7You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9"A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." 10I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. 11Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
Dig Deeper
Years ago, while I was teaching, one of my fellow teachers at our high school had a geography class that was pretty well behaved and seemed to be doing well. The school took in a new transfer student who was a senior. He had to take that particular geography class in order to graduate on time. The problem is that he was an extremely difficult student to deal with and he was also quite a leader among the other students, many of whom knew him already. He immediately changed the entire atmosphere of the class to the point where the teacher pretty much lost control of the class. They were doing well but he had cut in on them in the middle of the semester and his influence had spread throughout the entire class like yeast. The administration was determined that they were not going to take the young man out of the class so they decided to give some excuse (that I can’t recall) to the class, moved the other teacher into a different class, and moved me in to take the class over for the semester. It was my job to come in and get the class back on course, convincing them that this young man had led them down the wrong path.
This is what has happened, in Paul’s eyes, to the churches in Galatia. They were doing well, going down the right path and then the wheels came off. It was not due to them being lukewarm or unconcerned. Quite the opposite, in fact. Paul never questions their sincerity but he does feel that they have allowed themselves to be influenced inappropriately by the Judaizers. We can almost feel Paul’s emotion welling up in this section as he breathlessly switches from one metaphor to another to make his overall point, which is that they have gotten off track and it is his job to get them back on course.
Paul’s first image comes from the world of Greek athletics, an image that might not have worked so well with a strictly Jewish audience. The type of games and races in which the Greeks competed were off limits for Jews because they competed in the nude. This doesn’t stop Paul from using a good metaphor when he sees one, though. This is not the only place in his writings where Paul compares the Christian life to a race. Here he gives the image of the Galatians running well, then suddenly another runner cuts in front of them and obstructs their path causing them to swerve. His point is that the Judaizers haven’t just slowed them down, or weighed them down with a heavier yoke, they have actually caused them to swerve off course which has kept them from obeying the truth. This shows us how seriously Paul takes false teaching. It is not a small matter than can actually obstruct otherwise sincere Christians and force them into a different path altogether.
Paul, in verse 8, quickly moves into the image of a courtroom (to which he will return in verse 10). The word ‘persuasion’ carries the meaning of a legal argument which persuades others. Paul’s point is that the agitators have come in with their impressive sounding arguments (false teachers always sound good and are quite fascinating, otherwise know one would be swayed by them) and have persuaded the Galatians to follow a different course. One thing that Paul is sure of is that this sort of destructive teaching did not come from the one who calls you, which is one of Paul’s frequent terms for God.
Another verse, another image from Paul, this time from the world of the kitchen. Paul gives a picture of a small amount of yeast working through an entire batch of dough and changing its composition. Only a few bits of yeast are necessary as they will quickly make its way through the whole loaf. For a Jew, there was more to this than just a cooking image, however. Yeast is traditionally banned from a Jewish kitchen during Passover time as it became a picture of compromising with sin. If left unchecked, the yeast of the Judaizers will not just be a small aberration in an otherwise wonderful church. It will quickly work its way through the entire belief system of the congregation and fundamentally change who and what they are.
Paul says that he is confident in the Lord that they will see thing his way. By this, Paul probably means that he has prayed this matter over thoroughly, and, as one who is in Christ. is confident that they, who are also in Christ, will see things in the proper perspective. He is convinced that they will make the right choice and they will make the godly decisions. Paul returns to the courtroom saying that the person throwing them into confusion will pay the penalty. It is not certain whether Paul does not really know the identity of the primary agitator (he seems to be implying that there is one individual that is behind stirring things up), or if he is referring to his uncertainty as to the actual position of this person while intentionally not mentioning his name. Whatever it is, he has come to the conviction in the Lord that the Galatians will make up their minds and return to the life of Christ, while these false teachers will be left to pay the stricter penalty that comes along with the office of teacher.
Paul makes another quick jump, this time to his own life and work. Verse 11 is most likely a reference to the fact that Paul had once taught the importance of circumcision before his conversion or it could be more nefarious than that. It is possible that the Judaizers were claiming that Paul still taught the importance of circumcision but had just not gotten to it while in Galatia, so they were coming and filling in the gaps for him. The apostle wants them to understand that this is absolutely false. If he were still preaching that circumcision was necessary then most Jews would not have had a problem with him. There was plenty of room within the walls of Judaism for someone who taught the importance of upholding the law, even if they had a belief that a particular teacher was or had been the Messiah. Paul says elsewhere that the Cross was a stumbling block to the Jews (1 Cor. 1:23). The term ‘stumbling block’ actually means ‘scandal’. So, what was the scandal that stood in their way? The scandalous part of the message of the Cross for Jews was that it required them to trust in the life of the Messiah rather than their own ethnic identity; it removed the boast that they were the true people of God.
When Paul says that he wished that if they were so concerned with circumcision, he wished they would go the whole way and castrate themselves, this is probably not a coarse, if not somewhat hyperbolic joke. It was the pagan eunuch priests of Asia Minor that castrated themselves in honor of their barbarous gods. Paul’s point is that if they are going to put confidence in things of the flesh like circumcision, which no longer held any relevance for those in Christ, then they might as well go all the way and engage in obviously pagan practices. A clock that is five minutes off and one that is five hours off, are both wrong, but the one that is five minutes wrong has much more potential to fool someone. Paul wishes that these false teachers would just engage in full-blown pagan practices so that it will not fool any more Christians (of course, Paul doesn’t really want anyone to engage in those sort of acts, but his point has been made).
The warning of this passage for us is clear and stark. False teachings matter and are dangerous. If we fail to confront them head on and with assertiveness, lasting and profound damage can be done to individuals and the church as a whole. This is not just a task for teachers and ministers, but is one for which all Christians must be on guard.
Devotional Thought
What would you do if you felt that a serious false teaching had crept into your Christian community? Would you even be aware of it? What if it were in a fellowship that was in other town? Would you stand up for the truth or just assume that it was their problem to deal with? Why is it important for each of us to be prepared against false teaching?
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