Ye ran well; who has stopped you that ye should not obey the truth?
These believers had started the Christian race with energy. Then something cut across their track, and Paul stops to ask who did it.
Before the rebuke comes a compliment. This is what their early running looked like.
While their faith was young and full of life, their love was strong. The grace of Christ was still fresh in their souls. They spoke to one another of the blessedness they shared in Him. They cheered each other on as they ran together, with steady eagerness and a godly rivalry, in their hard but welcome race of faith and patience. Their thoughts were then of heaven, and of Him who won it for them by His cross, not of earth and the good will of men.
The word Paul uses is not vague discouragement. It pictures a road broken up on purpose.
The Galatian believers were running in this race. They had been running nobly, but someone has come in and interfered with them. The word means "cut into." It usually carries the idea of interfering with someone's road. The aim is to hinder them by breaking down the bridges and spoiling the road. We often see this in war. So someone had been hindering the Galatian runners, someone had been interfering with them. They had grown weary of the race, and were not running at all well now.
Notice what the runners stopped doing. They did not stop discussing the truth; they stopped obeying it.
Once the Galatians had been like earnest runners in the race. Now something hindered them, and they no longer obeyed the truth. Take note: "the truth" is not just something to discuss, analyse and understand. It is something to obey. Are we sons of God? Then as sons we are to behave ourselves. Are we crucified with Christ? Then we do not aim at living to ourselves but that Christ may live in us. Every bit of truth that we learn is to have a practical expression in us.
There is more in the word "obey" than simply doing as you are told.
The literal meaning is "to be persuaded." A man does not obey until the truth put before him has convinced him. So we may translate: "Who has interfered with you, for you not to be persuaded by the truth?" Paul is not asking for the sake of information. He probably knew well who the enemy was that was "cutting in" and interfering with those he loved so dearly. It is an exclamation, meant to make the Galatian believers see for themselves how they have failed. The enemy has persuaded them to give up the truth they learned from Paul. So Paul adds, "This persuasion is not from the One calling you." It was not the Lord and not the Holy Spirit who had persuaded them to give up.
Paul's question has an edge to it. Someone did this, and God keeps account of it.
It is a serious thing to put a stumbling block, or an occasion to fall, in the way of the Lord's little ones (Matt. 18:6). He is very jealous over His own that are in the world. He will richly reward every service given to them for their progress and joy of faith, however small, in the coming day. On the other hand, He will surely settle accounts with those who have checked them in their onward course. The bloom had gone from these souls in Galatia. Their love had grown cold and their faith had grown weak.
What tripped them was not scandal but religion — and that is judged more sharply than it looks.
Is it not solemn to find that the very word "leaven" which is used in 1 Corinthians to describe frightful moral corruption, in Galatians describes the introduction of the legal system among the children of God? God treats it as a deeply offensive thing. Indeed, the tone of the Holy Spirit in writing to the Galatians is even more severe than in addressing the Corinthians. Because, although the Corinthians were guilty of what was far more blameworthy in the sight of men, the Galatians had fallen into an error that struck more deeply at the foundations of God's grace.
What stopped the Galatians still stops people now.
The Galatians made a good start. The Apostle says, "You were running well." But he has to ask, "Who hindered you from obeying the truth?" Legality hindered them, because they came under false teachers. Today many seem to start well and promise to be devoted Christians. Sadly, in later life they make little progress of soul. They fall before the attractions of the world and become worldly, or come under the influence of false teachers and become legal.
- Run — the Christian life is a race. These believers once ran it with fresh love and their eyes on heaven.
- Cut — "hindered" means to cut into someone's road and break the bridges. Someone interfered on purpose; this was no accident.
- Persuade — the word for obeying means being convinced. The new persuasion that gripped them did not come from the God who called them.
- Account — God is jealous over His own. He rewards those who help them forward and settles accounts with those who check them.
- Finish — truth is for obeying, not just knowing. A good start is no guarantee, because the world and false teachers still stop runners today.
The persuasibleness [is] not of him that calls you.
Paul has just asked who cut in on the race the Galatians were running so well. Now he rules out one answer: their new conviction did not come from the God who calls them.
Paul uses one word three times in these few lines. One writer follows the word play from "obey" in verse 7, through "persuasion" here, to Paul's confidence in verse 10:
The word "obey" here could be translated "that you would not be persuaded by the truth." Then he says, "This persuasion is not from Him who calls you." There is a link between this lack of obedience and this new persuasion, this new conviction that marked them; and this persuasion was "not from Him who calls you." To finish this word play, in verse 10, "I have confidence" could be translated "I am persuaded as to you."
This changes what obedience means. It is not blind compliance:
A man does not obey until he is persuaded of the truth put before him.
Paul does not argue the case again here. He points them back to how they became Christians in the first place.
To be so easily persuaded by this law-keeping teaching, which was nothing but a fatal error, was not the work of Him who had called them. That is not how they had become Christians through grace. A little leaven corrupted the whole.
A second test looks at fruit. What had this teaching done to them?
The freshness had gone from these souls in Galatia. Their love had grown cold and their faith had grown weak. These were the results of the wrong efforts of the teachers among them who pressed the law. The movement was not of God. The work of His Spirit never leads to such sad results. He had called them in the grace of Christ; this persuasion came from a completely different source.
Paul says where the persuasion did not come from. The commentators name where it did, and it is more than human error.
The enemy has persuaded them to give up the truth they had learned from Paul. So Paul adds, "This persuasion is not from Him who calls you." It was not the Lord, it was not the Holy Spirit that had persuaded them to give up. It was the enemy's work. "An enemy has done this" (Matthew 13:28).
Paul's question does more than point at one teacher. It points to the mind behind him:
There is only one original enemy of the way of truth, though his methods and tricks are countless... The question asked here seems meant to remind them of their unseen spiritual enemy, and to wake them up to fresh watchfulness against this cunning and spiteful watcher of their peace.
The two persuasions start in different places. They also end in different places.
God had called them, and their early faith answered and led them into the way of peace. Since then, Satan's servants had persuaded them. They now wanted a path that promised to take them, as they wrongly thought, to a "higher Christianity." But that path leads everyone who follows it, in the end, into the darkness that God never lights... God's calling is salvation to the soul that listens to it with a steady mind. Every other persuasion comes from below, and leads people to ruin if they obey it.
Why could the false teachers stop them at all? One writer names the root, and what God's call does instead:
We may be sure that when believers are stopped from going on with the truth, a soul that is not subject to the truth lies at the root of it. The call of God carries the soul along in the faith of it. And here we learn the harmful effects of indifference to the truth. Not being subject to the truth leads to indifference.
- Persuasion first. "Obey" in verse 7 means "be persuaded." No one obeys until he is convinced. So whoever wins the conviction directs the steps.
- Test the caller. They did not become Christians by law-keeping. A teaching that demands it did not come from the God who called them.
- Test the fruit. Cold love and weak faith point to the source. The Spirit's work never leads to that.
- Name the enemy. Behind the teachers stands one enemy with countless methods. His promise of a "higher Christianity" ends in darkness.
- Guard the root. A soul that will not bow to the truth drifts into indifference. God's call, held with a steady mind, carries the believer along.
A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Paul has just asked the Galatians who cut in on them while they were running well. Then he answers with a proverb from the kitchen: why is yeast in dough his reply to a debate about circumcision?
The force of the image lies in how yeast behaves. It needs no help, and it gives no warning.
Leaven works like this. Put a small particle of it into a mass of pure dough, and it always passes its special character on to the whole lump. This spreading action of leaven is automatic, and needs no human help. Silently and unnoticed, the subtle influence works until the hidden spreading and blending is complete. Then the result is visible.
The same words appear in 1 Corinthians 5, where the leaven is moral corruption. Here it is a teaching.
Leaven (yeast) always speaks of the corrupting action of sin. Because it is only a little, it may hardly be noticed at first. But deceitful men know how to slip in their false doctrines bit by bit, and soon corrupt the truth. Add only a little of the teaching of self-righteousness to Christianity, and it spoils the whole. It magnifies man and belittles Christ. But Christianity is Christ highly exalted and mankind humbled to the dust. The same words about leaven appear in 1 Corinthians 5:6. There the leaven is self-indulgence, which is moral corruption. In Galatians the leaven is self-confidence, which is doctrinal evil. In either case it is a mixture hated by God.
In Galatia the evil took a religious form:
In Galatia evil was taking what we may call a religious or legal form (Gal. 5:9). The Christians there were observing days, months, times, and years. They were praising circumcision as a desirable supplement to faith. This was the leaven of the Pharisees, as in Corinth it was the leaven of the Sadducees. The Sadducees' leaven was free thought and loose living. The Pharisees' leaven was strict legalism and human tradition.
Human instinct ranks a scandal in a church far above a debate over religious rules. Paul's choice of word reverses that ranking.
In 1 Corinthians the word "leaven" describes frightful moral corruption. In Galatians the same word describes bringing the legal system in among the children of God. Is that not solemn? God treats it as a most offensive thing. Indeed, the tone of the Holy Spirit in writing to the Galatians is even more severe than in addressing the Corinthians. The Corinthians were guilty of what men blame far more. But the Galatians had fallen into an error that struck deeper at the foundations of God's grace. A spiritual man always judges sin, not by what man thinks of it, but by what it is in the sight of God.
This leaven is hard to spot, because it can look admirable:
Wicked doctrine may go along with an outwardly blameless life; indeed, that is often the case... If people deny the truth of justification by faith, given freely by God's grace, or deny the need for new birth, we are facing an evil more dangerous than drunkenness or immorality, because it is more deceptive. A man may hold and teach blasphemous doctrines, and yet seem as pious in his language as the most devoted child of God.
The Galatians were only adding a few observances. That was the miscalculation.
They had been persuaded to take up these new ideas. Those ideas did not come from the God who had called them. And they had to remember that ideas and doctrines can work like leaven. They might flatter themselves that they had only taken on a few minor items of Judaism. Yet by that they might become wholly Jewish in their religion.
The warning reaches beyond Galatia:
Let us not forget that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump." Any departure from the truth, if unjudged, will lead to further decline, and the gradual deterioration of the whole body. Sadly, the state of Christendom, with its mixture of Judaism and Christianity, shows that it has become leavened with the Galatian evil.
Leaven spreads when no one stops it:
Scripture is most decided in dealing with evil doctrine. Some were undermining the truth of justification by faith. Of them the apostle says, "I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!" (Gal. 5:12). Another apostle writes to an "elect lady and her children." They must not receive into the house, or even greet, anyone who does not bring "the teaching of Christ" (2 John 10).
(Scripture here follows the ESV; the commentator used an older translation.)
- Small. Leaven works on its own, unseen. No one helps it, yet its character passes into the whole lump.
- Sour. In Corinth the leaven was self-indulgence. In Galatia it was self-confidence: a teaching that magnifies man and belittles Christ.
- Serious. God counts the Galatian error heavier than the Corinthian scandal. It strikes deeper at the foundations of grace.
- Spreading. They thought they had taken on only a few minor items of Judaism. In fact they were on the way to a wholly Jewish religion, and Christendom shows where that ends.
- Stopped. Departure that goes unjudged only deepens. So Scripture is firm with false teaching: do not take it in, and do not greet it.
*I* have confidence as to you in [the] Lord, that ye will have no other mind; and he that is troubling you shall bear the guilt [of it], whosoever he may be.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But *I*, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why am I yet persecuted? Then the scandal of the cross has been done away.
Paul has just warned the Galatians about the men unsettling them. Now he points at himself: the persecution he still suffers answers the charge that he preaches circumcision, and it raises a question — what makes the cross stop offending people?
Paul is answering a slander, and his suffering is his reply.
Paul's enemies had said that when it suited him, he also preached circumcision. Paul now asks a question that completely answers these wicked taunts... It was always the Jews who persecuted Paul. They were so bitter against him because he preached to the Gentiles and set aside their ancient customs. But if Paul was really preaching the doctrines of the Jews, why should they persecute him? Paul was still suffering persecution, and this proved that he was still preaching that circumcision has no power, and that faith in Christ alone can save.
There was one kind of circumcision he did preach, and it was not the literal kind.
Paul never preached circumcision anywhere, at any time, no matter what others alleged against him. Plainly the enemies of the gospel of saving grace, the enemies of the cross of Christ, did not hesitate to slander the apostle, hoping this would strengthen their own case. The only circumcision which Paul taught at any time was that spiritual answer to the literal — "you have been filled in Him... In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands... by the circumcision of Christ" (Colossians 2:10-12).
There is a picture behind the word Paul uses.
The Greek word translated "scandal" means the stick in a trap that holds the bait, so it came to mean the trap or snare itself. It is usually translated "stumbling block," which means much the same. It is the word that gives us the English word "scandal." A scandal is something people stumble over and want nothing to do with.
The two messages point in opposite directions.
The "offence" or "scandal" of the cross is that it puts no honour on man; in fact, it condemns him completely. Circumcision, on the other hand, assumes that there is some possibility of merit in him, and that his flesh can in this way be made useful to God. The same is true of any other rite performed with the idea that there is virtue in it. This explains why men love rites and ceremonies so much. They give men a comfortable feeling of being pleased with themselves. The cross makes nothing of them. So it is a scandal.
The cross does more than deny man's worth. It also names what he has done.
What makes the offence of the cross cease is the idea that there is something good in the flesh, and that the flesh can therefore be improved — for this is what circumcision assumed. The cross denies man in the flesh, with all his claims. So it offends man as man. It shows him that he is the betrayer and murderer of the Son of God, and that there is no salvation for him as a sinner except through the blood of Christ, which proves his guilt.
This shows why the false teaching in Galatia was so attractive.
The apostle then touches on what made the teaching of these troublers so subtle. They offered the believers a path free from all persecution, a path where the offence of the cross would cease. Nothing is more offensive to the religious Jew, under law, than the cross. It is the complete condemnation of man before God. It proves that the law is broken and that man is under the curse... The apostle sees that if we "obey the truth", the result will be persecution — however different its form may be as time goes on.
The danger is not limited to one Jewish rite.
If a man is justified by the cross alone, simply by knowing it, then his justification comes entirely from God. The cross also condemns the world and all its wisdom... So nature seeks to add some little thing to it. But whether we add circumcision, or reformation, or a new life, or anything else, the offence of the cross has ceased.
You can spot the preaching that meets no resistance by what it tells people to do.
Circumcision stands for the religion of the natural man. The religious spirit of the natural man is always in opposition to the true gospel. Difficulties will stop, and the world will even applaud the preaching, if it proclaims the religion of the flesh — the "do-religion": "observe", "keep", "reform", and so on. We see much of this today. The true gospel of grace, preached on the basis of the finished work of Christ, with nothing to do and nothing to pay, is still the same stumbling block.
- Charge — Opponents claimed Paul still preached circumcision. His ongoing persecution answered them: the Jews had no reason to hunt down a man who taught their own customs.
- Scandal — The word behind "offence" means a trap-stick, or stumbling block. It is something people trip over and want no part of.
- Cause — The cross gives man no honour and condemns him outright. Circumcision assumes some merit in him, which is why rites feel so comfortable.
- Bargain — The troublers offered a path with no persecution and no offence. Obeying the truth brings opposition instead, in whatever form the age takes.
- Test — Add circumcision, reformation, or anything else, and the offence is gone. A "do-religion" wins applause. Grace, with nothing to do and nothing to pay, still trips the world up.
I would that they would even cut themselves off who throw you into confusion.
Here Paul's anger breaks out. The men pressing circumcision on the Galatian believers get one blunt wish from him. Older translations read "cut off" where the ESV is blunter, and much depends on what that cutting means.
The trouble came from teachers who pressed circumcision and the law of Moses on the Galatians:
A more exact translation of the passage is: "I would even that they would cut themselves off who throw you into confusion." The apostle's desire is that these Judaizing teachers might indeed separate themselves from the Galatian assemblies. Their teaching brought confusion there, urging the Galatians to get circumcised and keep Moses' law (ch. 6:12). So their effort to have the Galatians circumcised is turned back on themselves. Let them circumcise themselves — that is, cut themselves off from you, says the indignant apostle... The whole letter was written to expose their subtle teaching and to free God's people from them.
Commentators differ. Some read it as a wish that the teachers would leave the fellowship they were unsettling. Others hear Paul pushing their own logic to its grim end:
In verse 10 we saw one particular person. Now Paul speaks in the plural, "they." He says, as it were, "I would that they would mutilate, or cut themselves off." This is really what Paul is saying: they might use the knife for circumcision, so let them castrate themselves. He is mocking them. In Philippians 3:2 he calls this religious action by another name, "the concision." That is another term of contempt for these people who were always cutting. They wanted to cut, but no amount of cutting would benefit them.
Read the other way, the wish lets the troublemakers leave on their own. That spares the assembly a painful duty:
Those who have a character of self-righteousness cannot long endure a single-hearted, steadfast devotion to the grace of the Lord Jesus alone. Such devotion will irritate them more than anything else... It is better if people decide to leave on their own than for the assembly to carry out a solemn excommunication. Then the responsibility rests on their own shoulders.
Paul is sharper with the Galatians than with the Corinthians, who tolerated open immorality. Here is why:
It is solemn to find the same word "leaven" in both letters. In 1 Corinthians it describes frightful moral corruption. In Galatians it marks the bringing in of the system of law among the children of God. God treats it as a most offensive thing. Indeed, the tone of the Holy Spirit in writing to the Galatians is even more severe than in writing to the Corinthians. The Corinthians were guilty of what men would blame far more. But the Galatians had fallen into an error that struck deeper at the foundations of God's grace... "Faith which works by love" does not hesitate to use strong language about the corrupters of the Church of God — it denounces them most earnestly, and as a duty to God and man.
The heat came from love, not from a lack of it:
His love for the truth and the welfare of believers made him intolerant of those whose teaching was destructive of Christian truth, robbing the saints of true liberty.
Yet the wish stays a wish. Paul leaves the judging to his Lord, and his tone toward the believers keeps shifting between rebuke and comfort:
It was no time for civilities and smoothness of speech... truth has no courtesies for falsehood. Love is of God, and deals always with the sincerity and truth belonging to its source. A true servant of righteousness shows consideration not to those who do wrong, but to those who suffer it. Paul's tone to the Galatian saints is by turns severe and kind. He warns them or comforts them as he works to restore their souls... Yet his anger is with meekness still. He wishes, but his Lord alone can act as the avenger of His name.
The outburst is not an ending. It opens straight into the positive thing Paul is fighting for:
We also see the trouble of his spirit, and it marks the whole letter: "I would that they were even cut off that trouble you. For, brothers, you have been called to liberty." That principle, taken with what follows, is of the utmost importance. The Christian was called to liberty — the holy liberty of the new nature, but liberty all the same.
- Trouble. Teachers pressed circumcision and the law of Moses on the Galatians. Their message threw the assemblies into confusion.
- Turnabout. Paul aims their own knife-talk back at them. Either leave the assembly, or, on the harsher reading, cut deeper still — no amount of cutting helps.
- Threat. The severity matches the danger. Scripture calls this error leaven, and it struck deeper at the foundations of grace than the open scandal at Corinth.
- Tone. Love for the truth makes the apostle intolerant here. His anger stays with meekness, and he leaves the judgment to his Lord.
- Treasure. All of it guards one thing: the holy liberty of the new nature, which the Galatians were trading away.