Galatians 6 – Devotional & Commentary0

Devotional Questions:

Galatians 6:1-5

• The word Apostle Paul uses for sin (paraptoma) does not mean a deliberate sin, but an uncharacteristic moral slip.  Think about the word “restoration.”  You “restore” something when it has fallen into disrepair, i.e., slightly damaged but not entirely destroyed.  And in restoring, you return it to its original, pristine condition.  Why is it necessary for restoration to occur after a moral slip?  In other words, what fact about sin is being taught here?
• What would such restoration entail?  Who should be the ones doing the restoring?  Why is this important?
• Why is it important to do it gently?  (Elsewhere, for more grievous sins, Paul specifically instructs the church leaders to rebuke sharply.)  I.e., in his advice to be gentle, what reality about sin and what reality about human feelings is Apostle Paul instructing the church to recognize?
• In his admonition to be careful of temptation, of what reality about sin is Apostle Paul warning them?
• How does the advice to “carry each other’s burdens” fit with all this?
• What is the difference between “testing your own actions” and “comparing himself to somebody else”?  What personal application can you make from this?

Galatians 6:17

• Apostle Paul can confidently point to the “marks of Jesus” that he bears—which were most likely the actual scars of the years of physical persecution and suffering he endured. How have I grown in welcoming and bearing the “marks of Jesus?”  In what ways can I commit to bearing the “marks of Jesus?”

Additional Questions:

Galatians 6:7-10

• How is it “mocking God” when a person sows to please his sinful nature yet thinks he can reap spiritual fruit?
• Think back to the last time I felt frustrated about my lack of spiritual growth.  What insight does this passage provide about spiritual growth?
• Why does Apostle Paul tell us to do good to all people, and then suggest that we concentrate our efforts on the people who belong to the family of believers?

Galatians 6:12-16

• Why does it follow that those who want to “avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ” will focus on “[making] a good impression outwardly?”
• What would a person who boasts “in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” look like, especially in his relationship with the world?

Commentary:

v.1 “This does not refer to an elite class of Christians but rather to those who have more maturity and experience in the Christian life and who are therefore in a position to help their beleaguered brother or sister. The adjective ‘spiritual’ means ‘living and walking according to the Holy Spirit’ (see note on 5:16; also 1 Cor. 2:15; 3:1; 14:37) and includes, but is not limited to, the qualities listed in Gal. 5:22–23.”[1]

“Paul insists that the church is to be a community in which believers shared responsibility for one another’s lives.  Life in the Spirit is not a life of lonely striving, not a life restricted to a zone of privacy; rather, it is a life lived in community.  The church, like an extended family of brothers and sisters, is characterized by the interdependence of its members.  This interdependence entails not only mutual support in times of need, but also the willingness to confront one another, when necessary, with a word of admonition.  Within the individualistic culture of the modern West, Paul’s counsel seems strange, and many Christians would find it offensive to be held accountable by their brothers and sisters in the faith.  But we should recognize that mutual support and mutual accountability are two sides of the same coin; both are rooted in the conviction that we are a people with a shared calling and a shared identity.  Because we are members of one family of God (v.10), we have a stake in helping one another walk faithfully.  A church that takes Paul’s pastoral guidance seriously will seek to develop patterns of life together that enables us to profit from gentle and timely corrections offered by other members of the community.  Paul’s vision of a church that practices mutual correction should be read alongside Matt 18:15-22, where Jesus teaches his disciples to confront one another openly when wrongs are committed within the fellowship—and to forgive one another freely when they are acknowledged.”[2]

“Furthermore, Paul issues a warning to the one who speaks the word of admonition—that he watch himself lest he be tempted.  The possible temptation could take either of two forms: Either the admonisher could be temped to fall into the same sin as the erring member, or the admonisher could be tempted to an attitude of pride and condescension.  Although it is not clear which one he meant, it is sufficient to recognize that the other’s sins must be addressed with great care.  Indeed, Paul’s warning here implies an astute psychological insight: We may be most harshly condemning of those failings to which we ourselves are the most susceptible.”[3]

vv.3-5 “Apostle Paul rebukes conceit and gives a recipe whereby it may be avoided—that rather than comparing themselves with each other and boasting to each other, they should conduct a sober self-assessment and trust that God will reward justly.  Each person will receive commendation from God, as appropriate, in the end.  In the present time, however, we should keep our self-evaluation to ourselves.”[4]

“Apostle Paul also makes the connection between our conduct to others (carrying their burdens) and our opinion of ourselves.  As we provoke and envy other people when we have self-conceit, so when we think we are ‘something’ we decline to carry their burdens.”[5]

v.6 “‘Share all good things with his instructor’ is to be understood as a directive to provide financial support for those who carry out the ministry of teaching in the community.  Why does Apostle Paul mention this directive here in his pastoral advice to the community?  It is likely that Paul mentions the support of teachers simply because it belongs to his overall vision of a community walking under the guidance of the Spirit.[6]

vv.7-9 “Many people are deceived concerning this inexorable law of seedtime and harvest.  They sow their seeds thoughtlessly, nonchalantly, and blind themselves to the fact that the seeds they sow will inevitably produce a corresponding harvest.  Or they sow seed of one kind and expect to reap a harvest of another.  They imagine that somehow they can get away with it.  But this is impossible.  So Paul adds: God cannot be mocked.  What the apostle is saying is that men may fool others and even themselves, but they cannot fool God.”[7]

“What does it mean to sow to please the sinful nature?  The seeds we sow are largely thoughts and deeds.  Every time we allow our mind to harbor a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fantasy, or wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh.  Every time we linger in bad company whose insidious influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we expose ourselves to images and certain movies, every time we take a risk which strains our self-control, we are sowing, sowing, sowing to please the sinful nature.  Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness. […] Therefore, if we want to reap a harvest of holiness, our duty is twofold.  First, we must avoid sowing to the flesh, and secondly we must keep sowing to the Spirit.  We must ruthlessly eliminate the first and concentrate our time and energies on the second.”[8]

vv.13-14 “Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross.  All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a placed called Calvary.  It is there, at the foot of the cross that we shrink to our true size. […] Indeed, it is rather difficult for us to swallow the reality of our ‘true size,’ especially after having been deflated of all the faulty estimations of ourselves.  Only if we have humbled ourselves as hell-deserving sinners shall we give up boasting of ourselves, fly to the cross for salvation and spend the rest of our days glorying in the cross.”[9]

“It is an acute paradox to speak of boasting in the cross, for the cross is precisely the place where all human effort and pride come to an end.  The cross is God’s deed, not ours.  To ‘boast’ in the cross, then, is to acknowledge that our efforts lead only to death and that our confidence can rest only in God’s grace.”[10]

[2] Richard B. Hays, “The Letter to the Galatians,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000) 338.

[3] Richard B. Hays, “The Letter to the Galatians,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000) 332.

[4] Richard B. Hays, “The Letter to the Galatians,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000) 334.

[5] John R.W.Stott, “The Message of Galatians,” The Bible Speaks Today Series, (Downers Grove, IL:Inter-Varsity Press, 1988) 159.

[6] Richard B. Hays, “The Letter to the Galatians,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000) 336.

[7] John R.W.Stott, “The Message of Galatians,” The Bible Speaks Today Series, (Downers Grove, IL:Inter-Varsity Press, 1988) 166.

[8] John R.W.Stott, “The Message of Galatians,” The Bible Speaks Today Series, (Downers Grove, IL:Inter-Varsity Press, 1988) 170-171.

[9] John R.W.Stott, “The Message of Galatians,” The Bible Speaks Today Series, (Downers Grove, IL:Inter-Varsity Press, 1988) 179-180.

[10] Richard B. Hays, “The Letter to the Galatians,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000) 344.