Galatians 6:1-6
to Galatians 6:6. RULES OF CONDUCT DICTATED BY THE SPIRIT OF MUTUAL LOVE.... [ Continue Reading ]
to Galatians 6:6. RULES OF CONDUCT DICTATED BY THE SPIRIT OF MUTUAL LOVE.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἀδελφοὶ. The last verse protested against unbrotherly tempers; this appeal presents, by way of contrast, the claims of brotherly love even in the case of real wrongdoing. καὶ προλημφθῇ. The English version _overtaken_ suggests the idea of sudden temptation, and so tends to palliate the guilt of the... [ Continue Reading ]
βαστάζετε. From its original sense of taking up, this verb acquires the most various meanings, _e.g., carrying_ in Matthew 20:12, _ministration_ in Matthew 3:11, _robbery_ in John 12:6. Here it signifies lending a hand to help by lifting heavy loads. This does not involve transference of the burden,... [ Continue Reading ]
Any conceit of our own strength or goodness is a vain delusion, for we are nothing. Let no man compare his own with others' work: this will only feed his vanity; but let each scrutinise his own work. Then, if he find there ground for rejoicing, it will be in the ability that has been given by God's... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸν ἕτερον. This phrase denotes originally the other of two persons, but in this connexion _another than self_, the world being classified under two heads _self_ and _not self_, so that any other man with whom we are brought into contact belongs to the second division.... [ Continue Reading ]
φορτίον. This word was applied to the pack usually carried by a porter or a soldier on the march. In Matthew 11:30 Christ employs this figure to describe the burden which he lays on each of his disciples (τὸ φορτίον μου), and here it denotes the regular daily burden laid on Christians. It is necessa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let him that is taught share with him that teacheth_. The word κοινωνεῖν contains the key to the true meaning of this verse. Our versions understand it here, and in Romans 12:13; Philippians 4:15, in the sense of _communicating_ to others; but I can find no warrant for this in Greek usage. In Roman... [ Continue Reading ]
μυκτηρίζεται. From its original sense of _sneer_ this verb was applied in rhetorical language to the betrayal of covert ill-will and contempt by cynical gestures in spite of fair words. There can be no double-dealing with God, for He knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD'S JUDGMENT IS UNERRING. THOSE WHO SOW EITHER TO THE FLESH OR TO THE SPIRIT SHALL ALIKE REAP THE HARVEST FOR WHICH THEY HAVE SOWN. BUT FAINT NOT IN WELLDOING, FOR WE SHALL IN DUE TIME REAP LIFE ETERNAL.... [ Continue Reading ]
Every action produces an effect on the character of the actor corresponding as exactly to its motive as the fruit to the seed. If it springs from selfish desire, it stimulates the growth of evil lusts, and issues in a harvest of inward corruption. If, on the contrary, it be done in obedience to the... [ Continue Reading ]
The warnings μὴ ἐγκακῶμεν and μὴ ἐκλυόμενοι carry on figures borrowed from harvest work: the former depicts husbandmen tempted to slacken their exertions by weariness of prolonged labour, the latter reapers overcome by heat and toil.... [ Continue Reading ]
καιρὸν. The last verse affirmed that there is a due season for the spiritual harvest as well as the earthly; the same analogy suggests the existence of a spiritual seedtime also, which we are bound to utilise. τὸ ἀγαθὸν. This word varies widely in meaning, like _good_ in English; it is applied both... [ Continue Reading ]
The Greek text admits but one meaning. The use of the instrumental dative precludes the rendering, _See how large a letter I write_, which would require πηλίκα γράμματα : so that the verse obviously calls attention to the large letters employed by the writer from this point onwards. The statement in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE APOSTLE WRITES THE PERORATION WITH HIS OWN HAND, DENOUNCING THE MOTIVES OF THE PHARISAIC PARTY. AFFIRMING HIS OWN ABSOLUTE RELIANCE ON THE CROSS AND THE NEW LIFE OF THE SPIRIT, AND CONCLUDING WITH A PERSONAL APPEAL AND FINAL BLESSING.... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul impugns the sincerity of the agitators: their affected zeal for the Law was a pretext with a view to disarming Jewish enmity: they urged the circumcision of Gentiles also to gratify their own vanity. They had probably, like the Jewish Christians at Antioch (_cf._ Galatians 2:13), been guilty of... [ Continue Reading ]
περιτεμνόμενοι. The present participle is more appropriate than the perfect περιτετμημένοι, which is read by some MSS.: for the author has in mind the adoption of a system, as in Galatians 5:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul contrasts his own spirit with that which his rivals are manifesting. They are animated by selfish desires to glory over the flesh of others, he will glory only in the triumph of the cross over his own flesh, whereby the power of the world over him, and his carnal love of the world, are both don... [ Continue Reading ]
Circumcision is again declared, as in Galatians 5:6, to be a mere accident of outward circumstance and of no spiritual import: _faith working in love_ was there pronounced essential for Christian life, and here _a new creation_, the birth of the spirit in the heart of man.... [ Continue Reading ]
κανόνι. Men need a rule to guide their lives as the surveyor or the carpenter for the right adjustment of his work. This rule was supplied to the Jew by the Law in a code of morals, but the Spirit quickens in Christians a new life whereby the conscience is enlightened to discern good and evil for th... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦ λοιποῦ … In deprecating any renewal of the present agitation Paul treats with contempt the prospect of serious danger from it. It had disturbed his peace and the peace of the Church, and must be got rid of, but he describes it as a wearisome annoyance rather than a real peril. στίγματα. These we... [ Continue Reading ]
μετὰ τ. πνεύματος. This form of the final blessing occurs also in 2 Timothy 4:22 and Philemon 1:25, but not elsewhere: it was probably suggested here by the stress laid on the life of the Spirit in the Epistle. The subscription ἀπὸ Ῥώμης is neither genuine nor correct. Its absence in the oldest MSS... [ Continue Reading ]