_Miscellaneous Exhortations_. The Apostle exhorts the Galatians to deal gently with a weak brother, to bear the brother's burden, to be on their guard against conceit, to be liberal to their teachers, and to persevere in doing good.... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:1. Spiritual life (Galatians 5:25-26) must show itself in spiritual action, especially in charity, meekness, and modesty. BRETHREN. A word of love more potent than argument. EVEN IF A MAN BE OVERTAKEN or surprised, before he is aware of it or able to resist. Sins of precipitancy. We... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:2. BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS, all sorts of troubles, cares, errors, and infirmities. Sin and error should be resisted and rebuked in a spirit of charity and meekness; but with all our faults we ought to esteem and love one another as brethren in Christ (Comp. Romans 15:1.) AND THUS... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:3. The best motive of forbearance towards others is the sense of our own weakness. BEING NOTHING, notwithstanding his conceit. Every man is apt to overestimate himself; humility is one of the rarest, but sweetest graces. ‘In Christian morality self-esteem is vanity, and vanity is nothi... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:4. If a man desires to find cause for boasting, let him test and examine his own actions, and not contrast his fancied virtues with the faults of his neighbor. But every sincere self-examination results in humiliation. HIS OWN WORK, collective and emphatic: the aggregate of his actions... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:5. FOR EACH MAN SHALL BEAR HIS OWN BURDEN. No contradiction to Galatians 6:2. Those who bear their own burden are best able to sympathize with others and to share in their burdens. Those who pray most for themselves pray most for others. ‘Each is to prove his own work and not to leave it... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:6. LET HIM THAT IS TAUGHT (or, orally INSTRUCTED) IN THE WORD (of God) SHARE WITH HIM THAT TEACHETH, IN ALL GOOD THINGS (temporal possessions of every kind). Injunction of the duty of the congregation to support liberally their teachers. Their relation is a partnership, a communion of in... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:8. HE THAT SOWETH UNTO (upon) HIS OWN FLESH SHALL FROM THE FLESH REAP CORRUPTION; BUT HE THAT SOWETH UNTO (upon) THE SPIRIT SHALL FROM THE SPIRIT REAP LIFE ETERNAL. GALATIANS 6:7 speaks of the kind of seed sown (‘whatsoever'), Galatians 6:8 of the kind of soil on which the seed is sown.... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:9. BUT LET US NOT BE WEARY (lose heart) IN WELL doing. Not only in regard to the duty of liberality, but in every good work. (Comp. 2 Thessalonians 3:13.) ‘Fatigue is not weariness. In well-doing we are more apt to be weary than fatigued' (Riddle). IN DUE SEASON WE SHALL REAP, in the ti... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:10. SO THEN AS WE HAVE OPPORTUNITY (lit.,?. seasonable time). Each opportunity for doing good is an angel that offers us his services. If neglected, it may never return. LET US DO GOOD UNTO ALL, ESPECIALLY UNTO THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE FAITH. To do good is the great end of lif... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:11. SEE IN WHAT LARGE LETTERS (OR CHARACTERS) I WRITE UNTO YOU WITH MINE OWN HAND. Not ‘how large a letter' (E. V.), This would require the accusative in Greek, not the dative (‘with' or ‘in what large letters'). It refers to the handwriting, not to the contents. Some understand it of aw... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:12. AS MANY AS DESIRE TO MAKE A FAIR SHOW IN THE FLESH (in the sphere of the flesh), THEY (AND NO OTHERS) CONSTRAIN YOU TO BE CIRCUMCISED ONLY THAT THEY MAY NOT BE PERSECUTED ON ACCOUNT OF THE CROSS [1] OF CHRIST. They display their zeal for external or carnal ordinances by forcing circu... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:13. FOR NOT EVEN THEY WHO ARE CIRCUMCISED KEEP THE LAW (in all its details, comp. Galatians 5:3), BUT THEY DESIRE TO HAVE YOU CIRCUMCISED, THAT THEY MAY GLORY IN YOUR FLESH. The advocates of circumcision are not sincere in their zeal, but want to gratify their vanity in making proselytes... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:14. BUT AS FOR MYSELF, LET IT NEVER HAPPEN (OR, FAR BE IT) THAT I SHOULD GLORY (IN ANY THING) SAVE IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH WHICH (THE CROSS) THE WORLD HATH BEEN CRUCIFIED TO ME AND I TO THE WORLD. The cross, as the material instrument of capital punishment of crimi... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:15. FOR [IN CHRIST JESUS] NEITHER CIRCUMCISION IS ANY THING, NOR UNCIRCUMCISION, BUT A NEW CREATURE. Comp. Galatians 5:6 and note, and 1 Corinthians 7:19. All external distinctions are lost in Christ, and the new creature is everything. In all these passages the first clause is the same,... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:16. AND AS MANY AS SHALL WALK ACCORDING TO THIS RULE, etc. Rising above all earthly distinctions to the height of Christian contemplation, Paul pronounces a benediction to all who walk according to the rule indicated in Galatians 6:15. The Greek term for ‘rule' _(canon)_ is the same whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:17. FROM HENCEFORTH LET NO MAN TROUBLE ME. Directed against the Judaizing troublers. FOR I BEAR IN MY BODY THE MARKS OF JESUS. ‘ Marks' (stigmata) were usually letters burnt upon the arm or forehead of slaves, soldiers, criminals, also devotees of a divinity, to indicate the master, the... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 6:18. The last sentence of this polemic Epistle is a benediction, and the last word is a word of affection, BRETHREN. It takes the sting out of the severity. With all your faults, the Apostle means to say, I love you still, and the very rebuke was dictated by my deep concern for your welfa... [ Continue Reading ]