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Selected Verse: Galatians 5:9 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ga 5:9 |
King James |
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| A little leaven--the false teaching of the Judaizers. A small portion of legalism, if it be mixed with the Gospel, corrupts its purity. To add legal ordinances and works in the least degree to justification by faith, is to undermine "the whole." So "leaven" is used of false doctrine (Mat 16:12 : compare Mat 13:33). In Co1 5:6 it means the corrupting influence of one bad person; so BENGEL understands it here to refer to the person (Gal 5:7-8, Gal 5:10) who misled them. Ecc 9:18, "One sinner destroyeth much good" (Co1 15:33). I prefer to refer it to false doctrine, answering to "persuasion" (Gal 5:8). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| A little leaven ... - This is evidently a proverbial expression; see it explained in the notes at Co1 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 of religion, and they would fall into the observance of all the rites of the Jewish law. It seems to me that the second interpretation referred to above is the correct one; and that the apostle means to say, that the influence which had brought this change about was at first small and unimportant; that there might have been but a few teachers of that kind, and it might have not been deemed worthy of particular attention or alarm; but that the doctrines thus infused into the churches, had spread like leaven, until the whole mass had become affected. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
A little leaven (μικρὰ ζύμη)
A proverbial warning, which appears also Co1 5:6. It refers, not to the doctrine of the false teachers, but to the false teachers themselves. Comp. Mar 8:15. With the single exception of the parable, Mat 13:33, leaven, in Scripture, is always a symbol of evil. Comp. Exo 12:15, Exo 12:19; Exo 13:3, Exo 13:7; Exo 23:18; Lev 2:11; Deu 16:3. This, however, is no warrant for the nonsense which has been deduced from it, as that Jesus' parable of the leaven contains a prophecy of the corruption of Christianity. Because leaven in Scripture is habitually the type of corruption, we are "none the less free to use it in a good sense as Christ did. One figure need not always stand for one and the same thing. The devil is 'a roaring lion,' but Christ is also 'the lion of the tribe of Judah'" (Trench). It is an apt figure of secret, pervading energy, whether bad or good. A new interest is given to the figure by Pasteur's discovery that fermentation is a necessary consequence of the activity and growth of living organisms. A very few of these Judaising intruders are sufficient to corrupt the whole church.
Lump (φύραμα)
Po. See on Rom 9:21. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump - One troubler, Gal 5:10, troubles all. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump - A proverbial expression, see Co1 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, Gal 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. |
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
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.
7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
11 No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.
18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
3 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that 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.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?