Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 

Some have attempted to use this text as if Paul is commanding the Gentiles to keep the Jewish feast of Passover, but if we read this in context we can see that Paul refers to the feast as a metaphor. The context deals with sin that was in the midst of the Corinthian church, namely fornication.

Notice that they (the Corinthians) were to be unleavened. Unleavened was never once applied to the people under the Old Covenant. It was always the bread and cakes which were to be consumed as a holy ceremonial observance unto the Lord that were unleavened. The Israelites were to put away leaven for seven days and to eat unleavened bread only. This was a type of the putting away of sin in exchange for purity.

The Unleavened bread has its fulfillment in Christ, by whom our sins are put away. The context of Paul’s words to the Corinthians has specifically to do with putting away the fornication that the Corinthians had allowed to go unchecked in their midst.

Under the law, the feast of Passover was to be kept by the Israelites on the 14th day of the month of Nisan which was the first month on the Jewish calendar, (see Ex 12:6,14,18,19; Numbers 9:2; 28:16; Deuteronomy 16:1; Joshua 5:10; Ezekiel 45:21).

Leviticus 23:5 says, In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S Passover. In Corinthians, Paul does not make reference to this day as the Passover. Paul does not refer to Passover as a time on the calendar, or a ceremonial festival when speaking to the Corinthians. On the contrary, Paul refers to Christ Jesus himself as our Passover.

All that was commanded by God regarding the feasts under the Old Testament were types and shadows pointing to Christ, and Paul applies the object lesson which was contained in the shadowy type of the Passover given to Israel and tells the Corinthians to walk in the reality of it.

In other words, Paul says, Put away this sin from your midst and serve God in Christ with sincerity and truth because Christ, who is our Passover, was sacrificed for you. Again, notice that Paul tells them to do this so that they would be a new lump and they would be as unleavened bread. 

There is nothing wrong with dedicating the Passover season as a time for the Lord to focus on Christ’s death for us. In fact that is a very good practice. The error comes in when the festival commanded  under the law becomes a law for Christians to observe. This is becoming more of a common place within some of the modern day Messianic movements, such as the Hebrew Roots Movement. 

The New Testament writers are the authoritative interpreters of the Old Testament scriptures and they gave us everything we need to know for godly and righteous living in Christ.

That which was foreshadowed in the feasts has become reality in Christ Jesus, and we can walk in the reality every day because the light has come and the shadow has been put away.

Therefore let no one judge you in regard to food and drink or in regard to [the observance of] a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.  Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ.~ Colossians 2:16-17  Amplified Bible

If you would like to study more about the cross you can do so by following this link:
https://rootedandgroundedinchrist.com/the-cross/?frame-nonce=18a5dd8a0c

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THE BLOOD OF THE PASSOVER LAMB

https://michaelbattle65.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/the-blood-of-the-passover-lamb/

THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF PASSOVER IN CONTRAST TO HEBREW ROOTS TEACHINGS

https://michaelbattle65.wordpress.com/2018/04/01/the-biblical-doctrine-of-passover-in-contrast-to-hebrew-roots-teachings/

There are some who place an unhealthy emphasis the Hebrew Roots and attempt to impose the food laws on others. Yet, the food laws only applied to Israel under the Law. The food laws were not a universal command from God for everyone.

Notice the following from Deuteronomy 14:7:

Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore THEY ARE UNCLEAN UNTO YOU. (see verse 10 also)

Notice that God says to Israel, they are unclean to you. They were unclean to the Israelites, not to God. God gave Israel the food laws for various reasons:

• to separate them from the other nations
• to teach them the difference from clean and unclean
• for the purpose of the sacrifices and offerings.

In scripture there were things which were universally forbidden such as sexual sins, because such things are an abomination to God. On the other hand, there were things that were forbidden for Israel only because they were to be separated from all other nations. However, not everything Israel was commanded to do was a sin in God’s eyes for other nations.

Now notice verse 21 from the same context as the scripture provided above:

Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself: THOU SHALT GIVE IT UNTO THE STRANGER that is in thy gates, THAT HE MAY EAT IT; or thou mayest SELL IT TO AN ALIEN: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

That which was unclean for the people of Israel was allowed to be food provision for the stranger within their gates and as food that could be purchased by an outsider.

The food Laws given to Israel under the Law were never imposed on people of other nations. In fact, it would be against the Law of Moses to impose the Jewish food Laws upon non Jews because the Law itself allowed those outside the nation of Israel to eat that which the Jews were not allowed to eat.

The food laws applied only to the Israelites because Israel was to be distinct from all other nations.

In Jesus Christ the separating wall between Israel and all other nations has been taken away (Ephesians 2:14-15). The food laws no longer have any relevance with regards to being separated as the people of God. In Acts 10 God gave the apostle Peter a vision of many animals that were forbidden for Jews under the Law. God told Peter to “arise, kill and eat.”

In Christ, God had removed the separating wall and the same salvation which had come to the Jews is also offered to the Gentiles.

Concerning the new heavens and the new earth, Revelation 21:22-27 and Revelation 22:14-15 should be interpreted in view of Revelation 21:7- 8

Revelation 21:22-27 says:

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 22:14-15 says:

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Revelation 21:7- 8 says:

Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

Nothing impure will enter, nor anyone who does shamefully or deceitfully because they will be condemned to the lake of fire.

Those who are considered dogs, and those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood, are “outside” the city because they are condemned to the lake of fire.

These verses are not telling us that there will be holy people living in a holy city, while the wicked are on the other side of the wall in the new heaven and new earth, but rather those who are “outside” the city are banned to their punishment which is the lake of fire.

Without question,  Jesus tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2:9). Death is the judgment, or the condemning sentence for sin. In this way alone, Jesus suffered God’s judgment when he died on the cross.

In obedience to God, Jesus gave his life by dying on the cross (Philippians 2:8) and by his blood he provided both redemption from, and cleaning for sin. 

The condemnation of Jesus wasn’t because he had become substitutionally sinful in the sight of God, for he offered himself without spot to God. Jesus was condemned wrongfully by sinful men who deprived him of justice.

The cross was not the demonstration of the justice of God towards Jesus. The resurrection was the demonstration of the justice of God towards Jesus. When God raised his Son from the dead, he overturned the verdict of sinful men who viciously murdered him, and exalted Jesus at his own right hand.

This is why the apostles (throughout the book of Acts) blame the people for the death of Jesus, and the resurrection they attribute to God in opposition to what the people had done in crucifying him.

Yet, it was the will of God, for Jesus to lay down his life to redeem us with his precious blood. In the sight of God, Jesus died as an unblemished lamb, accepted and not rejected by God.

In the resurrection, God demonstrated his justice by raising his Son from the dead and enthroning him at his own right hand. The resurrected and enthroned Son, is triumphant over sin and the power of darkness, and all who believe in him are triumphant through him.

This is the manner in which God overthrew the sentence of death and the power of darkness which held humanity in bondage because of sin. 

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-8)

And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15)

Jesus was “approved of God” therefore the pains of death could not hold him (Acts 2:24). Death had no power to hold Jesus because Jesus was holy and just in the sight of God, and it is his blood which sets us free from the power of sin.

Therefore, only in respect of his giving to God what we could not, (i.e., a completely holy and righteous life) should we think of his death on the cross as a substitution.

Conversely, the theory of Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA) advocates that Jesus Christ, God’s son, became the object of God’s wrath because God’s wrath had to first be satisfied before God can truly forgive the sinner.

Such theories put God in need of reconciliation rather than man.

In scripture, it is the unrepentant sinner who incurs God’s wrath, not the repentant sinner. According to the Bible, God’s delights in showing mercy and forgiveness, even to the ungodly.

As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11).

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7)

Those who teach according to the theory of Penal Substitutionary Atonement often over look important passages in the Bible, passages such as Stephen’s statement to the religious leaders of Israel, saying they had been the betrayers and murderers of Jesus (Acts 7:52).

If the crucifixion of Jesus was indeed a murder, then how was God’s wrath satisfied and his justice served?

According to the prophet Isaiah, Jesus was deprived of justice from the time of his arrest until he died on the cross. Only in the resurrection was God’s true justice demonstrated towards Jesus.

Those who killed Jesus did so because they hated him without a cause (John 15:24-25) and when they condemned him they were gathered against God in Heaven and against Jesus.

The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. (Acts 4:26-27)

Acts 4:26-27 (mentioned above) is taken from Psalm 2. According to Psalm 2, it is those who were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ who are under the wrath of God. The words of the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 agree with this.

For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

It wasn’t the wrath of God which was levied against Jesus in his death: it was the wrath of sinful men as stated in Psalm 2 and Acts 4.

Why did THE HEATHEN RAGE and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

Christ was vindicated in His resurrection when God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him at His own right hand. This is why the apostles, throughout the book of Acts, lay blame for the death of Jesus on the people, yet the resurrection they attribute to God in opposition to what the people had done in condemning and crucifying Him.