The Epistle to the Galatians
The Epistle to the Galatians
By Richard St.James
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2025
Chapter six:
Verse
one:
“Brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are
spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of
meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted.”
Now a fault is an
error, or a mistake, or a blunder,
or a defect, and is not necessarily a sin.
The first mention
of this word: fault, is found in the First
Book of Moses called Genesis, concerning the
butler:
Genesis 41:9: “Then
spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do
remember my faults this day:”
The goal for the
Bible-believing Christian [which is a
spiritual man] is to restore another
[believer] who has been overtaken with a fault.
[Mind you, this spiritual man is one who is
walking in the Spirit.] Walking in
the Spirit indicates one, who is in the
spirit of meekness. Meekness is a
fruit of the Spirit.
A natural ally to
truth, and righteousness, along
with humility, and a submission to the
will of God…is the spiritual man. And inside
the spiritual man, is another fruit called
meekness. Now, the attribute of
meekness makes the spiritual man…a
ministering servant. He has a servant
attitude.
This servant attitude
allows this same brother, or sister, to
be able to be the one, enabled to resist evil
temptations, while he is involved in a
restorative process with the one, that
has been overtaken with a fault.
Here is the noble goal:
For us to be a ministering servant, with true
desire to restore a brother, or a sister,
that has been overtaken with a fault.
Verse
two: “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so
fulfil the law of Christ.”
There ought to be
in the New Testament body of Christ, which
is the church, a demonstration of the Spirit
of fervent charity, and hospitality, among
the brethren in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter,
through the Holy Ghost, commanded, that this
thing ought to be so, in the First Epistle of
Peter:
Charity and
Hospitality:
1 Peter 4:8-10: “And
above all things have fervent charity among
yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of
sins.
Use hospitality one to
another without grudging.
As every man hath
received the gift, even so minister the same
one to another, as good stewards of the manifold
grace of God.”
Observation: This
charity uses hospitality in a beautiful
display that warms the body of Christ.
Verse
three: “For if a man think himself to be
something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself.”
Now, if we choose not
to walk in the Spirit of God, then we will
all in a short time encounter a slippery slope,
that goes downhill, and rather fast.
And what we will find at the end of this
trip? We will find that the wrong dog
is winning. This dog, that wins, is THE
FLESH. And the DEVIL smiles!
And before we realize
it, we will have descended downhill
so fast, to the point that were only producing
the works of the flesh. Watch out,
here! The flesh has a mind of its own.
The flesh will take you down, further than
you ever wanted to go, before even you know it.
Beware: The flesh
only produces the works of the flesh:
i.e. adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings, and such like.
The Lukewarm Churches
of the Last One Hundred Years:
“I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou
wert cold or hot.
So then because thou
art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I
am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
[Revelation 3:15-17]
This is the reason why
the Laodicean churches in the last century
[the 20th century] descended into
apostasy to never recover again.
Their sin: Well, they become puffed up
with their worldly riches. They became
proudly materialistic with all their
fancy and large buildings. Now, these lukewarm
churches with their egos running unchecked
into the 21st century have fully embraced
over 200 translations of new age Bibles. Apostasy
has long rolled in to the churches.
Here is an observation:
Carnality has displaced the
spiritual man in the churches:
“…intruding into those
things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up
by his fleshly mind,
[Colossians 2:18b]
Well, what happened to
those churches? Well, I will
tell you what happened to them. Ichabod
has been placed on all their doors of their works.
And why? Because, the LORD
knew their works. HE has spued them
out of His mouth. HE is done with them.
And why? Well, because they were only
lukewarm. “I would thou wert cold or
hot.”
This is what happens,
every time, whenever the flesh
becomes puffed up. The flesh,
here, has won. Sad, but this is true!
Now, brethren please,
learn from all this. To please
God, and for us to grow spiritually, we need
to feed on, or immerse ourselves into the
word of God, and BELIEVE THE BOOK to once again,
walk in the Spirit.
This will involve us,
crucifying our flesh daily. This is
what is called spiritual warfare. Now,
let the dog [which is the flesh] go without
food. Do not feed him. Do not coddle
him. Just let him wither, by walking in the
Spirit!
Verse
four: “But let every man prove his own work, and
then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and
not in another.”
Now, to be fruitful,
as the believers in Jesus Christ, we are to
prove ourselves by maintaining of good
works, in an obedience, to the word of God,
as is shown in the Epistle to Titus:
Titus 3:8: “This is
a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou
affirm constantly, that they which have believed in
God might be careful to maintain good works. These
things are good and profitable unto men.”
Now, if we just skip down
six verses [in this chapter], we will see:
Titus 3:14: “And let
ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary
uses, that they be not unfruitful.”
Now, put
what you have just read, together with what, we
have already seen, line upon line, line
upon line; here a little, and there a little,
with the Epistle to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:10: “For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them.”
For if, a Christian is
to bear fruit, the
workmanship of Jesus Christ, inside of him,
must perform the maintenance of good
works.
Now, if, we maintain
these prepared works, we
will, then be found, walking in the Spirit,
and not pleasing the flesh.
Verse
five: “For every man shall bear his own burden.”
There is set, in
the church, a ministry of helps [1
Corinthians 12:28] This
ministry of helps ministers to those with
burdens. In verse two, we have already
been commanded to bear one another's burdens, and
so fulfil the law of Christ. But here, in
verse five, we are told that every man shall bear
his own burden. Now, is there a
contradiction found here? There is no
contradiction!
Let me explain.
Yes, we ought to bear one another’s burdens
in a fervent display of charity, and
with hospitality, however, this does not
eliminate the ultimate responsibility, for one to
bear his own burden, or load in life.
The command to bear one another’s burden is
meant to only lighten the burden, and not
to eliminate the burden.
The only way our
burden can made easy, is to take the
yoke of Jesus Christ upon you, which is done by
receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior,
and as your Lord.
Matthew 11:30-31:
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto
your souls.
For my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light.”
In the book of Psalms,
it is seen, that God removed the heavy burden
of the bondage of the Egyptians, which they
[The Egyptians] had placed upon Israel.
Now, recall, Egypt is a
type of the world. The world is
cruel. And why? Because, the god of
this world is Satan [2 Corinthians 4:4].
It is no wonder, that the world is such a cruel
place.
So, Israel was under the
cruel bondage of the DEVIL in Egypt. So, now,
what did the LORD do for them?
Psalm 81:6: “I removed
his shoulder from the burden: his hands were
delivered from the pots.”
Next, the people were
delivered from their trouble in the wilderness:
Rejoice! The
LORD is good!
Psalm 34:8: “O taste
and see that the LORD is good: blessed is
the man that trusteth in him.”
So, now, what did the
LORD do, again, and again, for the people?
Psalm 81:7: “Thou
calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I
answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I
proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.”
So, the solution
to the burden problem, is this found,
again, in the book of Psalms:
Psalms 55:22: “Cast
thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee:
he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
So, my friend,
what should you do? You should
cast your burden upon the LORD! Jesus will
lighten the load! Amen!
So, this light burden,
that all we need to bear, is this: TO TRUST
HIM, to love HIM, and love the words of GOD, by
walking in the Spirit, and producing the
fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, every man shall
bear his own burden. But, the burden
placed on us, has already been made light, in
Jesus Christ, with much joy!
Verse
six: “Let him that is taught in the word
communicate unto him that teacheth in all good
things.”
Maximin: One
communicates to give sustenance to the other
with joy.
And, this connection
is mutual. Those who receive the
spiritual things, ought to be those, who give
of their carnal things.
A practical application:
Those who receive the word of God from
the preacher, ought to give of their own
sustenance provision to the preacher for his
labor among them.
Romans 15:27: “It hath
pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For
if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their
spiritual things, their duty is also to minister
unto them in carnal things.”
We, the Gentiles,
have been made the partakers of spiritual things!
The pastor is to
be seen, in type, as an OX. This
analogy is shown by the Apostle Paul in the
First Epistle to the Corinthians. The
Schoolmaster, which is the Law of Moses,
makes this connection for us, in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 9:9-14:
“For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt
not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the
corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
Or saith he it
altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt,
this is written: that he that ploweth should
plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope
should be partaker of his hope.
If we have sown unto
you spiritual things, is it a great thing if
we shall reap your carnal things?
If others be partakers
of this power over you, are not we
rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power;
but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the
gospel of Christ.
Do ye not know that
they which minister about holy things live of the
things of the temple? and they which wait at the
altar are partakers with the altar?
Even so hath the Lord
ordained that they which preach the gospel should
live of the gospel.”
Verse
seven: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
This is a basic law
called; sowing and reaping. What we
sow, is what we also, shall reap. What
goes around, will come around.
There is a warning
here. We will all be found
out, before Him, at the judgment seat of
Christ, as recorded in the Second Epistle
of Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ;
that every one may receive the things done in
his body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad.”
By the WORDS of
the BOOK, we shall all be found “naked
with whom we have to do” according to the
Epistle to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 4:13: “Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his
sight: but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to
do.”
Communicate;
give to him, who gives you spiritual food:
Luke 6:38: “Give, and it
shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,
and shaken together, and running over, shall men
give into your bosom. For with the same measure that
ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
Rule: Sow, that which
is pure, and right! And, always
follow peace with all men while you are in
your fields of life.
Exhortation: “Follow
peace with all men, and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord:”
[Hebrews 12:14
To sum: Whatsoever a
man soweth, is what he shall also reap!
So, it would behoove us
to examine ourselves in this matter of
giving. It may even be good to question
ourselves to whether, or not, we have been truly
born of the Spirit by the Holy Ghost,
if we are not feeding our Ox.
So, Examine
Yourselves:
We can see for this
command for ourselves in the First Epistle of
Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 13:5:
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;
prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be
reprobates?”
Brethren: If, we now,
live, according to the flesh, to sow the
works of the flesh i.e. adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like, we
will reap corruption.
Verse
eight: “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of
the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
What we see here, are the
total opposites. Corruption is
seen to be now, the opposite to having life
everlasting. The tares
have been sown among the wheat [Matthew
13:25]. In the final analysis, the proof shall
be found in the pudding.
Matthew 7:20:
“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
Now, the Apostle Paul
gives, both, a stern instruction and a
warning to us, in the Second Epistle to Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:19:
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure,
having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are
his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity.”
Then, may the fear of
the LORD be in every professing believer in
Jesus Christ. The command for us is clear:
Depart from iniquity!
Verse nine: “And
let us not be weary in
well doing:
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
This is a reliable
statement, that follows: From a good heart
there springs up good. “Well doing”
always does good to another. More
exactly, “Well doing” on the part of one,
ministers a service to the benefit
of the other person, or persons. Read
for this truth in the Epistle to the
Ephesians:
Ephesians 6:7: “With
good will good service, as to the
Lord, and not to men:”
“Well doing”, by
the brethren, in the body of Christ, the church, is
like oil. The presence of
this oil, is what maintains, the day-to-day,
fellowship of the believers in Jesus Christ.
The Christian, who is walking in the Spirit,
produces by his thoughts, and his actions [or
deeds], a constant flow of the oil of “well
doing”.
Maxim: “Well doing”
thus, seeks to shine into eternity with her
lasting fruit:
Romans 2:7: “To them
who by patient continuance in well doing seek for
glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:”
Please brother, or
sister, in Christ: Persist, in well doing,
keep it up through the love of Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3:13:
“But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.”
Remember, “well doing”
is the will of God:
1 Peter 2:15: “For so
is the will of God, that with
well doing ye may put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men:”
Take note: “Well
doing” may involve, our suffering.
So, brethren, gird up the loins of your
mind:
1 Peter 3:17: “For
it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye
suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.”
FACT: “Well doing”
pleases God:
1 Peter 4:19:
“Wherefore let them that suffer according to the
will of God commit the keeping of their souls to
him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Verse
ten: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do
good unto all men, especially unto them who
are of the household of faith.”
Question: How are we
to be good to all men? We see how
in the book of Proverbs:
Proverbs 11:30: “The fruit
of the righteous is a tree of life; and he
that winneth souls is wise.”
1.
Well, we should be fishers of men,
seeking to win these lost souls to Jesus Christ.
2.
Next, we should become as weak,
and this, for a reason:
1 Corinthians 9:22: “To the
weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I
am made all things to all men, that I might
by all means save some.”
Now, where does this desire for
the souls of men come from? Well,
it comes from, Christ-in-you!!!
Now, the flesh cannot understand this.
For it is supernatural.
Remember: The Christian
who walks in the Spirit will show forth the
fruit of the Spirit, which is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, and temperance. We
saw all this earlier, when we were commenting on
verses twenty-two, and twenty-three, in chapter
five.
The very presence
of this fruit, inside of you, will cause
you to have a great swelling desire, within
your heart, to win the lost souls of men.
What is more, this
supernatural fruit, within the Spirit-filled
Christian, will never render evil for evil to
men, and especially, toward those, in the body of
Christ. This command to the Christian is found
in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians
will be found easy to obey:
1 Thessalonians 5:15: “See
that none render evil for evil unto any man;
but ever follow that which is good, both among
yourselves, and to all men.”
Verse
eleven: “Ye see how large a letter I have written
unto you with mine own hand.”
The BOOK of GOD,
which, in the English language, is the King James
Bible, shows the Apostle Paul, quite
often, dictated his epistles to one, or more, of
his coworkers. For instance:
· The Epistle
to the Colossians was written by Tychicus
and Onesimus.
· The Epistle
to the Ephesians was written by Tychicus.
· The Epistle
to the Romans was written by Tertius.
· The First
Epistle to the Corinthians was written by
Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus, and
Timotheus.
· The Second
Epistle to the Corinthians was written by
Titus and Lucas.
· The Epistle
to the Philippians was written by
Epaphroditus.
· The book of
Hebrews was written by Timothy.
However, here, in this
letter, or epistle, Paul had
written to them [the Galatians], literally
with his own hand.
Verse
twelve: “As many as desire to make a fair shew in
the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised;
only lest they should suffer persecution for the
cross of Christ.”
Remember
this: The Pharisees [which believed] seemed to
be more concerned about outward appearance of
a man, rather than what is in the heart of a
man. Read this verse, again:
Acts 15:5: “But there rose
up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which
believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise
them, and to command them to keep the law of
Moses.”
For the
Pharisees [and all, such like], the
external things, have been elevated above, the
internal things. Their judgments
are, therefore, perverted, and often results
in the true believers in Jesus Christ being
imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Read
history! [Note: See Foxes Book of Martyrs.]
Verse
thirteen: “For neither they themselves who are
circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you
circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.”
Those,
who subscribe to the keeping of the Law of God,
do not themselves, keep the Law of God.
Jesus Christ therefore, called them, hypocrites!
Watch out for Snakes:
Matthew 3:7: “But when he
saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his
baptism, he said unto them, O generation of
vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the
wrath to come?”
Matthew 12:34: “O
generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil,
speak good things? for out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh.”
Matthew 23:33: “Ye
serpents, ye generation of vipers, how
can ye escape the damnation of hell?”
Brethren, these are the same
people, who are ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
[Romans 1:16]. What they
really need now, is to be made clean, on the
inside, by faith through the blood of
the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ:
Matthew 23:25: “Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but
within they are full of extortion and excess.”
We have here, now,
enough said!
Verse
fourteen: “But God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world.”
Observation: Every
soul, that has been truly saved, in the last
two thousand years, shines with the glories
of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which his
salvation has come.
However, soon, we will
all glory in Jesus Christ, before the throne of
glory in the third HEAVEN, as shown in this
scene, which is found in the book of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ:
Revelation 4:11: “Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and
power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created.”
All GLORY to God the Father,
and to the Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen!
Verse
fifteen: “For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature.”
The inner work by
the Holy Ghost needs first, to be done inside
of a man. Reformation on the
outside, will not help a man’s soul.
A man needs in the heart, on the inside to be
born again [spiritually].
A New Creature:
John 3:3-6: “Jesus answered
and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter
the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit.”
2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new.”
Amen!
Verse
sixteen: “And as many as walk according to this
rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon
the Israel of God.”
This peace, and mercy,
are for only all those, who are IN CHRIST.
Remember, IN CHRIST means, that the Christian is
inside of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is
inside the Christian [by the Holy Ghost].
GOD DWELLS IN US!
Romans 8:11: “But if the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth
in you.”
Now note: The Israel
of God, here, in this verse, is the whole
family in heaven and earth:
“Of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named,
[Ephesians 3:15].
Note: This is different
from the commonwealth of Israel:
“That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world:” [Ephesians 2:12].
Verse seventeen:
“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear
in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”
The marks received
in his body represent the sum-total of
everything, that Paul went through in his ministry
on earth for Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:24-30: “Of
the Jews five times received I forty stripes
save one.
Thrice was I beaten with
rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered
shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the
deep;
In journeyings often,
in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in
perils among false brethren;
In weariness and
painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of all the churches.
Who is weak, and I am not
weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
If I must needs glory, I
will glory of the things which concern mine
infirmities.”
The Apostle Paul, we
might say, “went through the ringer,” and all
to the glory of Jesus Christ. We will
suffer for Christ’s sake, too:
“For unto you
it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on him, but also to
suffer for his sake;” [Philippians 1:29]
Verse
eighteen: “Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Unto the
Galatians written from Rome.”
Paul wrote this
epistle, from his own hand, in a constant
labor for the souls of Galatia.
We will now, close this commentary here.
Amen.
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