Preparation of Individual Houses
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. - Ex. 12:15
Ex 12:19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
Ex 13:7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
All the above texts required the removal of all leaven from their houses before they could keep the feast of passover. Traditionally, the father of each home would lead their family through their house with a candle seeking to purge all leaven from their home. When they found all the leaven they would remove it from the house and burn it.
This is the background for Paul's statement to the Church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 5:5-8.
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 ¶ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
In the book of First Corinthians, The apostle has identified two different kind of houses. The church at Corinth is identified by Paul as "God's building" and God's "temple" (I Cor. 3:9,16) as well as "the body of Christ" (1 Cor. 12:27). The body of the individual believer is also identified as God's house or "temple" (1 Cor. 6:19).
Leaven is to be removed from the institutional house of God in chapter five before the church is prepared to "keep the feast."
Leaven is to be removed from the individual house of God in chapter eleven before the individual believer is prepared to "keep the feast".
Some do not believe that the Lord's Supper is in view in chapter five simply because they fail to see that Paul is intentionally using the preparation language in direct relationship to the church as the "house" of God in removal of the known sinner in their midst before they can observe the Lord's Supper.
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth......But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
Ask yourself the following questions. What feast are Christians commanded to keep "Let us keep the feast" where Christ is "our passover" and "is sacrificed for us"? What feast do Christians keep "with the unleavened bread"? What feast do Christians keep where they "eat" with other brethren?
Paul is clearly taking the common Old Testament preparation for the Passover and applying it directly to the church as the "house" of God and telling them they are not prepared to keep the Christian version of the passover (Lord's Supper) until they have removed all KNOWN leaven from God's House - this is chapter five.
Paul is clearly teaching that the "house" which stands in need of purging certain known leaven ("brother") is representative of the bread to be used in the passover "as ye are unleavened" and they represent "the whole lump." He is clearly teaching that when they remove this leaven they become a "new lump."
Whatever kind of church "the whole" represents, it is limited to the observers within the membership of "the whole." If it represents a universal invisible church then the Lord's Supper is restricted to that membership. If it represents all churches of like faith and order then the Lord's Supper is limited to that membership. If it represents a local visible church then the Lord's Supper is restricted to that membership.
Whatever kind of church is represented by "the whole" is the kind that can exercise discipline over "the whole" to remove a "brother" so that the membership becomes a "NEW lump." Since this is impossible for the universal invisible kind of church, then "the whole" cannot have reference to that kind. Since it is impossible for each observing church to administer discipline over the membership of all churches within a denomination, then the practice of "close" communion including all members within churches of like faith and order is no more scriptural than "close" church discipline or the administration of discipline by the observing church over the membership of other churches.
This means that "the whole" refers to the local church administering both the discipline and the ordinance over its own membership. Remember, in Exodus the command applied to each house individually and separate from the other houses even though all were Jewish in kind.
The church is given the authority to administer the Supper (of course, only quarterly since that's obviously Biblical :laugh