1 Corinthians 5:6

THE EFFECT OF A LITTLE LEAVEN

‘Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?’

1 Corinthians 5:6

The subject of sin pervades the entire Bible, either directly or indirectly, by precept or example, and following in its course, our Prayer Book adopts the same line of teaching, so as even to appropriate a particular portion of the year (Lent) for its special consideration, with its necessary adjuncts of contrition and repentance; and most wisely does it do so, for without first learning what sin has done to ruin us, we shall be little disposed to think of understanding what Christ has done to save us.

I. What, then, is sin?—The Apostle John plainly and concisely answers in 1 John 3:4: ‘Sin is the transgression of the law.’ ‘Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law.’ All sin, then, is a violation of the law God has given to mankind as a rule to which our conduct is to be conformed. There is sin in all cases where the law is not complied with.

II. What does He tell us, Who is to be our Judge?—What does He say in that infallible Word He has given to us for our guidance? He tells us this distinct truth, that ‘Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’ By which He means that whosoever fails in any one precept of the law, he is guilty of not observing the law—that is, he is a breaker of the law; though he break only one precept, he has violated the law as a whole. Not that he who has failed in one point is as guilty as he who has violated every law, or that all sinners are culpable in an equal degree because all have broken some one or more of God’s laws. No; offences differ in degree, according to their greatness, their heinousness, or their persistency, and will be punished accordingly; but he who has been guilty of any one offence must be treated as a transgressor for that offence, his being amiable and upright in other respects cannot atone for, or screen him from, the penalty of a broken law.

III. Mark the scriptural judgment pronounced on the case: ‘Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, shall be guilty of all.’ Yes, the offender, then, in one point, has mutilated the perfect law of God; for God’s holy law, although it is divided into Ten Commandments and comprehends everything that is included under them, yet is it but one—one holy, perfect, complete law, all whose precepts are united together, are, as it were, linked or bound up to one another, and must stand or fall together. Injure one limb of the human body, and you injure the whole man; so, break one commandment of God’s law, and you break the law as a whole. The perfect law, which is like a body with its many members, is insulted and injured when a single precept is transgressed.

—Rev. Dr. E. J. Brewster.

Illustration

‘Shall we say of him whose offences are many what is not to be said of him who hath transgressed but once? If a person were only one remove from being perfect, the Divine Word will not allow us to believe that his many supposed virtues would atone for his single sin. And shall we then who have sinned so often suppose that our many sins can be covered by any supposed righteousness of our own? No, had we really those virtues to boast of which some pretend, they would not, they could not, cover our offences.’