Galatians 5:9

Galatians 5:9

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

a. NLT: This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: A little leaven the whole lump doth leaven; [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.] 

d. Classic Amplified: A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump [it perverts the whole conception of faith or misleads the whole church]. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Peshitta Eastern Text: A little leaven leavens the whole lump. [HOLY BIBLE FROM THE ANCIENT EASTERN TEXT.Copyright  Ⓒ 1933 by A.J. Holmon Co.; copyright  Ⓒ renewed 1961 by A.J. Holmon Co.; Copyright  Ⓒ 1939 by A.J. Holmon Co.; copyright  Ⓒ renewed 1967  by A.J. Holmon Co.;  Copyright  Ⓒ 1940 by A.J. Holmon Co.; copyright  Ⓒ renewed 1968 by A.J. Holmon Co.; Copyright  Ⓒ 1957 by A.J. Holmon Co. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.]

f. NIV: “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

g. Worrell Translation: [Copyright 1904 by A.S. Worrell. Copyright assigned to the Assemblies of God, Springfield, MO. This edition was published 1980 by the Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, MO 65802. Printed in the U.S.A.]

h. Wuest Translation: [The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest. ©️ Copyright Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1961. All rights reserved.] 

1. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”

a. [A] little [Strong: 3398. mikros mik-ros', including the comparative mikroteros mik-rot'-er-os apparently a primary word; small (in size, quantity, number or (figuratively) dignity):--least, less, little, small.]

b. leaven [Strong: 2219. zume dzoo'-may probably from 2204; ferment (as if boiling up):--leaven.]

1). Unger’s Bible Dictionary: Leaven…is symbolic or typical of evil, always having this implication in the Old Testament. In the New Testament its symbolic meaning is also clear. It is “malice and wickedness” as contrasted with “sincereity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). It represents evil doctrine (Matthew 16:12) in its three fold manifestations of Phariseeism, Sadduceeism and Herodianism (Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15). Religious externalism constituted the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 23:14, 16, 28). A skeptical attitude toward the supernatural was the leaven of the Sadducees (Matthew 22:23, 29). The spirit of worldly compromise was the leaven of the Herodians (Matthew 22:16-21; Mark 3:6). The parable of the leaven “which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.”

a). 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

b). Matthew 13:33 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.

c). Matthew 16:8-12 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

16:7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.

16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

16:9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

16:10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

16:12 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.

2). The leaven of the Pharisees was also teaching the commandments of men as doctrine, (Matthew 15:1-9).

3). C.I. Scofield: “Leaven is the principle of corruption working subtly; is invariably used in a bad sense..”

c. leaveneth [Strong: 2220. zumoo dzoo-mo'-o from 2219; to cause to ferment:--leaven.]

d. the [Strong: 3588. [tēs] ὁ ho ho, including the feminine he hay, and the neuter to to in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom):--the, this, that, one, he, she, it, etc.] [Thayer: [tēs] ὁ, ἡ, τό, originally τος, τῇ, τό (as is evident from the forms τοι, ται for οἱ, αἱ in Homer and the Ionic writings), corresponds to our definite article the (German der, die, das), which is properly a demonstrative pronoun, which we see in its full force in Homer, and of which we find certain indubitable traces also in all kinds of Greek prose, and hence also in the N. T.] [Additional variants: tē, hoi, oi, tēn,ta, tēs,tois, tō, tōn, hé  hē, hai.]

 

e. whole [Strong: 3650. holos hol'-os a primary word; "whole" or "all", i.e. complete (in extent, amount, time or degree), especially (neuter) as noun or adverb:--all, altogether, every whit, + throughout, whole.] 

f. lump [Strong:  5445. phurama foo'-ram-ah from a prolonged form of phuro (to mix a liquid with a solid; perhaps akin to 5453 through the idea of swelling in bulk), mean to knead; a mass of dough:--lump.

1). Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary: 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 (Mt 16:12: compare Mt 13:33). In 1Co 5:6 it means the corrupting influence of one bad person; so Bengel understands it here to refer to the person (Ga 5:7, 8, 10) who misled them. Ec 9:18, "One sinner destroyeth much good" (1Co 15:33). I prefer to refer it to false doctrine, answering to "persuasion" (Ga 5:8).