Galatians 6 v 11 – 16 - Paul’s concluding remarks

 ‘See what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. 12 As many as wish to have a good appearance within flesh, these are compelling you to be circumcised, but only in order that they are not pursued and persecuted for the cross of Jesus the anointed one. 13 Because not even the circumcised themselves are observing law, but they desire you to be circumcised in order that they may boast within your flesh. 14 But for me, may it never happen to be boasting if not within the cross of our Lord Jesus the anointed one, by means of which the worldly arrangement has been crucified to me, and I to the worldly order and arrangement. 15 Neither circumcision nor foreskin is anything – on the contrary, a new original formation. 16 And as many as will walk within and follow this principle, on this basis, and on the basis of the God of Israel, their peace and compassion’, (Galatians 6 v 11 – 16).

Paul obviously had someone else to actually write his letters, but here he writes this last section with his own hand, as if to emphasise his concluding remarks. He once again criticises the Judaizers who have come in to cause so much trouble. He says that those insisting on male Gentile Christians being circumcised wanted to look good within the flesh. They wanted to obtain a reputation for religiousness, like the hypocrites who ‘love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen of men’ (Matthew 6 v 5). Appearing outwardly righteous in front of others, they wanted to be accounted in this way by them; and therefore they did all they could to be seen of them, and gain applause from them. They wanted by this means to keep in with their countrymen, the Jews, and to gain favour amongst them by seeming to win over proselytes to Covenant law.  

They were acting in this way in case they should suffer pursuit and persecution from fellow Jews for the cross. It is well known that the Jewish chief priests and elders were great persecutors of the disciples of Jesus, and began their persecution very early on. These Judaizers did not act from any true love for God. They escaped the bitterness that fellow Jews had against Christianity and the offence of the cross of the Messiah by making the Mosaic law a necessary preliminary for Christians. In fact, they were making Christian converts into Jewish proselytes. ‘Not even the circumcised themselves are observing law, but they desire you to be circumcised in order that they may boast within your flesh’. These Jews who were insisting on circumcision did not observe Covenant law themselves. Rather, they wanted to boast about how many Christians they had turned into Jewish proselytes. 

Paul concludes by saying that he does not want to boast about anything except the cross. By means of the cross ‘the worldly arrangement has been crucified to me, and I to the worldly order and arrangement’. Worldly values, methods and principles mean nothing to Paul and he regards the worldly arrangement as dying away so as to be superseded at the time of the harvest. (An event that he thought was quite imminent). 

His concluding remarks about circumcision? ‘Neither circumcision nor foreskin is anything – on the contrary, a new original formation’. What matters for Paul is being brought forth by God, or born again, and the Christian’s new formation or new self. ‘As many as will walk within and follow this principle, on this basis, and on the basis of the God of Israel, their peace and compassion’. 

Galatians 6 v 9, 10 - An apportioned share of the divine inheritance

 ‘And we should not grow weary in doing good, because not growing faint, in our season we will reap a harvest. 10 So then, in the manner that we have opportunity, we should be working good toward all, and especially toward those belonging to the family of faith’, (Galatians 6 v 9, 10). 

Sometimes, teaching the word faithfully and having practical beneficial love towards fellow Christians can seem to be a laborious and unrewarding endeavour. It can make us feel weary and lacking in motivation. Thus Paul encourages Christians not to grow weary in doing good. The Christian’s deliverance away from divine judicial condemnation by means of the Messiah and the set-apart Breath is given as a free gift as a result of God’s promise, a promise that He has sworn on oath on His own name. No one will snatch those who have been given to him from out of the Messiah’s hand. As Paul declares in Romans 8, no one and nothing can separate us away from the love of God. 

But for Christians, there is a prize to obtained and a harvest to reap. If Christians persist in wayward behaviour or become lazy, they will suffer ruin and loss. They will not lose their deliverance, but they will reap a smaller harvest. The ‘harvest’ is their allotted portion of the divine inheritance. It is his obtaining of the ‘harvest’ that is Paul’s motivation for persisting steadfastly in doing good. ‘…because not growing faint, in our season we will reap a harvest’. In our season, when the harvest comes, which will be at the advent of the Millennium Reign and the first rousing up from out of the dead so as to meet the Messiah in the air and enter into the unseen heavenly realms.

‘So then, in the manner that we have opportunity, we should be working good toward all’. Christians are not summoned to be antagonistic towards unbelievers, nor to negate them. Christians live in a world in which the majority of people are unbelievers. Christians are like wheat growing among weeds and wheat-like plants. So, while God continues life-breath to us and the season of sowing lasts, Christians are encouraged to live their lives as peaceably as they can. To be good marriage partners, family members, neighbours, employers, employees and work colleagues. But this is especially case when it comes to their relationships with fellow Christians, bearing in mind the primary injunction of the Messiah to show practical, beneficial love to one another.  

Galatians 6 v 6 – 8 - Sharing teaching

 ‘Now let the one being taught within the word, share the teaching within all goodness, 7 not leading astray. God is absolutely not ridiculed, because whatever a man is sowing, this also he will harvest. 8 Because sowing towards his flesh, from the flesh he will reap decay from within. But sowing towards the Breath, away from the Breath he will reap perpetual life’, (Galatians 6 v 6 – 8).

The Judaizers had come in to the Galatian assemblies with teaching. They were assertively teaching, instructing and exhorting that Christians had to follow Sinai Covenant law as the means of obtaining and maintaining divine judicial approval. So Paul goes ‘back to basics’ and says that Christians who have been taught within the word and who are sharing teaching should do so ‘within all goodness, not leading astray’. Such an individual should share the teaching honestly and faithfully. They should not twist the teaching in order to gain a good reputation, or to gain the advantages of status, material wealth or comfort.

Paul says, ‘Make no mistake. God is not ridiculed’. Why? ‘Because whatever a man is sowing, this also he will harvest’. Those who teach using malicious, deceitful motives are described as ‘sowing towards their flesh’, and the result of this is that  ‘from the flesh he will reap decay from within’. Elsewhere Paul describes the physical body and a ‘body of death’. This is because the impulses and raw passions inherent in our flesh are in opposition to God, and following these impulses – such as twisting the gospel message to obtain a good reputation – leads to withering away, to insensitivity and unresponsiveness to God and ultimately to divine disapproval and judicial condemnation. 

This is contrasted with the teacher who shares the word and the teaching accurately and faithfully. ‘… sowing towards the Breath, away from the Breath he will reap perpetual life’. The opposite of ruin, loss, withering away and death is ‘life’ – abundant life, life with a capital ‘L’, perpetual life. 

Galatians 6 v 3 – 5 – Restoring fellow Christians - Personal accountability, not self-superiority compared with others

 ‘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.

Galatians 6 v 1, 2 - Wayward behaviour and restoring fellow Christians

 ‘Brothers, even if a man has been overtaken within some falling away from close beside, you relating to the realm of breath, properly adjust and restore this one within a breath [pneuma] of gentleness, taking heed yourself in case you also are tested. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this manner you will complete the law of the anointed one’, (Galatians 6 v 1, 2).

Paul has been explaining the opposing currents and energies that exist within Christians. There is an impetus arising from their fleshly constitution, and in opposition to this, there is the movement and impetus of the Breath of God dwelling in their deep inner core. It is clear from all that Paul has been saying that Christians are not ‘perfect’. They are not fully complete within cleanliness and godliness. Most of Paul’s letter to the Galatians has been taken up with Christians in danger of falling into wayward behaviour by turning back to observing Covenant law as a means of obtaining and maintaining divine judicial approval. And here, in verse 1, Paul turns to the problem of a Christian being ‘overtaken within some falling away from close beside’. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, Christians are sometimes taken captive, or ‘overtaken’ by impulses arising from within their fleshly constitution. The word ‘overtaken’ suggests that some self-forfeiture springs upon an individual and overpowers them by the suddenness of the assault.

So what happens in such a situation? Paul says that those Christians walking in and relating to the realm of breath are to ‘properly adjust and restore this one within a breath [pneuma] of gentleness’. This would be an act of practical, beneficial love. ‘Properly adjusting’ includes knowledge, understanding and reasoning within what is true to the facts. It is what Paul has been doing throughout the course of this letter to the Galatians – seeking to promote consistent behaviour within correct, enlightened understanding. This ‘adjustment’ is to be done with care and gentleness. Christians are exhorted to assist and carry each other’s burdens with care so as to avoid falling into error themselves. In seeking to support and restore a fellow Christian, they may be tested themselves. 

‘…in this manner you will complete the law of the anointed one’. There is a very biting sarcasm and grave irony in Paul’s use of the word ‘law’ here. The whole of this letter has been directed against the Judaizing teachers who were cramming the written codes of Covenant law down Galatian Christian throats. This letter is addressed to their victims who had fallen into their trap. They have turned things upside down, (Galatians 5 v 12), but Paul turns this back round on them and says, ‘You want law, do you? Well, if you will have it, here it is - the law of the Messiah’. The Messiah’s life is our law, our principle of speech and behaviour. Practical Christianity is founded on emulating the Messiah, and the primary principle of the Messiah is that Christians show practical beneficial love to one another, as he has shown love to them. In this way the Messiah is brought to completion. The dynamic process is to co-work with God to bring forth the Fruit of the Breath. There is no reference to external written codes, but rather, that Christians co-work with God by walking around within the set-apart Breath, within truth, so as to carry across the Fruit of the Breath from within into speech and behaviour, mutually supporting one another.