Galatians · chapter 6 of 6
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Galatians 6 gives advice for life in the church: gently restore the one who falls, bear one another's burdens, share with the one who teaches and not grow weary of doing good, because we reap what we sow. Paul closes the letter in large letters written with his own hand, exposes the motives of those who imposed circumcision and declares that he boasts only in the cross of Christ, where what counts is a new creation.
Galatians 6 closes an intense letter with practical counsel and a personal farewell. After defending freedom and the Spirit in chapter 5, Paul shows how that freedom is lived within the community and sums up the heart of the gospel in a single image: the cross.
Paul asks that, if someone is caught in a transgression, those who are spiritual restore him in a spirit of gentleness, each taking care not to be tempted. Bearing one another's burdens fulfills the law of Christ. Anyone who thinks he is something when he is nothing deceives himself; each must test his own work and will carry his own load. The one who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.
Then he warns that God is not mocked: whatever one sows, that he will also reap. The one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh; the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. We must not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up, and we must do good to everyone, especially to those of the household of faith.
Paul ends by writing in his own hand, in large letters. Those who compel circumcision want to make a good showing in the flesh and avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ; they do not even keep the law themselves, but want to boast in the Galatians' flesh. Paul, by contrast, says he will never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to him and he to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts, but a new creation.
He asks for peace and mercy on those who walk by that rule, and on the Israel of God. Let no one cause him trouble, for he bears on his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. The letter ends with the blessing: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Bearing one another's burdens fulfills the law of Christ. The freedom of the gospel shows itself in a practical love that accompanies the one who suffers or has fallen.
God is not mocked: each one reaps what he sows, and the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life. Paul calls us to live aware that today's choices have consequences.
We must not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. It is encouragement for those who serve without yet seeing results.
Paul declares that he will never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to him and he to the world. It sums up the letter: all the merit is Christ's, and nothing human can be a reason for pride.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Restore him in a spirit of gentleness, watching themselves lest they also be tempted. — Galatians 6:1
Answer: The law of Christ. — Galatians 6:2
Answer: That God is not mocked and that whatever one sows, he will also reap. — Galatians 6:7
Answer: To everyone, and especially to those of the household of faith. — Galatians 6:10
Answer: In large letters, with his own hand. — Galatians 6:11
Answer: Only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Galatians 6:14
Galatians 6 is a very practical chapter for a church. When someone falls, the Christian response is not gossip or punishment but restoration with gentleness and humility. In a small group you can ask how you care for someone who is struggling and which concrete burdens you can share this week.
It also encourages perseverance. Doing good often tires us, especially when we see no fruit; verse 9 reminds us there is a harvest in due season. And the cross, in verse 14, is the best antidote to pride and comparison: what makes us belong to God is not what we have done but what Christ has done.
Galatians 6 closes the letter with a call to practical love, perseverance and boasting only in the cross. Paul bids the Galatians farewell with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the same grace that sustains the whole message of the letter.
They are two different Greek words. The first refers to crushing weights that must be shared; the second, to personal responsibility before God for one's own life and work. Both are needed: helping the one who is overwhelmed without ceasing to take up what belongs to each of us.
The text does not explain it in detail. Many understand it as all God's people, Jews and Gentiles who follow the rule of the new creation; others think of believers of Jewish origin or of a future Israel. In the context of the letter, the first reading fits Paul's emphasis on one people in Christ.
Probably the scars of the sufferings and persecutions Paul endured for proclaiming Christ, such as the beatings and stoning that Acts and his other letters mention. They were for him a sign that he belonged to the Lord, unlike the mark of circumcision.