Spiritual Responsibilities (Galatians 6:1-5)
There are three certain consequences of turning away from the gospel of Christ into a performance religion and they were seen in the Galatians after they accepted the idea that one could add various rituals to faith in Christ as the proof they were in a healthy spiritual state. The consequences are (1) indifference to those who have fallen, (2) selfishness, and (3) pride in themselves. We can always test ourselves in this regard by looking at how we are in connection with those three outlooks. Paul has pointed out that the responsibility of the Galatians was to love one another, so the instruction he gives here is connected to the practice of Christian love.
1. Restoring the fallen
What marks are there to indicate that we are able to get involved with this important aspect of Christian activity? Paul mentions several in this letter. First, we should be able to see the wrong behaviour, which Paul defines as transgression. Transgression is to go beyond the law and normally is a visible action. We are not to base anything on assumptions or guessing. Rather, the wrong behaviour can be described because it has been seen.
Second, one needs to have an appreciation of the doctrine of adoption before engaging in spiritual restoration. We can see how Paul stresses this when he calls his readers by the title of ‘brothers’. It is not possible to treat a fellow Christian correctly without this realisation of family ties. We are brothers because when we believed in Jesus we were adopted by the Heavenly Father and the Spirit of adoption came to indwell us.
Third, a Christian should be able to assess whether or not he or she is in a spiritual state. When he uses the description ‘spiritual’ here, Paul is not including the person who has fallen. Therefore he must mean a believer who is living in a manner pleasing to the Spirit and we can see a description of such a person in the closing verses of the previous chapter. A spiritual person is led by the Spirit, produces the fruit of the Spirit, and deals drastically with the dangers of the flesh.
Fourth, the approach to dealing with a fallen believer must be gentleness. The word translated ‘restore’ is the word that would be used when a fisherman was mending a broken net; it was also used to describe the process of sorting damaged bones. Obviously, a fisherman would have to be careful not to make the hole in the net worse in case the net became useless and a doctor would not want to do something that would make the break worse rather than better for his patient. It would have been easy to do so. Gentleness and carefulness go together. When we see a believer needing help, we should think about it first.
Fifth, whenever we see a fallen believer, we should realise that the situation reveals that the devil has been active in that person’s life. There is the possibility that we will be tempted as well. After all, the fact that one believer fell is an encouragement to the devil that he can cause others to be ensnared as well. Temptation is a complex issue and we have to watch what is going on. It is often said that it is not a sin to be tempted, with that idea being taken from the experience of the Saviour when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. That was true in his case because he was sinless. But we are never sinless. The temptations we will face will suit our interests. James links our temptations and lusts. The devil knows what to tempt you with. So, he could tempt those who were aiming to recover the believer who had fallen by working on their character traits and producing wrong attitudes.
Sixth, the way to avoid falling into temptation is to have a spirit of gentleness. Obviously, there is a reference back to the fruit of the Spirit in the previous chapter. Gentleness was a prominent feature in the holy character of Jesus and he referred to it when describing himself at the close of Matthew 11 when he says that he was gentle and lowly in heart.
How does a gentle person behave? We are not to confuse it with being soft and reluctant to get involved. A gentle person will help the ones who need help. He will act like Jesus would in the situation. So he will speak truthfully about the issue, but not harshly. He will mention the promises of divine forgiveness and restoration without minimising the seriousness of sin.
2. Sharing the burdens
Obviously, Christians have many burdens. They have concerns about daily life and they have spiritual concerns as well. There are burdens that they don’t need to have, and there are burdens that must be shared if they want to make spiritual progress.
It is possible for people to have burdens because of foolish decisions that they made in a financial sense. Maybe they were trying to keep up with the Jones, and find themselves out of their depth. These are not the kind of burdens that Paul has in mind here. Instead, he is concerned mainly with burdens connected to spiritual living, although there will always be the need to help the poor and needy.
What kind of burdens will people have? Here are some: worry about the spiritual destiny of family members, sorrow after bereavement, illness that does not respond to treatment, failure to be a good witness for the Lord, lack of resources to provide opportunities for fellowship, mental weakness, sudden unemployment, loneliness, and personal sins.
How do I observe people with burdens? How do I recognise a man delivering coal? His burden affects his looks. Of course, if I choose to remain at a distance, I will not see his burden, only something vague. To see what the burden is and how it is affecting people we have to get involved.
What happens when I share a burden? What would happen if I tried to help the man delivering coal? His burden would affect me, maybe some coal dust would be on my face and clothes, and others would see that I was affected. There is no way I could help him without me having some signs of my involvement. God does not expect us to help the man delivering coal - that is the responsibility of his company. But he does expect those in the company of the church to get involved with others.
How do we get involved? The basic requirements are time, trust, talk and truth. When we consider the way Jesus used time with people, he was never in a hurry. In the Gospel of John we can how he spent time with people, including Nicodemus and the woman of Samaria, the man born blind, and the family in Bethany. It is obvious that those he spoke to trusted him and were prepared to speak with him about the concerns of their hearts. Jesus was prepared to listen to them, and then he spoke truth to them, and the way he spoke was connected to where they were and what they should have known.
In the passage that Jesus describes himself as gentle, he also speaks about burdens. The original contrast was the horrible burdens of the Pharisees, which may have been similar to those imposed by the false teachers on the Galatians. It is not possible to share those kinds of burdens because they cannot be part of Christlikeness. In contrast, bearing spiritual burdens is like the yoke that Jesus spoke about. When we get involved with such, we will find that they fit. In doing so, we will fulfil divine instructions, the law of Christ.
3. Practice humility
One obvious aspect of a works religion is that a person’s actions can be seen and assessed, not only by others, but by the person himself. We recall that this was the outlook of the Pharisee that Jesus described in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The danger with the Galatians was that they imagined that their practice of the ceremonial law was something to be appreciated, whereas Paul says that it was worth nothing. More serious was the fact that if the person thought it was something he was deceived in a spiritual sense.
Paul reminds his readers of the importance of self-examination or testing his own actions. How do we examine ourselves? One way is by checking to see if our practice fits with the gospel. Does my behaviour as a Christian reflect that I have been forgiven? The implication of Paul’s words is that the proud person does not carry a load. Maybe he thinks that doing so is beneath him. The load that he should be carrying is helping others with their burdens. If he sorts himself out through God’s grace and starts living in light of the gospel he will have the load of helping people. When he behaves in this way, he will have something to speak about.
Paul here is describing the conscience of a Christian. The inevitable outcome of true self-examination will be an awareness of one’s spiritual state. By asking ourselves relevant questions we will discover where we are in our walk with God. It is good to be able to say to God, ‘I did that activity for your glory even although I realise it was not perfect.’ That is the kind of load that we should carry. It is far better than doing something for the praise of men or to be concerned about what others think.
The apostle gives a further reason for spiritual service when he brings to prominence the fact that we will be assessed on the Day of judgement. This seems to be what he means by saying that ‘each will have to bear his own load’. He does not say whether the load will be heavy or light. The implication is that self-examination will help us have a good load on that day – a load of glory. Unlike this world’s burden, we should desire the personal load of glory to be as heavy as possible. That is why we should often think about the Day of Judgement. On that day, the only opinion that will matter will be that of the Judge.
Paul here provides Christians with three priorities, not one, as if he was stating a list of options. These are to be their focus and not the useless requirements of the false teachers. The three are expressions of compassion – compassion on the fallen, compassion on the hurting and struggling, and compassion on ourselves as we make our way to the judgement seat. The three priorities show what is meant by Christian discipleship.