Carry His Own Load

Galatians 6:4-6 - Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.

Jeremiah 31:30 - Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—his own teeth will be set on edge.

2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

1 Timothy 5:17 - The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

Philippians 4:18-19 - I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Conclusions:

• Each of us is responsible before God
• The reference to carry his own load may be to the future judgment, when every person will give an account to God
• Although group or collective responsibility is an important concept, Jeremiah and Ezekiel emphasize individual responsibility as both preparation and explanation for the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, which the people might have been tempted to blame on the sins of their forefathers
• This accounting has nothing to do with justification, which is credited to the Christian fully and forever through faith in Christ; instead, it refers to what we have done with our lives as Christians
• Although the body is wasting away, we are responsible for our actions while in it
• Non-Christians, too, are morally responsible and liable to God's judgment, but Paul has believers in mind in 2 Corinthians 5:10
• All elders were to exercise leadership and to teach and preach, and all were to receive honor
• But those who excelled in leadership were to be counted worthy of double honor
• This was especially true of those who labored at teaching and preaching
• Such honor should include financial support
• The Old Testament background is the sacrifice, not of atonement for sin, but of thanksgiving and praise

Application:

• Are you tempted to blame your sins on your forefathers?
• Are you responsible for your actions?
• Do you financially support your elders?
• Are your offerings acceptable and pleasing to God?
• Have you sacrificially given to meet your leader's needs?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Law Of Christ

Galatians 6:2-5 - Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

1 Corinthians 9:21 - To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.

James 2:8 - If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.

1 Corinthians 11:28 - A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

Conclusions:

• The emphasis of carry each other's burdens is on moral burdens or weaknesses
• Those not having the law are those who have not been raised under the Old Testament law (Gentiles)
• Paul accommodated himself to Gentile culture when it did not violate his allegiance to Christ, though he still reckoned that he was under God's law and Christ's law (teachings)
• The law of love is called royal because it is the supreme law that is the source of all other laws governing human relationships
• The royal law is the summation of all such laws
• Each one should test his own actions emphasizes personal responsibility
• A person should test the attitude of his own heart and actions and his awareness of the significance of the Supper, thus making the Supper, under God, a spiritual means of grace

Application:

• Are you willing to accommodate yourself to the culture when it does not violate your allegiance to Christ?
• Do you keep the royal law found in Scripture?
• Do you examine yourself before you partake of the Lord's Supper?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Self-Control

Galatians 5:13,16,22-24 - You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love…So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Acts 24:25 - As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, "That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you."

Romans 8:3-4 - For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Romans 13:14 - Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Conclusions:

• Hearing of righteousness, self-control and the judgment, Felix looked at his past life and was filled with fear
• Felix had a spark of sincerity and concern
• Lust, pride, greed and selfish ambition made it continually inconvenient to change
• Liberty is not license but freedom to serve God and each other in love
• Living by the Spirit should be habitual conduct
• Living by the promptings and power of the Spirit is the key to conquering sinful desires
• The law still plays a role in the life of a believer--not, however, as a means of salvation but as a moral and ethical guide, obeyed out of love for God and by the power that the Spirit provides
• The righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us
• God's aim in sending His Son was that believers might be enabled to embody the true and full intentions of the law
• According to the Spirit is how the law's righteous requuirements can be fully met--by no longer letting the sinful nature hold sway but by yielding to the directing and empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit

Application:

• Do lust, pride, greed and selfish ambition make it continually inconvenient for you to change?
• Do you serve others in love?
• Do you live by the promptings and power of the Spirit?
• Do you yield to the directing and empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit?
• Do you practice all the virtues associated with Christ?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Live By

Galatians 5:16 - So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Romans 8:1-4,13-14 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit…For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Conclusions:

• Live by the Spirit means go on living by the Spirit
• Living by the promptings and power of the Spirit is the key to conquering sinful desires
• The law of the Spirit of life is the controlling power of the Holy Spirit, who is life-giving
• Paul uses the word law in several different ways in Romans--to mean, a controlling power; God's law; the Pentateuch; the Old Testament as a whole; a principle
• Law of sin and death is the controlling power of sin, which ultimately produces death
• The law still plays a role in the life of a believer--not, however, as a means of salvation but as a moral and ethical guide, obeyed out of love for God and by the power that the Spirit provides
• The righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us
• God's aim in sending His Son was that believers might be enabled to embody the true and full intentions of the law
• According to the Spirit is how the law's righteous requirements can be fully met--by no longer letting the sinful nature hold sway but by yielding to the directing and empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit
• God is the Father of all in the sense that He created all and His love and providential care are extended to all
• But not all are His children
• Redemption is the restoration and fulfillment of God's purposes in creation and this takes place in Christ, through whom all things were made and in whom all things are restored or created anew

Application:

• Do you live by the promptings and power of the Spirit?
• Has the controlling power of the Holy Spirit set you free from the controlling power of sin?
• Do you embody the true and full intentions of the law?
• Are you led by the Spirit of God?
• Are you in Christ?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Entire Law Is Summed Up

Galatians 5:13-15 - You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Leviticus 19:18 - " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Mark 12:31 - The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Conclusions:

• Doing to others what you would have them do to you expresses the spirit and intention of the Law and the Prophets
• Leviticus 19:18 is quoted by Christ, Paul and James
• The stricter Pharisees added to Leviticus 19:18 what they thought it implied: Hate your enemy
• Jesus reaction, love your enemies, was in line with true Old Testament teaching and was more in agreement with the middle-of-the-road Pharisees
• Rabbi Nahmanides caught their sentiments: One should place no limitations upon the love for the neighbor, but instead a person should love to do an abundance of good for his fellow being as he does for himself
• Neighbor does not merely mean one who lives nearby, but anyone with whom one comes in contact
• Jesus joined the commandment from Leviticus 19:18 to show that love for neighbor is a natural and logical outgrowth of love for God
• Seeking to attain status with God and man by mere observance of law breeds a self-righteous, critical spirit
• Liberty is not license but freedom to serve God and each other in love

Application:

• Do you love your neighbor as yourself?
• Do you love to do an abundance of good for your fellow being?
• Do you seek to attain status with God and man by mere observance of the law?
• Do you serve others in love?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Offence Of The Cross

Galatians 5:7-13 - You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

1 Corinthians 5:6 - Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

Romans 9:32 - Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."

Conclusions:

• The Galatians were running a good race before the Judaizers hindered them
• Paul was fond of depicting the Christian life as a race
• The persuasion that kept the Galatians from obeying the truth came by the Judaizers
• A proverb used in Galatians 5:9 stresses the pervasive effect of Judaism
• When the word yeast in the Bible is used as a symbol, it indicates evil or false teaching, except in Matthew 13:33
• To illustrate Christian holiness and discipline, Paul alludes to the prohibition against the use of yeast (leaven) in the bread eaten in the Passover Feast
• Leaven in Scripture usually symbolizes evil or sin, and the church in 1 Corinthians 5:6 is called on to get rid of the yeast of sin because they are an unleavened batch of dough--new creations in Christ
• The failure of Israel was not that she pursued the wrong thing, but that she pursued it by works in a futile effort to merit God's favor rather than pursuing it by faith
• The stumbling stone is Jesus, the Messiah
• God's rejection of Israel was not arbitrary but was based on Israel's rejection of God's way of gaining righteousness
• The Greek word for "emasculate themselves" means to cut of or to castrate
• In Philippians, Paul uses a related word to describe the same sort of people as mutilators of the flesh
• Paul's sarcasm is evident
• Liberty is not license but freedom to serve God and each other in love

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Faith Expressing Itself Through Love

Galatians 5:5-6 - But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 - We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:21 - I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Galatians 6:15 - Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.

Conclusions:

• The righteousness for which we hope is a reference to God's final verdict of not guilty, assured presently to the believer by faith and by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit
• The righteousness for which we hope is one of the few eschatological statements in Galatians
• Faith is not mere intellectual assent, but a living trust in God's grace that expresses itself in acts of love
• The triad of faith, hope and love is found often in the New Testament
• Faith produces action
• Hope is not unfounded wishful thinking, but firm confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ and His return
• To mingle legalism with grace distorts grace and makes a mockery of the cross
• In Christ man undergoes a transformation that results in an entirely new being
• Creation again takes place

Application:

• Do you have a living trust in God's grace that expresses itself in acts of love?
• Do you have firm confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ and His return?
• Do you mingle legalism with grace?
• Are you an entirely new being in Christ?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible