‘For if someone is thinking they are someone, being nothing he is deluding himself. 4 But each one be testing his own work and action, and at that time he will hold the ground of boasting only towards himself, and absolutely not towards another, 5 for each one will bear his own burden’, (Galatians 6 v 3 - 5).
One of the dangers when Christians help to restore others is that they may see themselves as ‘superior’, as ‘rising above’ the wayward self-forfeiture that other Christians have fallen into. But ‘if someone is thinking they are someone, being nothing he is deluding himself’. No Christian is immune from wayward behaviour or from the impulses of their own flesh. No Christian is able to take the role of ‘superior judge’ over other Christians. Rather than criticising the behaviour of fellow Christians, the principle is that ‘each one be testing his own work and action, and at that time he will hold the ground of boasting only towards himself, and absolutely not towards another, 5 for each one will bear his own burden’.
Within the context of the situation that Paul has been writing about – Judaizers insisting that male Gentile Christians be circumcised in agreement with Covenant law – I suggest that Paul is primarily referring to the view that these Jews had of themselves. They thought that they had cause for self-praise arising from their self-righteous comparison of themselves with others, (Galatians 2 v 12, 13; and verses 12 and 13 below). No, says Paul. If you are about the business of adjusting and restoring fellow Christians, then don’t fall into the trap that these Judaizers have fallen into of being self-righteous and over-assertive, causing people to shrink back in fear. Rather, let a Christian judge their own work, not by comparing themselves with others, but by the ideal standard of the Messiah, then they will see what their work is worth and how much they have to boast of. Each individual will be judged by their own actions and not by any fancied superiority or inferiority to others. They will not be able to excuse themselves by drawing attention to their neighbour’s weaknesses.
In verse 2 Christians are exhorted to ‘bear the burdens’ of others in the sense of sympathising and being of practical assistance to them in their troubles. Here Christians are told that they must ‘bear their own load’ in the sense that they must answer directly to God for their own actions. Their responsibility cannot be shifted on to others. Each will bear their own ‘load’. The Greek word is different from that in verse 2. Here, self-examination will make an individual consider that he has enough to do with their own load of self-forfeiture, without comparing themselves boastfully with their neighbour.
