Scripture Reference: Galatians 6:1-10

Evaluating Your Work (verses 3-5). Paul turns back again to the need for personal evaluation. Self-evaluation is necessary since there is always the danger of self-deception. Personal evaluation must be made on the basis of a careful examination of one’s own work, not on the basis of comparison with others. Personal evaluation should clarify one’s God-given mission in life.

The warning against self-deception enlarges upon the warning against conceit (Galatians 5:26) and temptation (Galatians 6:1). The most serious spiritual danger of all is the self-delusion of pride: someone who thinks he is something, when he is nothing. In the immediate context, Paul’s rebuke must be aimed at those who thought so highly of their own status that they were unwilling to take the role of servants to carry the burdens of others. The Jewish Christian law teachers were so impressed with the importance of their mission of imposing the Mosaic law on Gentile believers that they had no time or interest to bear the sin-burdens of “Gentile sinners” who had come to Christ. The Gentile Christians were so intent on coming under the yoke of the law to establish their status as full members of the favored Jewish people that they did not lift a finger to help carry the burdens of their fellow Christians.

These zealots’ pride in the law kept them from serving one another in love. And so, thinking themselves to be something, they were in fact nothing. For as Paul says in another letter, “if I . . . have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). Instead of loving one another, these zealots for the law were provoking one another (Galatians 5:26). Their arrogance caused them to react in angry condemnation toward those who sinned, rather than to help restore sinners by carrying their burdens. No wonder then that Paul interweaves this warning against the self-delusion of pride with his call to service. Only those who are freed from delusions of their own importance will be able to serve others in love.

The only way to prevent self-deception is to examine the value of one’s own work: let each one test his own work. The term Paul uses for test means to examine for the purpose of determining true worth. As the jeweler examines a precious stone under a magnifying glass in very bright light to determine its worth, so each Christian should scrutinize his or her actions to determine their true worth before God. The standard used for this evaluation is the law of Christ: the love of Christ expressed in His life and death and produced by His Spirit in all who believe in Him. Paul has said that the only thing that counts is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). In other words, to examine one’s work is to evaluate whether one’s faith in Christ is expressing itself in Christlike actions of love.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved