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§25 Life Together in the Spirit (Gal. 6:1–10)

6:1 / Addressing his readers as brothers, Paul turns to a fuller description of how a community living by the Spirit should behave. He first says that if someone is caught in a sin those who are spiritual should restore him gently. In contrast to 5:21, where Paul warned that those who do sinful acts would not inherit the kingdom of God, here Paul addresses the practical situation of a believer doing wrong. This circumstance does not call for the believer to be excommunicated or handed over to Satan (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5). Instead, the transgressor is to be restored, “put in order,” corrected for his or her own good. Paul spends greater time on the manner and special dangers of the ones who might be called on to restore the transgressor than he does on the transgressor. In this regard Betz comments that “Paul seems keenly aware that a self-righteous posture of prosecutors can cause greater damage to the community than the offense done by a wrongdoer” (Galatians, p. 298). The “spiritual” ones are to do their work “gently,” that is, they are to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (5:23) even while they correct. Their role will put them in spiritual danger, and so Paul warns them not to be tempted. They can avoid temptation by being watchful. The correctors should spend as much time keeping an eye on themselves as they do on the offender.

6:2 / The practical issue of transgression in the Christian community leads Paul to give the umbrella instruction to carry each other’s burdens (see also 5:13–14). This disposition allows fulfillment of the law of Christ. The way of Christ, as demonstrated in his life and death (“he loved and gave himself” Gal. 2:20), is to bear the burdens of others. Even the transgressor’s burdens are to be borne (cf. Rom. 15:1).

It may be that the troublemakers had been using the phrase “law of Christ” when arguing that faith included the requirement of circumcision, in which case Paul appropriates this term in order to turn it against his opponents. The “law of Christ” does not require Torah observance, but instead it allows one to act as Christ, the one who endured even death on a cross for the sake of others (cf. Phil. 2:4–11).

If the phrase “law of Christ” is not one that Paul took over from his opponents, the rhetorical effect of bringing together two terms that until this point have been mutually exclusive—law and Christ—would have been dramatic, thereby redefining the meaning of law in light of Christ. Law now is that which is fulfilled through love.

6:3–10 / Even as believers bear each other’s burdens each one should carry his own load. The way of Christ and of living in Christ is not for believers to shirk responsibility for their own character; it requires self-examination. Paul directs his readers to test their own actions. This extends the thought of 6:1, in which Paul warns recognized spiritual individuals to keep an eye on themselves even in the course of dealing with the transgression of another. The focus of believers’ lives is both outward and inward; outward toward others, while attending to the development of their own character through careful and honest assessment of their activity. This will ensure that in and of itself the life of each believer is a cause of pride, a source of gratification.

The statement if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself may be a truism Paul uses as a warning. If those who clearly have nothing to boast about are self-deceived enough to boast, then there is real danger that those who have so much (i.e., the Galatians) can be even more deceived.

In a statement as sweeping as that of 6:2a Paul writes a man reaps what he sows. Paul qualifies it with the stern observation that God cannot be mocked. In other words, God cannot be treated with contempt. Human beings’ actions determine outcomes. God sees all, as the harvest will demonstrate (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10). If people sow to please their sinful nature the outcome will be destruction. If, however, they sow to please the Spirit, they will reap eternal life. Paul closes by advocating that the key is that as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. The Greek word translated here as opportunity (kairon) is the same word as was translated “time” in the previous verse. The sense is “while we have time,” thereby alluding to the fact that believers live in expectation of the end. The phrase “family of believers” is literally “household of faith.” The designation “faith” for belief in Christ occurs throughout Galatians (e.g., 1:23). Now Paul describes those who share such faith as a family. This final injunction stresses the importance of attending particularly to the needs of believers and directs the attention of believers to all human beings (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1–5).