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Galatians 6.1-10
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July 14th 2019
And so launching into the conclusion of his letter, and as a means to keep the church together, loving and abiding in the Spirit, Paul now says some super important things:
Galatians 6:1 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.
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 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.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Alright, back to verse 1
Galatians 6:1 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.
Paul has discussed the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. We have had the two lists presented.
And we know that when it comes to the list of the works of the flesh that Paul said none who practice such ways will inherit the Kingdom of God.
But now Paul addresses those “who might be overtaken in a fault.” Which to me is speaking of those who enter into the flesh temporarily by the power of the flesh – and how many of us do that on a daily basis.
The Word and tense of the word actually means to surprise – and I would suggest that many fleshly responses have an ability to surprise us when the pop out of our mouths or move our hands to action.
Surprised by a temptation and fall headlong into the flesh. Tindal renders this, “If any man be fallen by chance into any fault.”
“Ye which are spiritual” Hoi Pneumatikoi = You who are under the influences of the Holy Spirit.
Isn’t that interesting when we step back and consider what Paul is actually describing here.
If someone is taking in by a sin you who (looking back to the descriptions of the fruit of the spirit we covered last week)
are
full of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control . . .
NOT you who are mean, judgmental, pious, but you who are SPIRITUAL . . .
“Restore such an one.”
This is the very same word used in Matthew 4:21 where it used to describe mending nets.
To make a fit. “Equip such a one.”
Now, one of my favorite commentators suggests that this does not mean restore them back into the church if they have been excommunicated but to restore that fallen soul to the ways of the Spirit, leading them to repent.
In that day this might have been true – can’t really tell. But to me they are one in the same – and the question is not what are they being restored to – their former ways or the church – the question is how is such a restoration occurring?
What is the one who is spiritual doing or saying to help mend or equip such a one?
Paul tells us, referring to one of the Spiritual fruits mentioned last week and says:
“Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.”
We noted last week that meekness is a characteristic that lends to trusting that God will take care of all things.
And isn’t that the way for us to be?
With a kind, forbearing, and forgiving spirit. Not with finding fault or feeling the need to point out every failure.
But . . . with and through the fruit of the Spirit.
Then Paul adds, “Considering thyself, or Looking to thyself.” “Remembering how liable we are too toward err and how much kindness and indulgence should therefore be shown to others.
It seems like this line means that we are to act as if we feel that we ourselves have possibly been overtaken in the same fault and are acting toward the other in the light of the Golden Rule to do unto others what we would like to be done to us.
Bottom line, with humility approach the other because nobody really knows if or when they could fall to a similar or same failure.
Such good humble advice for self-awareness before God and Man. Paul adds:
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
The context suggests that we all have particular trials and temptations in life which are burdens, and sometimes they serve to send us off track.
The Greek means to bear the weight of another, and in this case and context, it means to bear the weight of the sins that so easily beset our brethren.
It is the same word used to describe Jesus bearing the cross. To do so, Paul says,
“and so fulfill the Law of Christ!”
To bear one another’s burdens is to fulfill the Law of Christ.
So we have a confluence of thoughts here converging into one here.
To bear burdens of another fulfills the law of Christ.
In this it must be that Christ, who provides and creates and espouses His own Law, must have lived that law himself.
And of course we see that he did in the taking on the sins of the world through the cross. But if we look to his whole incarnate experience, His life was one of selflessness.
We can say that because He always did the will of His father, and not his own, and therefore expressly lived love.
Obedience to God is the highest form of love to God – and therefore He fulfilled it. Then he entered into His ministry of bearing others burdens.
Remember when the woman with an issue of blood touched the hem of His garment what He said?
“I have felt virtue go out of me.”
That is bearing the burdens of others. It took something out of him, cost him something personally. And in the miracles, and the healings, and the forgiving and the long-suffering, he evidenced the Law of Christ because all of which were somehow sacrificial.
And then he not only illustrated it he commanded this law saying in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:
We recall in John 13:34 Jesus saying:
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
This was the ultimate distinguishing Law of Jesus Christ and Paul here explains that a means to actually FULFILL this law is to bear one another’s burdens.
From this we are being old that the law of Christ would not allow us to reproach the offender, or to taunt him, or to rejoice in his fall, or to condemn him to hell.
Those who are of the Spirit should help take up his load and sustain him by love, prayer, encouragement.
To do otherwise is to think of oneself as morally superior to the fallen brother, which is a danger as Paul now adds:
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
It’s a pretty meaningful statement that Paul delivers and it ought to be taken to heart because when he says:
For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, the meaning from the Greek is saying frankly that he is zero. And I think that means in terms of his moral merits, not his value in the sight of God.
In other words, I suggest that Paul is saying nobody has the right to judge or look down upon anyone taken in a fault because to do so implies the idea that such a man “thinks himself to be something, but the reality is he is zero, nothing, nada morally. So he therefore has no grounds to take such a stance, and if he does, Paul says, “he deceives himself.” He does not understand his own character.
So he gives us his advice and says at verse 4:
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Now, at this point Paul shifts from the topic of how to helping a brother or sister who has slipped into a fault and how those who are spiritual are to bear their burden thus fulfilling the Law of Christ, to advice on how to view and see oneself – and there is a difference.
In other words, he is giving direction on how every person ought to view themselves in relation to the rest of the world – and so the advice seems to almost be opposite to what he has said about bearing others burdens.
In summary of the next few verses, Paul is saying that to fulfill the Law of Christ we ought to bear the burdens of those who fall, but relative to our own persons, and how we view ourselves relative to the rest of the world around us, to focus on our own lives, and not on the lives of others.
Get it?
So, help others always without judgement or condemnation and by the Spirit but along the way maintain a view of yourself that excludes looking at anyone else – just yourself.
Paul supports this summary saying at verse 4:
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
And he adds something that appears almost contradictory. He says at verse 5:
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
In verse 2 Paul wrote: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
But now in verse 5 he writes:
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
Our solution comes through the Greek as the term translated burden in verse 2 is baros, and the term translated in burden in verse 5 is for-tee-on.
Baros means weight
Forteeon better means invoice.
And in this we see that Paul is saying that when it comes to our earthly burdens (baros) or weights, we are to help each other bear each others, but when it comes to our own status before God, we will all possess our own invoices, our own accounts.
In other words, Paul is reminding us that we will all receive, according to the invoices we bear, according to our own selves and our own labors – whatever they may be. So it’s useless to compare ourselves or our lives with others.
I think that verse seven is a continuation of this thought but Paul slips verse six in to add some advice to them that happened to come to him and so he says:
6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
This seems to be a side bar comment from the Apostle that if there are those who are established in the Word of God to take the time and share or communicate to others who teach in other good things and by so doing there will be an edification of the body.
But let me read verse 5 again and then we will jump to verse 7 which again I think is a continuation of Paul’s thought:
So he says:
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
(his own invoice not his own weight) and then verse 7 – a biggie – in fact in my estimation one of the biggest all things considered as Paul now says:
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
I want to hit this verse from the ground floor.
The phrase, be not deceived in written in th passive imperative, which means that it is really saying
“Stop being led astray.”
“God is not mocked.”
Now, we don’t know specifically why Paul says this about God is not in the place of being mocked. But it seems to be in reference to doing something contrary to God and His will and believing that we can get away with it.
I say this because the terms not mocked is a word that means, thumbing your nose toward.
Paul has been talking about abiding in the Spirit, and bearing each others burdens, and then being responsible for our own actions. And in harmony with this last point he says, with regard to what actions every individual chooses to take:
Stop being led astray. You cannot thumb your nose at God and His ways. Now, remember, Paul is speaking to believers here. He is writing to them. And while we understand the grace of God through faith in Christ, Paul does not hesitate to explain here that God will not have us thumb our nose at him – he will not be mocked.
He knows all, what our real character is, and he will judge us according to all factors applicable and where there is blame there will be a harvest.
And this brings me to an super important caveat that I believe holds water – others may not – but it is a personal conviction that I hold to and it is frankly a MAJOR part of my Christian world view.
Paul here says, “Stop being mislead. God will not be mocked,” and then he adds,
FOR . . . God will not be mocked FOR (in other words, let me explain to you HOW God will not be mocked) “For . . . whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
This is an eternal principle which I do not believe can be ignored nor set aside.
I consider it a foundational principle to all of human existence in the presence of our creator and see in it a support for freedom of choice in human beings and an innate responsibility all people have for what they do with their lives here on earth.
There are several factors that must be addressed in the face of this statement, and so let’s work through them together.
First, regarding free will. Our Calvinist friends suggest that there is no such a thing but if we CAN choose to thumb our nose at God in an attempt to do what we will, and if the fallout from this will be the fact that God will not be mocked FOR every one of us will reap what we have sown in life, then there is an automatic default to there existing freewill.
If we are reaping what we sow, and God is not mocked in the process, there is a responsibility for the choices made.
That is the first thing to consider.
The second point to address is IF (or since) God is not mocked and we cannot do what we will because we will reap what we sow AS BELIEVERS (remembering that Paul is writing to believers) then we are forced to ask, “What about Jesus? Didn’t He pay for our sins? Didn’t He take our punishment upon himself? Didn’t His body absorb the blows and pain for the failures of the whole WORLD?
If so, how are Christians – in fact, how is anyone going to reap what they have sown in this life IF or SINCE Jesus paid for the penalty of it all?
Now, of course, many Christian’s begin by saying that Jesus paid for the sins of only believers, so let’s take all the rest of the world off the table – because they are going to reap hell.
So just for arguments sake, let’s suppose that they are right (which they are not and the scripture says so) but let’s say that they are correct and that Jesus HAS paid only for the sins of believers.
Why has Paul written this TO believers? This warning about God not being mocked FOR all believers will reap what they sow?
And here is where we get into a super nuanced view that I absolutely am convinced hold water.
I suggest that Jesus paid for the sins of the world. All sin. All evil. And that punishment for such has been taken care of by Him once and for all and forevermore.
For all – and He did this some 2000 years ago. Because of this, nobody dies and goes to hell or the lake of fire. These things were all part of that age wrapping up.
So, what is left? Exactly what Paul says is left.
“for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
I submit to you what the LDS would call a plan of Salvation; it’s an explanation of the meaning of life relative to God, Man, and what comes afterward.
I am convinced, in the face of all biblical factors, that since the obliteration of material Jerusalem in 70AD and the wrapping up of that former age, that in the age we live in the following things remain:
The Kingdom of God has been expanding or increasing and it will forever increase. I say this because that is how scripture describes it saying in Isaiah 9:7
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end”
Because of this eternally increasing kingdom I see people being either part of it here (and there when they pass) or not. This has always been the case in scripture and will continue to be this way.
The choice to be part of the Kingdom (or not) is made here – which is where the increase of His Kingdom occurs – and the decision to reject His Kingdom begins here because:
“GOD will not be mocked FOR whatsoever a man sows he will also reap.”
All people have the choice to seek God, to serve God, to love God (and others) or to serve and feed themselves – or their flesh.
There are those who focus on their flesh (meaning their carnal lives here and now) and will build upon (or sow) primarily, extensively or solely to it.
Whatever they have sown to this life and this world will go with their bodies to the grave. It will not last beyond – this I believe. Obviously nothing material or financial will accompany us to the great beyond, but whatever was of this world, from this world, a currency to be used as exchange in this world, will lose its entire value in the world to come.
There is nothing wrong with making these things our focus – they are there for the taking and enjoying – ostensibly they have all been provided by a loving God.
Nature, science, skiing, surfing, sports, art, hobbies, travel, photography – whatever it is – God has established a world in which they exist and make life a wonder.
So many foods, so many opportunities, so many facets we engage in as a means to add our contribution to the human experience.
Those who make their entire life about these endeavors and focusing upon them,Paul describes this as sowing to the flesh. In fact, the next passage at this point will help drive the point home as Paul says:
(verse 8)
8 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.
Now, when we read that those who sow (which is an agricultural term for scattering seeds or planting) to the flesh shall reap (which is an agricultural term for harvest) corruption.
That sounds like a very negative word which might tempt us to view participating in material activities here on earth AS corrupt.
Not so. Remember, God himself created this world and gave us snow to ski and waves to surf – they are not corrupt – nor is anything in an of itself corrupt.
But Paul’s point is one of priorities – and what he is saying is that if our highest priority as human beings is sowing to the material, fleshly, carnal things of human life, we will reap corruption which is a word that is synonymous with decay, destruction, loss.
The idea is sort of like that of Pablo Escobar who had his minions bury millions of dollars in the forests of Colombia but when they went back to get it the paper currencies had rotted and had zero value.
So, Paul says:
“For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption”
The concept isn’t unique to Paul as we remember Jesus teaching:
Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So, Paul and Jesus both reminded us to make the heart focus, the real priority of our earthly lives, not things that will perish or become corrupted with our passing.
But now Paul adds to this verse:
“but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
And Paul introduces the general principle that whatever area a person chooses to place their focus on, to make their life priority, they will reap the same – for God will not be mocked – he is fair, just and right and it seems that in this he gives to all people whatever they have given.
I am a firm believer in this and again, hold it up as an eternal principle. It applies here – those who sow to working out and nutrition generally reap a healthier fit body.
Those who sow to wise financial management generally reap the rewards of compound interest and better financial security.
And typically speaking, those who sow damaging factors into their life – hard living, hard drinking, hard drugs – reap the results.
Paul’s point is that yes, while we are in this world we will have to sow some things to the flesh – but don’t expect them to bring a harvest on high.
The harvest above awaits those who have sown to the Kingdom and the Economy that exists above – which are ONLY the things of the Spirit.
So he says plainly:
“but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
See, the Spirit and the things of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, etc., are what abide in the eternal Kingdom.
Those who choose to focus and make the things of the Spirit their priority will reap in the things of the Spirit here but especially there.
But the things of the flesh will prove entirely unprofitable to that world. And herein lies the solution to Jesus paying for the sins of the world (as I maintain).
We are not entering into the afterlife to suffer punishment for our sin and failures and poor choices. That has all been taken care of as God has been reconciled to the world.
God has done His part and cleared the entrance to heaven for all by and through His Son.
But the future destination of every one of us, mitigating circumstances taken into account, is in the hands of the individual and whether they sought, and focused on either the things of the flesh in this life or the things of the Spirit.
In other words, where there is no eternal punishment of fire waiting us, there are the plain as day results of how we have lived our lives and what WE individually chose to make our priority – the things of the flesh, or the things of the Spirit.
The scripture adequately supports this. Logic and reason supports it. The idea of a just and good God supports it. And the chronology of eschatology supports it.
Paul adds our final verse for today:
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
I want to wrap up our time together in establishing the idea that if what I have said is the case, and we all have had our sins paid for by Jesus once and for all but that we will all individually reap what we have sown in our lives – if to the flesh corruption and to the Spirit life eternal – that this information liberates us from the following:
Condemnation of others.
Remember, the sin is paid for, and what people individually choose to focus on will be rewarded. Simple as that. Therefore, there is no reason to judge or attack people for their choices on how they live their lives.
The person who wants to focus solely on memorizing baseball statistics and wanting nothing to do with God is loved by God – so much so that God gave his only begotten Son to save him.
And his afterlife destination is in his hands – just as our current life destination is in our own hands too.
This view removes condemnation and allows for the liberty to live and let live, and to allow all people to choose the life paths they want.
Secondly, it helps liberate all who seek God in spirit and truth from the temporary (temporal) things of this world, knowing that they will, in fact, decay when our body hits the grave, but that the things of the Spirit are providing the materials for our eternal inheritance.
That when we feel like we have chosen wrongly, that perhaps we should have lived for today only, that there is an abiding promise that suggests that this is foolish, and we realign ourselves with the truth.
Finally, being free from condemnation and then better liberated from the things of this world, we will find ourselves better equipped to love all people all the time. Which will ultimately forge in us the fruits of the Spirit when dealing with people who have no interest in the things of the Spirit.
Instead we will begin to see them like we see an earthy family member who wanders and we love them and their ways hoping and praying for them to see the light of better priorities and a better focus.
For this reason Paul ends with the following passage:
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
And we will leave off here.
Prayer
Be not deceived (mê planâsthe). Present passive imperative with mê, “stop being led astray” (planaô, common verb to wander, to lead astray as in Mt 24:4). God is not mocked (ou muktêrizetai). This rare verb (common in LXX) occurs in Lysias. It comes from muktêr (nose) and means to turn the nose up at one. That is done towards God, but never without punishment, Paul means to say. In particular, he means “an evasion of his laws which men think to accomplish, but, in fact, cannot” (Burton).
Whatsoever a man soweth (ho ean speirêi anthrôpos). Indefinite relative clause with ean and the active subjunctive (either aorist or present, form same here). One of the most frequent of ancient proverbs (Job 4:8; Arist., Rhet. iii. 3). Already in 2Co 9:6. Same point in Mt 7:16; Mr 4:26. That (touto). That very thing, not something different. Reap (therisei). See on Mt 6:26 for this old verb.
8 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.
Job 4:8; Pr 11:18; 22:8; Ho 8:7; 10:12; Ro 8:13; Jas 3:18
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Robertson’s NT Word Pictures:
Corruption (phthoran). For this old word from phtheirô, see on 1Co 15:42. The precise meaning turns on the context, here plainly the physical and moral decay or rottenness that follows sins of the flesh as all men know. Nature writes in one’s body the penalty of sin as every doctor knows. Eternal life (zôên aiônion). See on Mt 25:46 for this interesting phrase so common in the Johannine writings. Plato used aiônios for perpetual. See also 2Th 1:9. It comes as nearly meaning “eternal” as the Greek can express that idea.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Mt 24:13; 1Co 15:58; 2Th 3:13; Heb 3:6,14; 10:36; 12:3,5; Re 2:10
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Robertson’s NT Word Pictures:
Let us not be weary in well-doing (to kalon poiountes mê enkakômen). Volitive present active subjunctive of enkakeô on which see Lu 18:1; 2Th 3:13; 2Co 4:1,16 (en, kakos, evil). Literally, “Let us not keep on giving in to evil while doing the good.” It is curious how prone we are to give in and to give out in doing the good which somehow becomes prosy or insipid to us. In due season (kairôi idiôi). Locative case, “at its proper season” (harvest time). Cf. 1Ti 2:6; 6:15 (plural). If we faint not (mê ekluomenoi). Present passive participle (conditional) with mê. Cf. ekluô, old verb to loosen out. Literally, “not loosened out,” relaxed, exhausted as a result of giving in to evil (enkakômen).
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Joh 9:4; 12:35; Eph 2:19; 1Th 5:15; 1Ti 6:18; Tit 3:8; Heb 3:6
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Robertson’s NT Word Pictures:
As we have opportunity (hôs kairon echômen). Indefinite comparative clause (present subjunctive without an). “As we have occasion at any time.” Let us work that which is good (ergazômetha to agathon). Volitive present middle subjunctive of ergazomai, “Let us keep on working the good deed.” Of the household of faith (tous oikeious tês pisteôs). For the obvious reason that they belong to the same family with necessary responsibility.
