Doing Good to All, Sowing Seeds for Your Future

Galatians 6:1-5
1 Brothers, if someone is caught (overtaken) in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,
5 for each one should carry his own load.

The word "overtaken" (caught) carries the idea of something that comes upon a person by surprise. Also, the word "fault" comes from the Greek word "PARAPTOMA" meaning, "a side-slip (lapse or deviation), i.e. (unintentional) error or (willful) transgression" (Strong). Therefore, Paul is giving these instructions about how to help someone who is sincere, but in error.

The spiritual ones, who Paul instructs to restore those who are overtaken in a fault, are those who are dependent upon and led by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word that was translated "restore" literally meant to set a bone that had been broken (WWS). It takes time for broken bones to mend, and activities usually have to be restricted during the healing process. Likewise, spiritual restoration takes time and usually necessitates a change of routine. If the individual goes back to the same circumstances, chances are he will make the same wrong choices he did before.

Also, just as setting a broken bone in the natural is painful but necessary, the restoration process is always painful. Those who fail to deal with the issues completely because it is painful are similar to those who don't set a broken bone. The bone will never be straight again. But enduring a moment of pain as the bone is set will let the bone mend properly and become as strong as it was before.

Just as a cast protects the broken bone from further injury, a person who has fallen should be surrounded by brothers and sisters who are committed to keeping the fallen individual from making the injury worse. Submission to spiritual authority is just as important to a person who has fallen as a cast is to a person with a broken bone. Until the healing is complete, the cast and the curtailed lifestyle have to be maintained even though it may be inconvenient and uncomfortable. Trying to return to "normal" prematurely can prevent the bone from ever being completely healed.

Gal 6:2: The Greek word used for "burden" here is "BAROS" and means "a heavy weight, burden or trouble." It is such a heavy weight that if a person is not helped in carrying it he will be overwhelmed. This may be either a sin (Gal 6:1) or a circumstance of life. We fulfill Christ's law of love when we bear one another's burdens. Our love must go beyond just not seeing someone hurt but also to the alleviation of his suffering if it is within our power.

Gal 6:3: Paul is saying that if anyone thinks he is too important to stoop down and help others with their burdens, then he is deceived about his own importance. None of us is anything of ourselves. None of us has any good excuse for not helping restore our fellow believers. This was one of the sins of the Pharisees. The Amplified Bible translates this verse as, "For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another's load], when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives...himself."

Gal. 6:4: If we are to help bear others' burdens, we must lay aside conceit (see note v. 3, above). Intolerance towards those who have sinned is an indication of our own vulnerability. Here, Paul gives the remedy for self-conceit. A realistic look at our own weaknesses will make us better prepared to help others. This is the same message as that of Matthew 7:3-5 which says, "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

Gal. 6:5: This verse is the exact opposite of verse 2 but it makes Paul's point perfectly. In verse 2, Paul said, "Bear ye one another's burdens." Verses 3-4 stripped away any objections that someone might have to doing that. Then here, he gives the clinching argument, "For every man shall bear his own burden." His reasoning is that since all of us have burdens that we bear ourselves, we ought to be quick to help others with their burdens. We reap what we sow (Gal 6:7) and God doesn't extend mercy to those who have shown no mercy (Jas 2:13). Therefore, those who don't help others will not be helped. We don't want that. So, help others and sow a seed for your own future needs.