BACKGROUND:
The Galatian believers had accepted the gospel of salvation and were living out their faith—they were getting along so well. But despite their good start, someone had interfered, holding them back from following the truth. Although Paul asked who had done this, he already knew the answer. Paul knew that the problem was the Judaizers.
Paul warned the Galatians that the Judaizers, instead of helping them along, were actually hindering their faith. Instead of opening up new truths to the Galatians, they kept the Galatians from following the truth. The Judaizers represented the interests of Satan. They wanted to keep the Galatians enslaved to the law and derail the new believers.
The Galatians needed to realize that it was not God who was holding them back, for he had called them to freedom in the first place. God had called the Galatians, but he had called them to salvation by his grace, not by their works.
To make clear this point once again, Paul uses the example of the impact that yeast has on bread. Yeast is put into bread to make it rise, and it takes only a little to affect the whole batch of dough. Just a small amount of evil can affect a large group of people (Matthew 16:5-12). Even one wrong person among the Galatian believers could infect all the others, putting the entire Galatian church at risk.
Paul also was confident that the person who had been troubling and confusing the Galatian believers would receive due punishment. While Paul knew that the troublemakers were a group of Judaizers, he singled out the leader of this group, whom he probably did not know. Paul suspected that this man carried a certain amount of weight as a leader. Paul's attitude was simple - “Whoever he may be, however high in leadership or however revered by the Jews, this man is teaching wrong doctrine,” No matter what this leader’s position, he would pay the penalty for his wrong teaching.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
The foundational truth from this passage is this: One wrong thought, one wrong attitude, one wrong relationship, one wrong belief can adversely affect our walk with God. Often times, Satan does not trip us up by leaving our families and turning our backs on our faith - he simply deceives us - we deceive ourselves. We think, it's no big deal. No one will know. Who will it hurt? Before we know it, the good race we were running has been slowed or stopped completely.
Listen to some of the warnings in these verses:
"Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 (NIV)
"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)
"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."
James 1:19-21 (NIV)
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)
It breaks my heart to see brothers and sisters in Christ who were at one time living for God and following His plans and purposes (running a good race) - to see them now derailed by anger, bitterness, unconfessed sin, pride, arrogance, a poor friendship or some false teaching.
What's the lesson for us? We have to guard our hearts constantly. We have to be on guard villengtly. We have to wise up.
"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!"
1 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV)
Lord, help us guard our hearts today. (Proverbs 4:23)
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