Lilstu,
You are correct that "leaven" in Scripture is often used in a bad sense. But that fact does not mean that "leaven" cannot also be used in a good sense. Leaven does not always represent evil in Holy Scripture, for example in Leviticus 7:13 God commands the use of leaven in an offering. "Along with their fellowship offering of thanksgiving they are to present an offering with thick loaves of bread made with yeast."
Argument (1) Leaven does not always represent evil in Holy Scripture (Lev.7:13).
Argument (2) If the leaven of Matthew 13:33 represents evil, then we could correctly paraphrase the Lord Jesus in Matthew 13:33 as saying this: "He told them still another parable: The kingdom of heaven/Christian Church is like evil that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the kingdom of Heaven/Christian Church."
This is exactly what the Lord Jesus would be teaching IF, the leaven of Matthew 13:33 represents evil ---- and such an interpretation would be strange, weird, and unnecessary, and in direct conflict with "I will build my Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it."
♦ There are some other arguments to support leaven as representing the good in Mt. 13:33. Maybe I will dig them up later on for a thread on it?
♦ I note that the Dispensationalist and the Postmillennialist commentators are predictably lined up with their eschatological tribe on the interpretation of the leaven in Mt.13:33. The Premillennialists/Dispensationalists resist the Postmillennialist interpretation that the leaven represents the eventual Christianization of the world in accordance with the commands of the Lord Jesus at the end of Matthew's gospel: "Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations" that is to say, Go and Christianize the entire world.
They roasted bulls and goats because they represented sin just as leaven represents sin.
But look and see Jesus doubled down on his prophecy that Christianity would become corrupt.
Look at the previous verses in Matthew chapter 13.......
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
We know the mustard tree is not a real tree....it is like a tree....a counterfeit tree...really a big bush.
Real trees are often symbolic of the Kingdom but a counterfeit tree is the symbol of a fake Christianity.
And the birds come and live in its branches.
In the Bible, birds are symbolic of evil.
Jeremiah 5:27
‘Like a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit; Therefore they have become great and rich.
Speaking of the evil king of Babylon….
Ezekiel 17:23
On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar. And birds of every kind will nest under it; they will nest in the shade of its branches.
Speaking of Pharaoh …..
Ezekiel 31:6
‘All the birds of the heavens nested in its boughs, And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, And all great nations lived under its shade.
Revelation 18:2
And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.
There are other bird verses...they always are evil eating the seeds and causing trouble
Its always nice to have Warfield on your side, but that isn't an argument.)