ese two things are not consistent with each other: to hold to the
Christian faith and to live after the wantonness of the flesh, in sins
and vices condemned by the conscience. Paul elsewhere warns (1 Cor 6,
9-10): "Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God." Again (Gal 5, 19-21): "The works of
the flesh are manifest ... of which I forewarn you, even as I did
forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God."

10. Warrant is given here likewise for censuring and restraining the
rash individuals who assert that men should not be terrified by the
Law, nor surrendered to Satan. No! it is our duty to teach men to
purge out the old leaven; we must tell them they are not Christians,
but devoid of the faith, when they yield to the wantonness of the
flesh and wilfully persevere in sin against the warning of conscience.
We should teach that such sins are so much the more vicious and
damnable when practiced under the name of the Gospel, under cover of
Christian liberty; for that is despising and blaspheming the name of
Christ and the Gospel: and therefore such conduct must be positively
renounced and purged out, as irreconcilable with faith and a good
conscience.

"Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are
unleavened."

11. If we are to be a new, sweet lump, Paul says, we must purge out
the old leaven. For, as stated, a nature renewed by faith and
Christianity will not admit of our living as we did when devoid of
faith and in sin, under the influence of an evil conscience. We cannot
consistently be "a new lump" and partake of the Passover, and at the
same time permit the old leaven to remain: for if the latter be not
purged out, the whole lump will be leavened and corrupted; our
previous sinful nature will again have supremacy and overthrow the
faith, the holiness upon which we have entered and a good conscience.

12. Paul does not here speak of leaven in general; he commands to
purge out the "old leaven," implying there may be good leaven.
Doubtless he is influenced by respect for the words of the Lord Christ
where (Mt 13, 33) he likens the kingdom of heaven also to leaven. In
this latter case leaven cannot be bad in quality; rather, the object
in mixing it with the lump is to pro