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GALATIANS Chapter 6 "Exhortation as to Future Conducts, Paul's Appeal." This Bible Study is provided by http://www.theseason.org with permission from it's author R. Christopherson. Though our flesh bodies will grow old and decay, there is one thing that we can always depend on, and that is our eternal souls will live eternally with our Heavenly Father, and His Word which is forever. It is a comfort to know that we can count on the love of our heavenly Father for each of us. To experience the warmth of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Galatians 6:1 "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted." You know all your own weaknesses, and every one of us have them. When a brother of sister in the Lord is overtaken in a fault, be gentle with them, and restore them to a spirit of humbleness before the Father. Before you go and attack that spiritual brother, remember that you yourself can very easily fall into traps of temptation, and it is only by the grace of God that any of us stand. Overtaken is a term that means, found guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt in a sin. This is one of the most sound pieces of advice in living your Christian life, and getting along with others. Our meekness in restoring our brother or sister into the spiritual life, is one of the valuable thing we have, and it seems today that the attitude is to walk all over a person when you catch them in a sin, and make an example of them and make them pay a severe price for their fault. That is not Christ way of doing things, for in repentance their is complete forgiveness, and when you place judgment on one that has already repented and returned to the Christ, that judgment will be upon your head. There is instant forgiveness for all sin, upon repentance. We are to forgive those that sin against us, just as we expect our Heavenly Father to forgive us. Jesus said in Matthew 6:14 "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:" verse 15; "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Even more then forgiving them, it is then up to you to restore them, which requires action on your part. This goes past forgiveness, and showing the love for a Christian brother or sister to assist them in coming back into the family of the circle of God. Friend, the next person that falls into the temptation of sin could be you, and you may be the one that needs to be restored. There is no one that is perfect and without fault, and when the sin is recognized, the repentance is necessary. Galatians 6:2 "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." A commandment is a law, and this law was spoken of by Jesus Christ in John 13:34; "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." This is the commandment that Jesus gave to His disciples, just before he would go to the cross. This is Christ's law that you love one another, and if you love someone then you will help them with their burden. It means that you will help him find his way out from under that burden. It is being a good friend to that one that is down and out, to where he can count on you for a kind word. When someone is down they need the law of Christ, which is love. Galatians 6:3 "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." When you get someone on an ego trip, he really thinks the whole world revolves around him. However, he deceives no one but himself. If you are good at something in the first place, usually it is a gift from God, and given to help you fulfill some purpose that God has for you. That gift doesn't belong to you, but to God and His service. What ever that gift is, God has placed you in a certain place, around certain people to use that gift as only you can do. Gifts are given freely from God, to all those that are called to perform a service for Him. In the end we will each be held accountable for how we used that gift, and many will be well rewarded faithful service to what God has put before them. Being faithful to that gift is showing your love of our Heavenly Father. Galatians 6:4 "But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." Paul is saying that when you do something do your very best, but don't compare your very best to someone else's. God has given each person different gifts, and He know we are not all alike, and to some individuals He expects far more then to others. Paul address this also in Romans 12:3-8. Romans 12:3 "For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Romans 12:4 "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:" There are many parts to make up your body, and the eye is not expected to do what your foot is required to do, nor your stomach to function as your brain, however each part of your body is required to function as it is suppose to do, for you to be in good health. That is as the body of Christ is: each person goes to make up a different part or member of that body, and you who are good at teaching are not expected to sing like one whom God has has blessed with a beautiful voice. We are not expected to have the same gifts, with the same abilities, but we are expected to give our best with what we have, where God has placed us. Romans 12:5 "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." God expects us to support one another in our service to Him, for we are all part of the same body of Christ. Your eye gives service to your brain to let your feet know there is an big rock in your path. Each member of your body works together to allow the entire body to function in a healthy way, and protect the main body. Romans 12:6 "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;" Every one's faith is not the same, nor is their understanding of God truths in God's Word. Grace is unmerited favor which is the gifts that God has given to each of us, and we are expected and accountable for those gifts to the degree of our ability. You prophecy to the limit of your understanding, whether it be the ability of teaching the deep truths of the Scripture, or the planting of seeds of truth with those you come in contact with. When you plant those seeds of truth, it is the Holy Spirit that will then either allow the seed to take hold, or die, but it is not your responsibility to do the work of the Holy Spirit. Your responsibility is to plant the seed to the best of your understanding. Romans 12:7 "Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth on teaching;" Romans 12:8 "Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. To exhort on exhortation means to give comfort, and a good word where it is needed. When you are in a place where you are to give a kind word, do it with simplicity. When someone is down and out, a smile and a few words of comfort is far better than preaching, and hammering away at their problems. When you have authority over another person, be diligent to the job you are placed in, but do that job in a manner showing kindness and cheerfulness in the work at hand. Do not compare your work for the Lord with anyone else, but each of you should learn from the other and not be in a competitive spirit with. When you have done your best in the service of our Lord, and it seems like nothing came of it, don't be down for you may never know the final result of your work until in the next life. Thank God for the opportunity, stay sharp, and continue in your work. Galatians 6:5 "For every man shall bear his own burden." This word "burden" in the Greek is "phortion", and it is a military term meaning that every soldier has to carry his own pack. You have to carry your own weight, and you can't compare what you carry with what the next soldier carries, for he may be twice a big as you are, and his mission in the battle may require different weapons, either lighter or heavier. This is saying that what ever your burden in our Lord's service is, that is your pack to carry, not someone else's. Paul is directing this verse to those that are like jelly-fish that think that they can force everyone else to carry their weight, to cover their share of the debt, to do the service required of each member, and shun all responsibility. This person is a immature Christian and needs to grow up. Galatians 6:6 "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." This word "communicate" in the Greek is "koinonea" and it means to "share with". The condition here is that "if you are improved by that teaching". If you are studying under a teacher, and your life has changed for the better and your understanding of God's Word become clearer and deeper, then you share [koinonea] with him. That is God's way of saying everyone carries his or her own weight. Galatians 6:7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." You simply cannot fool God, for He know exactly what is in your mind even as you think your thoughts. God know the depth you have in understanding, and He knows exactly what service He can expect from you. He is the one that passes out the blessings, and gives you your abilities, and thus our Heavenly Father understands exactly how hard you are trying. God has ownership and title to everything for He created all things, including you. Galatians 6:8 "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." "Corruption" to the sense that it will in time weather and passes away. It is to the flesh that this will weather and pass away, when you look out only for those thing that matter to your flesh body. Paul is talking about placing the matters of your flesh body, over the things that are part of your spiritual body. You have two bodies, a spiritual body, or soul that lives within your physical body. The flesh body will grow old, and in time die and return to the dust of the earth from where it came, but your spiritual body will return to our heavenly Father that created it. What is sown in the Spirit unto God, will be with your spiritual body for all eternity, it is recorded in God's records and will be well rewarded. Galatians 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." The key to this verse is "if we faint not". Paul is saying, if you don't give up, you will always succeed. When you see those people that are not successful in what they do, you will find that they are quitters. It is not God's plan that all His people become rich, as many teach, but to many people any form of riches and fame can be very harmful to a Christian. Riches can take a good man and spoil him from any service in God's Work. Many times when a good man or woman receive great riches, they in turn will use those riches completely on their flesh, and forget God all together. When we are talking about a person that is rich and very successful, we are talking about a person that has peace of mind, that lives in the law of God, which is Christ's love, and practices those things mentioned here in Galatians. God will provide for their needs, and they shall reap plenty. Galatians 6:10 "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Those in the "household of faith" are all of the members of the "many membered body of Christ". Especially be good and be watchful to other Christians that are living for Christ and doing His work. They are in our family and family takes care of family. Galatians 6:11 "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand." Paul had a scribe that penned the first part of this letter, and it is believed that Paul had poor eyesight. Paul is saying that so you know that these are my words, I am going to write these letters to let you know this letter is from me. Galatians 6:12 "As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." Remember that this entire book of Galatians is Paul's warning to the Christians about false teachers, trying to take them back into legalism, once they have received the freedom that we have in the law of love in Christ. Paul is saying that when these teachers cause you to become circumcised and conform to other laws, they do not do it for their love of Christ, but for their own boasting to other people that they have another convert. Doesn't it sound like one of our legalist churches today that keep a head count tab on every body they can emotionally persuade down the isle. Sometimes the head count far exceeds the bodies in the church. Why is it important to them? Because they then have another convert that can "koinoneo" [share their money] with us. Galatians 6:13 "For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh." Yes, they keep the law of circumcision, but they forget the rest of the law. The purpose of their circumcision is to get others to do likewise, and come under their control. Beware of church systems that would bind you to them, and not to the love and freedom that we have in Christ. The whole purpose of getting large numbers of converts is so they can take that which is false and worthless in the eyes of God, and try to put some value on their stupid ideas by saying that all these other people believe and follow it. It turns them from a laughing stock to something respectable in the community. Galatians 6:14 "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Paul is saying, come out of legalism. Galatians 6:15 "for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." The new creature is a "born from above individual". That new creature understands the love of God and the freedom we have in love and law of Christ. The law of Christ which is also to say love of Christ. When you are in the love of Christ, and know that you have broken one of the laws of God, you then know you need help through your repentance in Jesus name. Galatians 6:16 "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." Peace and mercy, means the blessings and promises of God. Those things will be upon you when you follow the rule of Christ, which is to say love. Galatians 6:17 "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Paul had many marks on his body reminding him of the many lashings with the whip that he took for preaching the gospel, and in Acts 16:19-24 records one of those times that Paul, along with Silas took a beating in Thyatira for their preaching the gospel of Christ. "And when they had laid many stripes up them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:" verse 23. Paul was stoned in Iconium, and every where Paul went the Kenite Jews followed Paul to cause him trouble. These religious leaders were like a pack of wild wolves when the gospel of Christ was taught in their community. We know the mind of the Kenite to be the mind of Satan, and his son Cain, and whenever the gospel of the love of Christ comes to their ears, they go wild. It became an attack on their traditions, and their reaction to any preaching to the true gospel of Christ will be just like their attacks on Jesus Himself, when the continually tried to kill Him. Paul suffered greatly from these enemies of Christ. Each of those stripes that Paul took for his witnessing of the gospel of Christ are a badge of honor. Galatians 6:18 "Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." Paul is urging them to stay in the grace and unmerited favor that they have in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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