ガラテヤの信徒への手紙6:1-2 Galatians 6:1-2,

兄弟たち、万一だれかが不注意にも何かの罪に陥ったなら、“霊”に導かれて生きているあなたがたは、そういう人を柔和な心で正しい道に立ち帰らせなさい。　（ガラテヤ6:1）

この勧めの言葉には、パウロの深い配慮が何重にも込められています。第一に、パウロは、罪を犯している人がいたとしても「悪いやつだ」と決めつけるのではなく、「万一だれかが不注意にも何かの罪に陥ったなら」と冷静に見ています。「不注意にも〜に陥る」と翻訳されているギリシア語の動詞は、英語の聖書ではしばしば“is caught”（捕えられている）と翻訳されています。つまり、悪魔の誘惑によって罪に捕えられているというニュアンスです。クリスチャンは聖霊の導きによって生きるべきですが、時には油断をしてしまって悪魔の誘惑に負けて罪に捕えられてしまうこともあるということです。

第二に、パウロはガラテヤ地方の諸教会の信徒たちを、聖霊に導かれて生きている人たちとみなして励ましています。「“霊”に導かれて生きているあなたがた」という言い方の「あなたがた」は、パウロの教えに忠実なごく一部の信徒たちだけを指すのではなく、ガラテヤ地方の諸教会の信徒たち全体を指しているのでしょう。なぜなら、この手紙は信徒たち全体の前で朗読されたに違いないからです。すると、パウロは互いに争っているような信徒たちをも、聖霊に導かれて生きることを始めている人たちとみなして励ましているのです。

第三に「そういう人を柔和な心で正しい道に立ち帰らせなさい」という勧めの言葉には、罪に陥った人を攻撃して排除するのではなく、クリスチャンとして立ち直らせるようにしなさいというパウロの愛の心が込められています。そして、それができるのは人間的な思いからではなく、聖霊に導かれて相手に接するときです。5章23節には聖霊の実りとして「柔和」という心が挙げられています。聖霊によって与えられた「柔和な心で」罪に陥った人と接するのです。これは決して簡単なことではありません。罪に陥った人は、こちらが「柔和な心で」接そうとしても往々にして敵意をもって応答してくるからです。

そこで、パウロはさらにもう一つの大切なことを教えています。それが1節の終わりの「あなた自身も誘惑されないように、自分に気をつけなさい」ということです。これは言い換えますと、「あなた自身も悪魔に誘惑されて敵意や争いの思いをもつことのないように、自分に気をつけなさい」ということです。聖霊によって与えられた「柔和な心」ではなく、人間的な思いで相手に接していると、相手が敵意をもって応答してきたときに、自分も敵意をもって相手に応答してしまいます。それこそが悪魔の誘惑です。その誘惑に乗らないように気をつけなさい、とパウロは警告しているのです。　（9月22日の説教より）

It goes without saying that relationships with other people are important in our lives. This is because human beings live in fellowship and community with other people. A person belongs to various communities, such as family, school, workplace and local community. And what kind of relationships we have in these communities is a major challenge in our lives. Countless books have been written about how to relate to people, from the earliest times to the present day.

The Bible teaches an important principle about how to relate to one another that is not found in any other book. It is the principle that the way we relate to one another is determined by the way we relate to God. This means that those who have a right relationship with God will also have a right relationship with people. This can be seen when we consider the teachings of the Ten Commandments, which we recite in worship every Sunday. The first to the fourth commandments tell us what kind of relationship we should have with God. They tell us that we should have a relationship with God according to the teachings: “You shall have no other gods before me,” “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God,” and “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” The fifth commandment, “Honor your father and your mother,” is a teaching that concerns both our relationship with God and our relationship with human being. Parents work with God in the creation of their children’s lives, but they are also their children’s closest neighbours. And the sixth to tenth commandments teach us how we, who are created and saved by God, are to relate to human beings. Because we are created and saved together by God, we are to have a relationship with one another according to the teachings: “You shall not murder,” You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,”and “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.”

Thus, the Bible teaches us to have a right relationship with human beings based on a right relationship with God. A right relationship with God is the foundation of a right relationship with human beings. And this is further revealed by having a close fellowship with God. It goes without saying that prayer is important in the Christian’s fellowship with God. The Reformer Calvin, in the title of the Book 3 chapter 20 of Institutes of the Christian Religion, states that prayer is “a perpetual exercise of faith. The daily benefits derived from it.” What do we experience when we pray daily and have fellowship with God? On the one hand, we may experience that God answers our prayers and gives us what we ask for. And sometimes we may experience that God gives us more than we have asked for. But on the other hand, we may have the experience that God has been listening to our prayers but has not given us what we have asked for. And sometimes we may experience God’s clear refusal to give us what we have earnestly asked him to give us.

This is natural when we think about that God has different thoughts than we do. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 55:8-9 states as follows. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, / neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / so are my ways higher than your ways / and my thoughts than your thoughts.” This means that God’s thoughts are high above and different from human thoughts. Therefore, God is not the one who does what we want. God has his freedom, his plan and his will. Therefore, we must not think that we are trying to make God do what we want. Rather, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we on earth must obey God’s will.

In this way, in our fellowship with God, we know that God is the “other” different from ourselves. Those who know that there is the “other” who is different from themselves understand that their neighbour is also an “other.” In other words, they understand that they must not try to make their neighbour do what they want. Each human being is an independent being who is asked by God, the supreme “other,” “how do you live?” And each one of us is responsible for answering God’s question that “how do you live?” In our relationship with God, this means that we cannot take on the responsibility of others. And in our relationship with God, we must not try to make others take on our responsibility. In other words, in the presence of God, the supreme “other,” human beings must have relationships with each other based on the understanding that they are “others” to each other.

I have mentioned these things because they are necessary for a correct understanding of today’s Bible passage, Galatians 6:2, which tells us to “bear one another’s burdens.” That is, the teaching “bear one another’s burdens,” does not allow us to pass on our responsibility to “others,” but encourages us to help one another after bearing our own responsibility ourselves.

First, let us consider the meaning of 6:1, which states: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” In previous passages, Paul has taught how Christians should live. There are two main points. One is that Christians are to live in a right relationship with God, not by keeping God’s law word for word, but by believing in Christ, as in 2:16: “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus.” This means that they are given a right relationship with God to live by believing in Christ, not by keeping God’s law word for word. The other is that Christians are to live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and serve one another in love, as in chapter 5, verse 13: “Through love serve one another,” and verse 16: “Walk by the Spirit.” And in today’s passage, 6:1 and followings, these teachings are further fleshed out.

The churches in the Galatian region had disputes about Christian teachings. As I have explained before, Paul, who first preached the gospel of Christ in Galatia, taught that “one can be saved by believing in Jesus Christ.” However, the Jewish evangelists who came after Paul left the Galatian churches taught that “one cannot be fully saved without not only believing in Christ but also undergoing the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law.” The Galatian believers were then misled by the teachings of the Jewish evangelists, and there was confusion in the churches. Because of this conflict over teachings, the Galatian believers were not in a state to love and serve one another. Perhaps there was a mutual pointing out and accusing each other of the other’s faults and sins.

Therefore, Paul exhorts in 6:1, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” Paul’s deep concern is reflected in these words of exhortation on several levels.

Firstly, Paul does not assume that anyone who is sinning is a bad guy, but rather calmly observes that “if anyone is caught in any transgression….” That is, the nuance is that human beings are caught in sins by the temptation of the devil. Christians are to live by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but sometimes they can let their guard down and be tempted by the devil and caught in sins.

Secondly, Paul encourages the believers in the Galatian churches, who he sees as living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The “you” in the phrase “you who are spiritual” probably refers to the whole believers of the churches in Galatia, not just to a small group of believers who are faithful to Paul’s teaching. This is because the letter must have been read in front of the whole believers. Then Paul is encouraging even those believers who seem to be fighting with each other, seeing them as people who are beginning to live led by the Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, Paul’s exhortation to “restore him in a spirit of gentleness” expresses his love for those who have fallen into sins, not to attack and exclude them, but to restore them as Christians. And this is possible when we are led by the Holy Spirit in dealing with them, not out of human thoughts. And in 5:23, it is said that one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is “gentleness.” We are to deal with those who have fallen into sins “in a spirit of gentleness” given by the Holy Spirit. This is by no means an easy task. People who have fallen into sins often respond with enmity even when we try to treat them with “gentleness.”

So Paul goes on to teach another important lesson. That is at the end of verse 1: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” That is, “Keep watch on yourself, lest you also be tempted by the devil and have thoughts of enmity and strife.” If you treat others with human thoughts instead of the “gentleness” given by the Holy Spirit, when they respond with enmity, you will respond with enmity too. That is the temptation of the devil. Paul warns them to be careful not to fall prey to that temptation.

And after this teaching of verse 1, in verse 2 Paul encourages them to “bear one another’s burdens.” So, in connection with verse 1, “bearing one another’s burdens” means “being careful not to have thoughts of enmity and strife due to temptation of the devil, but having fellowship with those who have fallen into sins so that they may be restored with the gentleness of the Holy Spirit.” Even Christians can be caught in sins and fall into sins in their lives. And when such a person is in the church, church fellowship becomes a burden. But still, Paul encourages us to bear the burden with fellowship so that those who have fallen into sins can be restored. And because such an attitude is an attitude of love, Paul says, “and so fulfill the law of Christ.” “The law of Christ” would be the teaching to serve one another in love, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as in chapter 5, verses 13 and 16.

Here we note that “bearing one another’s burdens” does not mean being responsible for the sins of others. A little later, in verse 5, we are told that “each will have to bear his own load.” And in verse 7 we are told that “whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” A person who falls into sins through the temptation of the devil must hold himself accountable to God. He must not blame others for his fall into sins. Here often arises the danger of a major error that destroys communal fellowship and relationships. The danger is that people will start to lay the blame on each other, thinking that since they are to “bear one another’s burdens,” others must also bear the responsibility for the misery caused by their own sins. This is not the teaching of the Bible. The biblical teaching to “bear one another’s burdens” means that we should also have fellowship with those who have fallen into sins and create opportunities for them to be restored.

As I said at the beginning of today’s sermon, human beings live in fellowship and community with others. Family, school, workplace and local community have their own communal purposes. What then is the purpose of the church as the community of faith? It is to share Christ’s grace of forgiveness of sins. In worship we share the grace of forgiveness of sins. In the sermon we learn of the forgiveness of sins, and in the holy communion we taste the forgiveness of sins. And we fellowship with one another as those whose sins have been forgiven by God. Because we have been forgiven by God, we have fellowship with those who have been caught in sins “in a spirit of gentleness.” That is the burden we are to bear with one another.

But while the church, the community of faith, shares in Christ’s grace of forgiveness of sins, it does not allow us to lay the blame on one another for having been caught in sins. Each of us is responsible to God, the supreme “other.” Since each of us is responsible to God, each of us has our own sphere of responsibility. We cannot bear the responsibility of “others” and we cannot make “others” bear our responsibility. Therefore, to “bear one another’s burdens” means to bear the burden of forgiving one another’s sins and fellowship with one another, while respecting each other’s sphere of responsibility.

This means, metaphorically speaking, that we fellowship with one another drawing boundaries without building walls. For example, if someone asks you to listen to him/her, you make time to listen to him/her according to your own schedule, not according to the other person’s preferred timing. Then you listen to the other person with an open mind. However, if the other person says something that shifts the blame onto someone else, say clearly, “I don’t think that’s right.” By saying it clearly, you give the other person a chance to come back to the right way of thinking. However, it is the other person’s responsibility whether or not he/she comes back to the right way of thinking. You cannot make the other person do what you want him/her to do. Only God can change the other person. The proper way to bear the burden is to have a dialogue and leave the results to God.