Galatians 6:17-18

Read this brief postscript carefully.

           Lightfoot says that Paul refers to marks of ill treatment suffered for Christ.  These marks are more glorious than any other fleshly sign could be. Paul uncompromisingly asserts his office.  Stigmata is brand or mark of ownership.  Slaves, captives and soldiers were branded.  For Paul, they are the marks of persecution. Calvin says that these marks are imprisonment, chains, scourging, blows, stoning, and every kind of injurious treatment that he had incurred in bearing testimony to the gospel. Barth[1] says that Paul is marked for Christ and lives in the imitation of Christ. He cannot seek to please people.

          He offers a benediction to the letter, ending in tenderness.

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[1] (Church Dogmatics, IV.1 [61.4] 638).

Galatians 6:11-16

Please read the passage first.

The theme of Galatians 6:11-16 is that of offering a postscript or summary, adapting the closing to a refutation of his opponents.

Tolmie says the Paul now adapts the conclusion to his rhetorical purpose in this letter, that of persuading the Galatians to his gospel.

Galatians 6:11-16 is a summary. Paul closes his letter by reasserting that circumcision is not necessary for conversion to Christian faith (Galatians 5:2-12), and making the obvious metaphorical connection between "works of the flesh" and the literal physical mutilation of flesh of which circumcision consists.

Verse 11 has long fascinated commentators and casual readers alike. At this point in the original letter, Paul stopped dictating to his secretary and wrote the last section in his own hand.

The danger, as he sees it, is that there are some “who want to make a good showing in the flesh.” Though they think they are “something,” in reality, they are “nothing.” Moreover, they “try to compel the community to be circumcised — only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ” (v. 12). His opponents have a primary interest in making a mark on the flesh, while Paul has an interest in the inward work of the Spirit and that Christ formed in them. They are — to use Paul’s previous descriptors — people who rather than bearing “one another’s burden,” add to it, “deceive themselves,” fail to “test their own work,” and do not “carry their own loads.”  Paul's opponents were selfish and worldly.  Not willing to suffer, they held on to circumcision and zeal for the law while having Jesus as their Messiah.  The cross of Christ and the flesh are opposed, as faith and works.

In verse 13, the allusion here is not to the impossibility of observing the Law, but to the insincerity of the people themselves, who were not enough in earnest to observe it rigorously. 

In verse 14, the offense of the cross is Paul's greatest boast.  Paul will let others boast in external things, but he will boast in something nobler. F. F. Bruce says it is difficult for us to imagine the loathing that people had of speaking of the cross in the time of Paul. Not even Romans spoke of it in polite society. Paul, however, embraces the cross. This is a transvaluation of values. Paul has reassessed everything in light of the cross.

In verse 15, it is striking that Paul twice says in this letter that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision are anything in themselves.

In verse 16, "Israel of God" is an implied contrast to "Israel after the flesh."  We find the phrase only here in the New Testament.

With this blessing, Paul demonstrates one way believers “work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.”

Galatians 6:6-10

Please read the passage carefully.

            The theme of Galatians 6:6-10 is generosity. Paul underscores his message by framing the indulgence in this type of sin in terms of his familiar contrast between things of the "flesh" and things of the "Spirit" (1 Corinthians 15). Those who do what is right are those who work for the good of all the family of faith, both in the spirit of gentle reproof and also in the spirit of honesty which prevents conceit. This is the way of the Spirit. According to Richard B. Hays, verse 8, contrasts sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit. Therefore, it

… encapsulates the message of the letter as a whole. It is not a moralistic warning against sensual self-indulgence; instead, it is a warning against placing confidence in anything that belongs to the realm of the merely human - particularly circumcision. Paul insists that only the Spirit of God has the power to confer life."

            Verse 6 refers back to bearing burdens.  The hearers of the word have the obligation to support the ministers of word, though he seldom asserted his own claims.  Paul is thinking of imparting material goods.  Verse 6 may refer back to verse 5 as the means by which a person can test his or her own work. In other words, Paul suggests that gifts offered to a teacher by “Those who are taught the word” demonstrate that they are not conceited, competitive, envious, or deceived [planasqe] (cf. vv. 3, 7). In verse 7, the concern is with mocking God. This sowing and reaping have an intimate connection to the notion of God not being mocked. The people of God are not immune from divine judgment. For some, the verse refers to sowing temporal goods.  I Corinthians 16:1 says the Galatians were asked to contribute to the collection for Jerusalem.  Could they be stingy?  He passes from the support of clergy to a general principle of liberality.  In particular, “if you sow to your own flesh (or, as in 5:16 — ‘gratify the desires of the flesh’), you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit (or, as in 5:16, 25 — ‘live by the Spirit’), you will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (v. 8). Paul has just spoken of the kind of seed down.  Now he speaks of the nature of the ground.  The flesh yields blighted corn.

            Therefore, Paul exhorts both himself and the believers in Galatia “not [to] grow weary in doing what is right” (v. 9a). They are not to be full of conceit, possess a competitive spirit, or envy others. Instead, they are to restore transgressors with gentleness, bear each other’s burdens, test one’s own work in order to eradicate self-destructive pride, and graciously share with their teacher(s). Why? Because “we will reap [eternal life] at harvest time [kairw idiw], if we do not give up” (v. 9b). Paul expands the vision to the more general concept of beneficent actions.

            Appropriately, then, Paul offers one final instruction for those who “live by the Spirit.” They are not to limit the expressions of their Spirit-led lives to certain people or communities. On the contrary, Paul unequivocally declares that “whenever we have opportunity [kairon], let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith [touVoikeiouV thV pistewV]” (v. 10). The verse probably alludes to the time before the second coming.  Christian love is first exercised within the community, but it is shown to all, even one's enemies. Fellow believers, and more than that, brothers and sisters, accompany the one who loves God from the beginning. These are the people of God and partners in the covenant, part of the “household of faith.” To love God is to be together with other people whom God also calls to serve. To love God is to stand in one of the many human relationships that exist here, uniting with others who love God.

Aristotle begins his discussion of our relationship to money by pointing to the deficiency of meanness, the excess of prodigality, and the mean of liberality. The prodigal wastes wealth, which is a sort of wasting oneself. Liberality relates to character, rather than the amount. The poor person can be of liberal character. Liberality involves spending according to one's wealth and on the right objects. The liberal person will spend with pleasure in this way. The liberal person is one easy to deal with in matters of money. The prodigal is self-indulgent and does not live with the noble in view. In IV.2, he discusses the person of magnificence, for this person is able to spend large sums for the sake of honor and with public-spirited ambition.

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.

Galatians 5:1-12

Read the passage carefully.

The theme of Galatians 5:1-12 is that of a warning that his readers need to stand firm in their Christian liberty, thereby rejecting the way of circumcision and Law.

Tolmie says that 5:2-6 are a strict warming against circumcision, while verses 7-12 vilify the opponents. Here is the first time he mentions circumcision, even though it has been in the background of the conversation throughout. Paul makes the point that one cannot satisfy the demands of the Law with a token fulfillment of particular requirements. The Law demands total compliance. The opponents of Paul will have much for which to answer. It also appears that in this section Paul is responding to the charge of inconsistency regarding his position on circumcision. 

As Paul sees it, to give up this freedom that Christ has won, and thereby giving up justifying faith, is the temptation into which false teachers have led these people and won some success among them. 

The point Paul is making is that even if you kept the whole Law, the Law is not a way of salvation. He would say this, based upon his personal experience. In this vein, Luther notes, “When I was a monk I tried ever so hard to live up to the strict rules of my order. I used to make a list of my sins, and I was always on the way to confession, and whatever penances were enjoined upon me I performed religiously. In spite of it all, my conscience was always in a fever of doubt. The more I sought to help my poor stricken conscience the worse it got. The more I paid attention to the regulations the more I transgressed them.”

In verse 4, Paul is emphasizing the incompatibility of faith and works, divine grace and human merit, when it comes to the justification of the sinner before God. Pannenberg[1] notes in the one act of baptism the ship of the new Christian life becomes ready. If Christians can also fall from grace, as this passage suggests, they can always regain it. Baptism is there all their lives.

In verse 5, F. F. Bruce may have it right when he says that justification by faith and life in the Spirit are two sides of the same coin. Neither can be present without the other. As Luther puts it, Works based on faith are wrought through love, but humanity is not justified through love. 

In verse 6, Paul clarifies that faith is the principle of new life. Yet, living faith shows itself in the practice of love. As Luther puts it, “In this terse manner Paul presents the whole life of a Christian. Inwardly it consists in faith towards God, outwardly in love towards” human beings. Loving service is measured by one's response to the neighbor - not the self.  Love, as demonstrated through service to others, is the fruit of Christian freedom. Paul brings into close relationship what later Christian tradition called the theological virtues of faith, love, and hope. The law convicts all the backbiting factions of denying the very law they are seeking to follow.  There is no other faith than that which works by love. The faith to which he refers is in fact a definite act, the entire life-act of the Christian.

In verse 8, Luther notes that “The devil is a cunning persuader. He knows how to enlarge the smallest sin into a mountain until we think we have committed the worst crime ever committed on earth.”

We should also note the use of sarcasm in verse 12. However, the cult of Cybele practiced castration. 

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[1] (Systematic Theology, Vol III, 253).

Galatians 5:1-6:18

I would encourage a serious reader of the letter to read this unit together first, in order to catch a flow of the argument. What we find here is a series of pastoral exhortations. In particular, note how what Paul has said thus far prepares the way to present his notion of Christian liberty.

In the world of scholars, the presence of these last two chapters, for some, suggests that Betz is wrong to say that Paul uses the rhetoric of the courtroom in this letter. Such rhetoric does not have a practical appeal at the end. It might suggest that something other than the image of Paul presenting case to a jury is in play.

The first four chapters of Galatians are really a series of examples and citations about the Law and the gospel leading up to the climax of Paul's argument in chapters 5 and 6. The negative examples and fierce arguments Paul had leveled against the missionary opponents (who had apparently gained considerable influence over the Galatian Christians) now give way to Paul's positive concluding remarks. Thus, this chapter begins with Paul drawing a quite specific conclusion from his previous four chapters of discourse. No one should force the Galatians to submit to circumcision.  The insistence of his opponents that the Galatians observe this ritual flies in the face of Christian freedom.  They are in danger of exchanging the slavery of heathenism for the slavery of Judaism. Clarifying the scope of this freedom is what directs and informs the rest of the letter. 

Let us look at each segment closer.