Galatians 6
The Conduct of The Spiritual; A Final Reminder and Farewell
In this section, Paul continued describing how the Holy Spirit would empower the Galatians to live out their freedom in Christ by serving one another through love (5:13).
There are many interpretations of how the more practical instruction in the beginning of this section connects to the rest of the letter. We are left to speculate as to the mind of Paul and to the exact circumstances he addressed within his primary defense of the gospel.
Paul concluded the letter with one more warning about the poor motives of the false teachers (6:12) and a final exhortation for the Galatians to know peace and mercy through the unity that embracing the true gospel brings to the church.
You Who Are Spiritual
As this section opens, Paul seems to continue describing the behavior of believers who “walk” (progress, allow their conduct to be directed) in God’s Spirit.
Restore
Vs. 1-2 - Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.
If the Galatians desired to be “spiritual” and to love their neighbors as themselves (5:14), Paul offered a practical way to do this. Perhaps specific circumstances motivated the apostle to include this teaching on restoring a Christian who was struggling with sin.
The verb is instructive. Katartizo means to ‘put in order’ and so to ‘restore to its former condition’… It was used in secular Greek as a medical term for setting a fractured or dislocated bone. It is applied in Mark 1:19 to the apostles who were ‘mending’ their nets. - John Stott
Who is supposed to do the work of restoration? Paul says, “You who are spiritual.” Who are the spiritual? I believe our context would direct us back to Galatians 5:16-26 where the spiritual are those who are walking by the Spirit and that walk is observed by the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. The spiritual are those in whom the fruit of the Spirit is seen. These are the ones who should see the opportunity and take responsibility to go to a brother or sister in Christ who has been captured by sin. - Brent Kercheville
The spiritual Christian must restore the Christian who has stumbled gently, carefully, and cautiously. The spiritual Christian can avoid a spirit of self-righteousness in dealing with those who stumble by remembering his or her own personal vulnerability to temptation. - Thomas Constable
Carry
Vs. 2 - Carry one another’s burdens;
According to Paul, the “fruit” (5:22) of “walking by the Spirit” (5:16) was primarily demonstrated interpersonally.
Paul may be saying to them, in effect, that instead of imposing the law as a burden upon others, they should rather lift their burdens and so fulfill Christ’s law. - John Stott
Vs. 2 - in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Remember what Paul taught earlier in Galatians 5:13-14 that through love we serve one another and thus are fulfilling the law. Bearing one another’s burdens is described as fulfilling the law of Christ. - Brent Kercheville
Some commentators are perplexed by Paul’s language of “law” here since he has spent the rest of the letter arguing against the Galatians’ need to be “under” any specific “yoke” (5:1). However, Jesus Himself used law language to describe the way He wanted His followers to obey His command to love.
John 13:34-35 - I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
If the Galatians desired to submit to a law, Paul directed them to the “law of Christ,” the command to love - to “will the good” of one another.
Examine
Vs. 4-5 - Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load.
Commentators note Paul’s emphasis on examination over comparison in these verses. Again, we do not know the specific circumstances the apostle addressed, but he seemed concerned that these Christians were interacting pridefully, preoccupied with score-keeping and self-promotion.
Share
Vs. 6 - Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.
Joseph Lightfoot paraphrases Paul here: “I spoke of bearing one another’s burdens. There is one special application I would make of this rule. Provide for the temporal needs of your teachers in Christ.”
Do Good
Vs. 7-8 - Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
Commentators vary in their interpretive attempts to apply the principles of sowing and reaping to the immediate subject and/or to the overall context of the letter. It would seem that, as Paul concluded his message to the Galatians, encouraging them to live spiritually (5:16,18, 25; 6:1) and to fulfill the law of Christ (6:2), that this exhortation was simply a reminder of the universal principle that their response to Paul would have consequences.
If the Galatians chose to ignore Paul’s letter and to add Mosaic law-keeping to grace (sowing to the flesh), they would inevitably reap “destruction.” But if they chose to heed the apostle’s warnings and return to the gospel they had received from him (sowing to the Spirit), they would reap “eternal life from the Spirit.”
What Matters: A New Creation
Although Galatians 6:11-18 is the letter ending, there is a fair amount of substance in it. As in the letter opening, it is notable that many of the usual polite and friendly elements of his (Paul’s) letter endings, such as personal greetings, are missing. - Peter Oakes
“The Ones”
Vs. 12 - Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised—but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
Paul attributed a selfish motive to his opponents, accusing them, above all, of securing their own safety. Opinions vary as to the exact nature of the persecution mentioned here. Many commentators believe the source of the opposition to have been either non-believing Jews or Roman authorities.
To advocate circumcision was to align the new movement with Judaism, a religion that had official Roman sanction, and therefore one that avoided persecution. The preachers Paul was opposing may have included the cross in their proclamation, but by adding the necessity of circumcision, they avoided persecution. - Morris
It is far from clear that the persecution in view is by Gentile authorities and is in relation to matters such as non-observance of Imperial cult rituals. The most likely reading of 6:12 is, therefore, that the opponents, who are Christian Jews, fear persecution from non-Christian Jews if the Gentile Christians do not undergo circumcision. - Peter Oakes
As For Me
Vs. 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.
Paul contrasted his own motives with those of his opponents. They sought self-glorification while Paul desired only that the message of the Messiah’s sacrificial death would be proclaimed. He wanted the Galatians to understand exactly what God had accomplished through sending His Son.
A New Creation
Vs. 15 - For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.
The opponents’ insistence on circumcision is countered by a restatement of the key motif of the letter, given previously in the form of 3:28, “there is no Jew nor Greek,” and of 5:6, “neither circumcision matters, nor uncircumcision.” Here, the denial of the division is in terms almost as stark as 3:28.
Scholars debate whether, here in Galatians, Paul is thinking of recreation of Christians in particular or of the world in general. Paul's key point is that this new start, not the old divisions of Jew and Gentile, determines existence now. As in 3:28, the old social polarities have been put aside through Christ's arrival.
If the Galatians follow Paul's opponents back into the world where these polarities are given decisive significance, that would mean that the Galatians do not understand Christ's new creation. - Peter Oakes
Israel of God
Vs. 16 - May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God!
Scholars are not in agreement as to whether Paul offered up blessings for two separate groups of people in this benediction, or whether “Israel of God” is simply another name for “all those who follow this standard.”
The reading that fits most easily into the rhetoric of Galatians is that “the Israel of God” consists of all those, Jew and Gentile like, who believe in Jesus the Messiah. (Wright, Longnecker, Dunn) - Peter Oakes
The Marks of Jesus
Vs. 17 - From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
In closing, Paul appealed to his readers to end the controversy in Galatia that had caused him so much trouble and distraction as Christ’s bond-slave. He cited the scars he had received as the target of persecution, in contrast to circumcision, as his final proof of his devotion to Christ. He may have received some of these scars when the people of Lystra stoned him during his preaching tour of Galatia (Acts 14:19-20; cf. 2 Corinthians 11:25). - Thomas Constable
These genuine and honorable marks in the body contrast strikingly with the ritualistic and now meaningless mark (circumcision) the legalizers wished to impose on the Galatians. - Boice
Paul takes us back to the tone of the letters opening. His first point was to insert his divine authorization (1:1). He expressed angry astonishment (1:6-9). Paul gave an exasperated denial of being a people pleaser. Instead, he is Christ’s slave (1:10). Now in 6:17, he affirms that he bears the marks of his Master's slave-like death. How could they seek to trouble him? Moreover, by troubling Paul, they are troubling the representation of Jesus’ suffering. It is as though they are troubling Jesus on the cross. - Peter Oakes
Vs. 18 - Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Paul included no specific names or affirmations in his brief conclusion, but he did speak the favor of Christ over the Galatian Christians and repeated his affectionate salutation, calling them his “brothers and sisters” (5:11,13; 6:1,18) and concluded with an “amen” his final appeal for this diverse family of believers to be unified by the true gospel he had preached to them (1:11-12).
