command, in spite of your assertion that leaven is always a negative (whatever that means). How can God's worship be defined with a negative? And, again, where is the feast of unleavened bread does it make the statement, as you claim, that leaven is a negative?

Are you done with your diversion? Can we get back to the subject at hand which was the positive growth of the kingdom ala Matt. 13:31-33?

[JohnnyM]

Those passages you quoted use leaven as a symbol for sin or some other negative thing.

Leaven is synonymous with sin in the Bible.

Lets look at the uses of leaven in the Bible.

Exodus 12 and 13 - The Feast of unleavened bread is the removal of leaven from your household and from your borders. If anyone was found with leaven or ate leaven he was cut off from Israel (Ex 12:15, 13:7).

Exodus 23:18 - You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning.

Leviticus 2:11 - No grain offering, which you bring to the LORD, shall be made with leaven, for you shall not offer up in smoke any leaven or any honey as an offering by fire to the LORD.

Leviticus 6:17 - It shall not be baked with leaven I have given it as their share from My offerings by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.

Dueteronomy 16:3-4 - You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning.

Hosea 7:4 They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker Who ceases to stir up the fire. From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

Matthew 16:6 - And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Matthew 16:11 How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Matthew 16:12 - Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Mark 8:15 - And He was giving orders to them, saying, " Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."

Luke 12:1 Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, " Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 - Your boasting is not good Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Galatians 5:8-9 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

These passages show leaven as a thing to be avoided or removed from our presence. Leaven is associated with sin, malice, wickedness, false teaching, and hypocrisy.

Now we have a couple of cases remaining in the Bible where leaven is used. The parable of the leaven, the thanksgiving peace offering, and the loaves. (Lev 7:13, 23:17 and Amos 4:5).

Neither of these have a take on leaven other than its presence, so we must look to other Scriptures to find out what it means. All the other passages have leaven as sin, wickedness, false teaching, etc. There is not a single passage that says leaven is anything good or to be admired. Therefor, these passages point to aspect of sin in our offering. It could represent sinful man or Christ bearing our sin in His offering on the Cross. I don't know the real answer. What I do know is that I have no Scriptural basis to show that it is something good and pleasing to the Lord.

So the burden is on your shoulders to show otherwise. You see leaven as good in the parable, because you wish it to be so, not because of what the Bible says concerning leaven, but of what you infer or assume.

You have yet to support your claim with any Scripture. You just say you are right because you say so.

JM