Chapter 6

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians — Chapter Six

¹ Chapter Six. Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in some trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. Since many, thinking that they were rebuking those who sinned, were in fact giving vent to their own passions, coming to this out of a love of domineering, he says that if anyone be overtaken—that is, be caught off guard, having suffered an assault from a demon—you who are spiritual, restore him; that is, Do not punish, but set him right in a spirit of meekness. He did not say, In meekness, but, In a spirit of meekness, showing both that this seems good also to the Spirit, and that it is a spiritual gift to set right those who sin with gentleness.

² Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. So that the one who restores another may not be lifted up, he secures him. For consider, he says, and keep watch over yourself, lest you too fall into the same things, suffering temptation from the adversary. And he spoke emphatically the word

³ You. For through it he called to mind human weakness.

⁴ Bear one another’s burdens. For since, being human, it is not possible to be without sin, he exhorts us not to be exacting toward our neighbor’s sins, but to bear them, so that our own sins in turn may be borne by another.

⁵ And so fulfill the law of Christ. He did not say, Fulfill, but, Fill up together; that is, All of you in common fulfill it, through the things by which you bear one another. For example, let the quick man bear with the sluggish, and the sluggish with the other’s vehement impulse; and thus neither will the one go astray while borne by the other, nor the other by him. And in this way, stretching out a hand to one another, fulfill through one another the law of Christ, each one filling up whatever is lacking in his neighbor by bearing with him. For in another way too, bearing one another’s burdens belongs to love; and love is the fulfilling of the commandments of Christ.

⁶ For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Here again he casts down arrogance, showing that the one who thinks himself to be something is nothing, this very thinking being brought forward as proof of his own nothingness; and he deceives no one else, but himself.

⁷ But let each one prove his own work, and then he will have his boasting in himself alone, and not in another. Let him examine, he says, his own deeds with exactness (for this is what let him prove means), whether he did them not for vainglory, not in hypocrisy, not from some other human motive; and then let him not boast against another. But if indeed he stands beyond reproach, let him have his boasting in himself—that is, comparing himself with himself, let him reckon today’s work better than yesterday’s, and rejoice in the good work. Yet Paul says these things by way of concession, not as laying down a law, so that little by little he may strip away the boastings of such a character. For the one who has been habituated not to boast over his neighbor, as the Pharisee did, will quickly cease also from exulting over himself.

⁸ For each one shall bear his own load. For why do you boast over your neighbor? Both you and he shall bear your own loads, and then each one’s work shall be proved. So then, since you too have loads and burdens, neither boast against another, nor exult over yourself in your good deeds.

⁹ But let him who is taught the word share with him who teaches in all good things. He now discourses concerning teachers, that those who are taught by them should share with their teachers—not in some one thing, but in all good things: imparting food, clothing, honor, good will, and, in a word, all good things. For you receive greater things than you give; for in exchange for carnal things, spiritual things. Therefore he also calls the matter a sharing, since a giving-in-return takes place. And for what reason did Christ ordain that teachers be supported by their disciples? For these two reasons: that the teachers might not be greatly lifted up, but, as being in need of their disciples, might be modest-minded, and that they might devote themselves to the word alone, not being distracted over food; and that the disciples, in their gratitude toward their teachers, might be trained to be the same toward others also, and at the same time might not be ashamed, even when they themselves are poor and begging, seeing that their very teachers are such.

¹⁰ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Since often certain people, blaming their teachers as living a bad life, look down upon them and do not support them in their poverty, he says, as he goes on, that in doing good let us not grow weary; and now too he shows that one ought to be unsparing even toward such teachers, since the expenditure is made for a spiritual matter. Comparing, then, the expenditures made for carnal things and those made for spiritual things, he says: If you spend on the flesh, preparing tables and delicacies, and sowing drunkenness and luxury and gluttony, you will reap corruption; for these things both perish themselves, and corrupt the body along with them. But if you sow to the Spirit—that is, to spiritual works, doing almsgiving toward all and pursuing self-control—you will reap life everlasting. For God is not mocked or deceived, but renders to each then what is his own. It is better, therefore, to spend on spiritual things, among which is included also the expenditure for teachers, than on carnal indulgences that perish and corrupt the body. For from indulgences and excesses come diseases.

¹¹ But in doing good, let us not grow weary; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Now he reveals more plainly that, even if those who are in need of us be wicked, we ourselves should not grow weary in doing good to them. And he indicates both bounty and continual giving by saying that we must not grow weary. Then, since he had demanded something great, he sets down the reward at once, that we shall reap. How? If we faint not—that is, having no toil, but all rest. For here there are droughts and toils in the harvest; but there it is not so.

¹² So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all, but especially toward those who are of the household of faith. Just as it is not always the season for sowing, so neither for showing mercy; and the virgins and Lazarus make this plain. So long, then, as we have the season in this life, let us work that which is good not only toward teachers, but also toward Greeks and Jews—that is, beneficence, almsgiving. We must not, however, use the same measure toward these and toward those who are of the household of faith, but show greater generosity toward the faithful. For this is what he indicates by the word especially. And observe how in this too he leads them away from Jewish narrowness; seeing that the law opened its bowels of compassion toward those of the same race, but grace calls land and sea alike to the table of mercy—though not in equal measure, as has been said.

¹³ See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. Having said a little on the ethical theme, he returns again to the former matters, those that gnaw at his heart, and makes plain that he himself wrote the whole Epistle with his own hand, not only that he might display his love toward them, but also that he might remove an evil suspicion. For he was being slandered as one who preached different things in different places; he was compelled, therefore, to set down a written testimony of his own preaching. And yet, while others wrote his other epistles, he himself wrote, if anything, only the salutation. And the phrase with what large is not indicative of size, but of the unshapeliness of the letters, as if he were saying: Although I do not know how to write very well, nonetheless I was compelled to write the Epistle in my own hand.

¹⁴ As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, these constrain you to be circumcised. As many, he says, as desire to be well thought of in the flesh—that is, among men, the Jews namely (for they were reproached among them as having forsaken their ancestral customs)—these constrain you to be circumcised, making their defense to the Jews by means of your flesh. And by saying they constrain, he showed that they endured these things unwillingly, giving them an occasion to withdraw, as men now stumbling against their will.

¹⁵ Only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. And for another reason too, he says, they do this; for in order that they may not be persecuted and driven on account of the cross and the faith, as transgressors of it, they, being circumcised, wish to have others also as partners in their circumcision.

¹⁶ For not even those who are circumcised keep the law themselves, but they wish you to be circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. Not only out of men-pleasing, he says, but also out of love of vainglory do they do these things. For they perform this neither out of zeal for the law, nor for the sake of piety, he says, but out of love of vainglory, that they may boast in your flesh; that is, That they may boast in cutting up your flesh, as your teachers, having you for disciples.

¹⁷ But God forbid that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those men, he says, boast in circumcision, a thing that has been abolished; but God forbid that I should boast in anything else, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (that is, in faith in the Crucified), who has abolished the law. And as of something forbidden he prayed it away, calling also upon God’s alliance for this. But how does one boast in the cross? Because, For my sake, the worthless one, my Master was crucified, having loved me so greatly as even to give himself up. The cross, therefore, is the boast of Paul and of every believer, since in it is shown the love of the Master toward us. And what servant does not boast when he is loved by his master?

¹⁸ Through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. By “world” he means the affairs of this life—glory, wealth, luxury. These, then, have become dead to me, and I in turn am dead to them, a double deadness having come about. For neither can those things lay hold of me, since they are dead; nor can I run to them, for I am dead.

¹⁹ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. Do not speak to me, he says, of circumcision, which can do nothing and is useless, just as uncircumcision is also. For Christ made all things new, and requires of us another way of life. For the life according to Christ is a new creation, because now our souls, grown old in sin, have been made new again by baptism; and because in the age to come we shall be honored with incorruption and glory, having our bodies also made new and made incorruptible. As many, therefore, as abide by this rule of the new way of life according to Christ, fleeing the circumcision that has grown old and become powerless, shall attain to peace with God, being delivered from the sins that wage war against God on our behalf, and shall be deemed worthy of his love for mankind—no longer hated as enemies of God, but deemed worthy of mercy, since peace has come to them through the cross and through grace. And such men are also Israel in the proper sense, as seeing God; whereas those who are not such, even if they be Israelites by race, are so called falsely. And this Paul received from David, who says: Peace be upon Israel.

²⁰ From now on let no one cause me troubles. He says this not as one shrinking back, nor as one who has grown weary. For how could he, who exhorts, Be ready in season, out of season? Rather, it is because he wishes the laws laid down by him to remain unshaken, and so that they may not expect anything else from him, but may receive full assurance that he preaches in this way.

²¹ For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. I have a defense, he says, against those who tell you that I am a hypocrite and preach circumcision elsewhere: the marks and the perils endured for Christ. For these, more brilliantly than any voice, bear witness that it was not for the law, but for the teaching according to Christ, that I exposed myself to danger. And he did not say, I have, but, I bear, as one bears a trophy or a royal ensign, and in these I exult.

²² The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. By praying for them, he shows that it was not in anger and hostility that he said what he said. And this is not only a prayer, but also a teaching, setting a seal upon all that has been said. For he reminds them of the grace they enjoyed, not through the law, but by having believed in Christ. And he did not say, With you, but, With your spirit, leading them away from carnal things, and showing that they received the Spirit not from the law, but from grace; and that it is not the law, nor circumcision, but grace that is able to preserve the Spirit for them, just as it also gave it. But by addressing them as brethren as well, he called to mind the font, from which we become brethren, being sons of one Father, who is God, and not from the law. And may the grace of God be with us also, as we live spiritually and do not cast away the divine sanctification of the Paraclete in the mire of sins, but ever procure more of it for ourselves in Christ Jesus our Lord, who has shown forth the new and spiritual life through the doing away of the old and bodily life. To whom be the glory unto the ages. Amen.