A Little Leaven

 Greetings.

Today, we will continue our examination of Galatians 5.  We have just seen how circumcision and uncircumcision do not really matter.  What does matter, however, is faith, at work through love.  That is where we left off.  Paul continues in verses 7-10: 

7 You were running so well. Who is now keeping you from being obedient to the truth? 8 Such persuasion does not come from the One who calls you. 9 A little leaven ferments the whole batch. 10 However, when it comes to you, I am convinced, in the Lord, that you have no other mindset about this. But those who have been throwing you into confusion, whoever they are, will have to pay the penalty.

Paul tells the Galatian churches that they had started off really well, but now someone is holding them back from obeying the truth. We have seen similar statements before.  In Gal 3:1-5, asks them, “Who has cast a spell on you? Was it not before your own eyes that Jesus Christ was clearly proclaimed to be crucified?”  to remind them of those early days, when they were enjoying their freedom in Christ as brand new disciples.  

The first question is, “who?”  “Who has cast a spell on you?” (Gal. 3) and “Who is now keeping you from being obedient to the truth?” (Gal. 5)  They all knew the answer.  So, a implied second question could be, “Why are listening to those guys?  They are trying to take you away from grace and truth, and bring you to a type of religion that God did not intend.”

Verse 8 backs up my implied question. “That kind of persuasion does not come from the One who calls you.”  Jesus has never used the strongarm tactics that these men are using. These men undoubtedly spoke from a place of impressive zeal, but does not mean that what they were saying was correct and true.  Their misguided zeal is actually hindering the Galatians from growing in their knowledge of God and taking away their freedom in Christ. 

Paul follows in verse 9, “A little leaven ferments the whole batch.”  According to Douglas Moo, this was a commonly used phrase that Paul uses in 1 Cor. 5:6, as well. In the Bible, leaven, sometimes translated as ‘yeast,’ usually, but not always, means something negative.  Jesus in Matthew 16, compared the teaching of the Pharisees to leaven and told his disciples to beware of it.  However, in Matthew 13:33, Jesus compares his kingdom to leaven, so, leaven is not necessarily bad, but here in Galatians 5, it is. 

What both Jesus and Paul are talking about is leaven ability to quietly work throughout the whole batch.  That can be good or bad depending on what is being created.  

Paul’s point, just like Jesus’s point in Matt. 16, is that the legalistic spirit of the Pharisees and these false teachers work quietly and in an insidious way that spoils everything.  The Pharisees had taken Judaism far from what God had intended, all while looking very righteous.  These Judaizing teachers were doing the same thing.  

Then, in verse 10, Paul shifts gears in what he is saying.  He expresses a confidence in the Galatians that we haven't seen too much of previously.  He says that he is convinced that they will have the correct mindset about all of this, and lays the responsibility of the false gospel squarely on those who brought it to them.  This confidence in them is a far cry from “Oh, you foolish Galatians," that we had seen ealier in chapter 3. After putting forth a vigorous argument against the false teachings, he is expressing confidence that they will ultimately do the right thing.  

Paul expresses confidence in the Galatians, but he is not so kind to those who have been stirring them up and leading astray.  Regarding them, he says that they, whoever they are, will “pay the penalty.” Well, we know who “they” are, and so did the Galatians.  They are the Judaizing teachers that have come in and presented a false gospel to the Galatians.  These men, according to Paul, will face punishment for their false teaching. Perhaps this is why James warned teachers in James 3:1.  Since, those who teach a law-based legalistic gospel will pay the penalty for it, we have to get this teaching of the gospel of grace right.