Galatians 6 verses 1 to 10

 

Galatians 6 verses 1 to 10

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

For every man shall bear his own burden.

Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

Be not deceived: God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

As we have therefore opportunity for us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

 

COMMENTARY BY WARREN WIERSBE - BE FREE

“Bear ye one another’s burdens” verse 2.  The Spirit-led Christian thinks of others and how he can minister to them.  In this section Paul describes 2 important ministries that we ought to share with one another.

1.      Bearing burdens – verses 1 to 5

The legalist is not interested in bearing burdens.  Instead, he adds to the burdens of others – Acts 15 verse 10.  This was one of the sins of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men’s shoulders ; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” Matthew 23 verse 4.  The legalist is always harder on other people than he is on himself, but the Spirit-led Christian demands more of himself than he does of others that he might be able to help others.

Paul presents a hypothetical case of a believer who is suddenly tripped up and falls into sin.  The word overtaken carries the idea of being surprised, so it is not a case of deliberate disobedience.  Why does he use this illustration?  Because nothing reveals the wickedness of legalism better than the way the legalists treat those who have sinned.  Call to mind the Pharisees who dragged a woman taken in adultery before Jesus (John 8).  Or that Jewish mob that almost killed Paul because they thought he had defiled the temple by bringing in Gentiles – Acts 21 verse 27.  (Legalists do not need facts and proof; they need only suspicions and rumours.  Their self-righteous imaginations will do the rest.)  So, in this paragraph, Paul is really contrasting the way the legalist would deal with the erring brother, and the way the spiritual man would deal with him.

(1)  A contrast in aim.  The spiritual man would seek to restore the brother in love, while the legalist would exploit the brother.  The word restore means “to mend, as a net, or to restore a broken bone.”  If you have ever had a broken bone, you know how painful it is to have it set.  The sinning believer is like a broken bone in the Body, and he needs to be restored.  The believer who is led by the Spirit and living in the liberty of grace will seek to help the erring brother, for “the fruit of the Spirit is love” (Galatians 5 verse 22).  “By love serve one another” (chapter 5 verse 13)  When Jesus sought to be a physician to the sinful, He was severely criticized by the Pharisees (Mark 2 verses 13 to 17) and so the spiritual believer today will be criticised by the legalists.  Instead of trying to restore the erring brother, the legalist will condemn him and then use the brother to make himself look good.  This is what the Pharisees did in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18 verses 9 to 14).  “Love shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4 verse 8).  The legalist rejoices when a brother falls and often gives the matter wide publicity, because then he can boast about his own goodness and how much better his group is than the group to which the fallen brother belongs.  This is why Paul admonishes us “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5 verse 26).  The word provoke means “to challenge to a contest, to complete with.”  The believer who walks in the Spirit is not competing with other Christians or challenging them to become “as good as he is”.  However the legalist lives by competition and comparison and tries to make himself look good by making the other fellow look bad.

 

(2) A contrast in attitude. The Spirit-led believer approaches the matter in a spirit of meekness and love, while the legalist has an attitude of pride and condemnation.  The legalist does not need to “consider himself” because he pretends he could never commit such a sin.  But the believer living by grace realises that no man is immune from falling.  “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10 verse 12). He has an attitude of humility because he realises his own weaknesses.  But there is a second contrast: he knows the love of Christ in his own heart.  “The law of Christ” is: “Love one another” (John 13 verse 34; 15 verse 12).  Paul has already discussed the “law of love” (Galatians 5 verses 13 – 15) and now he is applying it.  “Tender loving care” is not a modern invention, because Paul is urging it upon believers in this passage.  How much we appreciate it when the doctor uses tenderness as he sets a broken bone.  And how much more should we use “tender loving care” when we seek to restore a broken life.  It takes a great deal of love and courage for us to approach an erring brother and seek to help him.  Jesus compares this to eye surgery (Matthew 7 verses 1 – 5) – and how many of us feel qualified for that?  Paul probably has in mind here our Lord’s instructions on reconciliation (Matthew 18 verses 15 – 35).  If your brother sins against you, go talk to him privately, not for the purpose of winning an argument, but for the purpose of winning your brother (That word gained is the same word Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9 verses 19 – 22 to refer to winning the lost to Christ.  It is important to win the lost, but it is also important to win the saved.)  If he hears you, then the matter is settled.  But if he will not agree, then ask one or two spiritual people to go with you  If he will still not settle the matter then the whole church must be informed and take steps of discipline.  But goes on to point out that the church must practice prayer (Matthew 18 verses 19 and 20) and forgiveness (Matthew 18 verses 21 – 35) or discipline will not be effective. The legalist, of course, has no time for this kind of spiritual “soul-winning”. When he hears that his brother has sinned, instead of going to the brother, he shares the sad news with others (“So you can pray more intelligently about it”) and then condemns the brother for not being more spiritual.  Remember the legalist makes himself look better by making his brother look worse.  Thus Paul’s warnings here (verses 3 and 4).  The Judaisers were guilty of boasting about themselves, their achievements and their converts (Galatians 6 verses 12 to 14).  They usually did this by comparing themselves with others see 2 Corinthians 10 verse 11).  But such comparisons are sinful and deceptive.  It is easy to find somebody worse off than we are, so that our comparison makes us look better than we really are.  Christian love would lead us not to expose a brother’s failures or weaknesses, no matter how much better it would make us look.  A man should “prove his own work” (Galatians 6 verse 4) in the light of God’s will and not in the shadow of somebody else’s achievements. “Each man should test his own actions.  Then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to somebody else, for each man should carry his own load” (verses 4 and 5 NIV).  There is no place for competition in the work of God, unless we are competing against sin and Satan.  When we see words like “best, fastest-growing, biggest, finest” applied to Christian ministries, we wonder who is getting the glory.  This does not mean that it is wrong to keep records.  Charles Haddon Spurgeon used to say “Those who criticize statistics usually have none to report.”  But we must be careful that we are not making others look bad just to make ourselves look good.  And we should be able to rejoice at the achievements and blessings of others just as if they were our own (Romans 12 verse 10).  After all, if one member of the Body is blessed, it blesses the whole Body.  There is no contradiction between verses 2 and 5, because 2 different Greek words for burden are used.  In verse 2 it is a word meaning “a heavy burden” while in verse 5 it describes “a soldier’s pack”.  We should help each other bear the heavy burdens of life, but there are personal responsibilities that each man must bear for himself.  “Each soldier must bear his own pack.”  If my car breaks down, my neighbour can help drive my children to school, but he cannot assume the responsibilities that only belong to me as their father.  That is the difference.  It is wrong for me to expect somebody else to be the father in our family; that is a burden (and a privilege) that I alone can bear.

 

2.  Sharing Blessings – verses 6 to 10

Just as one another is a key phrase in the Christian vocabulary, so is the word fellowship (translated “communicate” in verse 6).  From the very beginning of the church, sharing was one of the marks of Christian experience (Acts 2 verses 41 to 47).  The Greek word has now worked its way into our English vocabulary, and we see the word koinonia means “to have in common” and refers to our common fellowship in Christ (Galatians 2 verse 9), our common faith (Jude 3), and even our sharing in the sufferings of Christ (Philippians 3 verse 10).  But often in the New Testament, koinonia refers to the sharing of material blessings one another (Acts 2 verse 42, 2 Corinthians 8 verse 4, Hebrews 13 verse 16)  It is this that Paul has in mind in these verses.

He begins with a precept (verse 6), urging us to share with one another.  The teacher of the word shares spiritual treasures, and those who are taught ought to share material treasures (Paul uses a similar approach when he explains why the Gentile churches ought to give an offering to the Jewish believers – Romans 15 verse 27).  We must remember that what we do with material things is an evidence of how we value spiritual things. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6 verse 21)

Because the apostle Paul did not want money to become a stumbling block to the unsaved he earned his own living (see 1 Corinthians 9) but he repeatedly taught that the spiritual leader in the church was to be supported by the gifts of the people.  Jesus said, “The labourer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10 verse 7) and Paul echoes this statement (1 Corinthians 9 verses 11 and 14)

But we must realise the spiritual principle that lies behind this precept.  God does not command believers to give simply that pastors and teachers (and missionaries, Philippians 4 verses 10 to 19) might have their material needs met, but that the givers might get a greater blessing (Galatian 6 verses 7 and 8).  The basic principle of sowing and reaping is found throughout the entire bible.  God has ordained that we reap what we sow.  Were it not for this law, the whole principle of “cause and effect” would fail.  The farmer who sows wheat can expect to reap wheat.  If it were otherwise, there would be chaos in our world.

But God has also told us to be careful where we sow, and it is this principle that Paul deals with here.  He looks upon our material possessions as seed, and he sees 2 possible kinds of soil; the flesh and the Spirit.  We can use our material goods to promote the flesh, or to promote the things of the Spirit.  But once we have finished sowing, we cannot change the harvest.

Money sown to the flesh will bring a harvest of corruption (see Galatians 5 verse 19 to 21).  That money is gone and can never be reclaimed.  Money sown to the Spirit (such as sharing with those who teach the Word) will produce life, and in that harvest will be seeds that can be planted again for another harvest and on and on into eternity.  If every believer only looked upon his material wealth as seed and planted it properly, there would be no lack in the work of the Lord.  Sad to say, much seed is wasted on carnal things and can never bring glory to God.

Of course, there is a much wider application of the principle to our lives; because all that we do is either an investment in the flesh or the Spirit.  We shall reap whatever we have sown, and we shall reap in proportion as we have sown.  “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9 verse 6).  The believer who walks in the Spirit and “sows” in the Spirit is going to reap a spiritual harvest.  If his sowing has been generous, the harvest will be bountiful, if not in this life, certainly in the life to come.

Paul’s enemies, the Judaisers, did not have this spiritual attitude toward giving and receiving.  Paul sacrificed and laboured that he might not be a burden to the churches, but the false teachers used the churches to promote their own schemes and fill their own coffers.  This is also what happened in the Corinthian church and Paul had to write them: “In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face.” (2 Corinthians 11 verse 20 NIV)

How many times we have seen the sacrificing godly pastor persecuted and driven out, while the arrogant promoter is honoured and gets everything he wants.  The carnal believer thrives under the “spiritual dictatorship” of a legalistic promoter pastor, because it makes him feel secure, successful and spiritual.  The carnal believer will sacrifice what he has to make the work more successful, only to discover that he is sowing to the flesh and not to the Spirit.  Having given us the precept (Galatians 6 verse 6) and the principle behind the precept (verses 7 and 8).  Paul now gives us a promise (verse 9): “In due season we shall reap if we faint not.”  Behind this promise is a peril: getting weary in the work of the Lord, and then eventually fainting, and stopping our ministry.

Sometimes spiritual fainting is caused by a lack of devotion to the Lord.  It is interesting to contrast 2 churches that are commended for “work, labour and patience” (1 Thessalonians 1 verse 3; Revelation 2 verse 2).  The church at Ephesus had actually left its first love and was backslidden (Revelation 2 verses 4 and 5).  Why? The answer is seen in the commendation to the Thessalonian church: “Work of faith, labour of love, patient of hope.”  Not just work, labour and patience, but the proper motivation: “Faith, love and hope”.  How easy it is for us to work for the Lord but permit the spiritual motivation to die.  Like the priests of Israel that Malachi addressed, we serve the Lord but complain “Behold what a weariness it is” (Malachi 1 verse 13).

Sometimes we faint because of lack of prayer.  “Men ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18 verse 1).  Prayer is to be the spiritual life what breathing is to the physical life, and if you stop breathing, you will faint.  It is also possible to faint, because of lack of nourishment.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4 verse 4)  If we try to keep going without proper food and rest, we will faint.  How important it is to “wait upon the Lord” to get the strength we need for each day (Isaiah 40 verses 28 to 31).

But the promise Paul gives us will help to keep us going: “In due season we shall reap”.  The seed that is planted does not bear fruit immediately.  There are seasons to the soul just as there are seasons to nature, and we must give the seed time to take root and bear fruit.  How wonderful it is when the ploughman overtakes the reaper (Amos 9 verse 13).  Each day we ought to sow the seed so that one day we will be able to reap (Psalm 126 verses 5 and 6).  But we must remember that the Lord of the harvest is in charge and not the labourers.

Sharing blessings involves much more than teaching the Word and giving of our material substance.  It also involves doing good “unto all men” (Galatians 6 verse 10).  There are those in this world who do evil (Psalm 34 verse 16); in fact, there are those who return evil for good (Psalm 35 verse 12).  Most of the people in the world return good for good and evil for evil (see 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 15; Luke 6 verses 32 to 35).  But the Christian is supposed to return good for evil (Romans 12 verses 18 to 21) and to do this in a spirit of Christian love.  Actually, the Christian’s good works are a spiritual sacrifice that he gives to the Lord (Hebrews 13 verse 16).

We are to “do good unto all men”.  This is how we let our light shine and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5 verse 16).  It is not only by words that we witness to the lost, but also by our works.  In fact, our works pave the way for our verbal witness; they win us the right to be heard.  It is not a question of asking “Does this person deserve my good works?”  Did we deserve what God did for us in Christ?  Nor should we be like the defensive lawyer who tried to argue, “Who is my neighbour” (Luke 10 verses 25 to 37).  Jesus made it very clear that the question is not “Who is my neighbour?” but “To whom can I be a neighbour?”

As we “do good unto all men”, we must give priority to “the household of faith”, the fellowship of believers. This does not mean that the local church should become an exclusive clique with the members isolated from the world around them and doing nothing to help the lost.  Rather, it is a matter of balance.  Certainly the believers in Paul’s day would have greater needs than would the outsiders, since many of the believers suffered for their faith (see Hebrews 10 verses 32 to 34).  Furthermore, a man always cares for his own family before he cares for the neighbourhood (1 Timothy 5 verse 8).

 

We must remember, however, that we share with other Christians so that all of us might be able to share with a needy world.  The Christian in the household of faith is a receiver that he might become a transmitter.  As we abound in love for one another, we overflow in love for all men (1 Thessalonians 3 verse 12).

This is how it was meant to be.