Dirty Tricks

Series on Galatians

III The Apostolic Applications

B The Yeast of Agitators

Text: 5:7-12

Introduction

Paul writes to the Galatians, You were running a good race. The Christian life is not a sprint, but a marathon. I think my favorite things to watch in the Olympics are the track and field events. I think I cheered louder when American Frank Shorter won the gold medal in 1972 in Munich, than when my favorite team wins the Superbowl. Paul was obviously a fan of sports. His epistles abound with allusions to boxing and wrestling and running. He used words for “running” and the “race” on numerous occasions. In Galatians 2:2 he says he went, privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. He tells the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:24, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. When speaking of election in Romans 9, he says that ultimately our salvation does no depend on our willing or running but on God’s mercy. When encouraging the saints in Corinth in I Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul speaks of running, of boxing, of training and of winning the prize, Know ye not that they who run in race-course run all, but one receives the prize? Thus run in order that ye may obtain. But every one that contends is temperate in all things: they then indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore thus run, as not uncertainly; so I combat, as not beating the air. But I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest having preached to others I should be myself rejected. In one of his last letters Paul is summing up his ministry and he writes in his second letter to Timothy, 4:7 and 8, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me in that day; but not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing. Thus it is here that Paul refers to the experience of the Galatian believers as a race. Like runners in a marathon they had been running well when Paul had last seen them. They were headed in the right direction and making good progress. At that point Paul had every right to think they would finish in victory. However, this race had been adversely affected by what I would call “dirty tricks.” The Apostle mentions three things, tripping, trapping, and twisting.

I Tripping

Paul writes in verses 7 and 8, You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. Paul’s sarcasm is evident in this passage. Remember the subject under discussion is circumcision. He is ends up talking about cutting and that is how he begins here. The words all have the same root in the Greek. In this case the original usage of “cut in” was to chop up a road before an advancing army to impede their progress. Later the word was used to describe an athletic contest, as one runner might “cut in on” another runner, making that runner break stride and even fall One of the worst things you can do to a runner is trip them so that they break stride. If you have ever watched races you know that this can often prevent a runner from finishing the race. Mary Decker was heavily favored to win a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In the 3000 meters final, Zola Budd half a stride ahead of Decker, moved to the inside lane, crowding Decker, who collided with her and fell spectacularly to the curb. Decker’s hip was injured and she was unable to resume the race. She was carried off the track in tears. That was a sad incident, but it pales in comparison to what was happening in Galatia. Paul says that God has called you so that you may finish. God never calls anyone unless his intention is for them to finish the race. That is why Paul says in Romans 8:29 and 30, For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. That sounds like everyone who is called is justified and everyone who is justified is glorified. That is the plan of God. Thus if the Galatian believers are being tripped up, it must be by people who are not from God: people who oppose God’s purpose. Such are the Judaizers. Thus Paul’s question, Who cut in on you, is a rhetorical question. Paul knows the answer, we know the answer, the Galatians know the answer, and the point of the question is its persuasive effect. It is meant to encourage the listener to think about what the obvious answer to the question must be. The Judaizers were tripping them up.

II Trapping

Paul follows up with another metaphor. Not only is the false teaching of the Judaizers tripping them up, it is also deceiving and trapping them. It is a kind of devious effort to win their allegiance. Paul writes “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I 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. Paul is probably quoting a common proverb about leaven or yeast. It spreads throughout the dough. He uses the same proverb in warning the Corinthian Christians in I Corinthians 5:6, Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? They were tolerating an instance of immorality and Paul is warning that it will spread if not disciplined. Jesus also warned His disciples in Matthew 16:6, “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The point being made is that it creeps up on you.You tolerate a little self righteousness, and soon it overwhelms you. it is devious and deceitful and duplicitous. The negative influence of a few false teachers would penetrate the whole church and quickly come to control the direction of the church. False teachers are like that; they seek to dominate every situation in the life of the church. There are far more kinds of animal snares and traps than most of us know about. There are footfalls, snares, deadfalls, pits, cages and even glue traps, but they all depend on the elements of surprise and deception and once they get you they don’t let go. Paul adds that the false teachers are throwing them into confusion. When the Galatians first believed they were joyful, but now the false teachers’ threats of the judgment of God have shaken them. They are confused and discouraged. So Paul reassures the Galatians of his confidence in them: I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. As the Apostle wrote to the Philippians in 1:6 so he speaks to the Galatians here. He said that he was, confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, but the Judaizers will pay the penalty.

III Twisting

Paul concludes his confrontation of the Judaizers with the implication that they are engaging in what the insurance industry calls twisting. Twisting is an illegal act of inducing a policy owner to drop an existing life insurance policy and replace it with another policy that is substantially the same by misrepresenting the advantages and disadvantages of the two policies. The Judaizers were misrepresenting Paul’s ministry and so he writes in verses 11 and 12, Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! Paul says “If I am,” which is a contrary to fact statement. That is, the writer or speaker does not accept the truth of the statement that others are saying, as for example when Jesus replies to his accusers in Matthew 12:27, And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? According to Acts 16:3 Paul had Timothy circumcised in Lystra, a city of southern Galatia for the sake his ministry being accepted. As we learned in Galatians 2:3 when Paul visited the Apostles in Jerusalem they did not require Titus, who was with him, to be circumcised, and Titus was a Greek. The Jerusalem council of Acts 15 did not require circumcision for Gentiles. After the Jerusalem conference, why would Paul insist on circumcision for Timothy? It must be remembered that the Jerusalem conference dealt with circumcising Gentiles, not Jews. Timothy was half Jewish. There is no evidence that Paul ever asked Jews to abandon circumcision as their mark of membership in God’s covenant people. As a matter of fact, Paul himself never lost his identity as a Jew as he makes clear in Philippians 3. In the first century many Jews had their circumcision reversed surgically because in the Roman gymnasium where nudity was common, circumcision was regarded as a vulgar display. It was a confusing time, and Paul may have seemed inconsistent to his opponents but it is clear that Paul was not surrendering the principle of salvation by grace apart from the law of Moses. In fact he says in 1 Corinthians 9:19–20 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. As a final bombshell Paul says, As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! Paul refers here to a barbaric ritual that actually took place in his day in Galatian pagan temples. The priests of Cybele, the mother goddess of the earth, castrated themselves. The false teachers were leading the Galatian Christians to think that the ritual of circumcision, likewise, was a sacred act that would bring them into fellowship with God and Paul says that they are no better than pagans serving dumb idols and their teaching will never lead to fellowship with the living God. That comes only through the offense of the cross, that is, the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah Jesus. Salvation is by grace alone cannot come through the law or through any act of self denial.