Gal. 6:10-18, The Bottom Line (1)

Gal. 6:10 ends the section that began at 5:1 and was characterized by the command, through love serve one another (5:13).  A life of loving service is a life of doing good.  We shall all appear before Christ and give an account of the things done in the flesh, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).  And if we wonder what will occupy the considerations of our Judge, He has told us.  The last of the five faithful sayings in the Pastoral Epistles is that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.  These things are good and profitable to men (Titus 3:8).  Similarly, our passage tells us to do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Verse 10 concludes an important section; but it does not conclude the letter.  Paul is compelled to return once more to the insidious issue that is the occasion for his writing.  The gospel is at stake.  Apparently, someone else served as amanuensis for Paul.  Some think Paul had an eye problem, possibly alluded to in Gal. 4:13-15, a problem that made it difficult for him to do the actual writing of his letters.  Perhaps he wrote the entire letter in “large letters;” or perhaps it is at this point that he takes the pen to write what is a powerful, personal concluding paragraph. 

Paul had referred to those who trouble you back in 5:12. He refers to them again, giving an explanation as to their motives (6:12-13).  They are trying to avoid persecution for the sake of Christ.  How does he know this?  Because he can see clearly that they themselves do not keep the law, these heretics that insist on you being circumcised according to the law.  In this regard, they are the same as their fathers in their attitude towards and rejection of Christ. Consider the Gospel record:

And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching (Mk. 11:18). But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed (Mk. 11:32).  And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away (Mk. 12:12).

These Judaizers, Jews who claimed to belong to Christ but taught that all Christians must follow the law, feared the persecution by their fellow Jews.  They did not act out of conviction.  Paul was an expert in Judaism and all the tradition that was added to the law.  He knew they were hypocrites as well as false teachers. 

We must, I must, see the deception in this.  The fear of man brings a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe (Pr. 29:25).  People of Biblical conviction have a true and eternal refuge in the Lord, their God.