Galatians 6 - Introduction
Galatians 6:1-10. Exhortations to bear with an erring brother, to cultivate humility, to exercise liberality 11 18. Autograph conclusion. Summary of the Epistle and Benediction... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:1-10. Exhortations to bear with an erring brother, to cultivate humility, to exercise liberality 11 18. Autograph conclusion. Summary of the Epistle and Benediction... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brethren_ The force of this word of appeal (as well as the general connexion) is weakened by the division of the Epistle into Chapter s. The previous chapter concludes with a warning against provocation and envy sins utterly inconsistent with Christian _brotherhood_. We are reminded of the remonstr... [ Continue Reading ]
_one another's burdens_ Brotherhood is a mutual relationship, and entails mutual good offices. _burdens_ This is not the same word in the Greek which is rendered -burden" in Galatians 6:5. It denotes any weight which presses heavily on the body or the mind, as toil, suffering, responsibility, anxie... [ Continue Reading ]
The connexion seems to be: Christ by precept and by example bade you bear one another's burdens. To neglect this duty is to set up yourselves above Christ. He -humbled Himself" for us. You will not stoop to comfort and help your brethren. This must arise from pride from a fancy that you are somethin... [ Continue Reading ]
This is an individual matter -Let every man", lit. -LET EACH ONE". _prove his own work_ -test his own conduct". Self-examination will lead to a true estimate of self, ascertained by comparison, not with the attainments of others, but with the requirements of the law of Christ. The result may be hum... [ Continue Reading ]
_For every man … burden_ For no man can escape from his own moral responsibility. The verse reads like a proverb. The -burden" is the -load" of accoutrements and provisions assigned to each soldier to carry on a march. Others regard the metaphor as taken from shipping affairs, and render the word -f... [ Continue Reading ]
_him that is taught_ Lit. -the catechumen"; one who is undergoing instruction. When we consider that most of the instruction in the Word (i.e. the Gospel revelation) was _oral_, and that it was not limited to preaching in the assemblies of the Church, but extended to households and individuals, the... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses, which are an exhortation to the exercise of liberality towards the Teachers of the Church, do not seem to have any obvious connexion with what has gone before. They _may_have been suggested as a particular application of the general principle, -bear ye one another's burdens". But we so... [ Continue Reading ]
Men who, like Ananias and Sapphira, seek to obtain credit for liberality, while keeping back that which is due to the Church and cause of God, may impose on their fellow-men, and may fancy that they can impose upon God. But they are themselves the victims of self-deception. They are moreover treatin... [ Continue Reading ]
A particular application of the general truth just stated. True in the material world, it is equally so in the moral and spiritual. Embracing the whole sphere of human action, it includes the special case under consideration. Such as is the seed sown, such will be the harvest garnered. To hoard eart... [ Continue Reading ]
The metaphor which runs through these verses suggests a caution. The husbandman after committing the seed to the ground, -waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it … Be ye also patient," James 5:7-8. The mention of -life everlasting" might seem to make the time of reaping so... [ Continue Reading ]
A noble practical conclusion from what precedes. The time of reaping is -God's own" the season of sowing, ours. But that season is presented to us as -opportunity." If we ask how we are to recognise and so improve it, the answer is given by St Paul (2 Timothy 4:2) -In season, out of season" not wai... [ Continue Reading ]
Autograph postscript and Benediction 11. _Ye see_ Better, imperative, - SEE ". _how large a letter_ Lit. - IN HOW LARGE LETTERS ". Many ancient and most modern expositors take this to refer not to the length of the Epistle which is certainly not -large" as compared with those to the Romans and Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
Reverting to the error which had perhaps suggested, and which certainly occupies so prominent a place in the Epistle, St Paul unmasks those who were its authors and propagators; contrasting their conduct and motives with his own. All who desire to make a fair shew in externals, these it is who cons... [ Continue Reading ]
He justifies the imputation of a bad motive, by a fact which cannot be denied. The Judaizers could not pretend that they so complied with the terms of the Law as perfectly to fulfil its requirements. They could not be justified by the Law. They acknowledged in some sense their need of Christ. And if... [ Continue Reading ]
We might have expected that St Paul would have named -the Spirit" or -the new creature" as the object of his boasting, in immediate contrast with -the flesh", the seat of the outward rite, in which the false teachers gloried. He _does_mention it at the end of Galatians 6:15. But he here names _that_... [ Continue Reading ]
See note on ch. Galatians 5:6. There the all-important thing is -faith working by love"; here -a new creature"; in 1 Corinthians 7:19, -the keeping of God's commandments". All these are essential the being circumcised or not is in itself a matter of indifference. Why? Because the latter is an outwar... [ Continue Reading ]
_as many as walk_ See note on ch. Galatians 5:25. Some commentators attach to this verb a different sense, -as many as conform to this rule". But the A.V. gives what is probably a correct rendering. The reading - SHALL WALK ", adopted by R.V. is on the whole preferable on MSS. authority. At the time... [ Continue Reading ]
As at the opening, so at the close of the Epistle, St Paul asserts his authority. _Then_it was as a duly commissioned Apostle, _here_it is as a tried and tested servant of his Heavenly Master. He has fully discussed the question at issue. He has said his last word upon it. From henceforth he claims... [ Continue Reading ]
The Epistle commenced with expostulation and rebuke. It closes with benediction. Grace is the key-note of the Apostle's argument. Grace the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the blessing he invokes on their behalf. It is the farewell prayer of a brother for his -brethren", and it breathes the spirit of... [ Continue Reading ]