Galatians 6:1-17 Christian Standard Bible
We’ve arrived at the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Paul will give another word of instruction and then conclude his letter. Let’s begin by reading verses 1-5 which say, “1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load.”
This is a new topic, is it not? What are we to do when a fellow believer is “overtaken in any wrongdoing?” This wording seems to indicate that the person has been overwhelmed and has fallen into sin. Paul is not speaking of the person who is not living for Christ, but of a believer who has given in to sin in a moment of weakness. That is why the goal is one of restoration. We are to “restore such a person” back to proper behavior. He doesn’t say, “convert such a person” or something like that. The goal is to build the person back up.
I’m thankful that the Bible uses this language of restoration, but I’m grieved that the Church tends not to do a very good job of following this clear instruction. The Church, as a whole, tends to either ignore and turn a blind eye to the person who has been overtaken in wrongdoing, or treat them harshly and condemn them. But those are not options if we want to follow God’s Word. Note that Paul mentions, too, that we are to do this gently and with caution, in order that we don’t become tempted by whatever wrongdoing has befallen the one we are helping. Why would he give this warning? Depending on what has overtaken someone, what “overtook” them could overtake us. So, by being gentle and watching ourselves carefully, we also approach the fallen person with humility. It reminds me of what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:12, which says, “So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.” We shouldn’t think that we are above falling. Our pride could lead to us falling victim ourselves.
Then Paul continues, basically saying, ‘Galatians, if you want to fulfill the law, then fulfill this law of Jesus Christ; which is to carry one another’s burdens.’ This is the law of Christ, for we know Jesus boiled down the Law for us to be this: love God and love others. Specifically, in John 13:34, we see that Jesus said to His disciples, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.”
If we want to obey Christ, then one way to do that is to carry one another’s burdens. Rather than ignoring someone when they have been overtaken in a wrongdoing or are weighed down by a burden, we are to come alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ and help them.
We all have burdens, and we aren’t meant to carry our burdens on our own. If we are prideful and think that we are better than someone who is buckling under a burden, then we will probably be too prideful to help them out, or we will be harsh in the way we “help.”
But wait a minute, verse 5 seems to contradict what was just said, though, doesn’t it? It says, “For each person will have to carry his own load.” Aren’t we supposed to carry each other’s burdens? In the Greek, we see that Paul is using two different words. In verse 2, he says “burden” which, according to Strong’s Concordance, is the word baros, which means “weight.” This is the same word used in Acts 15:28-29 which says, “For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision — and ours — not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements: that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”
That means we should help one another carry these “burdens” that God has given us to carry. We should help and not hinder our fellow Christians from obeying God. That verse in Acts lists the “burdens” the early church spelled out for its members. In the same way, we should help each other adhere to the “burdens” that are still required for followers of Jesus today. That would include avoiding those things mentioned in Acts, as well as all the other obvious works of the flesh we see mentioned in Scripture. Remember what chapter 5:19-21 said, “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
That word for burden differs from verse 5, which uses the word “load,” which, according to Strong’s Concordance, is phortio and it also means “a burden,” but it is the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 11:30 when He says, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This burden is not a burden of a moral requirement, or something that can be carried by someone else. It is the work that the Lord has given each of us to do.
Ultimately, we are responsible for ourselves alone. No one can carry us across the spiritual finish line. That is a matter worked out between each individual and God; no one else can do the work for us which God has given us to do. So there is a balance between personal calling and responsibility, and helping one another in the community of believers. We are to help each other follow Christ, but at the end of the day, no one can follow the Lord on our behalf: I am responsible for myself.
Then verses 6-10 continue, saying, “6 Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. 7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.”
This means that while we should share what we have with those who teach us the word and help ease financial burdens as well, we can’t look to a pastor or leader, a parent or a spouse, to carry our burdens for us. If we are living selfishly or pridefully thinking we are following Christ when we are actually living for our flesh, then we will “reap destruction from the flesh.” This is a continuation of what chapter 5 was talking about: the fruit of the Spirit versus the desires of the flesh. Which are we sowing? Whichever we sow, that will we reap. We will either grow good fruit or grow further away from the Lord.
If we live by the desires of the flesh while claiming to follow God, we are essentially making a mockery of the Christian life. “God is not mocked” means that while we may be able to fool other people, we can’t fool God. 1 John 2:3-6 tells us, “This is how we know that we know Him: if we keep His commands. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in Him: The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.”
As verse 9 warns us, we cannot give up in this endeavor of following Christ. We can’t give up and give in to the desires of the flesh. We will only reap eternal life “at the proper time if we don’t give up.” We must walk as Jesus walked, being led by the Spirit.
So while we fulfill Christ’s law by loving one another and helping each other follow Christ, we each must soberly realize we will reap what we sow. We can’t sit back and think someone else will follow God for us. No one else can grow the fruit of the Spirit inside of us. As chapter 5 warned us: we can’t just do whatever we want.
The Paul writes his conclusion, and states in verse 11, “Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting.” Before this, he was either dictating the letter to a scribe who wrote for him, or he has been writing this whole time but only now mentions how large his printing has become. This is most likely because of his poor eyesight. Only recently have I needed to wear eyeglasses. Not only do I need them to read, but I need them to write, otherwise I need to print in large letters in order to see what I’ve written. I think that is the same for Paul.
Let’s read the next verses as we are near the conclusion and Paul is summarizing his letter. Verses 12-13 say, “12 Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised—but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even the circumcised don’t keep the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh.”
As Paul said before in chapter 5, those who put their faith in following the law would not face persecution because only those who preached that Jesus died on the cross and rose again were being persecuted. But those same people weren’t following all the laws, they were only following the laws that were convenient for them to follow. They were certainly not following the law of Christ to love one another. They created importance around the laws they could keep and abandoned the ones they couldn’t, and then boasted about following the law.
Let us not be like them. Let us not be deceived. Let us cling to the cross and echo what Paul says in verses 14-16, “14 But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. 15 For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. 16 May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God!”
The reason circumcision is nothing is because it is not what really matters. What matters is that through the cross of Jesus Christ we have been given grace and made a new creation. This is the “law” that matters. As 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NASB) explains: “Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
What matters is that Christ died upon the cross. The Jews who wanted everyone to still follow the law and be circumcised, they were focused on the things that do not matter. They had missed the whole point of what Jesus did on the cross. They weren’t preaching the Gospel. They were still preaching law. To be the Gospel of Jesus, a message must include grace and the cross, not just rules. If a message is solely about rules, it’s legalistic and not a genuine Gospel message. If you’re told that believing is enough and your actions don’t matter, it’s not the Gospel of Jesus, it’s antinomianism. Which is a word that simply means lawlessness.
This letter is certainly relevant to us today. So many churches have lost the Gospel of Jesus Christ and instead of following Christ, they follow rules and sacraments, adhering to their man-made doctrines over the Word of God. Other churches preach a gospel that has nothing to do with the Cross. They have been deceived into following the self; teaching people to live by their feelings, following the self’s desires. Both ways are not correct; both are not the Gospel that Jesus preached. It is only through our faith in Jesus that the Spirit lives in us, and when He lives in us, He makes us a new creation in Christ. When that happens, then we will produce good works as a result of His indwelling in us.
If we think we can attend church, receive communion, hear a pronouncement of our forgiveness, and then go back to living according to our flesh, we are gravely mistaken. That was my experience growing up. I thought my adherence to the rules of the sacraments guaranteed my salvation, even though I had no personal conviction of my sin nor fellowship with Jesus. In the same way, someone who goes to church, lifts their hands in worship, and then leaves and lives however they want, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, they too are gravely mistaken. God will not be mocked. Hear what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:19. He says, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.”
Again, we must be careful not to confuse the “burdens” of obeying God’s commands with legalism or antinomianism. While we are set free from the law, we are not free to sin. Let me tell you something: if you can understand how this all works together, you will grasp the Gospel of Jesus.
Freedom and lawlessness are two different things. In modern Christianity, a lot of people seem to have confused those things and melded them together. When Paul speaks of freedom to not be circumcised or Peter speaks of freedom to eat all foods, they are speaking of those specific things. We should not view circumcision and food as placeholders for the word sin. Too often people switch out circumcision or food for any other thing and say that Paul and Peter are declaring that nothing is off limits for Christians. That is not true. Sin is off limits. Circumcision and eating food are not immoral activities. Just because we have freedom in Christ from the old ceremonial or Mosaic law, we have not been given a license to commit immorality. We have only been given the freedom to either be circumcised or not, eat all foods or not, or at the widest application, follow or not the other ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. It is not permission to commit sin. In an effort to apply God’s word to our modern times, people have really messed up the application of these verses.
We have freedom from the Law because Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law when He died on the cross and rose again. His death and resurrection did not abolish the Law. Legalism is bad though, for it says that the way to salvation is through keeping the law. Antinomianism is bad because it says there are no commands that need to be obeyed in order to be saved. They are equally incorrect. Obedience to God is what matters. 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.”
It is as 1 John 5:3 (NASB) tells us, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” If we love God, we will keep His commandments. And just like Scripture says, His commandments are not burdensome. The chief of His commandments is to love Him and love others. We will do exactly that if we are following the Spirit, obeying God’s Word. Then we will bear good fruit and reap eternal life.
Remember what Paul explained in verse 8: “the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” If we disobey God’s commands, and sow to our flesh, we will reap destruction. That is because the path of sin always leads to death. Once we’ve become a child of God, Jesus forgives us and washes our sins away. He sets us on a path of freedom. Why would we want to sow to our flesh and become enslaved to sin again? The path of sin always leads to destruction. We’ve been given freedom from sin. We should not think we’ve been given freedom to sin.
Then Paul ends his letter with verses 17-18, which say, “17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”
It’s not the marks of circumcision that matter on the body. Paul says his body bears the marks of Jesus. Paul has suffered persecution. 2 Corinthians 11:24-25 says, “Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea.” His body has been marked by suffering for Christ. Does your body bear the marks of Christ? Is there evidence that you are following Jesus? Would anyone know by looking at you that you follow Jesus? The Jewish leaders thought their rituals, circumcision, and avoidance of unclean meats told others they were holy. They were trying to be righteous, not through faith in Jesus, but through their keeping of some of the laws. Yet, they failed to follow all the laws perfectly, and they weren’t motivated by love or acting in love. Jesus says in John 13:35 that love is the distinguishing mark of His disciples. He says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The way we truly love others is when we keep God’s moral commands, bearing one another’s burdens, helping each other stay true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we certainly should not heap further burdens onto other people through legalism, nor heap burdens of sin on others by telling people their sin does not matter. Remember, it is for freedom that we have been set free. Galatians 2:19-21 says, “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”
Christ did not die for nothing. He died to set us from sin and death. He died to give us freedom. If we grasp this truth, then we grasp the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the truth Paul wanted the Galatians to understand. It is still the truth we must understand if we want to follow Christ.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Jesus to die on the cross for us. Thank You for making a way for us to be saved. We pray that by Your Holy Spirit, You would transform us to be more and more like Jesus each day. Help us love You and each other, just as Jesus has loved us. In His name we pray, amen.
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