Good Afternoon!
Are you familiar with the ceremony called Bedikat Chametz? It is the time before Passover that a Jewish family does a final cleansing of their homes to search for leaven and gather it together and burn it. Galatians 5:9 says the writer says, "A little yeast leavens the whole lump of dough."
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 reminds us of the same thing.
"Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?
Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, since you are unleavened.
For Christ, our Passover has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with the old yeast,
or with the yeast of malice and evil,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
He follows these verses by telling them not to associate with sexually immoral people or to the greedy and the swindlers or to idolaters or to drunkards.
Paul, the writer, likens leaven in the dough to sin in the lives of people. He says a small amount of leaven will ruin a huge amount of dough. Likewise, a small sin will destroy the entire life of a person. A small sin. A little cheating...not a lot of cheating. A little lying...not a lot of lying. A little stealing...not a lot of stealing. A little spiritual laziness...not a lot of spiritual laziness. WAIT!!!
The Bible says a LITTLE SIN will corrupt an entire life! Many people think they have their lives under control. They feel that they are in charge of what they do or say. But, one little lie...one little look...one little joke...one little sin will begin the road to destruction before they even realize they have been duped into a sin that they cannot control.
What sin was Paul speaking about in Galatians? He was concerned that people were being lied to concerning their life of Law vs. Faith. He was telling them to not believe a word of it. Don't be tricked by their cunning words that will entrap you once again into believing the Law is the way forward for your life. If you believe a little...you are sunk. I'm convinced that the people attempting to take good honest people down the road away from Faith and sucker them into thinking the sin of the Law is the way to God had made Paul angry. Very angry. Look at what he says in verses10-12:
"In the Lord, I have confidence in you that you will not accept any other view.
But whoever it is who is troubling you will pay the penalty.
Now brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?
In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished.
I wish those disturbing you might also get themselves castrated!"
It was bad for anyone to teach lies that lead people away from God anywhere and at any time. BUT...to tell lies to God's people who are new in the Faith and attempt to lead them away from their relationship with God is EXTREMELY BAD! It is false teaching to the extreme. Paul knew how bad it was. His wish for those teaching such lies to those in the Faith was severe...Castration! Maybe that would shut them up.
We need to be careful not to allow even a tidbit of sin to enter our lives. It's not just a little lie or a little stealing...or a little cheating...or a little spiritual laziness. When we are tempted with these issues or other issues that relate to a "little sin" we should stop it in its' tracks and pronounce the sin and ask for God's cleansing...immediately. Paul told the Corinthians to disassociate with anyone who would propose the sin attraction to you. James says to "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7.
Paul's next statement summarizes where you are. "For you are called to FREEDOM..." v. 13a.
May God Bless You!
Don Betts
DBEA/campus320
DBEAWINNING.COM
TO GOD BE ALL GLORY!