What a Community of Grace Looks Like

Galatians: A Study of Christian Freedom

Lesson 20:    What a Community of Grace Looks Like                       Galatians 6:1-5

The letter is nearly finished.  Paul has passionately defended the gospel of grace.  But his work isn’t done.  It’s easy to forget the Galatian congregations were probably a mess at this point.  The doctrinal struggle had probably resulted in charges and counter-charges.  Some members had behaved as if they stood on the moral high ground just because of their diet.  Some members may have tried to hold on to the gospel of grace but inwardly worried that the Judaizers might be right.  Above all, the day-to-day caring for one another had been neglected.  Paul needed to remind them of what a community of grace looks like.

6 My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, 

The battle is ongoing, the battle between that side of us that prefers to go it alone, to get along without God and that side that has been redeemed, that knows “how great a debtor” we are to grace.  And, sometimes, the fleshly side wins.  

Notice how Paul begins this discussion:  “My friends,” not “You pitiful, weak hypocrites.”  It is literally “my brothers,” which is understood to inclusive, meaning '“brothers and sisters.”  There is an implication to the word adelphos that may have a place here.  The word often is used to imply someone is of equal rank.  (Mounce)  If that’s the idea here, Paul may intend for the Galatians to understand that every Christian is susceptible to the danger he discusses.

To be “detected in a transgression” does not mean a church member was discovered to be sinning.  It is not as if the congregation woke up one Sunday morning to read a story in the Galatian Dispatch about the church treasurer being arrested for embezzling from the bank where he worked.  There’s no doubt Paul has in mind someone who has done wrong but an element in their failure involved letting their guard down.  To put it in terms from the previous chapter, it is as if they had neglected to keep checking the nails on their crucified flesh.  This is why several translations use “overtaken in some transgression” to convey the idea.  

But the emphasis here is not so much on how or why their fellow believers had sinned as it is on how those believers who were “spiritual” (those keeping in step with the Spirit) responded to then.

you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one 

Those who are “spiritual” or “who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit” are to
“restore” the one who has fallen into sin.  The word "restore" means “to restore to a forfeited condition, to reinstate.”  It is the same word used in the Gospels to describe James and John repairing their fishing nets.  In a sense, Paul was calling on the Galatians to repair the fallen ones so they might be returned to a useful condition.  

This clearly implies the fallen are not beyond redemption; they are not to be discarded as if forever lost either to the fellowship or to usefulness.  

What Paul does not say and what the Galatians would have probably understood is that the fallen would have acknowledged their failure, repented, and sought restoration.  To have welcomed back the unrepentant would have been to trivialize their sin; to have refused to welcome the repentant would have been to underestimate the sacrifice of Christ. 

The church fails when it is either indifferent to sin or too stingy with forgiveness.

This restoration is not done with finger-pointing and shaming, instead it is to be done in a spirit of gentleness. The fallen one would not be asked to wear a scarlet letter; but, instead, would be genuinely forgiven and embraced by the community.  

This “gentleness” is part of the fruit of the Spirit and reflects Christ’s own dealing with sinners.  

Not only are we to be gentle in restoring the fallen, we are to be thoughtful and humble.  There is no room for a holier-than-thou pride.  As Paul says, Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.  J. B. Philips translates it this way, “You should quietly set him back on the right path, not with any feeling of superiority but being yourselves on guard against temptation.”

Dr. Huber Drumright, who taught for many years at Southwestern Seminary, told of overhearing a student’s comment about another student who had fallen into sexual sin, “I would never let that happen to me.”  Dr. Drumwright then added, “About a year later, it became known that that boastful student fell prey to temptation and had an affair with another student’s wife.”  

Paul moves from restoring the fallen to another aspect of life within the Christian community.  He calls on the believers to…

² Bear one another’s burdens, 

Caring for others within the Christian community not only involves those occasions when a fellow-believer falls, it involves an ongoing commitment to help them face the challenges of living.  

Let’s look at the word “burdens.”  The Greek word literally refers to that which is very heavy.  While baros refers to the weight of an object, it has some figurative uses referring to “anything grievous and hard to be borne;” so some translations use “troubles” or “problems” to get at Paul’s meaning.  At the same time, the root word baro refers to “pressure,” as in barometer (a device that measures atmospheric pressure);  keep in mind how we often refer to individuals who are living under pressure.

These are not carefree saints living in a trouble-free environment.  These are individuals who face tough situations and challenges that sometimes threaten to crush them.  You know, real people.

Their “burdens” might take many forms:  Sickness, poverty, family conflict, and so on.  Whatever form their burdens may take, these people often need a helping hand to keep going under the weight of living.  

Paul sees this helping hand as a way to “fulfill the law of Christ,” the law of love. As Paul has already made clear, this love demonstrates itself in real, practical ways.  

Of course, even in the church there are those who do not feel inclined to “fulfill the law of Christ,” choosing instead to play the role of critic because they believe they are above failure. They have no inclination toward “gentleness” and its attendant humility.

Paul has some words for them.

³ For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. 

Earlier in the letter, Paul made it clear there were individuals who saw themselves as superior to their fellow believers; they considered their allegiance to the old law as evidence of a greater commitment.  Paul knocks the pins out from under any such claim.  This “somebody” is really a “nobody” who has only succeeded in “hoodwinking” himself.

British scholar R. A. Cole commented:

A more crushing assessment could hardly be made of one who, at best, can have been nothing than a large frog in a small pool.  But Paul is probably thinking more of the poor man’s spiritual state than of his unimportance….

Perhaps Paul’s choice of the word here is is governed by the fact that such a man has been ‘too clever by half,' as the colloquial tongue has it.  He has succeeded in taking himself in, although he has deceived nobody else….

Paul’s observation notwithstanding, these self-deceived “nobodies” are often given more credit than they deserve and, consequently, are allowed to create havoc as they challenge church leadership and urge harsh treatment for the brother who failed.  

Years later, Paul would instruct the Romans, “Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.”  It’s easy to imagine Paul was thinking of these individuals—who likely were the Judaizing teachers and their more ardent disciples—when he wrote to the Romans.

A more intelligent approach to self-evaluation is found in the next verse.

⁴ All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride. 

It is truly tempting to paraphrase this verse as “Mind your own business.”  

If it were only that simple; this is a strange verse.  It’s hard to picture Paul endorsing “pride” in the as a proper pursuit for the Christian.  It doesn’t seem to fit the context where “meekness” and humility have been such prominent themes.

The Amplified version offers:  “ But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor.”  

That helps to a degree but it seems to take a long way around to make the point.  Could it be  that Paul is saying this with tongue-in-cheek?

How would this self-evaluation proceed?  Such testing demands we focus on who we are and what we are doing in the broadest sense as Christians.

Any Christian would do well to ask—

• Am I a believer because of my own spiritual intuition or because of the call of the
  Spirit?  (Good Christians debate matters such as “election,” but most agree we are believers because of God took the first step toward us.)
• Did God take me into His Kingdom because of my piety and holiness?  (Paul called himself “the chief of sinners” and honest Christians have admitted that term might well be theirs.)
• Have I always successfully resisted temptation?  (I want to meet the Christian who says “Yes” to that question; or, maybe, I don’t.)
• Am I always dependent upon God’s grace?  (Countless hymns have made it clear that every believer is a debtor to God’s grace.)
• If this is a true picture of who I am—a sinner saved by grace—do I have any reason to be proud?

The Christian worker might ask—

• Am I always as faithful to my work as I should be? (The honest Christian worker would admit to times of when priorities were confused.)
• Am I always successful in my labors for the Kingdom?  (Again, the honest worker will admit to failures along with successes.)
• When I am successful, is it because of my own abilities or because of the power of the Spirit working through me?  (Again, honest workers would admit their successes were “…not accompanied by clever, wise words, but by a display of the Spirit's power….”—I Cor. 2:4)
• If my successes depend upon the Spirit, do I have any reason for pride?  (The obvious answer is “No.”)

Anyone coming to these conclusions, would hardly have any grounds for judging others.

The enduring lesson concerns the folly of comparisons. 

⁵ For all must carry their own loads. 

These words are not a contradiction to what Paul said earlier.  The two verses use two different words, baros and phortion, both sometimes translated as “burdens.”  Vine explains how to understand them:  “The difference between phortion and baros is, that phortion is simply ‘something to be borne,’ without reference to its weight, but baros always suggests what is ‘heavy or burdensome.’”  When Jesus said, “my burden is light,” he used phortion.

J. B. Philips translates the verse as “every man must ‘shoulder his own pack.'”  It’s an interesting image that reflects the fact that some commentaries say the word referred to the soldier’s backpack, however, I can’t find confirmation in the standard Greek dictionaries so this may be taking too much liberty with the verse.  The ERV translates it as “ Assume your own responsibility.”  That’s not especially literal but gets to the point.  

Whatever this burden may be, it appears to be a personal, private, unique possession. (Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament)

[Kenneth Wrest’s comment is worth quoting at length (on the blog but not from the pulpit); he argues that Paul is attempting to force his readers to think seriously about their own weaknesses and inclinations to sin.  

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 others. 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 kind of life he lives. Again, when he sees his own failings, he will have no inclination to compare himself with others. The word own is from idios, which means “pertaining to one’s self, one’s own as compared to that which is another’s.” ]

All in all, a review of commentaries shows there are two common interpretations of this verse.  

1. Paul is calling on his readers to recognize that all believers—themselves included—bear the burden being inclined toward sin.  As such, we have no warrant to judge others.  This inclination will vary from person to person, with individuals being susceptible to different temptations.  Paul does seem to suggest this in Romans 7:7-8 but is he here?  
2. Others see the two verses (2 and 5) saying there are some burdens we must have help carrying and there are some burdens that are our responsibility and ours alone.  I think this is the more likely interpretation.

What are these responsibilities that are ours and ours alone?  

Certainly, no one can repent on your behalf.  You must recognize your rebellion against God, surrender, and submit to his rule.

No one can have faith on your behalf.  You alone must trust Christ for salvation.  

No one can grow in grace on your behalf.  Tempting as it might be, you can’t sleep in on Sunday morning, pay someone to go to church for you, and expect to grow spiritually.

I could go on but you get the basic idea.  

These are our burdens and unless we pick them up, we Christians in name only.

Concluding observations:

Let me revisit a couple matters.

Regarding the task of restoring the fallen.

Keep in mind that restoring the fallen aims primarily at restoring them to fellowship.  It is within the fellowship that there is the greatest opportunity for renewing strength and commitment.  

If the one who experienced some moral failure was involved in the ministry of the church, restoration may not necessarily involve restoration to the position they held before the fall.  That may come about later but not immediately.

For that matter, restoration sometimes takes time.  Here the patience and kindness that is part of the fruit of the Spirit will play a key role.

Regarding the bearing of burdens.

While it’s possible to distinguish two types of “burdens” in thesethses verses, the two are not entirely unconnected.  Personal faith is an individual’s responsibility, a burden that person must bear.  But sometimes individuals face threats to their faith that may take the form of the crushing burden of verse 2.  It may be some personal tragedy that causes them to question God’s goodness or the claim of skeptics that undermine the grounds of their faith.  We can be there to help them bear those burdens through support and counsel.

As we learn to restore the fallen and support the burdened, we will discover how to be a community of grace.