ACC ~ Galatians 6 v1 - 5

OVERVIEW:

It is the duty of the Spirit-led to be gentle (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). Gentleness will convert the sinner (AMBROSIASTER), especially when some trouble is taken. All of us are subject to temptation (JEROME). Bear with the common weakness of the body (ORIGEN), forgiving sins as Christ did (JEROME), remembering that we too are imperfect (THEODORET). Love is the essence of the law (AUGUSTINE). All pride is sinful (JEROME) and arises from our great distance from God (AMBROSIASTER). We must scrutinize our lives and only then boast—if we must (CHRYSOSTOM). We need not be afraid to associate with sinners in need (AMBROSIASTER), for the coming judgment will leave each of us with our own burden of conscience (JEROME).

6:1a | Overtaken in Any Trespass

CAUGHT UNAWARES. CHRYSOSTOM: The Galatians were gratifying their private feelings under pretext of rebuke. They appeared to be doing this to correct the sins of others. Paul wanted to put a stop to their love of being first. He says, “Brothers, if someone is overtaken in any trespass.” Note that he does not say “if he trespasses” but “if he is overtaken,” that is, if he is caught off guard. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 6.1.

THE MEANING OF “OVERTAKEN.” AUGUSTINE: One is overtaken on those occasions either when one sins without seeing at the time that it is a sin or when one sees this and is still overcome. One sins either in ignorance of truth or under the limitations of infirmity. AGAINST LYING 22.

6:1b | Restoration in a Spirit of Gentleness

SPURRED WITH KINDNESS. AMBROSIASTER: Now Paul speaks to those who were spiritually stronger, lest by becoming proud in their own good life they should think it right to despise and reject one who had perhaps been overtaken by sin. And so they must be told that people struggling with sin are to be spurred toward reform with kindness. If they were to be more harshly punished with coercive authority, they would not accept reproof. They would begin to defend themselves against seeming to be base and worse. If you protect a person from strife and arrogance, he will become meek in relation to you, since humility tends to make even the proud humble. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.2.1-2.

RESTORATION. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul does not say “punish” or “pass judgment” but “restore.” Nor did he even stop there, but showing that he strongly desired them to be patient with those who stumbled he adds “in a spirit of gentleness.” He does not say “in gentleness” but “in a spirit of gentleness,” showing that this also is the will of the Spirit and that the capacity to correct another’s faults is a spiritual gift. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 6.1.

THE SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS. JEROME: The Spirit-led person should correct a sinner gently and meekly. He must not be inflexible, angry or aggrieved in his desire to correct him. He should stir him up with the promise of salvation, promising remission and bringing forth the testimony of Christ. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.6.1.

THE TEST OF THE SPIRIT-LED PERSON. AUGUSTINE: There is no surer test of the spiritual person than his treatment of another’s sin. Note how he takes care to deliver the sinner rather than triumph over him, to help him rather than punish him and, so far as lies in his capacity, to support him. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 56 [1B.6.1].

6:1c | Beware Lest You Be Tempted

IN AMENDING ANOTHER’S WRONGDOING, THINK OF WHAT MIGHT BEFALL YOU. JEROME: Maybe Paul is saying that you should identify with the sinner in order to do him good. This is not to imply, of course, that one should seemingly commit the same wrong and pretend that one is also subject to it. No, in another’s wrongdoing one should think of what might befall oneself. Help the other with the same compassion that one would hope to receive from another. LETTER 116.29.2.

ALL ARE TEMPTED. JEROME: It is reasonable to ask why one should instruct the sinner in a spirit of gentleness. It is good to reflect that one might oneself be tempted. Would the righteous person, who is certain of his own resolve and confident that he cannot fall, therefore have no duty to instruct the sinner in the spirit of gentleness? To this we reply that even if the righteous one has prevailed, knowing with what difficulty he prevailed over his own temptations he should rather be ready to extend pardon to the sinner. … Overcoming or not overcoming is sometimes in our own power. But being tempted is in the power of the tempter. The Savior himself was tempted. So who of us can be sure that he might cross this sea of life without any temptation? EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.6.1.

6:2 | Bearing Burdens, Fulfilling the Law of Christ

BEARING THE BURDENS OF THE POOR. ORIGEN: By “burdens” he means the needs of the body. So to the extent that anyone is richer in resources, he is called to bear the poor person’s burden and relieve poverty by his abundance. COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 10.6.

THE BURDEN THE SAVIOR BORE FOR US. JEROME: Sin is a burden, as the psalmist affirms. … This burden the Savior bore for us, teaching by his life what we ought to do. He himself bears our iniquities and grieves for us and invites those who are cast down by the burden of sin and the law to take up the light yoke of virtue. Therefore the one who does not demean his brother’s salvation extends his hand as needed. So far as it lies within him he weeps with him as he weeps; he shares the neighbor’s weakness. He counts another’s sins as his own. Such is the one who fulfills the law of Christ through love. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.6.2.

LOVE SUMS UP THE LAW. AUGUSTINE: The “law of Christ” means the law of love. The one who loves his neighbor fulfills the law. The love of neighbor is strongly commended even in the Old Testament. The apostle elsewhere says that it is by love that all the commands of the law are summed up. If so, then it is evident that even that Scripture which was given to the covenant people was the law of Christ, which, since it was not being fulfilled by fear, he came to fulfill by love. The same Scripture, therefore, and the same law is called the old covenant when it weighs down in slavery those who are grasping after earthly goods. It is called the new testament when it raises to freedom those who are ardently seeking the eternal good. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 58 [1B.6.2].

LOVE FULFILLED WHEN YOU BEAR EACH OTHER’S BURDEN. THEODORET: This means: “You have one deficiency but not another. The neighbor’s case is the opposite. He has another deficit but not the one you have. You must bear his and he yours. For thus is the law of love fulfilled.” By “the law of Christ” he means love, for he himself said, “I give you a new commandment, to love one another.” EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.2.

6:3 | Humility Curbs Self-Deception

HUMILITY ENABLES GROWTH. AMBROSIASTER: It is true, and no one is unaware of it, that if we consider honestly our acts and thoughts we find ourselves superior to no one and cannot easily pass judgment on another. For the person who is puffed up as if he were something special is misled, since he does not know that humility becomes a means of growth. For he does not have before his eyes the words and deeds of the Savior, who, though he be Lord of all, humbled himself so as to give us a pattern that we might follow should we wish to grow. If we were to exalt ourselves, we would stumble as a result of the ignorance of a heart elated by the hope of presuming to be more worthy of praise. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.4.1.

TWO WAYS TO READ: SELF-DECEPTION OR BECOMING NOTHING THROUGH ONE’S ARROGANCE. JEROME: This [verse] can be read in two distinct ways. … The sense of the first is “If someone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” The second is deeper and more meaningful to me: “If someone thinks he is something, by the very fact of thinking himself something and judging himself, not from his love toward his neighbors but from his own work and labors, contented with his own virtue, he himself becomes nothing through this very arrogance and is his own deceiver.” … The meaning of this passage is also linked to circumcision and the law in the following way: One who is spiritual yet has no compassion for his neighbor, despising the lowly because of his own self-elevation, is his own deceiver, not knowing that the spirit of the law adds up finally to loving one another. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.6.3.

6:4a | Testing One’s Own Work

STRINGENT SELF-EXAMINATION. CHRYSOSTOM: Here Paul shows that we must scrutinize our lives. We must test what we have done not cheaply but stringently. For example, suppose you have done something good. Consider whether it might have been through vanity or through necessity, or with animosity, or in hypocrisy, or through some other self-centered motive. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 6.4.

6:4b | Reason to Boast

IS PAUL ENCOURAGING BOASTFULNESS? CHRYSOSTOM: He says this not by way of command but by way of concession. It is as though he had said, “It is absurd to boast, but if you must, do not boast against your neighbor, like the Pharisee.” The person who learns this lesson will also soon give up boasting altogether. Thus Paul’s reason for conceding this was to drive out the larger malady by small steps. For the one who is accustomed to boast with regard to himself alone, and not against others, will soon reform this fault also. If he does not think himself better than others—for that is the meaning of not looking to the other—but is chastened by examining himself by himself, he will later stop this boasting too. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 6.4.

6:5 | Each Person Bears His or Her Own Load

NO ONE INCRIMINATED FOR ANOTHER’S SIN. AMBROSIASTER: Finally he wants it to be clear to those who are proud that nobody is incriminated for another’s sin. So no one should be afraid to associate with a sinner or to aid him if he comes to him so that he may be of benefit to him. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.5.

WHETHER THIS VERSE IS COMPATIBLE WITH 6:2. JEROME: This seems to contradict the words above. … But one must see that he was there telling us, as sinners in the present life, to support one another and be a help to one another in the present age. Here he is speaking of the Lord’s judgment of us, which is not based on the sin of another or by comparison with others but according to one’s own work. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.6.5.