Amplified Bible
Galatians 5:9
9A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church].
Galatians 5:9 in other versions
Context of Galatians 5:9
7You were running [the race] well; who has interfered and prevented you from obeying the truth? 8This [deceptive] persuasion is not from Him who called you [to freedom in Christ]. A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church]. 10I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view [contrary to mine on the matter]; but the one who is disturbing you, whoever he is, will have to bear the penalty. 11But as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision [as I had done before I met Christ; and as some accuse me of doing now, as necessary for salvation], why am I still being persecuted [by Jews]? In that case the stumbling block of the cross [to unbelieving Jews] has been abolished.
Read all of Galatians 5Galatians 5:9 word by word
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Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Galatians 5:9
- Matthew 23:33You serpents, you spawn of vipers, how can you escape the penalty of hell?
- Matthew 16:6Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
- Mark 8:15Jesus repeatedly ordered them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
- Luke 12:1In the meantime, after so many thousands of the people had gathered that they were stepping on one another, Jesus began speaking first of all to His disciples, “Be continually on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees [that is, their pervasive, corrupting influence and teaching], which is hypocrisy [producing self-righteousness].
- Luke 13:21It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three peck measures of flour until it was all leavened.”
- 1 Corinthians 5:6Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]?
- 1 Corinthians 15:33Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
- 2 Timothy 2:17and their teaching will spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus,
Commentaries on Galatians 5:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump - A proverbial expression, see 1 Corinthians 5:6, very aptly applied to those who receive the smallest tincture of false doctrine, relative to the things essential to salvation, which soon influences the whole conduct, so that the man becomes totally perverted. They might have argued, "It is a small thing, and should not be made a subject of serious controversy, whether we be circumcised or not." Granted, that in…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9A little leaven - This is evidently a proverbial expression; see it explained in the notes at 1 Corinthians 5:6. Its meaning here is, that the embracing of the errors which they had adopted was to be traced to some influence existing among themselves, and acting like leaven. It may either mean that there was existing among them from the first a slight tendency to conform to rites and customs, and that this had now like leaven pervaded the mass; or it…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-12Verses 7-12 The life of a Christian is a race, wherein he must run, and hold on, if he would obtain the prize. It is not enough that we profess Christianity, but we must run well, by living up to that profession. Many who set out fairly in religion, are hindered in their progress, or turn out of the way. It concerns those who begin to turn out of the way, or to tire in it, seriously to inquire what hinders them. The opinion or persuasion, ver. #(8), was…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9This verse was a common saying (literally A little yeast [or leaven] makes the whole loaf rise; see Matthew 13:33; 16:6, 11–12; 1 Corinthians 5:6–7). Relying a little on the law for God's acceptance can lead to forgetting that Jesus Christ saves by his work alone.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. 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…Read the comment
Topics related to Galatians 5:9
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Galatians 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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