CHAP. V.] LET US WALK IN THE SPIRIT. 105 4, 5. ver. 16. 25 P If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in P Rom. viii. the Spirit. 25. "If we live in the Spirit." "If we live by the Spirit," Revisers. Christian Baptism, as in Rom. vi. 3, "Baptized into the death of Christ. . . . knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him;" but the grace and power which is given then must constantly be stirred up through all after life, or our first crucifixion will only add to our condemnation. This concupiscence, or evil lust, Christians "crucify," that is, they painfully repress and mortify it, after the manner of Christ's crucifixion. Crucifixion is a most painful and lingering death. We cannot hope to crucify and kill our old man in a moment, but no matter how painful it is to self we must crucify it. I need not call the reader's attention to the teaching of this verse. How very narrow it seems to make the way of life. What should we say to it? We must rather say to God in well-known words, "Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, that our hearts and all our members being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed Will."1 25. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” What is the distinction implied here between living in the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit ? must not all they who live in the Spirit also walk in the Spirit? It seems not. Christianity, especially in its concrete form in the Church, is the habitation of the Spirit. The Church is, as it were, the body of which the soul is the Spirit of God. "There is one Body, and one Spirit." 66 'The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal" (1 Corinth. xii. 7). If a man profits by the Divine Gift, then he walks in the Spirit. If we are members of the Church of Christ we live in the Spirit; and we walk in the Spirit when we take every means of increasing within us the gift of the Spirit-when we court His in-dwelling by prayer for Him, by fearing to grieve Him, by using carefully all the means of grace, by purifying ourselves, by cultivating love, and peace, and righteousness. 1 "Quasi diceret: Christianus Christum intuens pro suis peccatis crucifixum, carnem suam suamque vitiatam naturam crucifigit, ut sicut Christus summo cum dolore mortuus est pro peccatis nostris; ita non sine dolore moriatur in nobis peccatum " (Bernardine à Piconio). 106 YE WHICH ARE SPIRITUAL. [GALATIANS. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. q Phil. ii. 3. 26. "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another," &c. This takes up the warning of verse 15, "If ye bite and devour one another." Evidently their heresies had been fostered by their divisions. If they had kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, there would not have been such opportunity for the enemy to sow tares. a Rom. xiv. 1. & xv. 1. Heb. xii. 13. James v. 19. | Or, although, 1 Cor. ii. 15. & iii. 1. c 1 Cor. iv. 21. 2 Thess. iii. 15. 2 Tim. ii. 25. d 1 Cor. vii. 5. & x. 12. B CHAP. VI. a which are spiritual, RETHREN, || if a man be overtaken in a an one in the spirit of meekness; considering d 1. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual," &c. Some differences of translation (very slight) have been suggested, but some leading grammatical commentators agree with Authorized; however, the words, even if' (iàv kaìi) have to be noticed, and they are best explained by reference to the preceding verses, "Let us walk in the Spirit in all charity and forbearance, let us not be desirous of vain glory . . . . and even if a brother be overtaken in some fault or sin, let us not entertain any uncharitable satisfaction at his fall, but at once restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering," &c. 66 "Ye which are spiritual." There is a difference here as to whether this means spiritual persons, i.e., persons led by the Spirit, or those holding spiritual offices. It would seem to require a special gift of the Spirit to restore the penitent in such a way as to reassure him of God's favour without condoning his sin, and such a gift seems especially to belong to the pastorate (Ephes. iv. CHAP. VI.] e FULFIL THE LAW OF CHRIST. 107 2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil Rom. xv. 1. f the law of Christ. ch. v. 13. 1 Thess. v. 14. f John xiii. 13, 14, 15, 34. & xv. 12. James ii. 8. 1 John iv. 21. 11). But I think that the words must be taken more largely. It is the duty and privilege of every true Christian to give spiritual advice to his weak and erring brother; and this at once, and privately, before it is known to the Church [see notes on St. Matth. xviii. 15, page 268]. And this is what St. Paul here, I think, contemplates, but such a spiritual adviser will, if he has common sense, remember that there are probably persons far more experienced than himself in dealing with the restoration of the fallen, and he will seek the advice of such.1 "Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." He will remember that he and the lapsed sinner have the same fallen nature, and that if God withholds His grace, he may fall into the same sin. 2. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." What burdens ? both temporal and spiritual-burdens of want and penury by generous assistance; burdens of sorrow, by sympathy and consolation; burdens of sin by the application of the promises of the Gospel; burdens of doubt by the communication to them, if possible, of your own clear faith. "And so fulfil the law of Christ." The law of Christ may mean "love one another," and this Christ has bidden us fulfil to the uttermost when He added, "as I have loved you"; but it may allude with especial reference to Christ bearing burdens as set forth in the words of Isaiah, cited in Matth. viii. 17, "Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." Bishop Lightfoot seems to think that St. Paul spoke somewhat ironically when he says, "Bear ye one another's burdens." "If ye must needs impose burdens on yourselves, let them be the burdens of mutual sympathy. If ye must needs observe a law, let it be the law of Christ." But St. Paul did not regard law as a thing to be, if possible, ignored and avoided, for he says, "the law is holy," and "the 1 Some commentators, as Cornelius à Lapide and Bernardine à Piconio, seem to consider that "overtaken in any fault" means falling into Judaism or into the heresy of the Judaisers; but this is unlikely, for it is in the original "in any fault," v Tv TapaπтúμaτI. 108 3 For g Rom. xii. 3. 1 Cor. viii. 2. ch. ii. 6. h 2 Cor. iii. 5. & xii. 11. i 1 Cor. xi. 28. 2 Cor. xii. 5. k See Luke xviii. 11. HE DECEIVETH HIMSELF. [GALATIANS. if a man think himself to be something, when 1he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and k not in another. law is spiritual," and "We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully," Rom. vii. 12-14, 1 Tim. i. 8. It is not to be mentioned in the matter of justification, but "law," the law of God, that is, the will of God, made known to His creatures, is their guidance as to all moral conduct. 3. "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing," &c. That within us which most of all opposes charity and sympathy is pride. The more a man thinks of himself the less he will think of others in the way of assisting them. Pride is the most selfish of passions. "When he is nothing." "He that thinks himself to be something," says Chrysostom, "is nothing, and exhibits at the outset a proof of his worthlessness by such a disposition." Let the reader remember the words of the Lord to the Church of Laodicea, "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" (Rev. iii. 17). 4. "But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing," &c. Let every man prove, i.e., try, test, his own work. Chrysostom's commentary is very good. "If thou hast performed a good action, consider whether it was not from vain glory, or through necessity, or malevolence, or with hypocrisy, or from some other human motive. For as gold appears to be bright before it is placed in the furnace, but when committed thereto it is closely scorched and proved by the fire, and all that is spurious is separated from what is genuine, so too our works, if diligently examined, will be distinctly made manifest, and we shall perceive that we have exposed ourselves to much censure." "And not in another." A man has rejoicing in another when the fancied inferiority of the man with whom he compares himself is made by him (the boaster) a means of exalting himself. This would not be if he rigorously tested his own principles of action by the word of God and the example of Christ. CHAP. VI.] 1 HIS OWN BURDEN. 5 For every man shall bear his own burden. 109 1 Rom. ii. 6. 1 Cor. ii. 8. m Rom. xv. 27. 1 Cor. ix. 6 m Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good 11, 14. things. 5. "For every man shall bear his own burden." This and what follows (verses 6, 7, 8, 9), is a very important and noticeable statement as coming at the end of such an Epistle as this. It assures us that nothing which St. Paul has written respecting Justification by faith, and the impotency of the law and Christian freedom, is for one moment to be taken as setting aside, in the case of any Christian soul, the just and righteous yet most merciful judgment of God at the last day. It is paralleled by "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour" (1 Cor. iii. 8), and “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body" (2 Cor. v. 10). Now what is this burden? Is it a man's soul, or his personality, or his gifts of grace? We may say that it is his responsibility—his being accountable for all the gifts, whether of nature or of grace, which God has given to him. For this is his burden which God has laid upon him, and none can share it with him. But has not Christ taken all this burden upon Himself? No. For in the extremest point of all, the Crucifixion of Christ, Christ has not been crucified for a man so that he should be excused from crucifying his flesh with its affections and lusts. It is a great paradox. Christ has borne the burden of all men. He himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree; but for what purpose? "that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness. Here is the burden, that all for whom He died should "live unto righteousness." This is the burden under which so many remove their shoulders and would fain plead the teaching of this Epistle, but St. Paul writes here as he has written many times elsewhere, "Every man shall bear his own burden." 6. "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth," &c. It would seem from this that teachers, as a rule, devoted all their time to their occupation, and had to be maintained by others. The precept, in one shape or another, is constantly repeated in |