We’ve reached the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
Galatians 5:26 leads into Chapter 6, so let’s start reading there. Read Galatians 5:26-6:18 aloud.
This comes from commentary in The Interpreter’s Bible, which I borrowed from the library here at the Bellaire Methodist Church to use during this study. It was published in 1953, describing the era during which Paul wrote this letter.
“Some Christians were fanatically conservative, while others inclined to patronize the world’s Vanity Fair…Professing to be experts in discerning the truth, they succeeded only in becoming windbags. They could not build up the church because they were driven by competition, envy, and conceit, not motivated by love’s esteem and helpfulness. The right stood in terror of the iconoclasm of the left, and the radicals labeled all other men reactionaries. Each denounced the other before the tribunal of his own beliefs and standards. Both sides professed to love liberty and defend it, but neither was willing to grant it to the other.” (p 572)
Sound familiar? So it’s with this background that we can understand what Paul was talking about when he admonishes us to not become conceited, or to compare ourselves to others. Then he goes on to explain how to treat others who may have fallen into the temptation of sin, probably the sin of pride and conceit because 1) he’d already mentioned it and 2) because then he goes on to talk more about pridefulness.
And he talks about the consequence of pridefulness and conceit, that we reap the harvest of what we sow. The goal then is to sow, not to please ourselves, but to please the Spirit. How we live our lives demonstrates the work of the Holy Spirit in us. So this advice seems entirely appropriate on the heels of the previous passage and discussion on the fruit of the Spirit.
So, Paul says, we may grow tired of doing good because sometimes the result, or harvest, of the sowing comes much later. But persevere in doing it anyway, because then the love of God is put on full display.
Now Paul is closing out his letter, having said basically everything he wanted to say. He even adds a summary in his own handwriting, rather than having his writing secretary write it. He makes a final comment on the legalists and advises that we brag about nothing except in the cross of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Because nothing about the law counts for salvation. The only thing that counts is to receive the truth of the Gospel, be born again, become a new creation.
The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume X – The Epistle to the Galatians, Copyright 1953 by Pierce and Washabaugh in the Unites States of America, Published by Parthenon Press, Nashville TN
Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 2: New Testament, Kenneth L. Barker & John Kohlenberger III, Consulting Editors, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI
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