CHAPTER VI VERSE I. " Brethren,i even if a man be overtaken in any trespass."2 FORASMUCH as under cover of a rebuke they gratified their private feelings, and professing to do so for faults which had been committed, were advancing their own ambition, he says, " Brethren, if a man be overtaken." He said not if a man commit but if he be " overtaken " that is, if he be carried away. 3 " Ye which are spiritual 4 restore such a one," He says not "chastise" nor "judge," but "set right." Nor does he stop here, but in order to show that it behoved them to be very gentle towards those who had lost their footing, he subjoins, " In a spirit of meekness." He says not, " in meekness," but, " in a Spirit of meekness," signifying thereby that this is acceptable to the Spirit, and that to be able to administer correction with mildness is a spiritual gift. Then, to prevent the one being unduly exalted by having to correct the other, puts him under the same fear, saying, "Looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted." For as rich men convey contributions to the indigent, that in case they should be themselves involved in poverty they may receive the same bounty, so oughtwe also to do. And therefore he states this cogent reason, in these words, " look ing to thyself, lest thou also be tempted." He apologizes for the offender, first, by saying "if ye be overtaken; " next, by employing a term indicative of great infirmity 5 ; lastly, by the words " lest thou also be tempted," thus arra igning the malice of the devil rather than the remissness of the soul. Ver. 2. "Bear ye one another s burdens." 1 [ " I have just charged you to shun provocation and envy. I now ask you to do more to be gentle even to those whose guilt is flagrant." Lightfoot. G. A.] *Ev TIVI jrapaTmijuaTi, " in a false step or slip," ommitted, in the text yet commented on. 3 [ Meyer holds the same view of this wnrd (7rpoAT)(Ui/>flr)) and says, " If he be overtaken," means if the sin has reached him more rapidly than he could flee from it. Ellicott, however, says this view of the irpo would tend to excuse and qualify, whereas KOU seems to point to an aggravation of the offense. The meaning then is "be caught before he could escape." So Lightfoot but not Schaff. G, A.] 4 [ " Paul leaves it with every reader to regard himself included or not." Meyer. G. A.] * Viz., in a false step, (v TIVI irapajrTio/uaTi- It being impossible for man to be without failings, he exhorts them not to scrutinize severely the offences of others, but even to bear their failings, that their own may in turn be borne by others. As, in thebuilding of a house, all the stones hold not the same position, but one is fitted for a corner but not for the founda tions, another for the foundations, and not for the corner, so too is it in the body of the Church. The same thing holds in the frame of our own flesh ; notwithstanding which, the one member bears with the other, and we do not require every thing from each, but what each contri butes in common constitutes both the body and the building. Ver. 2. " And so fulfil the law of Christ." He says not " fulfil," but, "complete 6 ;" that is, make it up all of you in common, 7 by the things wherein ye bear with one another. For example, this man is irascible, thou art dull- tempered ; bear therefore with his vehemence that he in turn may bear with thy sluggishness ; and thus neither will he transgress, being sup ported by thee, nor wilt thou offend in the points where thy defects lie, because of thy brother s forbearing with thee. So do ye by reaching forth a hand one to another when about to fall, fulfil the Law in common, each completing what is wanting in his neighborby his own endurance. But if ye do not thus, but each of you will in vestigate the faults of his neighbor, nothing will ever be performed by you as it ought. For as in the case of the body, if one were to exact the same function from every member of it, the body could never consist, so must there be great strife among brethren if we were to require all things from all. Ver. 3. " For if a man thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." Not jrArjpuxraTe , but OLvaTT\i]p<a(r<nt. 1 \" This explanation of (Jhrysostom is not satisfactory. The word in all cases appears to denote a complete filling up." Elli cott. " By lending a hand to bear your neighbor s burden, you will fulfil the most perfect of all laws the law of C hrist. But if (ver. 3) any one asserts his superiorly, if any one exalts himself above others, he is nothing worth and is a vain self-deceiver. Nay (ver. 4) rather let each man test his own work (fpyov being in an em phatic position) and then his boast will be his o-vn and not depend , on comparison with others." Lightfoot. G. A.] (43)