Offence Of The Cross

Galatians 5:7-13 - 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. "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. 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! You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

1 Corinthians 5:6 - Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

Romans 9:32 - Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."

Conclusions:

• The Galatians were running a good race before the Judaizers hindered them
• Paul was fond of depicting the Christian life as a race
• The persuasion that kept the Galatians from obeying the truth came by the Judaizers
• A proverb used in Galatians 5:9 stresses the pervasive effect of Judaism
• When the word yeast in the Bible is used as a symbol, it indicates evil or false teaching, except in Matthew 13:33
• To illustrate Christian holiness and discipline, Paul alludes to the prohibition against the use of yeast (leaven) in the bread eaten in the Passover Feast
• Leaven in Scripture usually symbolizes evil or sin, and the church in 1 Corinthians 5:6 is called on to get rid of the yeast of sin because they are an unleavened batch of dough--new creations in Christ
• The failure of Israel was not that she pursued the wrong thing, but that she pursued it by works in a futile effort to merit God's favor rather than pursuing it by faith
• The stumbling stone is Jesus, the Messiah
• God's rejection of Israel was not arbitrary but was based on Israel's rejection of God's way of gaining righteousness
• The Greek word for "emasculate themselves" means to cut of or to castrate
• In Philippians, Paul uses a related word to describe the same sort of people as mutilators of the flesh
• Paul's sarcasm is evident
• Liberty is not license but freedom to serve God and each other in love

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible