Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 2 Study # 2
March 17, 2013
Dayton, Texas
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1769 Translation:
9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
1901 ASV Translation:
9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
10 I have confidence to you-ward in the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? then hath the stumbling-block of the cross been done away.
12 I would that they that unsettle you would even go beyond circumcision.
- I. Paul's Problem With "Leaven".
- A. The references to "leaven".
- 1. In cooking, "leaven" is what causes bread to have gas bubbles throughout so that it is not dense and tightly packed.
- 2. In theology, "leaven" is "doctrine" (Matthew 16:12) and applies to both the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:33) and the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13).
- 3. In practice, "leaven" is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1), "glorying" (1 Corinthians 5:6), and "malice and wickedness" (1 Corinthians 5:8).
- B. The basic issue: pervasiveness.
- 1. All doctrine and practice is interconnected so that every tenaciously held concept has the power to incrementally alter everything within the system until everything is "adjusted" to "consistency".
- a. Clearly, no one has a comprehensive grasp of his/her mental universe as it involves both values and beliefs.
- b. Just as clearly, when one aspect of that universe begins to surface into consciousness, it "bounces off of" all of the other consciously held aspects within a potent tendency to "bring everything into harmony".
- c. The outcome is that those aspects which are at odds are either more deeply embraced, or jettisoned -- depending upon which is more fully embraced. This introduces the fact of "fluid values and beliefs" -- elements that do not stand the test.
- 2. The preponderance of references to evil (leaven is marginally a "good" thing in the Bible) is a statement regarding the problem of the potent predisposition of man under sin to "adjust" understanding in the direction of self-absorption.
- C. The "whole lump".
- 1. Paul's concern is that the Galatians are being less than cautious about a matter that has the ability to completely ruin "them" because it exists at such a fundamental level that all that takes place there has an inevitability factor that will have its impact.
- 2. The "lump" is the entirety of an individual's capacity for "Life". Paul is not primarily concerned about the outer fringes of a person's experience; he is concerned with the "drivers" (those issues that dominate the heart/mind complex of a person).
- II. Paul's Identification of the Leaven in His Letter to the Galatians.
- A. It is indisputable that Paul is dealing with "persuasions" (5:8).
- B. It is equally indisputable that "persuasions" have to do most fundamentally with "beliefs" (it is no accident that man's failure in Genesis 3 was rooted in "unbelief" and that the entire revelation from God from Genesis to Revelation is concerned with addressing the issues of "faith").
- C. A comparison study of 1 Corinthians 5:6 (where Paul uses the same warning) reveals that the issue is the same one that drives the problem in Galatia: the intention to "feel good about oneself unto 'boasting'". This was what drove Saul of Tarsus and what still drives all men today.