2nd August 2023 – Galatians 6:2-5

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbour. For each will have to bear his own load.


The 'burden' in 5, however, is different from that in 2. What Paul means is that there is always a tendency to develop a censorious, self-righteous spirit, and lay claim to a spiritual superiority over a fallen brother. Thus he warns, in 1, 'consider thyself'. All comparisons between ourselves and others must cease, and each man ought to aim at having his own work of such sterling worth that he will have something to boast about on his own account, and not in comparison with his fellows. There is, for every man, a burden of personal responsibility which he cannot shift to other shoulders, that can never be shared with another - his responsibility to God - and if he devotes his mind to it he will not have time or inclination to compare himself with others. This is the emphasis that Paul makes in passages like 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 solemn words which ought to take our eyes off the lives of others, and prevent us from ever adopting Peter's attitude in John 21:21, 22, when he said, 'Lord, and what shall this man do?', and earned the rebuke of our Lord, 'What is that to thee? Follow thou Me'. We have all responsibility enough in this sense to keep us from even a sidewards glance at others.