absence the false apostles went
to work in Galatia. They pretended that they had been on intimate terms
with the apostles, while Paul had never seen Christ in person or had
much contact with the rest of the apostles. Because of this they
delivered him, rejected his doctrine, and boosted their own. In this
way they troubled the Galatians and caused quarrels among them until
they provoked and envied each other; which goes to show that neither
the false apostles nor the Galatians walked after the Spirit, but after
the flesh.

The Gospel is not there for us to aggrandize ourselves. The Gospel is
to aggrandize Christ and the mercy of God. It holds out to men eternal
gifts that are not gifts of our own manufacture. What right have we to
receive praise and glory for gifts that are not of our own making?

No wonder that God in His special grace subjects the ministers of the
Gospel to all kinds of afflictions, otherwise they could not cope with
this ugly beast called vainglory. If no persecution, no cross, or
reproach trailed the doctrine of the Gospel, but only praise and
reputation, the ministers of the Gospel would choke with pride. Paul
had the Spirit of Christ. Nevertheless there was given unto him the
messenger of Satan to buffet him in order that he should not come to
exalt himself, because of the grandeur of his revelations. St.
Augustine's opinion is well taken: "If a minister of the Gospel is
praised, he is in danger; if he is despised, he is also in danger."

The ministers of the Gospel should be men who are not too easily
affected by praise or criticism, but simply speak out the benefit and
the glory of Christ and seek the salvation of souls.

Whenever you are being praised, remember it is not you who is being
praised but Christ, to whom all praise belongs. When you preach the
Word of God in its purity and also live accordingly, it is not your own
doing, but God's doing. And when people praise you, they really mean to
praise God in you. When you understand this—and you should because
"what hast thou that thou didst not receive?"—you will not flatter
yourself on the one hand and on the other hand you will not carry
yourself with the thought of resigning from the ministry when you are
insulted, reproached, or persecuted.

It is really kind of God to send so much infamy, reproach, hatred, and
cursing our way to keep us from getting proud of the gifts of God in
us. We need a millstone around our neck to keep us humble. There are a
few on our side who love and revere us for the ministry of the Word,
but for every one of these there are a hundred on the other side who
hate and persecute us.

The Lord is our glory. Such gifts as we possess we acknowledge to be
the gifts of God, given to us for the good of the Church of Christ.
Therefore we are not proud because of them. We know that more is
required of them to whom much is given, than of such to whom little is
given. We also know that God is no respecter of persons. A plain
factory hand who does his work faithfully pleases God just as much as a
minister of the Word.

VERSE 26. Let us not be desirous of vain glory.

To desire vainglory is to desire lies, because when one person praises
another he tells lies. What is there in anybody to praise? But it is
different when the ministry is praised. We should not only desire
people to praise the ministry of the Gospel but also do our utmost to
make the ministry worthy of praise because this will make the ministry
more effective. Paul warns the Romans not to bring Christianity into
disrepute. "Let not then your good be evil spoken of." (Rom. 14:16.) He
also begged the Corinthians to "give no offense in anything, that the
ministry be not blamed." (I Cor. 6:3.) When people praise our ministry
they are not praising our persons, but God.

VERSE 26. Provoking one another, envying one another.

Such is the ill effect of vainglory. Those who teach errors provoke
others. When others disapprove and reject the doctrine the teachers of
errors get angry in turn, and then you have strife and trouble. The
sectarians hate us furiously because we will not approve their errors.
We did not attack them directly. We merely called attention to certain
abuses in the Church. They did not like it and became sore at us,
because it hurt their pride. They wish to be the lone rulers of the
church.

CHAPTER 6

VERSE 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are
spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.

IF we carefully weigh the words of the Apostle we perceive that he does
not speak of doctrinal faults and errors, but of much lesser faults by
which a person is overtaken through the weakness of his flesh. This
explains why the Apostle chooses the softer term "fault." To minimize
the offense still more, as if he meant to excuse it altogether and to
take the whole blame away from the person who has committed the fault,
he speaks of him as having been "overtaken," seduced by the devil and
of the flesh. As if he meant to say, "What is more human than for a
human being to fall, to be deceived and to err?" This comforting
sentence at one time saved my life. Because Satan always assails both
the purity of doctrine which he endeavors to take away by schisms and
the purity of life which he spoils with his continual temptations to
sin, Paul explains how the fallen should be treated. Those who are
strong are to raise up the fallen in the spirit of meekness.

This ought to be borne in mind particularly by the ministers of the
Word in order that they may not forget the parental attitude which Paul
here requires of those who have the keeping of souls. Pastors and
ministers must, of course, rebuke the fallen, but when they see that
the fallen are sorry they are to comfort them by excusing the fault as
well as they can. As unyielding as the Holy Spirit is in the matter of
maintaining and defending the doctrine of faith, so mild and merciful
is He toward men for their sins as long as sinners repent.

The Pope's synagogue teaches the exact opposite of what the Apostle
commands. The clerics are tyrants and butchers of men's conscience.
Every small offense is closely scrutinized. To justify the cruel
inquisitiveness they quote the statement of Pope Gregory: "It is the
property of good lives to be afraid of a fault where there is no
fault." "Our censors must be feared, even if they are unjust and
wrong." On these pronouncements the papists base their doctrine of
excommunication. Rather than terrify and condemn men's consciences,
they ought to raise them up and comfort them with the truth.

Let the ministers of the Gospel learn from Paul how to deal with those
who have sinned. "Brethren," he says, "if any man be overtaken with a
fault, do not aggravate his grief, do not scold him, do not condemn
him, but lift him up and gently restore his faith. If you see a brother
despondent over a sin he has committed, run up to him, reach out your
hand to him, comfort him with the Gospel and embrace him like a mother.
When you meet a willful sinner who does not care, go after him and
rebuke him sharply." But this is not the treatment for one who has been
overtaken by a sin and is sorry. He must be dealt with in the spirit of
meekness and not in the spirit of severity. A repentant sinner is not
to be given gall and vinegar to drink.

VERSE 1. Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

This consideration is very much needed to put a stop to the severity of
some pastors who show the fallen no mercy. St. Augustine says: "There
is no sin which one person has committed, that another person may not
commit it also." We stand in slippery places. If we become overbearing
and neglect our duty, it is easy enough to fall into sin. In the book
entitled "The Lives of Our Fathers," one of the Fathers is reported to
have said when informed that a brother had fallen into adultery: "He
fell yesterday; I may fall today." Paul therefore warns the pastors not
to be too rigorous and unmerciful towards offenders, but to show them
every affection, always remembering: "This man fell into sin; I may
fall into worse sin. If those who are always so eager to condemn others
would investigate themselves they would find that the sins of others
are motes in comparison to their own."

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
(I Cor. 10:12.) If David who was a hero of faith and did so many great
things for the Lord, could fall so badly that in spite of his advanced
age he was overcome by youthful lust after he had withstood so many
different temptations with which the Lord had tested his faith, who are
we to think that we are more stable? These object lessons of God should
convince us that of all things God hates pride.

VERSE 2. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of
Christ.

The Law of Christ is the Law of love. Christ gave us no other law than
this law of mutual love: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye
love one another." To love means to bear another's burdens. Christians
must have strong shoulders to bear the burdens of their fellow
Christians. Faithful pastors recognize many errors and offenses in the
church, which they oversee. In civil affairs an official has to
overlook much if he is fit to rule. If we can overlook our own
shortcomings and wrong-doings, we ought to overlook the shortcomings of
others in accordance with the words, "Bear ye one another's burdens."

Those who fail to do so expose their lack of understanding of the law
of Christ. Love, according to Paul, "believeth all things, hopeth all
things, endureth all things." This commandment is not meant for those
who deny Christ; neither is it meant for those who continue to live in
sin. Only those who are willing to hear the Word of God and then
inadvertently fall into sin to their own great sorrow and regret, carry
the burdens which the Apostle encourages us to bear. Let us not be hard
on them. If Christ did not punish them, what right have we to do it?

VERSE 3. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is
nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Again the Apostle takes the authors of sects to task for being
hard-hearted tyrants. They despise the weak and demand that everything
be just so. Nothing suits them except what they do. Unless you eulogize
whatever they say or do, unless you adapt yourself to their slightest
whim, they become angry with you. They are that way because, as St.
Paul says, they "think themselves to be something," they think they
know all about the Scriptures.

Paul has their number when he calls them zeros. They deceive themselves
with their self-suggested wisdom and holiness. They have no
understanding of Christ or the law of Christ. By insisting that
everything be perfect they not only fail to bear the burdens of the
weak, they actually offend the weak by their severity. People begin to
hate and shun them and refuse to accept counsel or comfort from them.

Paul describes these stiff and ungracious saints accurately when he
says of them, "They think themselves to be something." Bloated by their
own silly ideas and schemes they entertain a pretty fair opinion of
themselves, when in reality they amount to nothing.

VERSE 4. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have
rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

In this verse the Apostle continues his attack upon the vainglorious
sectarians. Although this passage may be applied to any work, the
Apostle has in mind particularly the work of the ministry.

The trouble with these seekers after glory is that they never stop to
consider whether their ministry is straightforward and faithful. All
they think about is whether people will like and praise them. Theirs is
a threefold sin. First, they are greedy of praise. Secondly, they are
very sly and wily in suggesting that the ministry of other pastors is
not what it should be. By way of contrast they hope to rise in the
estimation of the people. Thirdly, once they have established a
reputation for themselves they become so chesty that they stop short of
nothing. When they have won the praise of men, pride leads them on to
belittle the work of other men and to applaud their own. In this artful
manner they hoodwink the people who rather enjoy to see their former
pastors taken down a few notches by such upstarts.

"Let a minister be faithful in his office," is the apostolic
injunction. "Let him not seek his own glory or look for praise. Let him
desire to do good work and to preach the Gospel in all its purity.
Whether an ungrateful world appreciates his efforts is to give him no
concern because, after all, he is in the ministry not for his own glory
but for the glory of Christ."

A faithful minister cares little what people think of him, as long as
his conscience approves of him. The approval of his own good conscience
is the best praise a minister can have. To know that we have taught the
Word of God and administered the sacraments rightly is to have a glory
that cannot be taken away.

The glory which the sectarians seek is quite unstable, because it rests
in the whim of people. If Paul had had to depend on this kind of glory
for his ministry he would have despaired when he saw the many offenses
and evils following in the wake of his preaching.

If we had to feel that the success of our ministry depended upon our
popularity with men we would die, because we are not popular. On the
contrary, we are hated by the whole world with rare bitterness. Nobody
praises us. Everybody finds fault with us. But we can glory in the Lord
and attend to our work cheerfully. Who cares whether our efforts please
or displease the devil? Who cares whether the world praises or hates
us? We go ahead "by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good
report." (II Cor. 6:8.)

The Gospel entails persecution. The Gospel is that kind of a doctrine.
Furthermore, the disciples of the Gospel are not all dependable. Many
embrace the Gospel today and tomorrow discard it. To preach the Gospel
for praise is bad business especially when people stop praising you.
Find your praise in the testimony of a good conscience.

This passage may also be applied to other work besides the ministry.
When an official, a servant, a teacher minds his business and performs
his duty faithfully without concerning himself about matters that are
not in his line he may rejoice in himself. The best commendation of any
work is to know that one has done the work that God has given him well
and that God is pleased with his effort.

VERSE 5. Every man shall bear his own burden.

That means: For anybody to covet praise is foolish because the praise
of men will be of no help to you in the hour of death. Before the
judgment throne of Christ everybody will have to bear his own burden.
As it is the praise of men stops when we die. Before the eternal Judge
it is not praise that counts but your own conscience.

True, the consciousness of work well done cannot quiet the conscience.
But it is well to have the testimony of a good conscience in the last
judgment that we have performed our duty faithfully in accordance with
God's will.

For the suppression of pride we need the strength of prayer. What man
even if he is a Christian is not delighted with his own praise? Only
the Holy Spirit can preserve us from the misfortune of pride.

VERSE 6. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that
teacheth in all good things.

Now the Apostle also addresses the hearers of the Word requesting them
to bestow "all good things" upon those who have taught them the Gospel.
I have often wondered why all the apostles reiterated this request with
such embarrass