Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians

Chapter 6

IF we carefully weigh the words of the Apostle we perceive that he does not

speak of doctrinal faults and errors, but of much lesser faults by which a

person is overtaken through the weakness of his flesh. This explains why

the Apostle chooses the softer term "fault." To minimize the offense still

more, as if he meant to excuse it altogether and to take the whole blame

away from the person who has committed the fault, he speaks of him as

having been "overtaken," seduced by the devil and of the flesh. As if he

meant to say, "What is more human than for a human being to fall, to be

deceived and to err?" This comforting sentence at one time saved my life.

Because Satan always assails both the purity of doctrine which he

endeavors to take away by schisms and the purity of life which he spoils

with his continual temptations to sin, Paul explains how the fallen should

be treated. Those who are strong are to raise up the fallen in the spirit of

meekness.

This ought to be borne in mind particularly by the ministers of the Word

in order that they may not forget the parental attitude which Paul here

requires of those who have the keeping of souls. Pastors and ministers

must, of course, rebuke the fallen, but when they see that the fallen are

sorry they are to comfort them by excusing the fault as well as they can. As

unyielding as the Holy Spirit is in the matter of maintaining and defending

the doctrine of faith, so mild and merciful is He toward men for their sins

as long as sinners repent.

The Pope's synagogue teaches the exact opposite of what the Apostle commands.

The clerics are tyrants and butchers of men's conscience. Every small offense

is closely scrutinized. To justify the cruel inquisitiveness they quote the

statement of Pope Gregory: "It is the property of good lives to be afraid of

a fault where there is no fault." "Our censors must be feared, even if they

are unjust and wrong." On these pronouncements the papists base their

doctrine of excommunication. Rather than terrify and condemn men's

consciences, they ought to raise them up and comfort them with the truth.

Let the ministers of the Gospel learn from Paul how to deal with those

who have sinned. "Brethren," he says, "if any man be overtaken with a

fault, do not aggravate his grief, do not scold him, do not condemn him,

but lift him up and gently restore his faith. If you see a brother despondent

over a sin he has committed, run up to him, reach out your hand to him,

comfort him with the Gospel and embrace him like a mother. When you

meet a willful sinner who does not care, go after him and rebuke him

sharply." But this is not the treatment for one who has been overtaken by a

sin and is sorry. He must be dealt with in the spirit of meekness and not in

the spirit of severity. A repentant sinner is not to be given gall and vinegar

to drink.

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." (I Cor.

10:12.) If David who was a hero of faith and did so many great things for the

Lord, could fall so badly that in spite of his advanced age he was overcome

by youthful lust after he had withstood so many different temptations with

which the Lord had tested his faith, who are we to think that we are more

stable? These object lessons of God should convince us that of all things

God hates pride.

Those who fail to do so expose their lack of understanding of the law of

Christ. Love, according to Paul, "believeth all things, hopeth all things,

endureth all things." This commandment is not meant for those who deny

Christ; neither is it meant for those who continue to live in sin. Only those

who are willing to hear the Word of God and then inadvertently fall into

sin to their own great sorrow and regret, carry the burdens which the

Apostle encourages us to bear. Let us not be hard on them. If Christ did not

punish them, what right have we to do it?

Paul has their number when he calls them zeros. They deceive themselves

with their self-suggested wisdom and holiness. They have no understanding

of Christ or the law of Christ. By insisting that everything be perfect they

not only fail to bear the burdens of the weak, they actually offend the weak

by their severity. People begin to hate and shun them and refuse to accept

counsel or comfort from them.

Paul describes these stiff and ungracious saints accurately when he says of

them, "They think themselves to be something." Bloated by their own silly

ideas and schemes they entertain a pretty fair opinion of themselves, when

in reality they amount to nothing.

The trouble with these seekers after glory is that they never stop to consider

whether their ministry is straightforward and faithful. All they think about

is whether people will like and praise them. Theirs is a threefold sin. First,

they are greedy of praise. Secondly, they are very sly and wily in suggesting

that the ministry of other pastors is not what it should be. By way of

contrast they hope to rise in the estimation of the people. Thirdly, once they

have established a reputation for themselves they become so chesty that

they stop short of nothing. When they have won the praise of men, pride

leads them on to belittle the work of other men and to applaud their own.

In this artful manner they hoodwink the people who rather enjoy to see

their former pastors taken down a few notches by such upstarts.

"Let a minister be faithful in his office," is the apostolic injunction. "Let

him not seek his own glory or look for praise. Let him desire to do good

work and to preach the Gospel in all its purity. Whether an ungrateful

world appreciates his efforts is to give him no concern because, after all,

he is in the ministry not for his own glory but for the glory of Christ."

A faithful minister cares little what people think of him, as long as his

conscience approves of him. The approval of his own good conscience is

the best praise a minister can have. To know that we have taught the Word

of God and administered the sacraments rightly is to have a glory that

cannot be taken away.

The glory which the sectarians seek is quite unstable, because it rests in the

whim of people. If Paul had had to depend on this kind of glory for his

ministry he would have despaired when he saw the many offenses and

evils following in the wake of his preaching.

If we had to feel that the success of our ministry depended upon our

popularity with men we would die, because we are not popular. On the

contrary, we are hated by the whole world with rare bitterness. Nobody

praises us. Everybody finds fault with us. But we can glory in the Lord and

attend to our work cheerfully. Who cares whether our efforts please or

displease the devil? Who cares whether the world praises or hates us? We

go ahead "by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report." (II Cor.

6:8.)

The Gospel entails persecution. The Gospel is that kind of a doctrine.

Furthermore, the disciples of the Gospel are not all dependable. Many

embrace the Gospel today and tomorrow discard it. To preach the Gospel

for praise is bad business especially when people stop praising you. Find

your praise in the testimony of a good conscience.

This passage may also be applied to other work besides the ministry. When

an official, a servant, a teacher minds his business and performs his duty

faithfully without concerning himself about matters that are not in his line

he may rejoice in himself. The best commendation of any work is to know

that one has done the work that God has given him well and that God is

pleased with his effort.

True, the consciousness of work well done cannot quiet the conscience. But

it is well to have the testimony of a good conscience in the last judgment

that we have performed our duty faithfully in accordance with God's will.

For the suppression of pride we need the strength of prayer. What man

even if he is a Christian is not delighted with his own praise? Only the

Holy Spirit can preserve us from the misfortune of pride.

As often as I read the admonitions of the Apostle to the effect that the

churches should support their pastors and raise funds for the relief of

impoverished Christians I am half ashamed to think that the great Apostle

Paul had to touch upon this subject so frequently. In writing to the

Corinthians he needed two chapters to impress this matter upon them. I

would not want to discredit Wittenberg as Paul discredited the

Corinthians by urging them at such length to contribute to the relief of the

poor. It seems to be a by-product of the Gospel that nobody wants to

contribute to the maintenance of the Gospel ministry. When the doctrine

of the devil is preached people are prodigal in their willing support of

those who deceive them.

We have come to understand why it is so necessary to repeat the

admonition of this verse. When Satan cannot suppress the preaching of

the Gospel by force he tries to accomplish his purpose by striking the

ministers of the Gospel with poverty. He curtails their income to such an

extent that they are forced out of the ministry because they cannot live by

the Gospel. Without ministers to proclaim the Word of God the people go

wild like savage beasts.

Paul's admonition that the hearers of the Gospel share all good things with

their pastors and teachers is certainly in order. To the Corinthians he

wrote: "If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great thing if we

shall reap your carnal things?" (I Cor. 9:11.) In the old days when the Pope

reigned supreme everybody paid plenty for masses. The begging friars

brought in their share. Commercial priests counted the daily offerings.

From these extortions our countrymen are now delivered by the Gospel.

You would think they would be grateful for their emancipation and give

generously for the support of the ministry of the Gospel and the relief of

impoverished Christians. Instead, they rob Christ. When the members of a

Christian congregation permit their pastor to struggle along in penury, they

are worse than heathen.

Before very long they are going to suffer for their ingratitude. They

will lose their temporal and spiritual possessions. This sin merits the

severest punishment. The reason why the churches of Galatia, Corinth,

and other places were troubled by false apostles was this, that they had so

little regard for their faithful ministers. You cannot refuse to give God a

penny who gives you all good things, even life eternal, and turn around

and give the devil, the giver of all evil and death eternal, pieces of gold,

and not be punished for it.

The words "in all good things: are not to be understood to mean that

people are to give all they have to their ministers, but that they should

support them liberally and give them enough to live well.

That the ministers of the Church need support any man with common

sense can see. Though this support is something physical the Apostle does

not hesitate to call it sowing to the Spirit. When people scrape up

everything they can lay their hands on and keep everything for themselves

the Apostle calls it a sowing to the flesh. He pronounces those who sow to

the Spirit blessed for this life and the life to come, while those who sow to

the flesh are accursed now and forever.

These three counts against the false apostles are of so serious a nature that

no Christian could have fellowship with them. But not all the Galatians

obeyed the warning of Paul.

The Apostle's attack upon the false apostles was not unjustified. Neither

are our attacks upon the papacy. When we call the Pope the Antichrist and

his minions an evil brood, we do not slander them. We merely judge them

by the touchstone of God's Word recorded in the first chapter of this

Epistle: "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel

unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be

accursed."

Mark what the Apostle is saying: Those who are circumcised do not fulfill

the Law. No self-righteous person ever does. To work, pray, or suffer apart

from Christ is to work, pray, and to suffer in vain, "for whatsoever is not of

faith is sin." It does a person no good to be circumcised, to fast, to pray,

or to do anything, if in his heart he despises Christ.

"Why do the false apostles insist that you should be circumcised? Not for

the sake of your righteousness," although they give that impression, but

"that they may glory in your flesh." Now what sort of an ambition is that?

Worst of all, they force circumcision upon you for no other reason than the

satisfaction they get out of your submission.

And this is our glory today with the Pope and the whole world persecuting

us and trying to kill us. We know that we suffer these things not because

we are thieves and murderers, but for Christ's sake whose Gospel we

proclaim. We have no reason to complain. The world, of course, looks

upon us as unhappy and accursed creatures, but Christ for whose sake we

suffer pronounces us blessed and bids us to rejoice. "Blessed are ye," says

He, "when men shall revile you, and persecute you. and shall say all

manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding

glad." (Matt. 5:11, 12.)

By the Cross of Christ is not to be understood here the two pieces of wood

to which He was nailed, but all the afflictions of the believers whose

sufferings are Christ's sufferings. Elsewhere Paul writes: "Who now rejoice

in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions

of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." (Col. 1:24.)

It is good for us to know this lest we sink into despair when our opponents

persecute us. Let us bear the cross for Christ's sake. It will ease our

sufferings and make them light as Christ says, Matthew 11:30, "My yoke is

easy, and my burden is light."

The monks imagined the world was crucified unto them when they

entered the monastery. Not the world, but Christ, is crucified in the

monasteries.

In this verse Paul expresses his hatred of the world. The hatred was

mutual. As Paul, so we are to despise the world and the devil. With Christ

on our side we can defy him and say: "Satan, the more you hurt me, the

more I oppose you."

Reason fails to understand this, "for the natural man receiveth not the

things of the Spirit of God." (I Cor. 2:14.) It therefore seeks righteousness

in externals. However, we learn from the Word of God that there is

nothing under the sun that can make us righteous before God and a new

creature except Christ Jesus.

A new creature is one in whom the image of God has been renewed. Such

a creature cannot be brought into life by good works, but by Christ alone.

Good works may improve the outward appearance, but they cannot

produce a new creature. A new creature is the work of the Holy Ghost, who

imbues our hearts with faith, love, and other Christian virtues, grants us

the strength to subdue the flesh and to reject the righteousness of the

world.

Of the marks of suffering which he bore in his body the Apostle makes

frequent mention in his epistles. "I think," he says, "that God hath set forth

us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a

spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." (I Cor. 4:9.) Again,

"Unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are

buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our

hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being

defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the

offscouring of all things unto this day." (I Cor. 4:11-13.)

The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, who gave me the strength and the grace

to explain this Epistle and granted you the grace to hear it, preserve and

strengthen us in faith unto the day of our redemption. To Him, the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit, be glory, world without end. Amen.