Bearing Burdens

Introduction

The Sinner and the Spiritual

The Sinner

“Anyone” is any brother or sister in the fellowship of believers.

“Caught in any transgression.” The brother is caught and while this language is no excuse for the one who sinned, it is a hint to the manner they should be treated by the more spiritual.

One who fell into sin unexpectedly.

One who is caught in a sinful habit.

One who has need of corperate restoration with the people of God, accompanied by repentance.

The ‘Spiritual’

The heart of Paul’s message to the Galatians, those who are prone to be legalistic also tend to have a high view of themselves and a low view of others. Paul’s response is that the truly spiritual, which to Paul means one filled with and empowered by the Spirit, will look at the weak Christian not with judgement and condemnation, but with gentle compassion and an earnest desire to see them restored.

In a sense, Paul is calling the bluff of those who think they are more righteous because of their obedience to the law. If they are truly so spiritual, their attitude towards the less mature or fallen Christian will be gentle restoration, not harsh condemnation.

Keeping Watch

Paul’s next instruction would be a hard hit for those who were feeling more comfortable in their own sense of sinlessness. Some may even take it as an insult, as if they need to watch out for the same sin that some weaker Christian fell into.

It is very often true that those who believe they are beyond a certain sin are most in danger of commiting it.

This keeps the most mature believers from being condescending or unfair or harsh towards weaker believers. It also keeps Christians who do not struggle with a certain kind of sin from judging Christians who do struggle with it, since we are called to be careful even with those sins.

Bearing and Boasting

Paul really gets to the crux of the matter in verse 3, “For if anyone thinks he is something when hee is nothing he deceives himself.”

What exactly is Paul getting at here?

How should we understand the word “for” and how it connects this statement to the bearing of burdens?

What it means to bear one another’s burdens.

In context, these burdens may be the sins that others struggle with and at times fall into, but it appears that Paul is thinking bigger than that. He is backing away from this specific event of reconciliation with the fallen brother and seeing it in a larger picture problem with self-righteous Christians. How one deals with the sins of other Christians says a lot about how that person will deal with any of the burdens their brother brings into the church.

The Law of Christ - What is the law of Christ? (one word response, wait for audience to say it), Love!

What does that mean? We know the old covenant law was built on love. The two great commandments which summerized the whole OT were to love God and to love God’s people.

From this bigger perspective, bearing with other Christians in love is a foundational way of fulfilling the law of Christ, as it is how a Christian loves his neighbour.

With that in mind, the connection to verse 3 emerges. Paul is likely addressing Christians who have been taken in by the Judaizer heresy and so we see that Paul’s problem was not only the academic theological, but also the practical outworking of that flawed works righteousness theology. Again, Paul is essentially saying to them, “if you believe that you are so spiritual, this is what true spirituality looks like.” With that in mind, we can read verse 3 and it makes perfect sense, “for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself.

In other words, if someone thinks they are very spiritual, they should see whether they keep the true law of love in how they deal with the burdens of fellow Christians. If that love is not there, than they are self-deceived about their righteousness.

Verse 4 confirms this, where Paul tells these self-righteous to test their own works rather than judgeing others. Then verse 5 seems to contradict verse 2. In verse 2 the spiritual man bears the burdens of the weak. But in verse 5 we read that each will have to bear his own load. How can we understand this?

Lets begin to answer that question by looking at Paul’s mention of boasting at the end of verse 4.

When we first read this verse, it seems that Paul is encouraging his readers to boast in themselves. Why is it implortant that they have a reason to boast in himself alone and not in his neighbour?

People who live and think in the flesh always boast falsely. As image bearers, we mean nothing in ourselves but only as far as we immitate the image in which we are made. A good image of someone is one that accurately represents and copies their features, and a bad image is one which does not resemble its likeness and instead calls attention to itself.

Those who are righteous are good image bearers, and when they boast they have the confidence to boast in the Lord. A great portrate calls attention to all the most attractive features of the one it represents, and so the righteous are judged.

Now Paul, in continuing his argument to the pharisaical in Galatia, warns that the burden of a Christian is to bear the burdens of others. That burden is a burden you can expect to carry alone, without entitlement. To be the only one in the church who loves, doing so without expectation of returned love. To love as God loves. So when it comes to helping others, we desire to share their burden, but when it comes to bearing the burden of love for others, we refuse to have an entitled mindset of returned love, mimiking the God whose kindness goes unnoticed everyday, and bear that load alone so that we may be able to boast, not in who we are but in the image we represent.

A true lawkeeper is someone who takes on the burden of love, and loves to take on the burdens of others. This is tested in the church, the broken but pure people of God, and then the righteous man may boast, not in his works but he will boast the image which he has successfully imitated. So this boasting in himself is not to boast in his works, but rather by his works of love and service to Christ and his church he boasts the love of God.

A Pharisee cannot boast, not truly. The fleshly boast of self-righteousness creates an outer illusion, but these boasts are hollow and easily knocked over, and so the self-righteous is prone to compare his failings with the failings of those they deem to be greater sinners, rather than comparing themselves to the image they are made to fill. That being the case, Paul tells those who want to be spiritual that instead of using the failings of others to justify yourself, you must bear the burden of love alone by bearing the burdens of those brothers.

Human ego runs on an economy of other people’s efforts and failings. It is impossible to have an ego if you know you are the worst. Legalists don’t want others to stop failing because their own self-perception depends on it. What God holds his righteous people to his righteous character, one that is characterized by patient, self-sacrificial love.

Conclusion