Parable of the Leaven

Text and Content

The Parable of the Leaven appears in Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21. The King James Version renders Matthew's text: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." The parable does not appear in Mark.

Both Gospels place this parable immediately after the Parable of the Mustard Seed. In Matthew it is one of several parables collected in chapter 13 and is addressed to the crowds. In Luke it follows the account of the Sabbath healing of a woman who was bent over (Luke 13:10-17). A similar saying also appears in the noncanonical Gospel of Thomas.

Background

Leaven is a mass of yeast that causes bread dough to rise. It is generally understood that in that era leaven was not sold separately as yeast is today; instead, a portion of previously fermented dough was set aside and mixed into a new batch. Three measures renders the Greek for three sata (singular saton). Scholars calculate the exact quantity differently, but they generally agree that it was a very large amount for a single household. Some interpreters compare it with Genesis 18:6, where Sarah makes cakes from three measures of fine meal to serve her guests. The Greek verb behind the KJV's "hid" means "to conceal," although some translations, such as the Korean Revised Version, render it more loosely as "put into."

Meaning in the Wider Bible

In Scripture, leaven often serves as a negative symbol. Leaven was removed from the home during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12). Jesus warned his hearers to beware of "the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6) and of the leaven of Herod (Mark 8:15). Paul likewise warned against the spread of sin and false teaching with the saying "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9). By contrast, at the Feast of Weeks loaves baked with leaven were to be offered (Leviticus 23:17). Leaven, therefore, was not always used in a negative sense.

Interpretations and Debates

• The spread of the kingdom of God: This is the most widely accepted interpretation. It holds that the parable speaks of the power of the kingdom of God, whose small and inconspicuous beginning ultimately transforms the whole. The two parables are often read as a pair: whereas the Parable of the Mustard Seed depicts outward growth, the Parable of the Leaven depicts change that permeates from within.
• Personal transformation: Some read the parable as teaching that the gospel permeates the whole of a person's life and renews that person.
• Negative interpretation: Some interpreters in the dispensationalist tradition regarded leaven as invariably a symbol of evil in Scripture; the notes of the Scofield Reference Bible are an example. They read the parable as foretelling the spread of false teaching within the church. Most commentators reject this interpretation, pointing out that the text explicitly likens the kingdom of heaven to leaven.
• Millennium debates: The picture of the gospel gradually spreading through the world has at times served postmillennialists as grounds for optimism. Premillennialists regard this as stretching the parable too far.
• Later allegorical readings: Since the early church, allegorical interpretations have identified the "woman" as the church and the "three measures" as the three parts of the human being, three peoples, or the like. Such readings are later interpretations rather than what the text itself states.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, this parable is frequently preached together with the Parable of the Mustard Seed. A common application is that Christians should exert a quiet, unseen influence within society, and the parable is sometimes mentioned alongside the "salt and light" of Matthew 5.