Galatians 6:1

1. Toward sinning Christians 6:1

"Walking by the Spirit will mean not only avoidance of mutual provocation and envy (Galatians 5:26) but also, positively, the rehabilitation of those who have lapsed into sin." [Note: Fung, p. 284.]

The situation Paul envisioned here is that of sin overtaking a Christian as a runner overtakes a walker. It is not that God has caught him in the act of sinning as much as that sin has gotten the better of him in a particular instance. He has been surprised by sin rather than detected in it. "Trespass" (Gr. paraptoma) is not habitual action but an isolated act. Neither is it intentional sin but inadvertent wrongdoing (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:11; Romans 16:17).

The spiritual Christian should restore such a person, help such a one to his or her feet. Elsewhere the Greek word, katartizo, refers to mending nets (Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:19) and setting a fractured or dislocated bone. [Note: Lightfoot, p. 215.] This may involve confrontation (cf. Matthew 18:15-17). However the "spiritual" Christian is the one that should do this, namely, one whose life bears the fruit of the Spirit because he or she habitually walks by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16; Galatians 5:25). The more spiritually mature, having walked by the Spirit for some time, the better (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:15; Hebrews 5:13-14). The spiritual Christian must restore the Christian who has stumbled gently, carefully, and cautiously (cf. Galatians 5:23). The spiritual Christian can avoid a spirit of self-righteousness in dealing with those who stumble by remembering his or her own personal vulnerability to temptation. [Note: For general studies of church discipline, see J. Carl Laney, "The Biblical Practice of Church Discipline," Bibliotheca Sacra 143:572 (October-December 1986):353-64; and Ted G. Kitchens, "Perimeters of Corrective Church Discipline," Bibliotheca Sacra 148:590 (April-June 1991):201-13.]

"It [the restoration in view] concerns restoration to a former spiritual condition. Absent from the context is any indication that Paul was concerned with restoration to leadership. Rehabilitating the sinner, not reinstating the leader, was the primary issue. However, these situations, though not identical, need not be mutually exclusive. It certainly seems reasonable to suppose that Paul envisioned restoration to some sort of usefulness, which in some cases might involve the restoration to leadership. Therefore Galatians 6:1, while not referring specifically to reinstating a fallen leader to his former position, certainly leaves open that possibility." [Note: Jay E. Smith, "Can Fallen Leaders Be Restored to Leadership? Bibliotheca Sacra 151:604 (October-December 1994):468.]