04.011. The Threefold Leaven

The Threefold Leaven Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees and of Herod-- Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15. By combining these two texts we get the full warning. The leaven of the Pharisees was Formalism, which often degenerated into hypocrisy. The leaven of the Sadducees was Rationalism: they were the skeptics and agnostics of the Jewish community. The leaven of the Herodians was Secularism, the spirit of the world, that especially caters to the powers that be, seeking worldly supremacy and advantage. This warning is one for all time, and is all-embracing. If there be any leaven that especially betrays the influence of the flesh, it is formalism and Ritualism, whereby one is lulled into a false security by an outward conformity to religious rites and usages, while these are but the polite disguises of fleshly indulgences and a carnal spirit. If in any leaven the subtlety of Satan is particularly to be detected, it is in Rationalism, which questions and even denies revealed truth, and substitutes human reason for Divine revelation. And obviously what constitutes Secularism is the spirit of the World, with its honors and dignities, wealth and power--the great snare of spirituality.

Here, then, indirectly, the Lord bids us take heed and beware of the influence of the world, the flesh and the Devil.