Galatianschapter 6
18 verses · Paul · AD 48 or 49 · Paul's letters
Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
Introduction
Paul, Paul's letters, Galatians Overview.
The last chapter of the letter comes down to the daily life of a congregation. Paul speaks of a brother caught in a sin, of teachers who need support, and of the patience it takes to keep doing good. Then he takes the pen from the one writing for him and closes in large letters of his own. Listen for the words carry and sow, which hold the first half together. In the closing lines, listen for the cross, which Paul sets against every other reason for pride. The letter ends where it began, with grace.
Context
- Who
- Congregations that had to work out what all of this meant on an ordinary week.
- What
- Practical instruction for church life, followed by Paul's handwritten conclusion on the cross and the new creation.
- Where
- Written to the churches of Galatia, with the closing lines in Paul's own hand from a place the letter leaves unnamed.
- When
- Written about AD 48 to 57, at the close of the letter.
- Why
- To show how a church that lives by the Spirit treats its members, and to seal the letter's argument with the cross.
Historical context
The instruction to support the one who teaches, sharing all good things with him, is one of the few places Paul urges paying a teacher, and it fits a settled congregation rather than a travelling apostle. He kept himself unpaid; that did not mean he thought the work was free.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"Bear one another's burdens" and "each will bear his own load" use two different words: one for a crushing weight that needs help, one for the pack a soldier or traveller carries as his own responsibility. They are not in tension.
The remark about large letters written with his own hand points to normal practice. Long letters were dictated to a secretary, and the author added a closing note personally as a signature of authenticity. Paul's handwriting was evidently big, whether from poor eyesight, from hands hardened by leatherwork, or simply for emphasis, he does not say.
His final charge that the agitators want to make a good showing in the flesh and boast in the Galatians' bodies exposes the motive he thinks is really driving them: converts as trophies to be counted.
Significance
The Galatians got a rule for handling someone caught in a sin, restore him gently, watching yourself, from a letter otherwise full of fire. Paul could be fierce about the gospel and careful about a person in the same breath.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And the closing lines put the whole controversy in its place: neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but a new creation. He signs off pointing at the marks of Jesus on his own body, which in a letter arguing about a mark in the flesh was the last word.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Restore Him Gently, Carrying Your Own Load
Galatians 6:1-2
you who are spiritual should restore him: Restore translates katartizo, the word for setting a broken bone or mending a torn net. The call for a spirit of gentleness and the warning watch yourself keep the mender humble.
Galatians 6:1
“Restore such an one - By reproof, instruction, or exhortation. Everyone who can, ought to help herein; only in the spirit of meekness - This is essential to a spiritual man; and in this lies the whole force of the cure. Considering thyself - The plural is beautifully changed into the singular.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Galatians 6:1
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken - Margin, “Although.” It is a case which the apostle supposes might happen. Christians were not perfect; and it was possible that they who were true Christians might be surprised by temptation, and fall into sin. The word rendered “be overtaken” (προλημφθῃ prolēmphthē from προλαμβάνω prolambanō), means properly “to take before another, to anticipate” 1Co 11:21; then “to be before taken or caught”; and may here mean either that one had been formerly guilty of sin or had been recently hurried on by his passions or by temptations to commit a fault.”
Galatians 6:1
“BENGEL explains the "before" in the Greek compound verb, "If a man be overtaken in a fault before ourselves": If another has really been overtaken in a fault the first; for often he who is first to find fault, is the very one who has first transgressed. a fault--Greek, "a transgression," "a fall"; such as a falling back into legal bondage.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 6:1
“He puts a common case: If a man be overtaken in a fault, that is, be brought to sin by the surprise of temptation. It is one thing to overtake a fault by contrivance and deliberation, and a full resolution in sin, and another thing to be overtaken in a fault. The latter is the case here supposed, and herein the apostle shows that great tenderness should be used.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Carry one another’s burdens: Burdens here are the heavy weights of temptation, sorrow and failure, like the fault of verse 1. The law of Christ is His command to love one another. The Galatians wanted a law, and Paul gives them this one.
Galatians 6:2
“Bear ye one another’s burdens - Have sympathy; feel for each other; and consider the case of a distressed brother as your own. And so fulfill the law of Christ - That law or commandment, Ye shall love one another; or that, Do unto all men as ye would they should do unto you.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:2
“Bear ye one another's burdens - Sympathize with, and assist, each other, in all your weaknesses, grievances, trials. And so fulfil the law of Christ - The law of Christ (an uncommon expression) is the law of love: this our Lord peculiarly recommends; this he makes the distinguishing mark of his disciples.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Galatians 6:2
“Sin is a burden, as the psalmist affirms. … This burden the Savior bore for us, teaching by his life what we ought to do. He himself bears our iniquities and grieves for us and invites those who are cast down by the burden of sin and the law to take up the light yoke of virtue. Therefore the one who does not demean his brother's salvation extends his hand as needed. So far as it lies within him he weeps with him as he weeps; he shares the neighbor's weakness. He counts another's sins as his own.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.2patristic
Galatians 6:2
“Note, Though as Christians we are freed from the law of Moses, yet we are under the law of Christ; and therefore, instead of laying unnecessary burdens upon others (as those who urged the observance of Moses's law did), it much more becomes us to fulfil the law of Christ by bearing one another's burdens.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Galatians 6:3-5
he deceives himself: In verse 2 the burdens carried for one another are baros, a crushing weight. In verse 5 his own load is phortion, a soldier's pack. That is the duty no one can shoulder for him, so the two verses stand together.
Galatians 6:3
“For if a man think himself to be something ... - see Gal 5:26. This is designed, evidently, to be another reason why we should be kind and tender to those who have erred. It is, that even those who are most confident may fall. They who feel secure, and think it impossible that they should sin, are not safe. They may be wholly deceived, and may be nothing, when they have the highest estimate of themselves. They may themselves fall into sin, and have need of all the sympathy and kindness of their brethren.”
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:3
“If any one think himself to be something - Above his brethren, or by any strength of his own. When he is nothing, he deceiveth himself - He alone will bear their burdens, who knows himself to be nothing.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Galatians 6:3
“Instead therefore of indulging such a vain-glorious humour, which is both destructive of the love and kindness we owe to our fellow-christians and also injurious to ourselves, it would much better become us to accept the apostle's exhortation ( Phil. ii. 3 ), Do nothing through strife nor vain-glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Each one should test his own work: Testing means examining one's work by God's standard. A believer who does this finds any ground for rejoicing in his own faithfulness. Comparison with a weaker brother gives a false measure.
Galatians 6:4
“But he refers to the idea those whom he censures had of themselves: they thought they had cause for "glorying" in themselves, but it all arose from unjust self-conceited comparison of themselves with others, instead of looking at home. The only true glorying, if glorying it is to be called, is in the testimony of a good conscience, glorying in the cross of Christ.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
carry his own load: Load translates phortion, the pack each person carries as his own share. Each one answers to God for his own work. Verse 2 and verse 5 stand together: burdens are shared, and each one still carries his own load.
Galatians 6:5
“For (by this way, Ga 6:4, of proving himself, not depreciating his neighbor by comparison) each man shall bear his own "burden," or rather, "load" (namely, of sin and infirmity), the Greek being different from that in Ga 6:2.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:5
“This seems to contradict the words above. … But one must see that he was there telling us, as sinners in the present life, to support one another and be a help to one another in the present age. Here he is speaking of the Lord's judgment of us, which is not based on the sin of another or by comparison with others but according to one's own work.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.5patristic
Galatians 6:5
“For every man shall bear his own burden - This seems to be a kind of proverbial saying; and it means here, every man shall have his proper reward. If he is a virtuous man, he will be happy; if a vicious man, he will be miserable. If a virtuous man, he will have the source of happiness in himself; if a sinner, he must bear the proper penalty of his sin. In the great day every man shall be properly rewarded.”
Whatever a Man Sows: Do Not Grow Weary
Galatians 6:6-8
the one who receives instruction in the word: The figure of sowing widens the point of verse 6 to the whole moral life: whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. Sowing to the flesh reaps destruction and sowing to the Spirit reaps eternal life.
Galatians 6:6
“Let him that is taught in the word - He who receives instructions in Christianity by the public preaching of the word; Communicate unto him that teacheth - Contribute to the support of the man who has dedicated himself to the work of the ministry, and who gives up his time and his life to preach the Gospel. It appears that some of the believers in Galatia could receive the Christian ministry without contributing to its support. This is both ungrateful and base.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:6
“That which they are to declare is the counsel of God, Acts xx. They are not lords of our faith, but helpers of our joy, 2 Cor. i. It is the word of God which is the only rule of faith and life; this they are concerned to study, and to open, and improve, for the edification of others, but they are no further to be regarded than as they speak according to this rule.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Galatians 6:6
“The meaning is this: Since previously he has been speaking to those who are spiritual about ethics … he now on the contrary speaks to those who are still rather weak, who are disciples yet live according to the flesh. Just as they reap spiritual gifts from their teacher, so they are called to give material gifts in return.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.6patristic
Do not be deceived: Mocked translates mykterizetai, to turn up the nose at someone. A person who expects a good harvest from a bad sowing treats God with contempt. The law of the harvest governs the moral life.
Galatians 6:7
I FIND, on reference to Luther's Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, and to Calvin's Commentary on this passage, that both those learned expositors consider that this refers to the treatment of ministers by their people in the matter of their financial support. They very properly point out the connection between the 6th verse and the 7th—"Let him who is taught in the Word share with him who teaches in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap."
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3109: “Sowing and Reaping” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
3 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:7
“Our present time is seed-time: in the other world there will be a great harvest; and, as the husbandman reaps in the harvest according as he sows in the seedness, so we shall reap then as we sow now.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Galatians 6:7
“Be not deceived - That is, in regard to your character, and your hopes for eternity. This is a formula of introduction to some admonition that is especially weighty and important. It implies that there was danger that they would be deceived in reference to their character. The sources of the danger were the corruption of their own hearts, the difficulty of knowing their true character, the instructions of false teachers, etc.; see the note at 1Co 6:9. God is not mocked - He cannot be imposed on, or mocked.”
Galatians 6:7
“God is not mocked--The Greek verb is, literally, to sneer with the nostrils drawn up in contempt. God does not suffer Himself to be imposed on by empty words: He will judge according to works, which are seeds sown for eternity of either joy or woe.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
sows to please his flesh: Two fields receive the seed, the flesh and the Spirit. Sowing to the flesh spends life on its desires, and its harvest is ruin. Sowing to the Spirit yields a harvest that belongs to the age to come.
Galatians 6:8
“He that soweth to his flesh - In like manner, he that sows to the flesh - who indulges his sensual and animal appetites, shall have corruption as the crop: you cannot expect to lead a bad life and go to heaven at last. According as your present life is, so will be your eternal life whether your sowing be to the flesh or to the Spirit, so will your eternal reaping be. To sow, here, means transacting the concerns of a man’s natural life. To reap, signifies his enjoyment or punishment in another world.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:8
“Reap corruption - Death everlasting. But he that soweth to the Spirit - That follows his guidance in all his tempers and conversation. Shall of the Spirit - By the free grace and power of God, reap life everlasting.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Galatians 6:8
“Translate, "He that soweth unto his own flesh," with a view to fulfilling its desires. He does not say, "His spirit," as he does say, "His flesh." For in ourselves we are not spiritual, but carnal. The flesh is devoted to selfishness. corruption--that is, destruction (Php 3:19).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 6:9-10
Let us not grow weary in well-doing: The farmer's patience governs the promise: in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. The interval between sowing and harvest is where weariness does its damage.
Galatians 6:9
“And let us not be weary in welldoing - See the note at 1Co 15:58. The reference here is particularly to the support of the ministers of religion Gal 6:6, but the apostle makes the exhortation general. Christians sometimes become weary. There is so much opposition to the best plans for doing good; there is so much to be done; there are so many calls on their time and their charities; and there is often so much ingratitude among those whom they endeavor to benefit, that they become disheartened.”
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 6:9
THIS verse occurs in the Epistle to the Galatians, which so plainly sets forth the grand doctrine of Justification by Faith and teaches us most plainly that salvation is not of works, but of Grace. As if to confuse forever those who say that the doctrine of Free Grace is unpractical, the Apostle, before he closes his Epistle, exhorts Believers to labor. And in the verse before us gives us a sentence worthy to be printed in letters of gold and hung up forever before the eyes of all Christian workers, "Be not weary in doing good."
Connectionstopics/waiting
the family of faith: Doing good reaches everyone while the opportunity lasts. The family of faith receives special care, as a household cares first for its own. The good sown here is the harvest of verse 9.
Galatians 6:10
“As we have - opportunity - While it is the time of sowing let us sow the good seed; and let our love be, as the love of Christ is, free, manifested to all. Let us help all who need help according to the uttermost of our power; but let the first objects of our regards be those who are of the household of faith - the members of the Church of Christ, who form one family, of which Jesus Christ is the head.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 6:10
“Unto all men - neighbours or strangers, good or evil, friends or enemies. But especially to them who are of the household of faith. For all believers are but one family.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
See These Large Letters: I Boast Only in the Cross
See what large letters I am using: The Greek is pelikois grammasin, with how large letters. Paul takes the pen from his amanuensis to close in his own oversized hand.
Galatians 6:11
“Rather, "See in how large letters I have written." The Greek is translated "how great" in Heb 7:4, the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament. Owing to his weakness of eyes (Ga 4:15) he wrote in large letters. All the oldest manuscripts are written in uncial, that is, capital letters, the "cursive," or small letters, being of more recent date.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 6:11
“Those who wanted the Galatians to be circumcised had put it about that Paul preached one way and acted another, destroying his words by his own deeds, since he who proclaimed the abolition of the law was found to be obeying the law. Because Paul could not refute their opinions in person in the sight of all (being prevented by the chains that he bore as a testimony to Christ), he acts as his own lawyer through his letter.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.11patristic
Galatians 6:12-13
Those who want to make a good impression outwardly: The motive of the circumcision party is named twice. Those who want to make a good impression outwardly do it to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. The converts' flesh is a trophy that they may boast in.
Galatians 6:12
“These constrain you - Both by their example and importunity. To be circumcised - Not so much from a principle of conscience, as lest they should suffer persecution - From the unbelieving Jews. For the cross of Christ - For maintaining that faith in a crucified saviour is alone sufficient for justification.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:12
“Caius [Julius] Caesar and Octavianus Augustus, and Tiberius, the successor of Augustus, had published laws that permitted the Jews scattered throughout the whole sphere of the Roman Empire to live by their own code and observe their ancestral ceremonies. Whoever was circumcised, therefore, even if he was a Christian, was reckoned as a Jew by the Roman authorities. But anyone who was not circumcised and by his uncircumcision proclaimed himself no Jew became liable to persecution, both from Jews and from Gentiles!”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.12patristic
Galatians 6:12
“A fair show in the flesh - The Jewish religion was general in the region of Galatia, and it was respectable, as it appears that the principal inhabitants were either Jews or proselytes. As it was then professed and practiced among the Jews, this religion had nothing very grievous to the old man; an unrenewed nature might go through all its observances with little pain or cross-bearing. On the other hand, Christianity could not be very popular; it was too strict.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves: The teachers who pressed circumcision kept the law poorly themselves. Their goal was a count of converts to show at home. Each circumcised Galatian became a trophy to their credit.
Galatians 6:13
“For neither they themselves keep the whole law - So far are they from a real zeal for it. But yet they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh - That they may boast of you as their proselytes, and make a merit of this with the other Jews.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:13
“For neither they themselves who are circumcised - The Jewish teachers, or perhaps all Jews. It was true in general that the Jews did not wholly and entirely obey the Law of Moses, but it is probable that the apostle refers particularly here to the judaizing teachers in Galatia. Keep the law - The Law of Moses, or the Law of God. Paul’s idea is, that if they were circumcised they brought themselves under obligation to keep the whole law of God; see the note at Gal 5:3. But they did not do it.”
Galatians 6:13
“Because of the weakness of the sin nature, Paul says, the law cannot be fulfilled. Hence the Jews keep the commands and traditions of the elders rather than God's commands, performing neither the whole body of the law (which is impossible) nor the spirit of the law, which they did not understand.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.12patristic
Galatians 6:13
“They arbitrarily selected circumcision out of the whole law, as though observing it would stand instead of their non-observance of the rest of the law. that they may glory in your flesh--namely, in the outward change (opposed to an inward change wrought by the SPIRIT) which they have effected in bringing you over to their own Jewish-Christian party.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 6:14-15
may I never boast, except in the cross: Against their boasting Paul sets his own, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through that cross the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. That double death ends each one's claim on the other.
Galatians 6:14
“But God forbid that I should glory - Whatever others may do, or whatever they may exult or glory in, God forbid that I should exult, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; in the grand doctrine, that justification and salvation are only through Christ crucified, he having made an atonement for the sin of the world by his passion and death. And I glory, also, in the disgrace and persecution which I experience through my attachment to this crucified Christ.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:14
Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul himself made mention of this cross in the following words: "The doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God." And again: "God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 1patristic
Galatians 6:14
“But God forbid that I should glory - Should boast of anything I have, am, or do; or rely on anything for my acceptance with God, but what Christ hath done and suffered for me. By means of which the world is crucified to me - All the things and persons in it are to me as nothing.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Galatians 6:14
“We are to testify the power of Christ's death working in us, after the manner of crucifixion (Ga 5:24; Ro 6:5, 6). our--He reminds the Galatians by this pronoun, that they had a share in the "Lord Jesus Christ" (the full name is used for greater solemnity), and therefore ought to glory in Christ's cross, as he did. the world--inseparably allied to the "flesh" (Ga 6:13).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 6:14
“WITH that, "God forbid," Paul makes a clean sweep of every other ground of boasting and casts himself upon the one only chosen object of his soul's glorying. And yet, if you will think of it, Paul had, after the fashion of other men, many things in which he might have gloried. If it had so pleased him, he might have boasted of his pedigree, for he was "a Hebrew of the Hebrews." He could trace his genealogy, as the pure Hebrews could, up to that great fountain of nobility—Abraham himself!”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3451: “Grand Glorying” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
What counts is a new creation: Circumcision and its absence count for nothing in the new order. A new creation is the life God makes in a person joined to Christ. Paul wrote the same in 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Galatians 6:15
“For in Christ Jesus - In his religion; see the note at Gal 5:6. But a new creature - The fact that a man is created anew, or born again, constitutes the real difference between him and other people. This is what Christ requires; this is the distinction which he designs to make.”
Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule: The blessing ends on a phrase read two ways since the fathers: even to the Israel of God. One reading takes the Greek kai as and, a distinct blessing on believing Jews within the church. The other takes it as even, the whole believing church.
Galatians 6:16
“Glorying only in the cross of Christ. Being crucified to the world. Peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel, that is, the Church, of God - Which consists of all those, and those only, of every nation and kindred, who walk by this rule.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 6:16
“As many as walk according to this rule - Τῳ κανονι τουτῳ· This canon; viz. what is laid down in the preceding verses, that redemption is through the sacrifice of Christ; that circumcision and uncircumcision are equally unavailable; and that none can be saved without being created anew. This is the grand canon or rule in Christianity. Peace be on them - Those who act from this conviction will have the peace and mercy of God; for it is in this way that mercy is communicated and peace obtained.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Galatians 6:17-18
let no one cause me trouble: Stigmata were the brands burned into a slave to mark his owner, and Paul bears the marks of Jesus as his Master's brand. They are the scars of stonings and scourgings, and they answer every demand for the mark of circumcision.
Galatians 6:17
“Anyone who after Christ's coming is circumcised in the flesh does not carry the marks of the Lord Jesus. Rather he glories in his own confusion. But the one who was flogged beyond what the law required, frequently was in prison, was beaten three times with rods, was once stoned and suffered all the other things that are written in his catalog of boasting—this is the one who carries on his body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.17patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:17
“When Paul claimed to bear in his body the wounds of the Lord, he was claiming no "stigmata," as did Saint Francis of Assisi in 1224 A.D. It is not a bodily identification by outward crucifixion.”
Leonard Ravenhill · Branded for ChristBritish Wesleyan-Holiness
Galatians 6:17
“From henceforth - For the remaining time; that is, during the remainder of my life. Let no man trouble me - This implies that he had had trouble of some kind, and he earnestly desires that he may have no more. What particular trouble he here refers to, is not certainly known, and commentators have not been agreed. It seems to me that the connection requires us to understand it of the molestation which he had in regard to his call to the apostolic office, and his authority to explain and defend the religion of the Redeemer.”
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: The letter ends with grace, the word it began with in 1:3. Paul calls the Galatians brothers one last time after all his sharp words. Amen seals the blessing.
Galatians 6:18
“How does the blessing refer to the letter? Not discord, not slavery to the law, not biting and railing, but the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is asked to be "with your spirit." Not with the flesh only; not with the soul only. For having been made spiritual they have ceased to be cheaply embodied. In the Spirit both body and soul are embraced.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 3.6.18patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 6:18
“The grace - Favor, benevolence, and continual influence of the Lord Jesus, be with your spirit - may it live in your heart, enlighten and change your souls, and be conspicuous in your life! Amen - So let it be; and the prayer which I offer up for you on earth, may it be registered in heaven! Unto the Galatians, written from Rome - This, or the major part of it, is wanting in the best and most ancient MSS. Written from Rome is wanting in ACDEFG, and others. Claudius Antissiodor, has εγραφη απ’ Εφεσου· Written from Ephesus.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Galatians 6:18
“He calls them his brethren, wherein he shows his great humility, and the tender affection he had for them, notwithstanding the ill treatment he had met with from them; and takes his leave of them with this very serious and affectionate prayer, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with their spirit. This was a usual farewell wish of the apostle's, as we see, Rom. xvi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: A closing in which the apostle unmasks the seducers' intention and sets his own intention against it, as Aquinas classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Burdens carried together and loads carried alone | Verse 2 tells believers to carry one another's burdens, and verse 5 says each one should carry his own load. Spurgeon warns that a figure used first one way and then another must never be pressed as literal, and reads the two verses as two uses of one picture.Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3355, "Life's Inevitable Burden" (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition). | Galatians 6:2, Galatians 6:5 |
| Sowing and reaping | Verses 7 to 9 build one figure from the farm: a man reaps what he sows, the flesh and the Spirit are two fields, and the harvest comes in due time to those who do not give up. Spurgeon records that Luther and Calvin both joined verse 7 to verse 6 and read it first of support for teachers.Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3109, "Sowing and Reaping" (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition). | Galatians 6:7, Galatians 6:8, Galatians 6:9 |
| Grace at the start and at the end | The letter opens with grace and peace at 1:3 and closes with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ at 6:18. Peace and mercy stand at verse 16. Between them lies every argument of the letter, so grace frames the whole.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Galatians 6:18. | Galatians 1:3, Galatians 6:16, Galatians 6:18 |
The structure
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter has two parts. Verses 1 to 10 give the duties of a church that walks by the Spirit: restoring, carrying burdens, sharing with teachers, sowing and doing good. Verses 11 to 18 are Paul's handwritten close, which exposes the motives of the circumcision party, names the cross as his only boast, pronounces a blessing and ends in grace.
Where the chapter stands in the letter
This chapter completes the letter's third movement, begun in chapter 5. The walk by the Spirit of 5:25 becomes the restoring of the fallen in 6:1, and the law fulfilled in love at 5:14 becomes the law of Christ at 6:2. The close gathers the letter's main words, circumcision, flesh, cross, boast and grace, into eight verses.
The debate: the Israel of God
Verse 16 is read two ways, as the site's exposition of the verse records. Albert Barnes reads the Israel of God as the true church, all who are God's true worshippers (Notes on the New Testament, on Galatians 6:16). The other reading takes the joining word as and, a distinct blessing on believing Jews within the church, as the site's exposition of the verse sets out from J. B. Lightfoot and John Gill (the exposition_notes row on Galatians 6:16).
The debate: the large letters
Verse 11 is read as emphasis, the apostle's own hand underlining the argument, or as a sign of weak eyesight, joined to the illness of 4:13 to 15. Jerome held that Paul wrote in his own hand to answer a rumor that he preached one thing and did another (Commentary on Galatians, on Galatians 6:11).
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament.
The form and classifications
Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2831, "Burden-bearing" (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Chrysostom, Homily on Galatians 6, on Galatians 6:11 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Galatians, on Galatians 6:14.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Galatians; John Chrysostom, Commentary on Galatians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.