Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 6:1

1. A specific example in which there would be the more need to exercise the unity demanded in the preceding verse Galatians 5:26.

ἀδελφοί, Galatians 1:11 note. In itself a summons to unity. It is quite unnecessary, with Zahn, to remove it to the end of ch. 5.

ἐὰν καὶ with the subjunctive. St Paul puts the case as though it may not happen; contrast Luke 11:8. But it is not of so improbable a nature that he should say καὶ ἐάν (Galatians 1:8). Burton, N.T. Moods and Tenses, § 285. ἐάν alone would not have marked the progress in the need for loving behaviour. Thus καὶ does not emphasize προλημφθῇ but the whole clause from προλημφθῇ to παραπτώματι; in 1 Corinthians 7:11; 1 Corinthians 7:28 the single verb is the whole clause.

προλημφθῇ: “be overtaken,” A.V., R.V., Field. Elsewhere in the N.T. (Mark 14:8; 1 Corinthians 11:21[158]) in the active, and used literally. Only once in the LXX., Wis 17:17, of an Egyptian in the field overtaken (προλημφθεὶς) by the plague of darkness. So here “overtaken” or “overpowered” by the devil, when ἒν τινι παραπτώματι is epexegetic. Lightfoot and others however prefer to render it “surprised” καταληφθῆναι, John 8:4), when ἔν τινι παραπτ. marks that in which the man was caught. It is more difficult to act kindly to a person surprised flagrante delicto.

[158] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.

ἄνθρωπος. Hardly to lay stress on his human, and therefore weak, nature, Galatians 6:7 (Chrys., Theodoret, Jerome, Luther), but generally, Romans 3:28.

ὑμεῖς οἱ πνευματικοὶ. Not ironical, but a serious appeal to those who were both living and walking by the spirit (Galatians 5:25); cf. Romans 15:1.

καταρτίζετε: “amend.” So of damaged nets, Matthew 4:21, and metaphorically 1 Corinthians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; Hebrews 13:21; 1 Peter 5:10. The tense suggests patience and continued effort.

τὸν τοιοῦτον, “the man in this condition,” 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Corinthians 5:11.

ἐν πνεύματι πραὔτητος (Galatians 5:23). ἐν πν. is closely connected with ὑμ. οἱ πνευματικοί and πραΰτητος is almost an afterthought, descriptive of the πνεῦμα when behaving in the way required. See Appendix, Note F.

σκοπῶν σεαυτόν. Individualising, cf. Galatians 4:7; contrast Philippians 2:4. Alford compares Thuc. I. 42.

μὴ καὶ σὺ πειρασθῇς. St Paul does not say ἁμαρτῇς. The believer dreads temptation, with the severity of conflict and the possible fall, and therefore sympathizes with one who has been exposed to it and has been “overtaken.”

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 6:1

Old Testament

New Testament