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Galatians 5:7-12 (ESV)
Christ Has Set Us Free
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
Sugarcoating. It’s what people do when they need to tell someone something that might be unpleasant or disagreeable to them. A person needs to communicate a hard truth that someone needs to hear, but they are afraid of hurting the person’s feelings so they will sugarcoat the message, using soothing words to alleviate the impact of what they need to say.
I don’t think Paul ever sugarcoated a message. The truth was too important, and we can certainly see that in this passage.
This is one of my favorite sections in all of Galatians as Paul gets straight to the point using a variety of images. Paul says that the Galatians were running a good race, but then someone stepped in and blocked the runners from knowing the truth.
He then switches to courtroom images as he talks about how the people are being persuaded away from the truth with a message that isn’t from the Lord.
Then he moves into the kitchen (verse 9 talking about baking) as he warns the Galatian believers that the false message is nothing more than a compromise that can totally derail their faith in Christ; if they compromise on one thing (in this case circumcision in order to be a “real” Christian), then their faith in Christ is worthless and Christ died for nothing.
Then Paul shifts back to the courtroom again in verse 10. Paul trusts that the Galatian believers will not be persuaded by this false argument and that the opposition, the one who is seeking to persuade the Galatian believers away from the truth, Paul trusts that the Lord will deal with him (apparently there was one person in particular who was derailing the faith of the believers).
Then Paul speaks about his own life in verse 11 noting that he is being persecuted. Remember that these false teachers were saying that Paul was like them. They falsely claimed that Paul believed the Galatians needed to follow Jewish law and practice to be considered a true Christian. They said that Paul just didn’t give them the full picture when he came and spoke about Jesus.
Paul’s response here is, “If that’s true, if I believe that circumcision is necessary, then why am I being persecuted?”
Finally, in verse 12, Paul says something so shocking that it was sure to grab everyone’s attention. If the false teachers want to press for circumcision, Paul says that he wishes they would go in for the whole treatment and castrate themselves.
Sugarcoating, no, not on the part of Paul.
But if you’re like me you’ve probably had more than a few moments where you’ve sugarcoated your conversation with someone. I get it. In the best light, we sugarcoat our conversations because we care about the other person, we don’t want to hurt them, or damage our relationship with them, or risk pushing them away.
That’s a consideration that we have to weigh whenever we have a hard truth that we need to share. But we must never sugarcoat our responses when it comes to fallacies regarding the Gospel. We must speak the truth (in love of course), otherwise, that false teaching can do incredible damage to a person’s faith or to the church.
Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
God bless you and know that I’m praying for you constantly.
Scott
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