Practicing the fruit of Gentleness (Gal. )

• Paul's instruction about practicing the fruit of gentleness fits within the larger context of this letter to the Galatians regarding false teachers and doctrinal error in the church.
• Caught = this does not mean that someone catches you in the act of sinning, but it means slipping into error (maybe even before you yourself are aware of it).
• Trespass (paraptomati) = literally, a falling aside, a slip, a lapse (not necessarily a premeditated sin).
• Paul highlights the fruit of meekness because this fruit should be especially evident in spiritual people (see Gal. ) who are attempting to restore fellow believers from sin or to the truth.
• Gentleness or Meekness (prautes) = humility in the awareness of one's dependence on God and of one's own fleshly tendencies (see Gal. ).
• Looking (skopon) = to look attentively to yourself. You who are "led by the Spirit" are to exhibit this fruit of meekness when you restore (repair) a brother in Christ. But you are always to look to yourself in the process. Before you deal severely with an erring believer, consider your own weakness and restore your brother with that in mind.

Practicing the fruit of Love (Gal. )

• Love is not love unless it is demonstrated in loving actions toward others - especially fellow believers ("one another").
• Paul tells them to show their love by "bearing each other's burdens." The emphasis in the Greek text is on the phrase "one another" = literally, "of one another the burdens bear, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
• Burden = the heavy weight of sorrow and remorse which is experienced by believers who slip into moral error and sin. This is the natural result of being caught in a trespass. The emphasis of this term in on the "heaviness" of the burden.
• The law of Christ = "to LOVE one another" (see John ) could be considered corollaries of the law of Christ.

Pride stands in the way of good spiritual conduct (Gal. )

• For... Paul gives the reason for his previous statements. Pride and haughtiness stand in the way of the kind of loving actions that God desires for them. So, Paul discourages them from having high opinion of themselves.
• "Thinks he is something when he is nothing" = Paul could have said, "Thinks he is a big number when he is really not even one!" We are not to hold a high opinion of ourselves because this is deception = to lead one's own mind astray, be unable to make a realistic assessment of himself, not be able to evaluate his own character.
• "But..." = in contrast to this we must examine (accurately assess) our own character and focus on what God is doing in us and through us rather than what we ourselves can do. Anything else is worthless - especially our own fleshly works and self-effort.
• If we hold a realistic opinion of ourselves, we can boast (be confident) in knowing ourselves while avoiding the trap of comparing ourselves with others. We also deceive ourselves when we compare ourselves with others (see Second Corinthians 10:12).

God will hold us responsible for our own actions (Gal. )

• "For..." = the reason why we should do what Paul has just said. In this verse Paul apparently quotes a common proverbial saying which means, "Every man shall have his due."
• None of us will be able to claim superiority over anyone else, because each person's self-examination will reveal flaws enough of our own, apart from comparison with anyone else. God does not compare us with our fellow believers. He does not judge us by the standard of others' conduct. He holds us accountable to the standard of His righteousness.