Galatians 6:1-5

Please read the passage carefully.

The theme of Galatians 6:1-5 is kindness. This is a good introduction to chapter 6 because it addresses the two most important issues in the chapter - what it means to live a "spiritual" life, and the destructive effects of our natural tendency to compare ourselves to others.

The incident in Corinth as recording in II Corinthians 2:6-8 may still be in Paul's mind.  They had overzealously disciplined a member of their community.  Their readiness to forgive would be a test of their spirituality.  Chrysostom calls it a spiritual gift to correct another part of the body of Christ with gentleness.

The counsel of Paul shows wisdom. Lest Spirit-led persons undertake the task too cavalierly or condescendingly, Paul warns, “Take care that you yourselves are not tempted” (v. 1c). St. Augustine says, “There is no sin which one person has committed, that another person may not commit it also.” Luther adds, “We stand in slippery places.” All of us stand in need of watchfulness. 

Presumably, his concern is two fold: (1) that they not become ensnared by the same desire; and (2) that they not deal harshly with the transgressor.

Galatians 6:1, then, presents the case scenario of sin occurring within the community and suggests how the community should handle it. This verse is an example that quite early, the church had to deal with sins within the Christian community, and Paul here counsels gentleness in dealing with it. In this case, according to Frank Matera, the Greek verb that the NRSV translates "detected" actually means, "a believer is unexpectedly caught in the midst of unbecoming conduct." He goes on to argue that the word "and," which the NRSV translates "if," should be translated "even if," implying that the case being presented is of the most unambiguous type. Even where there is no doubt of a person having sinned, then, Paul would argue, the offending person should be corrected in a spirit of gentleness by others who, like him or her, presumably, are seeking to be "spiritual" persons.

A "spiritual" person should "restore" an offending member of the community, even if that person were caught in the act, and even that restoration should be done in a spirit of "gentleness," which is, in and of itself, one of the spiritual gifts mentioned by Paul in Galatians 5:23. F. F. Bruce reminds us that it is easy for certain types of religious persons to sit in judgment of fellow Christians. Instead of yielding to this temptation, Paul urges the Galatians to "bear one another's burdens." Chrysostom notes that every individual has failings, so Paul exhorts the Galatians not to scrutinize severely the failings of others, but rather to bear them. Hans Dieter Betz notes that this phrase occurs elsewhere in Greek literature, dealing with the benefits and demands of friendship. He writes, "Applied to 6:1, the maxim [bear one another's burdens] means that 'failure' by Christians should be regarded as part of the 'burden of life' and should be shared and borne by the Christian community." Calvin is also wise on this point when he says that many people “seize on the faults” of brothers and sisters

as an occasion of insulting them, and of using reproachful and cruel language. Were the pleasure they take in upbraiding equaled by their desire to produce amendment, they would act in a different manner. Reproof … must be administered to offenders. While we must not shrink from a faithful testimony against sin, neither must we omit to mix oil with the vinegar. 

            Paul is quite consistent with the philosophical tradition as it discussed friendship. In particular, Xenophon, Memorabilia, II.7.1-12 and Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, IX.11.

In verse 2, he could be referring to the example of Christ. Galatians is also a summons to obey the law of Christ. His life becomes the hermeneutical key that unlocks the abiding significance of the Law. Luther notes that Christ gave us no other law than this law of mutual love, that we love one another. To love means to bear another’s burdens.

“Christians must have strong shoulders to bear the burdens of their fellow Christians. Faithful pastors recognize many errors and offenses in the church, which they oversee. In civil affairs, an official has to overlook much if he is fit to rule. If we can overlook our own shortcomings and wrong-doings, we ought to overlook the shortcomings of others.” 

According to Betz, Paul here is warning against "taking on more than one can handle." He goes on to argue that, in fact, "there is no contradiction between this statement and that in 6:2 because 'sharing the burdens of life' does not eliminate the fact that everybody must learn how to live with himself."

Galatians 5:13-26

Please read the passage carefully.

Having identified freedom as Christ's gift to his followers, Paul now carefully defines just what kind of "freedom" this is and what it requires. Even though Paul calls on the Galatians to firmly resist once more being brought to submission beneath a “yoke of slavery” (v. 1), Paul insists that being “called to freedom” in Christ means that we are “through love [to] become slaves to one another” (v. 13). For Paul, freedom is not the opposite of slavery, but rather a matter of what one serves.

“Flesh” is that self-regarding human nature corrupted at its source, with its unchecked appetites and propensities, which result in the works of the flesh he will soon list.

Many commentators have noted how Paul's complex relationship to the law is demonstrated in the message he presents in verses 13 and 14. First, Paul emphasizes the power and priority of Christ's freedom and love over the letter of the law. Yet, in verse 14, he uses a popular encapsulation of the law itself to demonstrate correct behavior in those living within Christ's freedom. Some commentators have suggested that this reference to "the law" allows one to understand it as Paul's continued commitment to the "second table" of the Mosaic covenant - and the ethical/relational precepts spelled out there. Others claim Paul is stressing the difference between the concern of the opponents with doing the Law and his own urgings that Christians fulfill the law through love.

However, why should others be any more beneficial a master than one’s own self? Does not experience teach us that those who submit their own desires to the desires of others are often, if not perhaps universally, taken advantage of by them? The very real potential for such abuse may be exactly why Paul immediately asserts that the “whole law” can be reduced to the command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 14).

Paul and Jesus unite at the supremacy of love. In b.Sabb. 31a, we read of a Gentile coming to Shammai asking the rabbi to teach him the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. Shammai hit him with a rod that he had. When he went to Hillel, he responded, “What is hateful to you do not to your neighbor; that is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary. Go and learn it. Judaism had other attempts to summarize or organize the Torah into shorter topics or sayings. Yet, that command applied individually (“I must love others as I love myself”) of course cannot stave off abuse.

Clearly, in verse 14 Paul uses the “law” in a positive sense. Most likely, he uses it in a way that corresponds to the use of the Hebrew word Torah within Judaism to refer to the “instruction” God provides through the Scriptures regarding how to live in relationship with the Divine, other people and all of creation.

In all of this, we can see the problem that Luther unnecessarily created for himself. He made such a sharp distinction between faith and love that there is legitimate concern that “faith” becomes only a matter of inner conscience, with little effect upon how one lives. In this, I think John Wesley had a better way of thinking, using these verses to say that Christianity is always faith working through love.

Verses 16-21 and 22-26 divide human behavior into that of the "flesh" and that of the "spirit.” Traditional interpretations of these two ways have tended to take Paul literally. One understands flesh as the base, fallen nature of human flesh.  Likewise, one understands the spirit as a literal reference to living within the power and the influence of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.  Some scholars suggest that such a reading is too simplistic.  This interpretation reads flesh and spirit as redemptive historical terms.  For Paul, fleshly existence was something that trapped all people until the events of Christ's death and resurrection.  Those who hear and believe the news of Christ's resurrection, however, now enter into a new plane of existence - living in the Spirit.  In this model, the Mosaic Law was part of the old fleshly system that existed before Christ's redemptive death.  Thus, when Paul argues against being in the flesh he is not simply citing flesh as an inferior human condition, but as a past standard that has been overwhelmed by the event of Christ's death and resurrection.  Those still in the flesh are the opponents whose teachings are causing confusion and dissension in the Galatian church.  Those in the spirit are all those who live the light of Christ's redemptive acts.  To live in "the Spirit" is to experience the crucifixion of one's own flesh (v. 24) and thus to enjoy the new freedom Christ offers.

As Paul refers to the reign of God here, he refers to a future reality, the heritage of the people of God in the age to come. The gift of the Spirit is the guarantee or first installment of that heritage.

 Verses 22-26 focus on the Spirit. Here are the graces that exhibit the lifestyle of those who live by the energy and indwelling of the Spirit. Even if we continue to read verses 16-25 as literal references to flesh and Spirit, there remains an undercurrent in Paul's words of the continuing battle between law and freedom.

If we examine the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, we can see that while the former disrupt fellowship and friendship, the latter build it up.