Carry One Another’s Burdens
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle e spirit, ,f watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. g 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. h 3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, i he deceives himself. 4 Let each person examine his own work, j and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share k all his good things with the teacher. 7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit l will reap eternal life m from the Spirit. 9 Let us not get tired n of doing good, o for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work p for the good q of all, especially for those who belong to the household r of faith. s
Concluding Exhortation
11 Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting. 12 Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh t are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised u—but only to avoid being persecuted v for the cross w of Christ. 13 For even the circumcised don’t keep x the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh. 14 But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. 15 For both circumcision and uncircumcision y mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. z 16 May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel a of God!
17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. b 18 Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. c Amen.
6:1–5. In areas particularly open to the temptation of hierarchical appraisal (e.g., the awareness of another’s sin, 6:1, and the awareness of another’s burden, 6:2), Paul exhorts the Galatians to “live by the Spirit” (5:25). The Spirit-led individual will work toward restoration and unity.
6:6–10. In the area of financial responsibility, the Galatians are exhorted to share with those who taught them “the word” (6:6). This final section is provided in answer to the opponents’ objections that participation in Paul’s collection is unwise, giving a pretender the chance to defraud them (see 2 Co 11:8). Paul points to God’s judgment of the matter (6:7). Their participation is called for as a manifestation of the Spirit in their lives, an active “doing good” (6:9), which is especially appropriate when it benefits the “household of faith” (i.e., the Jerusalem church; 6:10).
6:11. Confirming the belief that most of the letter was dictated is the notification that Paul writes the remainder of the letter. In drawing attention to the “large letters” with which he writes, Paul may give us the final clue as to why, upon his initial visit, the Galatians were willing to tear out their own eyes for him (4:15). The “thorn in the flesh” of 2 Co 12:7 and the ailment that plagued him in Galatia may well be attributed to some form of eye disease.
6:12–14. Paul takes the opportunity to personally emphasize the main point of his letter. The ones who trouble the Galatians are considered to be hypocritical opportunists, attempting to build their own misguided view of spirituality (6:13). The opponents’ motivation in all this is considered to be fear (6:12). In ridiculing his opponents’ motives, Paul sets forth his own motive. It is found in the pivotal experience of the “cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6:14). This event has the effect, for Paul, of causing the death of the world to him (referring to the world’s system, especially with regard to its values).
6:15–16. As if to leave them with one final, decisive word, Paul declares that the rite the opponents assert as being crucial becomes meaningless in relation to the gracious work of the Spirit in making a “new creation” (6:15; see 5:6; 2 Co 5:17). Peace and mercy are reserved only for those who “follow this standard” (6:16a). Only these people can be properly identified as “the Israel of God” (6:16b; see Rm 9:6; 11:7; Eph 3:6). Therefore, in Paul’s view, to be admitted as a member of the old covenant people of God, one must adhere to the provisions of the new covenant, which was promised as part of the old.
6:17–18. Paul’s last words alert us to the toll such battles have exacted from him. His authenticity is really not a matter of speculation; it should be a matter of evidence, the physical “marks” (Gk stigmata; literally a “brand mark” on an animal or slave) of a man scarred by a world that persecutes him as it did his Lord (6:17). Is there really any other, more convincing evidence they would need to see (see 2 Co 11:22–30)?