Bible Study November 19, 2024
Galatians 6:2 (ESV)
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
As we read this several thoughts come to mind. Was Paul talking about a person living in deep sin with no hope of ever changing? Or was he talking about the believer who has fallen away over something in his life?
I believe it is the second situation in Galatians as we read today. “Caught” to me seems as though the believer has messed up. “Contains the idea of falling. It is not the deliberate, the planned, aspect of sin that is stressed here, but rather the unwitting element. Mistake rather than misdeed is the force of the word, though without absolution of responsibility.” (Ridderbos, cited in Morris).
As I read this I was reminded of Ham the son of Noah, who saw his drunken father lying naked in his tent. Rather than covering him up he told his brothers who honored their father and backed up into his tent and covered him. How much better off would Ham’s descendants (the Canaanites) be if Ham would only have taken that step.
Secondly, the one taken in sin must be restored. But often we wonder how that is done. Scripture is clear on the restoration process. First, one goes and attempts restoration and if the fails two or more are to go. If that fails then the person is removed from fellowship. Our prayer and goal should be restoration.
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” Charles Dickens.
God Bless.
Asbury Chapel 