Is your bread leavened with truth or lies?

(Galatians 5:9-10)

The principle in this scripture flies in the face of one accepted wisdom of this world. Specifically, it opposes the idea of yin yang.

It is a principle of truth that is the point of this scripture, and to accept the position of yin and yang is to reject the truth and accept a lie.

Look at the first of these two verses where this principle is shown, and then we will consider the alternate positions of truth versus yin yang.

”9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” – (Galatians 5:9)

Yin and Yang

No doubt you will have come across the principles of Yin and Yang (some say Ying and Yang, Yin and Yan, or other variations), and may have some understanding of what it is.

Yin and Yang is a Chinese philosophy. It is depicted usually by a picture of a circle, divided by an “S” shaped curve. One side of the circle is black & the other white, but there is a smaller circle of black on the predominantly white side and likewise a smaller circle of white on the predominantly black side.

My understanding of this philosophy is that the black and white represent bad and good respectively.

The pictorial representation then suggests that good and bad are not completely separate, but within everything good there is a little bad (I.e. a little black in the white), and in everything bad there is a little good.

In many circumstances in this world, there is no doubt some truth in this depiction. We see it occur in all manner of worldly human pursuits.

For example, in the realm of politics there are those people seek the greater good of the people they govern, but to do that means they sometimes succumb to the occasional deception. Alternatively there are politicians who are completely corrupt and evil, but who do a little good from time to time.

Consider Adolf Hitler who the world at large see as the epitome of evil and hatred. And yet he did some good as he pulled Germany out of the great Depression and was also responsible for giving the Volkswagen to the world. He was certainly mostly bad but surprisingly did some good things too. The weight of the evil he did far outweighs the few good things he did. I use him only as an example of the philosophy of Yin and Yang, where there is a little good mixed in with a LOT of evil.

So there would seem to be a basis for Yin and Yang in this world and the dealings of the people of this world, but in truth the philosophy is lacking because it does not represent truth. There are many such examples that could be used, and I am sure you can think of some yourselves.

One problem with this philosophy is that it is static. It is incomplete and as a result it fails to show the truth and the potential outcomes of holding a mixed bag of good and bad together, and rectifying this truth is the thrust of this scripture.

Truth

Verse 9 in Galatians 5, as quoted above, tells us a different story to the philosophy of Yin and Yang. And what the bible scripture says is the truth of this whole issue.

Yin and Yang is static. It says there will always be a little bad in the good and vice versa.

But this verse tells us that this mixing of good and evil is NOT static, rather that the evil will grow and taint ALL of the good that may exist in a person.

Paul uses the analogy of leaven in dough. Leaven is a lump of yeasted dough from a previous batch of dough, that is kept and added to the next batch of dough. Leaven is activated dough and it is alive because the yeast in the dough works to build the structure of the bread dough so that the bread will rise when baked.

The way the leaven is used is to add it to an unactivated lump of dough and it is allowed to sit for some hours during which time the yeast works its way into all parts of the dough to activate the whole lump of dough in readiness for baking.

Now this is the difference between these two analogies. Yin and Yang is static where there is always just a bit of good in the bad, or bad in the good. But the analogy of the leaven is that it is dynamic and where a little leaven is put into the whole lump of dough, over time it will work its way into all corners of the lump so that it will be completely leavened.

If we take this analogy to be one of good and evil, then we see that where a good person allows evil to come into their mind or their life, then over time the evil will take them over and drown out the good.

Do you think this is a reasonable position? Or do you think perhaps I am being overly dramatic in this assessment?

Here are a couple other teachings that Jesus gave to back up this need for a relentless pursuit of truth and to expunge all forms of evil from our thinking.

35 Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. (John 12:35)

Here we see that this walk we take in Christ Jesus is a continual, ongoing progression forward. And we see in this verse that Jesus says we MUST keep moving, seeking the light, because if we stop, the darkness will overtake us.

We must understand that the darkness is constantly moving too, and if we stop, it will overtake us and drown us. We are not left in a place where there is a “little light in the darkness,” but rather we are completely in the dark. The dark will swallow the light if we do not continue moving forward and learning the fullness of the truth in Jesus Christ.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23)

Here again we see the philosophy of Yin and Yang completely overturned.

We take into our body truth and error, good and evil, through what we learn through our senses, especially our eyes and ears. WHat we learn we receive through seeing or hearing.

But perhaps more importantly, we learn what we SEEK to learn. And this is the point of this verse. If we are seeking to learn evil, we will find evil and it will fill our mind, heart and body. This is represented in the scripture by the “unsound eye” that seeks the darkness.

And it is in this seeking that the truth departs from the philosophy of Yin and Yang. The truth in this scripture tells us that if our eye is sound (I.e. we are seeking the truth and all that is good), then our whole bodies will be filled with the light of the knowledge of the truth. But alternatively, if our eyes are seeking the darkness, then our whole bodies will be filled with darkness, and if we are in the dark fully, how great is the darkness.

In these words of Jesus there is no position or place for a “little bit of dark in the light” or vice versa. It is either all dark or all light. There is no mixing for one will destroy and overcome the other.

Seeking the Truth

This is why I am so adamant in these blog posts about the need for all Christians to seek diligently to find the truth, and that includes myself as well. We cannot afford to be leavened by a small lump of false teaching because if we accept one point of false teaching, it will spread and leaven us to accept more false teaching until we are led completely away from the truth.

We each have a responsibility to look for and seek the fullness of the truth in Jesus Christ, and He has promised to show it if we seek diligently.

The modern church is full of false teachings that have nothing to do with the truth. We know this to be the case because we have been warned about it in the Bible, and if you read my last post you will see this issue discussed in greater detail. Your challenge and mine, is to use the truth of the Bible, along with the working of the Holy Spirit and prayer, to test the teachings of the church and so sift out the error from the truth.

Some of the teachings of the modern church are so pervasive and persuasive that they are accepted without question, even to the point of being called an heretic for suggesting that there may be some other view. But under the microscope of the truth we find that he false teachings do not stand up to scrutiny.

And that is the challenge for all Christians. We need to scrutinise what is being taught so that we do not end up in darkness and miss the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ.

So seek out the truth and look for it, hopefully you too will heed the words that Paul wrote to the Galatians all those years ago in Galatians 5:10

10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine; and he who is troubling you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. (Galatians 5:10)

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