It Doesn't Take Much

Scientists speak of microscopic amounts in terms like parts per million, billion or even trillion.  This idea describes how it doesn't take much of a certain material to have a significant impact on a much larger volume.  Just a handful of miniscule molecules can pollute and radically change a massive amount.

That's exactly what Paul is talking about here in his letter to the Galatians.  He's gravely concerned about the impact of the Judaizers' spiritual snake oil.  

Even if it deceives just a handful of believers or a tiny portion of this false teaching gets out, it can have devastating consequences in this network of churches.  

The apostle makes his point with a well-known adage.  "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (v9).  This is the first century equivalent of "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.”  

Leaven or yeast is used in baking to make bread dough rise.  It only takes a tiny amount to do the trick.  The Greek adjectives are the key to this verse.  

He uses μικρος/micros ("little") and ‘ολος/holos ("whole").  In other words, the microscopic impacts the holistic.  It doesn't take much.

Paul's talking about influence.  Most of the time when the Bible mentions leaven, it's referring to sin.  Jesus warns His crew against the "leaven" spewed by the religious establishment (Mt 16:6, 11; Mk 8:15; Lk 12:1).  It doesn't take much of their self-righteousness to ruin everything.  

The apostle uses this very same axiom in his this letter when writing to Corinth (1Cor 5:6-7).  In that case, the Corinthian church refused to deal with a man who was sleeping with his step mother.  

When a church tolerates a microscopic amount of sin, it can have devastating consequences on the church holistically.  It doesn't take much.

Specifically, Paul warns about the cancer of legalism and self-salvation.  It only takes a microscopic amount of believing that we can save ourselves before it spreads like a cancer.  

In Galatia, the Judaizers insisted that circumcision was needed to finish what God had started.  You absolutely MUST be circumcised in order to stay in God's kingdom.

In many churches today, it's expressed differently.  There are specific rules that you can’t break.  

You absolutely MUST attend church every week.  

You absolutely MUST read your Bible every morning.  

You absolutely MUST pray for a certain amount of time.  

You absolutely MUST give your offering at a certain level.  You absolutely MUST serve in ministry.  

We've come to believe that if we don't do these things, we're in danger of losing God's approval.  Here's the deal.  The ONLY thing we absolutely MUST do is place our trust in what Jesus has done for us that we could never do.  

And once we begin to understand what He's done for us and stand under the waterfall of His grace, no one can stop us from doing all of those things listed above and MORE!!!

In other words, a little legalism "leavens the whole lump."  The microscopic impacts the holistic.  It doesn't take much.

While Paul is terribly concerned about the situation in the Galatian churches and the fate of these people that he's grown to love dearly, he understands that they are ultimately in God's hands.  "I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine" (v10).  

His confidence isn't in the Galatians.  His confidence is in Jesus and what He's doing in the lives of His believers.  

If God is truly Almighty God, He'll accomplish exactly what He wants to do.  Yahweh Himself rhetorically asked Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen 18:14).  

The Sovereign Creator quizzed Jeremiah in the same way, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.  Is anything too hard for Me?" (Jer 32:27).  

If God wants to, He will.  Period.

In this specific instance, Paul's talking about their assurance of salvation.  Calvinists call it perseverance or preservation.  It's the idea that if Jesus has truly saved someone, He'll never, ever let them go. 

The radical Rabbi/Carpenter said exactly that when He hung out with His boys.  He swore that if His Father placed believers in His hands, no one could ever pry them out (Jn 8:39-40; 10:28-29).  Ever.

Many people throw around the phrase "once saved, always saved."  The better expression is "if saved, always saved.”  

The first saying mistakenly leads some people to think they're headed for heaven just because they walked an aisle when they were 12.  

If there's been no evidence of life change, it's hard to confirm that this was more than an emotional momentary decision.  

The second saying lets us know that when Jesus has truly gotten ahold of our lives, things change.  Radically.  If saved, always saved.  

In verse ten, Paul says that if Jesus has really begun His gracious work in the lives of the Galatians, He'll seal the deal (Phil 1:6).  

Or as Jude writes of His Brother and Savior, He "is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy" (Jude 24).

The apostle not only trusts that God will finish the work in each believer, but he also trusts that the righteous Judge will prosecute and punish the guilty.  "The one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is" (v10).  

The Greek verb here is ταρασσω/tarasso.  It means to stir up, disturb, upset or frighten.  These false teachers have stirred up fear in the Galatian churches that faith in Jesus alone wasn't enough to save them.  But Paul trusts that in the end, God will handle them appropriately.

Here's the bottom line.  It only takes a microscopic amount of sin, bad teaching or legalism to impact us holistically.  

And we must remember that we aren't God and that He is.  He'll ultimately handle it.  He preserve and protect His people.  He'll prosecute and punish the guilty.   

Trust God.  He’s got this.

©2012

Jay Jennings