The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 364

(3) Burden of spiritual, need. We. mean the burden connected with our living the Christian life. For w~_have all our sgiri~n~l difficulties. We fin~ !t hard, with our natural weakness, to live up to the Chnetum standard. As Chr1stmns, we 1!.li need encouragement.. Now, the ordinance of Christ is that we are to bear this b\J.rden for one anot-her. We are to assist one another against the evil of our hearts, agajqet the temptations of life. For this _purpose we are constituted_ into a society and. ~ot left each to live the Christian life apart by ourselves. As members of the s~me Christian society, we are to be interested not least in one another's highest welfare, Jt 'is very encouraging to think that there are persons interested in us as spiritual beings 'who have passed through similar experiences themselves, and who are, therefore, anxioris' to do us all the good that lies in their power. While very sad must it be to be po11Sessedwith such a thought as that which possessed the psalmist-we have all felt a little of it in certain moods-" I looked on my rigbt band and beheld, but there was no one that would know me, refuge failed me, no man cared for my soul." The burden to which we are specially referred in the context is the burden of trespass with which a br~ther is· weicrhted.. Of a all burdens, the only intolerable burden is sin. Far more than the burden whi~h fellow- man may lay upon us, or than what God may see. fit to lay µpon us, is who.t we lay upon ourselves when we incur guilt. Of all positions in which human beinas may be placed, the worst is that of impenitence, of insensibility to sin, ,.Next fo thtt is when a we have been awakened and have afterward been overtaken ,in ~respass. When there is want or sensibility as to the evil of what we have done, that is ap aggravatina cir- cumstance. Now, we are to feel burdened with the burden of our brothec's tri:pass. We are to feel vexed and saddened that he has fallen, even as though we had fallen ourselves. Vve are not to feel for him as though be had been simply unfortunate, but we are to feel for him as placed in the grievous position of having si_nned against God. Our sympathy is not to amount to tolerating sin in him. Neither can it avail to relieve him from his guilt. But it may avail to increase his sensibility to sin, and to encourage the desire in him to he delivered from his awful position. Th~ apostle's t83:ching; in keeping with eh. v. 14, is that the hearing of one another's burdens gives completeness to our filling up of the Law. . . .. IL VAIN-GLor:rous WAY OF TB.EATING A FALLEN BROTHER. 1. The root ef the evil. "For if a man thinketh himself to he something, when he is nothiug, he deceiveth himself." It is true that he who triumphs" over a brother in his faJ4 injures bim, by discouraging him from coming back to the paths of rectitude. • But tne apostle, goes to the root of the matter when he says that be practises deception on_ himself. He thinks himself to be something when he is nothing. That is true of th11 vain-glorious _man, That in respect of which he raises himself above his neighbour is, unreal, or he is in the way of making it unreal b_y the spirit in which he regards it. And thus in ~h!I false HI1port.an.ce he att..ches to himself he is prevented from being sympathetic. He does not bear his neighbour's burden, because he does not feel his own. 2. Corrective1 C' But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have bis glorying in regard of him- self alone, and not of his neighbour." Let him apply the proper te.sts. Let hiµi not, cow pare himself, especially with one with whom he thinks be can .compare favourably. But let hiw compare himself with the Bible standard. Let him ·compare himself with the example of Christ. Let him apply the' test of humility, "God resisteth ~he . proud, but be "iveth grace to the humble." Let him apply the test of brotherly love; •· We know th:tt we have passed from death into life, because 'l\"e love the brethren." The result of this self-examination will be to bring us to reality. If we have the root of the matter in us, then we shall be able to discover the working of Divine grace in us. And if there is also evil discovered, then that, being reason for our being humbled before God, will lead to our having more reality. And then, through self-examinat_ion, shall we have matter for gloryiog in regard of ourselves alone, and not of our neighbour. 3 Reason for ,el,f-exa11,i11ation. "For each man shall bear his own burden." It was llaid in the second verse, "Bear ye one another's burdens." Here it is added, with suffi- ::ient nearness to be paradoxical, "For each man shall bear his own burden.'( The first representation was that of standing beside a brother, holding up bis burden for him. The representation here is that of each man standing solitarily by himself, bearing hie '.ll\'n burden. Strong but not very conclusive assertions ara made that this i~ n~t the. burden of rC111JOll6ibility, The burden to which reforenpe was made at the be~mn1n51; o{ oi,. TI. 1-18.J 'l'HE ErI~TLE TQ XHE. GALATIANS. 331