Yeast and the Cross

Job 31-32; Galatians 5-6 

“That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ‘A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.’ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world had been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Galatians 5:8, 9, 24; 6:14

In the Scriptures, yeast is a consistent symbol for sin. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, yeast represents the teaching about circumcision as an essential element of righteousness.  The Mosaic Law and its regulations formed a culture that Jews lived within. To accept Jesus’ shameful death on the cross for their sin required a breaking free from the culture of the Law and a new dependence on grace and faith.

What “yeast” is opposing the message and work of the cross in our lives today?

The cross and death to the sinful nature are opposite to the message our culture sends us: to indulge the passions of our flesh and fulfill our selves. While our issue probably isn’t circumcision, we too can substitute grace, faith, and the power of the cross, for religion and some form of work’s righteousness. Only in Jesus is there life.

“Lord Jesus, thank you for willingly facing the shame of the cross and showing me the way to life in you.”