Galatians 6

Paul wanted the Galatians to facilitate the restoration of a man who was overtaken by sin, while being contrastive on themselves so that they were not tempted as well. This was a theme of 2 Corinthians: forgive and receive the repentant sinner.

Bearing each other's burdens is a part of leadership. Leaders bear pain; leaders do not inflict pain. Notice also, this was connected to fulfilling the "law of Christ." Bearing the burdens of others would be done in love: giving them a value without expecting anything in return.

When a man is in pride he deceives himself. Thinking you are "something" is a right WHAT. Being "nothing" is a wrong HOW/WHY, which is similar to being a "reprobate/castaway": appearing to be something good, but not actually having the value/worth/works.

Think contrastively; consider you could be wrong. This will cause you to have glory in who you ARE and you will not be dependent on having glory because of others, you will not be a reprobate/castaway.

We are accountable for our own actions. A person must learn to bear their own burden before bearing the burdens of others.

Verse 7 spoke directly toward causality. Denying causality is mocking God because it implies that God is not the First Cause.

Paul gave examples of causality: sow into your flesh and you will reap corruption; sow into the Spirit and you will reap eternal life.

You will not get worn out from doing good to others if you have a correct understanding of causality and Justice.

We ought to do good to all men but especially other believers. Doing good to other believers will result in profitability with each other, which Jesus said was proof to unbelievers that we are believers: when we love other believers.

Many scholars stated that verse 11 meant that Paul had bad vision and had to write with large letters. Paul had dictated his other letters. Some translations interpreted this verse as "See how large of a letter I write unto you with mine own hand." The reason being if Paul had to write with large letters because he couldn't see well, then he probably wouldn't have written the letter himself, but had someone write it for him. The greater implication was that this letter was longer than what we have here because the rest of the letter was the Book of Hebrews. We will look at that perspective during the Book of Hebrews. Regardless, we can see that Paul wrote this letter himself.

Paul concluded with a warning: the false teachers that convinced others to keep the Law were hypocrites because they did not keep the Law themselves. Paul stated these false teachers were glorying in their ability to make others follow the Law. Paul stated he only gloried in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Once again, Paul reminded the Galatians that circumcision, in and of itself, was not good and was not bad.

The "marks of Jesus" on Paul's body were the scars he had because of the beatings he undertook. Clearly Paul felt good about these scars in that he called them the "marks of Jesus."

Theme of Chapter 6: Paul concluded this letter by reminding the Galatians of the main points of his letter. Specifically, Paul emphasized to the Galatians that they were free and saved without the Law and the Law would not only add nothing, it would put them in bondage. Paul stated the false teachers that convinced others to keep the Law were hypocrites because they did not keep the Law themselves. Paul reminded the Galatians that circumcision, in and of itself, was not good and was not bad.

The Book of Galatians was originally written as a letter to the believers in southern Galatia, which was a Roman province in what is now Turkey. Galatia was the area where, on his first missionary journey, Paul established the congregations in Pisidia Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. This letter was written by Paul around 68 AD from Rome during his time in prison. While this was the fourth book of the section of the New Testament known as the Pauline Epistles, it also began a mini-section of epistles known as the Prison Epistles because they were all written while Paul was in prison. Paul wrote this letter to encourage new believers not to listen to false teachers who were attempting to convince the Galatians they needed to be under the Law in order to have Salvation.