Galatians 5:9

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. A LITTLE LEAVEN - the false teaching of the Judaizers. A little legalism, mixed with the Gospel, corrupts its purity. To add ordinances and works in the least degree to justification by faith, is to undermine 'the whole.' So "leaven," false doctrines (; cf. ). In it means the corrupting influence of one bad person; so Bengel refers it here to the person (Galatians 5:7; ) who misled them (;...

9._A little leaven_. This refers, I think, to doctrine, not to men. It guards them against the mischievous consequences which arise from corruption of doctrine, and warns them not to consider it, as is commonly done, to be a matter attended by little or no danger. Satan’s stratagem is, that he does not attempt an avowed destruction of the whole gospel, but he taints its purity by introducing false and corrupt opinions. Many persons are thus led to overlook the seriousness of the injury done, and therefore make a less determined resistance. The apostle proclaims aloud that, after the truth of God has been corrupted, we are no longer safe. He employs the metaphor of _leaven_, which, however small in quantity, communicates its sourness to the whole mass. We must exercise the utmost caution lest we allow any counterfeit to be substituted for the pure doctrine of the gospel....

7-12 The life of a Christian is a race, wherein he must run, and hold on, if he would obtain the prize. It is not enough that we profess Christianity, but we must run well, by living up to that profession. Many who set out fairly in religion, are hindered in their progress, or turn out of the way. It concerns those who begin to turn out of the way, or to tire in it, seriously to inquire what hinders them. The opinion or persuasion, ver. Galatians 5:8, was, no doubt, that of mixing the works of the law with faith in Christ in justification. The apostle leaves them to judge whence it must arise, but sufficiently shows that it could be owing to none but Satan. It is dangerous for Christian churches to encourage those who follow, but especially who spread, destructive errors. And in reproving sin and error, we should always distinguish between the leaders and the led. The Jews were offended...

Verse 9. _A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH THE WHOLE LUMP._] A proverbial expression, see 1 Corinthians 5:6, very aptly applied to those who receive the smallest tincture of false doctrine, relative to the things essential to salvation, which soon influences the whole conduct, so that the man becomes totally perverted. They might have argued, "It is a _small thing_, and should not be made a subject of serious controversy, whether we be circumcised or not." Granted, that in _itself_ it is a small matter; but, as every man who is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law, Galatians 5:3, then your circumcision leads necessarily to your total perversion; as the _little_ portion of _leaven_, mixed with the batch, soon _leavens_ _the whole lump_....

A LITTLE LEAVEN ... - This is evidently a proverbial expression; see it explained in the notes at 1 Corinthians 5:6. Its meaning here is, that the embracing of the errors which they had adopted was to be traced to some influence existing among themselves, and acting like leaven. It may either mean that there was existing among them from the first a slight tendency to conform to rites and customs, and that this had now like leaven pervaded the mass; or it may mean that the false teachers there might be compared to leaven, whose doctrines, though they were few in number, had pervaded the mass of Christians; or it may mean, as many have supposed, that any conformity to the Jewish law was like leaven. If they practiced circumcision, it would not stop there. The tendency to conform to Jewish rites would spread from that until it would infect all the doctrines

EXPOSITION GALATIANS 5:1 GALATIANS 5:2 BEHOLD, I PAUL SAY UNTO YOU (ἴδε, ἐγὼ Παῦλος λώγω ὑμῖν); _lo_,_ I Paul say unto you. _The adverbial exclamation ἴδε, found in St. Paul's writings only here (in Romans 2:17 it should be εἰ δὲ), seems to be more abrupt than ἰδού, pointing to the immense importance and yet possibly unexpected character of what follows. The Galatians might be surprised to hear it; but that which they seemed disposed to take in hand was fraught with utter ruin. "I, Paul:" he thus puts forward his personality, as solemnly gaging his whole credit and responsibility upon the truth of that which he is about

A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH THE WHOLE LUMP. A proverbial expression pretty much in use with the Jews; see 1 Corinthians 5:6, respecting either persons or things; and is in answer to, or prevents an objection that might be made, or something that might be said, in favour of these churches; that their case was not so bad, or the danger they were in so great, as was represented by the apostle; since they were only a few persons that propagated this notion, and but few that received it, at least thoroughly gave into it; and that, if it was an error, it was but a small one, and only regarded a single ritual, or a few rituals of the law; to which the apostle replies, by supposing, but not granting this to be the case, since they were pretty generally declined, and the error was not a slight one, that as a little sour leaven influences and ferments a large mass, or lump of dough, and makes it

Galatians 5:1. _Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage._ «You are not under the law, but under grace. Do not subject yourselves, therefore, to legal principles. Do not live as if you were working for wages, and were earning your own salvation. Do not submit yourselves to the ritual and commandments of man, which would rob you of your liberty in many ways, but having once become a free man, never again wear the chain of a slave: ‘Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.' Because you are the seed of Isaac, who was born according to the promise, you are not the children of the bondwoman, you are not Ishmaelites; therefore, as you were born free, as Christ has made you free by virtue of your new birth, stand fast in that glorious liberty.»...

GALATIANS 5:9 zumoi/ Several Western witnesses (D* itd vg goth Marcion Marius Victorinus Ambrosiaster _al_) replace zumoi/ with doloi/. The same Western correction occurs in 1 Corinthians 5:6....

III. THE WALK OF THE JUSTIFIED BELIEVER, AS NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Stand fast! Be not entangled! (Galatians 5:1)_ 2. Exhortations and the law of love. (Galatians 5:7) 3. Flesh and Spirit. (Galatians 5:16) 4. The Fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22) The first exhortation is to maintain, by faith, the liberty which is found in Christ, to stand fast in that liberty where with Christ has made the believer free and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. The believer has perfect liberty in Christ; he is absolutely dead to the law and the law