Bible Commentaries

Bearing One Another's Burdens

Galatians 6:2

We sometimes read that in shipwrecks, and the like times of great danger, the cry is "Every man for himself, and God for us all". It cannot be so in reality. If every man be for himself and himself alone, then God will not be for any of us.

I. We read in the Collect for Michaelmas Day that God has constituted the services of men as well as angels in a wonderful order. He has made us all to lean on one another; He has so ordered the world that in something the weakest may help the strongest. There is a certain amount of suffering, known only to God, which the whole Church has to go through, and when that shall have been borne, then the warfare of the Church will be accomplished, then her iniquity will be pardoned, then we shall be received into the land of the living, and all tears will be wiped from all faces. Therefore the more any single person bears, the less he leaves to be borne by others. I should not have dared to say it unless the Holy Ghost, who cannot lie, had spoken it by the mouth of Paul. But now I say it boldly that in all our sufferings, in a certain sense, we are suffering for others, and therefore so far we are like Christ.

II. But this is not the bearing of one another's burdens which St. Paul here speaks of. He means that every day, yes, and every hour, we must all help and all be helped. None of us must be too selfish to help, none of us must be too proud to be helped. You have all noticed in great buildings how cunningly and wisely the stones of the arches are fitted in together; take out one and they all come to the ground; but let them thus hang on one another, and they bear up a huge mass of buildings, the weight of which one cannot reckon.

III. It is by being helped that we help; it is by being comforted that we comfort. We know how St. Paul comforted the feeble-minded, supported the weak, consoled the afflicted. But did he obtain no help and comfort himself in his turn. Certainly. "Ye are our glory and joy," he says. And again, "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayers". And so yet again, "Ye are our hope and joy, a crown of rejoicing".

So let us have no more to do with that saying, "Every man for himself, and God for us all". Let it rather be, "Every man for his neighbour, and God for us all". That would be a true saying—that would be a prophecy as well as a proverb. Everyone of us can give something; none of us is above receiving something.

—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College Chapel, vol. II. p139.

Galatians 6:2

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." That is the formula of the religious life earthwards. And the reason which creates the necessity for the canon is not far off—"For every man shall bear his own burden". No one may break the moral law—every one shall bear his own burden; but, the law once broken, or the special need once created, the work of self-sacrificing love begins, and the law of Christ must be fulfilled in mutual sympathy and helpfulness.

—Memoirs of Henry Holbeach, vol. II. pp58 , 59.

References.—VI:2.—R. C. Trench, Sermons New and Old, p50. J. H. Jowett, British Congregationalist, 4th October, 1906 , p229. I. Hartill, Christian World Pulpit, vol1. p186. R. J. Wardell, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xix. p269. F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. iii. p253. H. S. Lunn, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liv. p267. C. S. Macfarland, The Spirit Christlike, p115. W. J. Knox-Little, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvii. p248. VI:2-5.—M. G. Glazebrook, Prospice, p191. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlix. No2831. T. B. McCorkindale, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxx. p298. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— Galatians 6:4-5

The direct reference is to the burden of temptation, but the words of the Apostle allow a larger interpretation, and we may justly regard him as implying here the burden of personal responsibility. The text reminds us of the universality of responsibility. "Every Galatians 6:5

These words embody one of the most rudimentary and yet one of the weightiest truths of the Gospel, the individual responsibility of each man to God. Without a distinct perception of this our religion must necessarily be vague and feeble in its practical effects, but let it be firmly grasped and consistently acted upon, and it will sink into the very foundations of our life, and shape its whole character and growth.

I. To this sense of responsibility, then, there are two things that are requisite. (1) There must be a clear and authoritative definition of duty. This is provided for us by revelation. It is primarily a disclosure of the character of God, and consequently of what that character requires. It lays down firmly the great landmarks of morality, and calls upon us to shape our course accordingly. (2) The second condition of responsibility is freedom to act upon the directions which God has thus given to us. This is not provided by Galatians 6:7-8

We have here a great and important law of human life. We might indeed call it the law of human life. Let us spend a little time in looking at the law, so that, if possible, we may see clearly what we have to do with it, and what it has to do with us.

I. First, there is the fact that underlies the law. It is this: human life is a sowing and reaping. It is not a succession of isolated experiences. It is a closely compacted whole. The sowing and reaping are not separated from each other in time, as in the natural harvest. Every day of our life we are sowing something for the future, and reaping something from the past. The sowing and reaping thus go on contemporaneously and continually.

II. Now for the law. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." A most simple and natural law, necessary, one would think, in the nature of things; yet men live on, and sow on, and hope to find it otherwise in their case. We reap what we sow in kind; but the quantity is largely increased. Sow one sin, and you may have a horrible harvest of ten or more. On the other hand, each act of obedience or self-denial or kindness prepares the way for many more.

III. We come now to the application of the law; and evidently there might be an endlessly varied application of it. But while there may be endless varieties, there are two great kinds; so that we can, looking at the subject broadly, have a twofold application of the law, as in the text. (1) "He that soweth to his flesh"—what does that mean? Immediately we think perhaps of those whose hearts are set on pampering their baser lusts and passions. But does "the flesh" mean only the baser lusts and passions? Certainly not. Selfishness belongs to the flesh just as undoubtedly as lust does. And the same kind of harvest is in store in the end. Not at first. There was a difference in the sowing, and there will be a difference in the reaping. (2) If you expect to reap the harvest of a rich and blessed eternity, you must sow to the Spirit. This does not mean the giving up of all the things of the flesh. But it does mean that all our lower desires are to be regulated, subordinated, and controlled by the higher life of the Spirit.

—J. Monro Gibson, A Strong City, p229.

Sowing and Reaping

Galatians 6:7-8

There are certain lessons both of seed-time and harvest which should never be forgotten by the preacher—in fact, they never can be quite forgotten by him, because they enter so largely into Bible teaching, and always form part of his message to man. Everything has been said about them that can be said, and yet it is helpful to stir up the mind by way of remembrance.

I. We always divide and classify human lives by these three terms—spring, summer, and autumn: or, if you prefer it, seed-time, waiting-time, and harvest. Those three times are represented in every congregation. Some of you have done very little reaping yet; your young hands and minds are busily sowing, and you can only guess what the harvest will be. Others of you have done a great deal of labour and thought, and may be of sin, which have not yet brought forth their fruits—the time has not come. You will only understand the outcome of it all when the ripening and mellowing years are upon you. And a few of us have begun to reap. We are gathering what we sowed in earlier years. And it is not until you reach that time of life when the sowing is mainly over and the daily reaping has begun that you fully understand and believe these words of St Paul. You believe them then because every day brings you a new proof of them.

II. A great many people, especially in youth, but more or less all through life, believe that God can be mocked. No one ever makes that mistake about Nature, which is really only another name for God—only a portion of His ways and thoughts. Every one knows that as you deal with Nature so she will deal with you. The sort of life you live in your youth inevitably determines the kind and quality of man and woman that you will be further on, unless there is some complete and fundamental change wrought by God just as you pass into the fuller years, and even then the ill sowing which you have done will have its harvest If you begin by having no faith in God, you end by losing faith in nearly everything. The greater part of this harvest, be it good or bad, is never reaped on earth. There is a hell about which we know nothing, save that it is too terrible for words to describe. And there is a heaven of perfect peace and glad reward, which far exceeds all that our imagination can picture.

—J. G. Greenhough, Jesus in the Cornfield, p167.

References.—VI:7 , 8.—J. B. Lightfoot, Cambridge Sermons, p48. Expositor (6th Series), vol. iii. p129. VI:7-9.—W. Robertson Nicoll, Sunday Evening, p127. VI:8.—R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. p36. Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. pp202 , 203.

The Cure for Weariness

Galatians 6:9

I. The Keynote of Hope.—St. Paul gives us in our text the keynote of hope and perseverance. "Let us not be weary in welldoing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." He reminds us of the need of energy and courage and hope, and tells us of the certainty of final victory if only we go steadily on, trusting less in self and more in the grace of God. A great power for good is lost by that sort of reserve which leads a man to hide away all that is best in his life and character. There is amongst us, and especially amongst men, far more religious feeling than is allowed to appear on the surface; a deeper love of truth, a more reverent spirit of prayer, but this is too often concealed beneath a careless manner and a flippant habit of speech. Many men, active in business or official life, brilliant in social gifts, have a deep sense of their duty to God and Galatians 6:9

It is not the fever of superficial impulse that can remove the deep fixed barriers of centuries of ignorance and crime.

—Beaconsfield, in Sybil.

References.—VI:9.—D. Burns, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliii. p83. J. Keble, Sermons for Easter to Ascension Day, p211. G. G. Bradley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. p3. Archbishop Benson, Singleheart, p17; Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p199. T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iii. p234. Bishop Gore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. p265. Archbishop Benson, Living Theology, p129; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii. No1383. A. H. Moncur Sime, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii. p250. VI:9-10.—S. R. Hole, ibid. p231.

Galatians 6:10

Darwin added to his Autobiography these words: "I feel no remorse from having committed any great sin, but have often and often regretted that1have not done more direct good to my fellow-creatures."

References.—VI:10.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii. p204. C. Garrett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. p331. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— Galatians 6:14

Let us try to understand what Paul means by the cross, and not put too narrow a limitation upon it. He was not using the word in any vulgar sense. He meant by the cross all that was included in the Incarnation mystery—the manifestation of God in the flesh, the spotless and holy manhood, the life of sympathy and healing, the heavenly wisdom of the teachings, the great condescension, the great love, the great sacrifice, and the great redemption: they were all summed up in the one word "the cross".

I. He thought there was nothing within the range of human vision or human imagination worth glorying in, worth boasting of, save that alone; nothing of which the world had any reason to be proud but that. The world of which Paul spoke has melted away. The glory of all that world is little more than a handful of dust, while the cross is still the greatest power in the world—the ever-increasing power; the object of its purest devotion; the source of its richest thoughts and sentiments in art, poetry, music, and worship; the inspiration of all its finest energies and hopes; the fountain which supplies all its grandest ideals. Truly, time has vindicated the foolish dreamer; the foolishness of God has been proved wiser than men.

II. But that is history. That belongs to the past. How does the saying stand in our own times? Is there nothing in this age which gives us cause for unqualified boasting, nothing which should lift up and expand with pride and flatter the human heart, save that one thing in which the Apostle gloried? There are a thousand things in our modern life and surroundings which we cannot help regarding with delight and a measure of admiration and pride. Great are the triumphs of civilisation. Ah, yes! you can fill books with the wonder and glamour of it all, and you might well be elated with pride as you think of it, if there were not always some offset to every part of it—some dark background, some painful accompaniment which suggests humiliation and even tears. What, then, may we glory in? Well, in every exhibition of the cross and its power. All the real radiance of our times comes from the cross. It is the cross which saves our civilisation from corruption. The cross is the gathering-point, the focus, the source, of all that elevates the thought and preserves the hopes of this present time; and therefore we may say with all the emphasis of the Apostle: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ".

III. Finally, bring it home to yourselves. If the cross is in your lives, in your thoughts, in your hopes, there is a radiance which nothing can dim; there is the splendour of an inspiring and lovely promise thrown over all the paths you tread.

—J. G. Greenhough, The Cross in Modern Life, p1.

Glorying in the Cross

Galatians 6:14

We cannot accustom ourselves to meditate too seriously upon the holiness of the All-pure God. Intrinsically holiness is not terrific, but lovely. It is terrific to unholy creatures, because they have a sense to know that the approach of the Holy One is destruction to all that is unholy.

I. See how the case stands. It pleased God in His wisdom to create 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8).

III. This mystery of mercy, then, is all dependent upon the Cross of Christ. Are we not, then, one and all, ready to exclaim with the Apostle, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ"? For in what else should we glory? Except for the Cross of Christ, what are we? What, but unholy creatures, and, as such, miserable, perishing creatures? Worldly wealth and power, mental endowments, talents, learning: these things, which are merely the means lent us by God by which we are to work out what He hath begun for us, our own salvation, and for the use of which we shall be responsible, are not subjects in which to glory; they soon perish with our perishing selves. There are certain privileges in which we may rejoice—the privileges of Grace, of our election; and, as it was lawful for the Israelites to glory in being of the Circumcision, it is lawful for us, in a higher degree, to glory in having been baptized into the Church, and made the children of God. We may, indeed, rejoice in these privileges, but we may not forget on what those privileges rest—we may not overlook the Cross of Christ; that which is our shame, because it proclaims the unholiness of our race; but which Galatians 6:14

The first and the second crosses are easily understood, easily explained. They were the consequences of crime, of offences against the law of God and of man. But the third cross, the cross of Jesus, there comes the difficulty! How shall we understand that? What is its chief mark and character? You can understand it at all, you can give it meaning, only by thinking of it as a sacrificial cross, as atoning, redemptive suffering for sin. Shame and pain and sin meet there, as in the other two crosses, but while His was the pain, His was not the sin. It is not like the other crosses; it is separate from them entirely.

I. Mistakes about the Cross.—As you know, all men nowadays, even many that would call themselves Christians, do not regard the cross in the way that you and I do. Let us just for a minute or two see where mistakes can be made on this matter.

(a) A judicial murder.—Think, for instance, what it would mean if the cross of Jesus is only a judicial murder. What awful confusion it brings into the world! The like we know would be done again in similar circumstances. It is quite possible that such a thing should take place again, but that would only make the confusion thrice confounded, and we should only have to mourn in the case of the death of a man by judicial murder for the wrong that was perpetrated on a sinless or unoffending man. It would do us no good, nobody any good.

(b) The death of a good man.—Or if the cross of Jesus, the death of Jesus on the cross, be only the death of a good Galatians 6:17

The Epistle to the Galatians is the one letter of St Paul which is full of expressions of almost unmixed indignation. St. Paul's letters are generally full of gentleness and tenderness, but in this letter to the Galatians his tenderness seems for once to be laid aside. It is a striking and a solemn picture of Apostolic anger.

I. If you will Compare this Letter ever so Hastily with St. Paul's other Letters, you will see how displeased he must have been. To begin with, it opens without a trace of that kindly and affectionate introduction with which all St. Paul's other letters commence. Even when he has much to find fault with, it is St. Paul's manner to begin his letters with the pleasantest and most cheering topic he can think of. In most cases there would be something to commend in his converts; and therefore before he proceeds to correct them he begins by praising them where he could do so truthfully. You see this in the cases of the Epistles to the Romans and the Corinthians, even though in the latter case there was so much to find fault with. It is not so here. After the very briefest salutation, he plunges at once in verse6 of Chapter I. into the severest rebuke. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you." And then he goes on to pronounce that solemn and awful curse on any who had taught a different Gospel from his own. Read the letter straight through without stopping for the chapter divisions, and you will find that it bears you on like an impetuous torrent Usually St. Paul writes long sentences. Here they are short and incisive—short, terse, and impetuous, bearing the stamp of the eager earnestness with which they were written. Only when, as we may say, the first vehemence of the composition is beginning to be spent, about the middle of the third chapter, does a word of returning kindness show itself. "My little children," at last he calls them, and tells them that he would be glad "to change his voice" towards them; i.e. not to speak so harshly. But for all his wishes that he might change his voice, still he does not, so far as this letter is concerned. It ends as sternly as it began. No kind messages, no tender greetings, such as are common in the other letters. All is abrupt and severe.

II. What does this Mean?—The meaning of the word is easy to explain, and the fact that St Paul could say this of himself was just the thing which enabled him to be thus angry and sin not, in the way which the whole letter has shown. St. Paul did bear about him abundant marks which showed that he belonged indeed to Christ. In other places St. Paul is fond of calling himself the servant of Jesus Christ, or even the slave of Jesus Christ. Now, in those days it was the custom frequently to mark or brand slaves with some mark or letter to show to whom they belonged. St. Paul then here alludes to the scars of the wounds he had received in the service of his master, the scars of the stonings and the scourgings which he describes in 2 Corinthians 11:23; 2 Corinthians 11:25. These scars he says are as the marks or brands which prove him to be Christ's property. A free man acts on his own account, and on his own responsibility. A slave does what his Master orders him, and nothing else. St. Paul means to say that in all that he has done and taught, he has not been acting on his own responsibility. He has not taught out of his own mind. He has not considered himself free to teach just whatever he pleased. Quite the contrary. He has acted throughout as Christ's slave. He has given up his freewill to Christ He has done and taught nothing but what Christ has bidden him. The responsibility is not with him, but with Christ Thus, then, what St Paul means to say is this: Whatever I have said and done, has been said and done by me as Christ's slave. Whoever resists me resists Him whose property I am. These scars and wounds with which I am branded are the marks which show that I am His. Therefore let all men beware how they resist me. III. To Apply all this to Ourselves:—(a) St. Paul was Christ's slave. You may sum up the whole of the Christian religion in the one word, self-subdual.

(b) The more His servants come up to the true standard of perfect self-surrender to their Master, the more they will bear the marks of Him Whose property and servants they are. And what are the brands or marks which are stamped and burned into those who are not their own, but Christ's? Surely these marks will consist in the similarity of their lot to what was Christ's lot, or rather in the similarity of some portion of their lot to what was Christ's.

References.—VI:17.—H. R. Haywood, Sermons and Addresses, p227. H. D. Rawnsley, Church Family Newspaper, vol. xiv. p68. F. W. Farrar, Everyday Christian Life, p282. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in a Religious House, vol. ii. p467. Expositor (4th Series), vol. vii. pp201 , 278; ibid. vol. ix. p264; ibid. (6th Series), vol. iii. p139. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture— Galatians , p189.