Jesus spoke another parable to them, He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”
We need to thank God in these days of deception we are not left to any human opinions or authority, nor are the meaning of the parables of Matthew 13 open to argument. Jesus explained for us the first two and the seventh, and it is obvious that the remaining four must be interpreted in strict accord with Jesus’ interpretation of the first two and the seventh. There is a noticeable connection between the first two parables in relation to the beginning of Christianity and its present form. There is a noticeable connection between the third and fourth that deals with the growth and corruption that entered Christianity. The third parable deals with the outward growth of Christianity. The fourth reveals its internal aspect and secret corruption.
The popular interpretation of the parable of the leaven is the "leaven" represents the Gospel and its power, the "woman" the Church. In Scripture leaven is used in a negative sense. The popular interpretation uses it a positive sense. The leaven is the Gospel that is good. The "woman," is "the church" or the ministers of the Gospel. The three measures of meal represent God’s elect. A second interpretation claims the leaven represents all mankind. The latter explains the parable as follows: As the result of the Gospel, and by means of its assimilating power, the mass of humanity is ultimately penetrated, affected, and blessed. So firmly is this belief embedded in the minds of church-goers that it is hard for them to tear loose from it.
It is apparent at once that our understanding and interpretation of this parable depends on a correct definition of the "leaven." If this is a figure of the Gospel, and if the meal represents the human race, then it necessarily follows that, ultimately, all must be regenerated or at least reformed by the preaching of the Gospel. If the "leaven" is the symbol of corrupting evil, and the meal represents the pure truth of God, and that this parable is a picture of the Christian profession, then it necessarily follows that, ultimately, the truth of God is to be corrupted by the tares planted among the wheat.
If the popular view is correct then Jesus contradicts Himself. What He has said in the first three parables contradicts the idea of the conversion of the world or even world reformation through the preaching of the Gospel. In the first parable Jesus did not say the good seed would produce fruit in every part of the field. He said most of it would produce no fruit. He did not say the sower would in time find the condition of the field improved. He said the condition of the field would get worse. In the second parable the picture which He drew of the coming harvest expressly forbids such a thought, and positively excludes the idea of world-conversion in this Age. In the third parable He predicted that Christianity would develop into such a corrupt condition Satan and his followers will find shelter in it and would rule over it. How then can this fourth parable teach the very opposite?
In verses 11 and 35 of Matthew 13 we are told the parables are the "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven," "things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." If the leaven represents the Gospel it is not a mystery. The Gospel is not an unrevealed secret in the Old Testament. In Galatians 3:8 Paul tells us, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, all the nations will be blessed in you.”
If the "leaven" represents the Gospel and the "meal" the human race, or God’s elect in their natural condition, then Jesus was wrong when He used the symbol of leaven as He does in this parable. Jesus said the woman placed the leaven in the meal. She didn’t do anything to the meal except put the leaven in it. The meal had no effect upon the leaven, but the leaven had an effect upon the meal. Is that the way the Gospel, the good seed, works? Multitudes have heard the Gospel, but it has had no effect upon them.
Who placed the leaven in the meal, a woman? In the Scriptures religions, are represented by the usage of the word woman. The woman putting the leaven in the meal represents a false doctrine by a religious group being introduced into Christianity. The introduction of false doctrine into Christianity began in the first century before the deaths of the apostles and ha continued to this 21st century and it will not end until Jesus calls His bride, the true church, from this world.
When leaven is put into the meal it causes it to puff up. Is that what the Gospel does when it enters human hearts? It produces the very opposite effect. It humbles.
The popular interpretation of this parable is contradicted by the plain facts of history and by present-day experience. Were the current explanations true, then we should be forced to acknowledge that this prediction of Christ’s has failed in its accomplishment. The Gospel has now been preached for nearly twenty centuries, yet not a single nation, state, city, town or village, has been completely evangelized let alone won to Christ! If the popular view is the correct one, then the Gospel is a colossal and tragic failure.
Jesus’ Jewish audience understood what Jesus was telling them. None of them would even begin to think Jesus was referring to something that was good. With the Jews "leaven" was a figure of evil. The first time that "leaven," in its negative form, occurs in the Bible is in Genesis 19:3, where we are told that Lot "prepared a feast…and baked unleavened bread” No doubt leavened bread was a common commodity in the wicked city of Sodom. Why didn’t righteous Lot place some of it before the angels? He knew better. He must have known that the angels, like Peter, allowed "nothing common or unclean" to pass their lips. They would receive nothing with the least semblance of evil in it. Many congregations today are not nearly so careful about their soul food. They will readily swallow any rubbish that is handed them from the pulpit, and the sad thing is that they will do so without protesting. They won’t go to the pastor and ask him to feed them the Bread of life.
In Exodus 12 we are told Jehovah commanded the Israelites to rigidly purge their houses of all "leaven’’ at the Passover season. Why did He command this if "leaven" is a type of that which is good? Exodus 34:25 tells us that God prohibited any leaven in the offerings of blood. Leviticus 2:11 informs us that "leaven" was also excluded from every offering of the Lord made by fire.
This parable in Matthew 13 is not the only occasion when Jesus used this figure. In Matthew 16:11 Jesus told the disciples, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." In Luke 2:1 He said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy." Would He tell His disciples something was evil and then use something He said was evil to represent something that is good? I don’t think so.
Those who claim leaven is used in the Bible to represent good use two passages in the Old Testament to prove their point, Leviticus 23:17. The two loaves presented to the Lord at the Feast of Weeks were to be baked "with leaven." But there is no difficulty here. The Feast of Weeks foreshadowed what is recorded in Acts 2, where the "first fruits" of Church Age are seen. The two "loaves" represent saved Jews and Gentiles. Inasmuch as the old nature remains in those who are born again, the "leaven" was needed in the loaves which represented these believers. Whenever bread is used to represent Christ it must be unleavened, wherever it typified His people it must be leavened.
The second passage is in Amos 4:5, this was the language of irony, which means it has a meaning the very opposite of what is said. You will sometimes hear a parent say to a child, you do that and I will deal with you. Does he mean for the child to actually do it? No, the parent means the reverse. So it is in Amos 4:5.
Like the good seed that was sowed the meal is good. There is no evil in the meal until the leaven is added. The "woman" refers to all the corrupters of God’s truth. The "leaven" symbolizes the corrupting of God’s truth by the introduction of false doctrine. The "three measures of meal" were not removed nor was something else substituted in their place. Instead, a foreign element was mingled with it, an element which slowly and gradually corrupted it. In 2 Thessalonians 2:4 the apostle Paul declared, "The mystery of iniquity does already work.” The leaven had started to act even then, and, as our Savior declared, it would work till "the whole was leavened." How near are we to this? There are but few places to which the hungry child of God can now go and receive pure Bread. But thank God there are still a few such places. While the Holy Spirit remains on earth amongst the saints, God’s truth will be proclaimed. While He is here, there is a hindering cause, preventing the "whole" from being "leavened." But at the Rapture the Hinderer will be "taken out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:7), and then the "whole" will be completely leavened. The "salt" will be removed, and nothing will be left to stay universal corruption.
The first three parables of Matthew 13 is sad forecast of the development of evil. In the first, the Devil caught away part of the good seed. In the second, he is seen engaged in the work of imitation. In the third, we are shown a corrupted Christianity affording him shelter.
