Galatians 6

Galatians 6:1

Continue to Believe the Truth An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians www.easyenglish.info Roy Rohu This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 6 v1 My friends, you are of the *Holy Spirit. Perhaps someone will fall into *sin. Then you, whom the Spirit guides, should help that person. Help that person to return to God. But have a gentle attitude. And be careful; the devil may tempt you also. v2 When you help each other, you are obeying the law of Christ. v3 Somebody may think that he is better than other people. But if he is not better, then he is a person without much sense. v4 Do what you ought to do. Then you will have something to be glad about.

Paul is speaking here about the kind of *sin that takes a person by surprise. The best people can do wrong things. Paul is warning Christians to remember that, apart from the *grace of God, anyone can make a mistake (Matthew 7:3; 1 Corinthians 4:5).

The law of Christ is plain. It is love, love, love (John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:11). We should not always need the *approval of other people (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

v5 Every person must do his own part of God’s work. v6 Share your good things with anyone who teaches you God’s word. v7 Make no mistake. Nobody can pretend to God. A person gets the same crop as he sows. v8 Similarly, one person acts by his *human *nature. The result will be death. Another person acts by the *Holy Spirit. That person will live always.

*Human life is like when we sow seeds. And later we gather in the plants. Every day, we do things that will have results in the future. We do so in our thoughts, words and deeds. It is possible for a Christian to act from his *human *nature. See Galatians 6:7.

v9 Let us continue to do good deeds. Do not tire. Then, each of us will receive our reward. Our reward will come at the proper time, like the harvest.

v10 We should help people whenever we can. Especially, we should help other Christians. v11 I am writing with large letters. Notice it!

A person can get tired of doing good deeds when people punish him for it. People can get tired when other people do not appreciate their good deeds. Read what Paul’s advice is in 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Paul may have told a helper what to write. Some people believe that Paul himself wrote the last few verses with large letters. They believe that it was in order to show the importance of the letter. Other people believe that he had weak eyes. They think that this caused him to write with large letters.

v12 These men want so much to *circumcise you. They want to make a good impression about things that people consider important. But people who speak about the cross have trouble. And these men want to avoid trouble.

The false teachers said that they were Christians. But they wanted the *Jews to accept them.

v13 Yes, they are *circumcised but they do not obey the laws themselves. They want to *circumcise you. Then they will be able to say with pride that you obeyed them. v14 But I am never proud about anything except the death of our *Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that death, I consider the world and its ways as dead to me. The world thinks of me as dead.

Although Paul’s letter to the Christians in Galatia is short, he talks about the death of Christ 13 times. He wants us to see how important the death of Christ is. Paul also tells us to be like dead people to *sin and to the world (Romans 6:11; 7:6; 8:13).

v15 It does not matter if you are *circumcised or not. All that matters is that you are a new person. v16 Live in this way. Then I shall pray that you will have *peace. And I pray that God will be good to you. I pray that the Israel of God will have *peace.

v17 There are *scars on my body. They prove that I belong to Christ Jesus. So from now on, do not cause me trouble with these things again. v18 I pray that the *grace of our *Lord Jesus Christ will be with your spirit, my Christian friends. *Amen.

Many Christians believe that ‘the Israel of God’ means the *church. Other Christians believe that it means *Jews who have become Christians.

People were cruel to Paul because he told the *Good News. Anybody could see his *scars. (See 2 Corinthians 6:4-5; 9; 11:23-27).

© 1997-2005, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

December 2005

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var w1 = new Array;w1[0]=’<b%3EHoly Spirit</b%3E ~ also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and the Comforter. He is equal with and he is joined to God and Christ. Jesus sent God’s Holy Spirit to help people.’;w1[1]=’<b%3Esin/sins</b%3E ~ when people do things against God or other people.’;w1[2]=’<b%3Egrace</b%3E ~ a gift from God that we do not deserve or earn.