What Does 1 Corinthians 5:7 Mean in the King James?

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:
1 Corinthians 5:7 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The new lump comes by removing the old ferment, while the verse already names the people unleavened.

The old ferment is cleared so the shared life can stand as a new whole, already named unleavened. The verse holds becoming and being together: the lump becomes new through the clearing, while its unleavened identity is already true. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that wholeness arrives only after something new is added; this verse pictures newness coming through the removal of the old ferment and names the people unleavened already.

ἄζυμοι

azymoi

GROWS FROM

ζυμ

Leaven or ferment; the stem at the heart of leavening.

The word translated “unleavened” contains the same ⁨ζυμ⁩ (zym, leaven or ferment) seed as the word translated “leaven”; its negative prefix marks the absence of that ferment. The verse’s newness comes through clearing away the old leaven, while the people are already called unleavened.

ALSO GROWS

zymē: Leaven; ferment.

ζύμη

This noun shares the ⁨ζυμ⁩ stem with ⁨ἄζυμοι⁩, showing that “leaven” and “unleavened” belong to one word family.

zymoō: To leaven; to cause to ferment.

ζυμόω

The verb shares the same stem and names the process that turns a little leaven into a force working through the whole lump.

ἐκκαθάρατε

ekkatharate

GROWS FROM

καθαρ

Clean; cleanse.

“purge out” in this verse is ekkatharate. The verb joins ⁨ἐκ⁩ (ek, out) to the ⁨καθαρ⁩ (kathar, clean) stem. Its kinship with “clean” gives the command the texture of clearing something out, so the old ferment is removed rather than replaced by an added substance.

ALSO GROWS

katharos: Clean; pure.

καθαρός

It shares the ⁨καθαρ⁩ stem, linking the act of purging with the state of being clean.

katharizō: To cleanse; to make clean.

καθαρίζω

This verb shares the same stem and shows the family’s movement from clearing away to a cleansed state.

פֶּסַח

pesaḥ

GROWS FROM

פסח

To pass over; to spare.

The Greek ⁨πάσχα⁩ (pascha, Passover) carries the Hebrew ⁨פֶּסַח⁩ (pesaḥ), from ⁨פָּסַח⁩ (pāsaḥ, to pass over or spare). The name holds an action inside it: a passing-over that spares, alongside the verse’s blunt claim that this Passover is sacrificed for us.

ALSO GROWS

pāsaḥ: To pass over; to spare.

פָּסַח

The verb shares the consonants ⁨פ־ס־ח⁩ with ⁨פֶּסַח⁩, placing the feast name beside the action of passing over or sparing.

pesaḥ: Passover; the Passover feast.

פֶּסַח

This noun shares the root’s consonants and is carried into Greek as ⁨πάσχα⁩ (pascha, Passover), the word behind “Passover” in this verse.

A small ferment does not stay local: it works through the whole shared life.

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.
Exodus 12:15 · KJVThe leaven is removed from every house because its presence changes what the whole household eats.
Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Matthew 16:6 · KJVLeaven names an influence that can work through what people receive and carry together.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Galatians 5:9 · KJVThe verse states the pattern directly: a small amount of leaven works through the entire lump.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:13 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨פ־ס־ח⁩ (p-s-ḥ, pass over or spare) appears in Exodus’s “pass over”; the Greek ⁨πάσχα⁩ (pascha, Passover) in this verse carries the same name. That makes “our Passover” more than a title: the verse identifies the sacrificed one with the act that spares from the plague.

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1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV Meaning