Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.
if anyone is caught - "...apprehended, taken by surprise, caught red-handed." (Ryrie)
"This verse [verse 1] is closely connected with the contents of chapter 5. In the latter chapter, two methods of determining conduce and following out that determination with the appropriate action, are presented. One is in dependence upon the Holy Spirit for the supply of both the desire and the power to do the will of God. This method results in a life in which the fruit of the Spirit is evident. The other method is that of putting one's self under the law, and by self effort attempting to obey that law. This results in a defeated life full of sin, for the law gives neither the desire nor the power to obey it, and on the other hand, uses the evil nature as a means by which to bring sin into the life, since the evil nature is aroused to active rebellion by the very presence of the law. Those Galatians who were adopting the latter method in conformity to the teaching of the Judaizers, were finding that sin was creeping into their lives. Since they were most earnestly zealous of living a life of victory over sin, and in conformity to the ethical teachings of the New Testament dispensation, the presence of sin in their lives was a course of surprise to them." (Wuest)
"Notice the first word 'if.' If a man be overtaken—first, be very sure that the brother is in fact taken in a fault. Do not get your mental exercise by jumping to conclusions, as many people seem to do. 1 Corinthians 13 fits well here, for there we read that love believeth all things for the good. Love is very thoughtful; it is not suspicious. 'Brethren, if a man be overtaken...' Has someone come to you with gossip? Has someone said to you, 'Oh, did you hear what so-and-so did?' Be very slow to believe it. Be slow even to listen to it. But suppose it is true? Suppose the accusation is proved to be completely true? Then what? Paul went on '...ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.' Restore him. Do not rake him over the coals. Do not try to make things worse for him. Do not condemn him; that will not help him. Seek b God's grace to restore him to fellowship..." (Stam)
you who are spiritual - "...namely, those who were still living their lives in dependence upon the Spirit..." (Wuest)
"—pneumatikos, a word which always connotes the ideas of invisibility and of power. It does not occur in the LXX, nor in the Gospels, it is in fact an after-Pentecost word." (Vine)
"Here is the test of true spirituality (Eph 4:32). You claim to be spiritual, but you are not very spiritual if you act holier-than-thou and say in a haughty tone, 'How could he do that? I will not associate with him any more.' That is pure pride and selfishness. It is very different from true spirituality. The truly spiritual person realizes the pit from which he has been dug. The truly spiritual person realizes that it took the death of Christ to save him, and he is going to be tenderhearted, forgiving, and sympathetic toward his brother, knowing that God has forgiven him for Christ's sake." (Stam)
restore - "Used of setting broken bones and mending fishing nets." (Ryrie)
"The word 'restore' is from katarizo. This word has the following meanings: 'to repair, to restore to a former good condition, to prepare, to fit out, to equip.' It is used of reconciling factions, of setting bones, of putting a dislocated limb into place, of mending nets, of manning a fleet, of supplying an army with provisions. It is used by Paul usually in a metaphorical sense of setting a person to rights, of bringing him into line. Those Galatians who had not abandoned their dependence upon the Holy Spirit, now are asked by Paul to set those Galatians right who had been seized unawares by sin because they had deprived themselves of the ministry of the Spirit. The primary thing that they needed to be set right about was not the act of sin which they committed, but that they had wandered off the right road of grace and were stumbling in the quagmire of self-dependence and legalism. To set the sinning brother right with reference to his act of sin would be helpful, but that would still leave him on the wrong road with the result that he would go on being surprised at the entrance of sin into his life." (Wuest)
Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. - "—i.e., in like circumstances, for you may find yourself situated as he is someday ... When a believer has realized his responsibility to an erring brother, he is in danger of thinking of himself as the other's judge, rather than as being one with the delinquent in natural tendencies and in liability to sin. If this thought is harbored spirituality departs, and with it all hope of succoring the fallen brother. Hence the apostle does not say 'lest thou also fall,' but 'lest thou also be tempted,' as though to suggest that the difference between the two men is not that both were tempted, that one resisted and one fell, but that one was tempted and fell, the other did not fall only because he had not been tempted. Therefore the man of true spirituality will say under such circumstances, 'but for the grace of God I had been in his place,' thus encouraging that spirit of meekness in himself without which he may make mischief and cannot do good." (Vine)
burdens - "I.e., the excess burdens that we need to share with one another, in contrast to the 'load' (different Greek word) in verse 5, which means the normal amount each must carry for himself." (Ryrie)
"The word 'burdens' has the following meaning: either 'a burden that is desirable' as in 2 Corinthians 4:17 (weight), or 'one which is hard to bear' (Acts 15:28; Rev 2:24). The context indicates the specific meaning. The burdens in this context refer to the responsibility each saint should feel for the spiritual welfare of his fellow-saints, especially when they have sinned. In this particular instance, the Spirit-dominated saints should feel the responsibility of rescuing their brethren who have put themselves under legalism, from an abject slavery to law, and of transferring their dependence again upon the Spirit..." (Wuest)
the law of Christ - "Living under grace is not license; it is a life of love and service (Gal 5:6, 13)." (Ryrie)
if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself - "If one has the conceited idea that he is morally and spiritually superior to what he actually is, this tends to make him unwilling to take the burden of responsibility for the restoration of a sinning fellow-saint. A Christian of that character, so far from fulfilling the law of Christ, is deceiving himself as to his true status in the Christian experience." (Wuest)
"Do you recall what the law of Christ was? Jesus said: 'A new commandment, that ye love one another...' (John 13:34). If we want to practice the words of Christ, there is one law that is perfectly compatible with the dispensation of grace (Gal 5:14). This is the rule as far as our contacts with each other are concerned. Do not say, 'I would not have denied Christ if I had been Peter.' Do not say, 'If I had been Jacob, I would not have been so dishonest.' do not say, 'If I had been in this brother's place, I would not have fallen into his temptation.' You do not know all of the circumstance. You cannot say that you would not have stumbled over the same stone. Let us fulfill the law of Christ then and truly love each other ... Do you think that you would not have sinned like your fallen brother? 'Be careful,' Paul admonished. 'You are only deceiving yourself." (Stam)
let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor - "Here is the case of the self-deceived man of the previous verse, who boats of his own superiority when he compares himself with the Christian brother who has fallen into sin. He has a ground for boasting only in respect to his much-vaunted superiority to his inferior brother. But the man who puts himself to the test without comparing himself with others, bases his appraisal of himself on an absolute rather than a relative foundation ... The exhortation is therefore to Christians not to form an estimate of themselves by comparing themselves with others, but to put themselves to the test to find out what there is in their characters and in their lives which would merit approval. The word rejoicing is from kauchema which means 'that of which one glories or can glory, matter or ground of glorying.' The word is not connected with the word glory (doxa) which is used of God's glory. It means glory in the sense of exultation, self-congratulation. It does not however have the idea of an excessive or unjustified estimate of one's self that the English word boasting has." (Wuest)
each will have to bear his own load - "The word 'burden' in Galatians 6:2 is baros, and in this verse [5], phortion. While these words have their distinctive meaning in the secular usage of the early centuries, and while synonyms in juxtaposition should usually be carefully distinguished, yet we cannot draw a fine distinction between these two words in this passage. There is no use burdening the English reader with the various meanings of the two words, since they would have no bearing upon our study. In Galatians 6:2 the apostle exhorts the Galatian saints to bear the burdens of their fellow saints, namely, to assume the responsibility of giving that saint spiritual aid in case he has allowed sin to come into his experience. Here he exhorts the saints to bear their own burdens. This is doubtless an intentional paradoxical antithesis on the part of the apostle. It is the Christian who knows that he has a burden of his own, namely, a susceptibility to certain sins, and who has fallen himself, who is willing to bear his neighbor's burden. Again, when each man's self-examination reveals infirmities of his own, even though they may not be the same as those of his neighbors, he will not claim moral and spiritual superiority to other. Furthermore, each saint should bear his own burden in the sense that he must recognize his personal responsibilities towards God and man. He is responsible for the life he lives." (Wuest)
"Verses two and five are not contradictory; they are complimentary ... Each of us should say to himself, 'I must courageously bear my own burden, and yet sympathetically help to bear the burdens of others also ... There is an even further and fuller explanation. The words for 'burden' in Galatians 6:2 and Galatians 6:5 are not the same in the Greek. In verse two the word which in English would be spelled 'baros' gives us our English word 'barology,' the study of weights and gravity, the downward pull to the earth. We also have the word 'barometer,' an instrument by which we determine the atmospheric pressure, the weight of the atmosphere. The apostle use this word also in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 1:8). The word 'pressed' is the same derivation translated 'burden' in Galatians 6:2. And again is 2 Corinthians 5:4 Paul used the same word in reference to just living here when he said: 'We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened...' It is the same word, so the word 'burdened,' in Galatians 6:2, where he told the believers to bear one another's burdens, has to do with those weights that oppress and bear down upon us. Sometimes they are seemingly too heavy to bear, are they not? But the other word 'burden' in Galatians 6:5 is different entirely. It is the Greek word 'phortion' and it means a designated load or cargo. 'Every man shall bear his own burden.' This word is used for example of the soldier's knapsack. That is his load; heavy or light, he is expected to carry it. It has to do with the personal responsibility before God. Each one has his own designated load or burden and must be ready to bear it." (Stam)
"If a man thinks himself to be something when in fact he is nothing, he only deceives himself. 'But let every man prove his own work.' Do not condemn your brother. Prove your own work and then you will having rejoicing in yourself, for every man at the final day will 'bear his own burden' as he stands before God." (Stam)
if anyone is caught - "...apprehended, taken by surprise, caught red-handed." (Ryrie)
"This verse [verse 1] is closely connected with the contents of chapter 5. In the latter chapter, two methods of determining conduce and following out that determination with the appropriate action, are presented. One is in dependence upon the Holy Spirit for the supply of both the desire and the power to do the will of God. This method results in a life in which the fruit of the Spirit is evident. The other method is that of putting one's self under the law, and by self effort attempting to obey that law. This results in a defeated life full of sin, for the law gives neither the desire nor the power to obey it, and on the other hand, uses the evil nature as a means by which to bring sin into the life, since the evil nature is aroused to active rebellion by the very presence of the law. Those Galatians who were adopting the latter method in conformity to the teaching of the Judaizers, were finding that sin was creeping into their lives. Since they were most earnestly zealous of living a life of victory over sin, and in conformity to the ethical teachings of the New Testament dispensation, the presence of sin in their lives was a course of surprise to them." (Wuest)
"Notice the first word 'if.' If a man be overtaken—first, be very sure that the brother is in fact taken in a fault. Do not get your mental exercise by jumping to conclusions, as many people seem to do. 1 Corinthians 13 fits well here, for there we read that love believeth all things for the good. Love is very thoughtful; it is not suspicious. 'Brethren, if a man be overtaken...' Has someone come to you with gossip? Has someone said to you, 'Oh, did you hear what so-and-so did?' Be very slow to believe it. Be slow even to listen to it. But suppose it is true? Suppose the accusation is proved to be completely true? Then what? Paul went on '...ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.' Restore him. Do not rake him over the coals. Do not try to make things worse for him. Do not condemn him; that will not help him. Seek b God's grace to restore him to fellowship..." (Stam)
you who are spiritual - "...namely, those who were still living their lives in dependence upon the Spirit..." (Wuest)
"—pneumatikos, a word which always connotes the ideas of invisibility and of power. It does not occur in the LXX, nor in the Gospels, it is in fact an after-Pentecost word." (Vine)
"Here is the test of true spirituality (Eph 4:32). You claim to be spiritual, but you are not very spiritual if you act holier-than-thou and say in a haughty tone, 'How could he do that? I will not associate with him any more.' That is pure pride and selfishness. It is very different from true spirituality. The truly spiritual person realizes the pit from which he has been dug. The truly spiritual person realizes that it took the death of Christ to save him, and he is going to be tenderhearted, forgiving, and sympathetic toward his brother, knowing that God has forgiven him for Christ's sake." (Stam)
restore - "Used of setting broken bones and mending fishing nets." (Ryrie)
"The word 'restore' is from katarizo. This word has the following meanings: 'to repair, to restore to a former good condition, to prepare, to fit out, to equip.' It is used of reconciling factions, of setting bones, of putting a dislocated limb into place, of mending nets, of manning a fleet, of supplying an army with provisions. It is used by Paul usually in a metaphorical sense of setting a person to rights, of bringing him into line. Those Galatians who had not abandoned their dependence upon the Holy Spirit, now are asked by Paul to set those Galatians right who had been seized unawares by sin because they had deprived themselves of the ministry of the Spirit. The primary thing that they needed to be set right about was not the act of sin which they committed, but that they had wandered off the right road of grace and were stumbling in the quagmire of self-dependence and legalism. To set the sinning brother right with reference to his act of sin would be helpful, but that would still leave him on the wrong road with the result that he would go on being surprised at the entrance of sin into his life." (Wuest)
Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. - "—i.e., in like circumstances, for you may find yourself situated as he is someday ... When a believer has realized his responsibility to an erring brother, he is in danger of thinking of himself as the other's judge, rather than as being one with the delinquent in natural tendencies and in liability to sin. If this thought is harbored spirituality departs, and with it all hope of succoring the fallen brother. Hence the apostle does not say 'lest thou also fall,' but 'lest thou also be tempted,' as though to suggest that the difference between the two men is not that both were tempted, that one resisted and one fell, but that one was tempted and fell, the other did not fall only because he had not been tempted. Therefore the man of true spirituality will say under such circumstances, 'but for the grace of God I had been in his place,' thus encouraging that spirit of meekness in himself without which he may make mischief and cannot do good." (Vine)
burdens - "I.e., the excess burdens that we need to share with one another, in contrast to the 'load' (different Greek word) in verse 5, which means the normal amount each must carry for himself." (Ryrie)
"The word 'burdens' has the following meaning: either 'a burden that is desirable' as in 2 Corinthians 4:17 (weight), or 'one which is hard to bear' (Acts 15:28; Rev 2:24). The context indicates the specific meaning. The burdens in this context refer to the responsibility each saint should feel for the spiritual welfare of his fellow-saints, especially when they have sinned. In this particular instance, the Spirit-dominated saints should feel the responsibility of rescuing their brethren who have put themselves under legalism, from an abject slavery to law, and of transferring their dependence again upon the Spirit..." (Wuest)
the law of Christ - "Living under grace is not license; it is a life of love and service (Gal 5:6, 13)." (Ryrie)
if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself - "If one has the conceited idea that he is morally and spiritually superior to what he actually is, this tends to make him unwilling to take the burden of responsibility for the restoration of a sinning fellow-saint. A Christian of that character, so far from fulfilling the law of Christ, is deceiving himself as to his true status in the Christian experience." (Wuest)
"Do you recall what the law of Christ was? Jesus said: 'A new commandment, that ye love one another...' (John 13:34). If we want to practice the words of Christ, there is one law that is perfectly compatible with the dispensation of grace (Gal 5:14). This is the rule as far as our contacts with each other are concerned. Do not say, 'I would not have denied Christ if I had been Peter.' Do not say, 'If I had been Jacob, I would not have been so dishonest.' do not say, 'If I had been in this brother's place, I would not have fallen into his temptation.' You do not know all of the circumstance. You cannot say that you would not have stumbled over the same stone. Let us fulfill the law of Christ then and truly love each other ... Do you think that you would not have sinned like your fallen brother? 'Be careful,' Paul admonished. 'You are only deceiving yourself." (Stam)
let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor - "Here is the case of the self-deceived man of the previous verse, who boats of his own superiority when he compares himself with the Christian brother who has fallen into sin. He has a ground for boasting only in respect to his much-vaunted superiority to his inferior brother. But the man who puts himself to the test without comparing himself with others, bases his appraisal of himself on an absolute rather than a relative foundation ... The exhortation is therefore to Christians not to form an estimate of themselves by comparing themselves with others, but to put themselves to the test to find out what there is in their characters and in their lives which would merit approval. The word rejoicing is from kauchema which means 'that of which one glories or can glory, matter or ground of glorying.' The word is not connected with the word glory (doxa) which is used of God's glory. It means glory in the sense of exultation, self-congratulation. It does not however have the idea of an excessive or unjustified estimate of one's self that the English word boasting has." (Wuest)
each will have to bear his own load - "The word 'burden' in Galatians 6:2 is baros, and in this verse [5], phortion. While these words have their distinctive meaning in the secular usage of the early centuries, and while synonyms in juxtaposition should usually be carefully distinguished, yet we cannot draw a fine distinction between these two words in this passage. There is no use burdening the English reader with the various meanings of the two words, since they would have no bearing upon our study. In Galatians 6:2 the apostle exhorts the Galatian saints to bear the burdens of their fellow saints, namely, to assume the responsibility of giving that saint spiritual aid in case he has allowed sin to come into his experience. Here he exhorts the saints to bear their own burdens. This is doubtless an intentional paradoxical antithesis on the part of the apostle. It is the Christian who knows that he has a burden of his own, namely, a susceptibility to certain sins, and who has fallen himself, who is willing to bear his neighbor's burden. Again, when each man's self-examination reveals infirmities of his own, even though they may not be the same as those of his neighbors, he will not claim moral and spiritual superiority to other. Furthermore, each saint should bear his own burden in the sense that he must recognize his personal responsibilities towards God and man. He is responsible for the life he lives." (Wuest)
"Verses two and five are not contradictory; they are complimentary ... Each of us should say to himself, 'I must courageously bear my own burden, and yet sympathetically help to bear the burdens of others also ... There is an even further and fuller explanation. The words for 'burden' in Galatians 6:2 and Galatians 6:5 are not the same in the Greek. In verse two the word which in English would be spelled 'baros' gives us our English word 'barology,' the study of weights and gravity, the downward pull to the earth. We also have the word 'barometer,' an instrument by which we determine the atmospheric pressure, the weight of the atmosphere. The apostle use this word also in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 1:8). The word 'pressed' is the same derivation translated 'burden' in Galatians 6:2. And again is 2 Corinthians 5:4 Paul used the same word in reference to just living here when he said: 'We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened...' It is the same word, so the word 'burdened,' in Galatians 6:2, where he told the believers to bear one another's burdens, has to do with those weights that oppress and bear down upon us. Sometimes they are seemingly too heavy to bear, are they not? But the other word 'burden' in Galatians 6:5 is different entirely. It is the Greek word 'phortion' and it means a designated load or cargo. 'Every man shall bear his own burden.' This word is used for example of the soldier's knapsack. That is his load; heavy or light, he is expected to carry it. It has to do with the personal responsibility before God. Each one has his own designated load or burden and must be ready to bear it." (Stam)
"If a man thinks himself to be something when in fact he is nothing, he only deceives himself. 'But let every man prove his own work.' Do not condemn your brother. Prove your own work and then you will having rejoicing in yourself, for every man at the final day will 'bear his own burden' as he stands before God." (Stam)
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