diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java
index d6ad112c682b..62f67fb295df 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/HadoopTableOperations.java
@@ -92,16 +92,20 @@ public TableMetadata refresh() {
         nextMetadataFile = getMetadataFile(ver + 1);
       }
 
-      this.version = ver;
+      // only load if the current version is out of date
+      if (version == null || version != ver) {
+        this.version = ver;
+
+        TableMetadata newMetadata = TableMetadataParser.read(io(), io().newInputFile(metadataFile.toString()));
+        String newUUID = newMetadata.uuid();
+        if (currentMetadata != null) {
+          Preconditions.checkState(newUUID == null || newUUID.equals(currentMetadata.uuid()),
+              "Table UUID does not match: current=%s != refreshed=%s", currentMetadata.uuid(), newUUID);
+        }
 
-      TableMetadata newMetadata = TableMetadataParser.read(io(), io().newInputFile(metadataFile.toString()));
-      String newUUID = newMetadata.uuid();
-      if (currentMetadata != null) {
-        Preconditions.checkState(newUUID == null || newUUID.equals(currentMetadata.uuid()),
-            "Table UUID does not match: current=%s != refreshed=%s", currentMetadata.uuid(), newUUID);
+        this.currentMetadata = newMetadata;
       }
 
-      this.currentMetadata = newMetadata;
       this.shouldRefresh = false;
       return currentMetadata;
     } catch (IOException e) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/TestHadoopCommits.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/TestHadoopCommits.java
index 2012122ed7fe..c1c8e2e5e820 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/TestHadoopCommits.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hadoop/TestHadoopCommits.java
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ private void testRenameWithFileSystem(FileSystem mockFs) throws Exception {
     // inject the mockFS into the TableOperations
     doReturn(mockFs).when(spyOps).getFileSystem(any(), any());
     try {
-      spyOps.commit(spyOps.current(), meta1);
+      spyOps.commit(tops.current(), meta1);
       fail("Commit should fail due to mock file system");
     } catch (CommitFailedException expected) {
     }