The new life in Christ Jesus is not simply one of being good, but of doing good. It manifests itself, not by taking a “more holy than thou” attitude, but by bearing the burdens of others and seizing every opportunity to help saints and save sinners.
Galatians 6
1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
¶ Unto the Galatians written from Rome.
Galatians 6:1 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:2 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:3-5 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:6 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:7 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:8-10 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:11 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:12 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:13-14 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:15 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:16-18 – J. Vernon McGee
Galatians 6:1-10 – Our Own and Others’ Burdens
The spirit of the world gloats over sin; the Spirit of Christ leads us to restore the sinner. Our first thought should never be of revenge or contempt, or of the adjustment of our own claims, but rather of how to help our fallen brother to regain his old place in the love of God. The memory of our own temptations and failures should make us very pitiful and tender. The Apostle does not speak, in this place, of premeditated sin, but of that by which we are entrapped and taken unawares.
The most spiritual men in the Church are needed for this holy work of restoration, and they must do it with great meekness and humility. It is thus that we bear one another’s burdens; but there are some burdens that each must bear for himself alone, such as his own existence and personal accountability to God.
Life is a seedtime. It is the opportunity of preparing for heavenly harvests. The open furrows invite the seed, and every moment, in some form, we scatter seeds that we shall inevitably meet again in their fruition. Let us remember especially our obligations to God’s own children. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Galatians 6:11-18 – Glorying in the Cross Alone
Paul usually dictated his letters, but this was written with his own hand. The characters were large and clear, Galatians 6:11. Perhaps this was due to the trouble with his eyesight referred to in Galatians 4:15. But the Apostle gloried in the scars that suffering had left upon his frame, because they seemed to him the brand-marks of the happy slavery of Jesus, Galatians 6:17. If Judaizing teachers gloried in their brand-marks, how much more did he in his! The Cross had cut him off from the world. He was indifferent to worldly praise or blame; he took his marching-orders from Christ alone. This is the third time in his Epistle that Paul names the reflex influence of the Cross. See Galatians 2:20; 5:24; 6:14. Compare Galatians 6:15 with I Corinthians 7:19.
Notice the breadth of the Apostle’s benediction, Galatians 6:16. When we have been created anew in Christ’s likeness and are walking by that rule, we find ourselves at once introduced into a family of kindred spirits, who have passed through the same radical change and are united beneath the gracious canopy of mercy and peace. Such are God’s Israel. See Galatians 3:7. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Galatians 6:17—Let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
As a slave was branded with the initials of his owner, so was Paul. It was his pride to count himself the slave of Jesus, and to regard the scars which had eaten into his flesh as the brand-marks of his Master. Why should men try to deflect him from his course, when he was so absolutely implicated in the service of the one great Master, Christ?
The Service of Jesus.—It is founded in his blood, by which He purchased us to be his own; but it must be accepted by the glad consent of the will. We must awake each morning as his property, take his commands for the day, and lie down at night, only satisfied when He has said, Well done! We must own to ourselves that we have no personal rights, no locked rooms, no kind of reserve.
The Brand of Jesus.—The dislike which our religion engenders; the losses to which principle compels; the averted look, the distant manner on the part of those who could not make enough of us when we lived the life of the world—these are as much his brand, the brand of his Cross, as the weals of recent scourgings on the apostle’s flesh.
The Peace of Jesus.—“Let no man trouble me.” My heart has cast her anchor; my soul her foundation; my life her aim. If He is satisfied, I am content, though the world is in arms. If He is with me, I have good company, though all forsake. The Master said, “Trouble her not.”
“Lord, as thy temple’s portals close
Behind the outward-parting throng,
So shut my spirit in repose;
So bind it here, thy flock among:
The fickle wanderer else will stray
Back to the world’s wide-parted way.” —Our Daily Homily