Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Galatians 6:1 - 6:5
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gal_6:1-5
1Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 5For each one will bear his own load.
Gal_6:1 "if" This introduces a third class conditional sentence meaning potential, probable action.
▣ "if anyone is caught" This is an aorist passive subjunctive. Literally "surprised" (cf. William D. Mounce's The Analytical Lexicon to the Greek New Testament, p. 393). The phrase points to our own responsibility for our sin but also of sin's subtle temptations and traps (cf. Eph_4:14; Eph_6:10-18). Some people did not premeditatively violate God's grace; they were duped.
NASB, NKJV "in any trespass"
NRSV "in a transgression"
TEV "in any kind of wrongdoing"
NJB "misbehaves"
At least three sins may be referred to here.
1. light of the false teachers, this may refer to those who had succumbed to the temptation of being circumcised and were trying to gain perfection through the Mosaic Law
2. because of the strong terms used in Gal_5:15; Gal_5:26, it may refer to the destructive tendencies which were present in the Galatian churches
3. this might be related to the pagan worship excesses described in Gal_5:19-21
The guidelines which follow are extremely helpful to show the church how believers are to restore a fallen brother to fellowship.
NASB, TEV "you who are spiritual"
NKJV "you who are spiritual"
NRSV "you who have received the Spirit"
NJB "the more spiritual of you"
This should not be misconstrued to mean "you who are sinless." Spiritual maturity has already been discussed in Gal_5:16-18; Gal_5:22-25. Spiritual maturity is
1. having the mind of Christ
2. living out the fruit of the Spirit
3. having a servant's heart
4. serving fellow Christians
See hyperlink at 1Th_5:21.
▣ "restore such a one" "Restore" is a present active imperative, an ongoing command, often used of setting a broken bone or fixing fishing nets (cf. Mat_4:21; Mar_1:19). It is crucial for those who are mature in Christ to help all others in the church to attain that stature (cf. Eph_4:13) and restore those who have fallen (cf. 2Co_13:11).
Forgiveness and non-judgmentalism are biblical signs of a mature Christian (cf. Mat_5:7; Mat_6:14-15; Mat_18:35; Luk_6:36-37; Jas_2:13; Jas_5:9). Church discipline must always be redemptive not vindictive (cf. 2Co_2:7; 2Th_3:15; Jas_5:19-20). We dare not shoot our wounded!
▣ "looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted" "Tempt" [peirazô] in this context has the connotation "to tempt with a view toward destruction." The same word is used of the evil one tempting Jesus in Matthew 4. Another word for "tempt" [dokimazô] is used twice in Gal_6:4, but this word has the connotation "to test with a view toward approval." Satan will test and tempt believers in order to destroy them. Believers must be on guard, without and within (cf. 1Co_10:12; 2Co_13:5). See Special Topic at 1Th_3:5.
Gal_6:2 "Bear one another's burdens" This is a present active imperative. "One another" is placed in an emphatic position in the Greek sentence. As a way of life mature Christians are to carry their weaker, less mature brothers (cf. Rom_14:1; Rom_15:1). This fulfills, in a very practical and observable way, the New Law (cf. Gal_5:14).
"Burden" was used of a crushing weight put on a domestic pack animal (cf. Mat_23:4). In context it was used metaphorically for the oral traditions of the Judaizers. It is a different term than "burden" in Gal_6:5, a soldier's backpack.
▣ "and thereby fulfill the law of Christ" The Law of Christ is also mentioned in 1Co_9:21 and "the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ" in Rom_8:2. The Law of Christ is also characterized in different ways in James.
1. Jas_1:25, "the flawless law that makes men free"
2. Jas_2:8, "the royal law"
3. Jas_2:12, "the law of liberty"
As the yoke of the oral traditions interpreting the Mosaic Law had become a pressing burden to the Jews, the yoke of Christ is easy and light (cf. Mat_11:29-30). However, a yoke it is (cf. Joh_13:34; 1Jn_4:21), and this yoke is our responsibility to love and serve one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
The verb "fulfill" used here is found in two different tenses in the manuscripts.
1. aorist imperative in MSS à , A, C, D
2. future active indicative in MSS B, F, G
3. future active indicative, but with different initial preposition in MS P46
The UBS4 committee was uncertain which was original. They thought possibly that the future was changed to an aorist imperative because of the preceding infinitive in Gal_6:1 (Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament).
Gal_6:3 "if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing" This is a first class conditional sentence, assumed true from the author's perspective or for the author's literary purposes. Christians should judge themselves so that they can appropriately relate to each other and can avoid overestimating themselves (cf. 1Co_3:18, possibly reflecting Isa_5:2). This does not mean that Christians do not have sin, but that sin does not dominate their lives (cf. 1Jn_1:8; 1Jn_3:6; 1Jn_3:9). Therefore, they can help and pray for those whose lives are dominated by sin (cf. 1Co_3:18).
▣ "he deceives himself" This verb occurs only once in the entire NT, meaning to seduce oneself into error. The noun form appears in Tit_1:10. Self-deception is the worst kind of blindness.
Gal_6:4 "But each one must examine his own work" This is a present active imperative of the term for "test" or "tempt" (dokimazô) with the connotation of "to test with a view toward approval." See Special Topic at 1Th_3:5.
▣ "and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another" Believers must be careful not to compare themselves with one another (cf. 2Co_10:12), especially those who have been surprised and overtaken by sin (cf. Gal_6:1).
hyperlink
Gal_6:5 "For each one will bear his own load" This may refer to the judgment seat of Christ in an eschatological/end-time setting (cf. 2Co_5:10). At first glance, Gal_6:2; Gal_6:5 seemingly contradict each other until a closer lexical study shows that the two words translated respectively as "burden" and "load" had different usages. The former word in Gal_6:2 (baros) means a "crushing weight," while the latter word in Gal_6:5 (phortion) means a "soldier's backpack filled with his needed equipment." Mature Christians must carry the load of responsibility for themselves and sometimes, for others. An example of this might be 2Co_8:13-14. The same term was used of Jesus' guidelines for Christians in Mat_11:30.