갈 6:6-10 포기하지 말고 선을 행하라

6 yLet the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 zDo not be deceived: God is not mocked, for awhatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For bthe one who sows to his own flesh cwill from the flesh reap corruption, but dthe one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And elet us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, fif we do not give up. 10 So then, gas we have opportunity, let us hdo good to everyone, and especially to those who are iof the household of faith.

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), 갈 6:6–10.

6절) 바울은 정기적으로 사례를 받지 않고 텐트 만드는 일을 통해서 자신의 사역을 지속하였다. 하지만 그는 자신이 세운 교회들에 지속적으로 사역자와 선생들에게 재정적인 지원을 할 것을 권면한다. 

- It is well known that Paul himself did not receive a regular stipend from his churches (although he did receive with gratitude a personal gift of money from the Philippians) but rather used his skills as a leather worker to make and sell tents for a living. However, he never held himself up as an example to others in this regard. To the contrary, he persistently encouraged the churches he had founded to provide material support for the pastors and teachers in their midst (cf. 1 Cor 9; 2 Cor 11:7–11; 1 Thess 2:7–10). It may well be, as someone has suggested, that Paul had “a gentlemanly dislike for talking about money.”133 Still, he fully recognized that financial stewardship was an indispensable element of faithful service to Christ and his church. Repeatedly he exhorted believers to give regularly, generously, and joyfully both to his special collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem and to the regular maintenance of godly teachers in their midst.134

133 Bligh, Galatians, 483.

134 J. G. Strelan has interpreted the entire motif of burden bearing in this passage in terms of Paul’s appeal for the Galatians to support his collection for the Jerusalem Christians. See his “Burden-Bearing and the Law of Christ: A Re-examination of Galatians 6:2,” JBL 94 (1975): 266–76. On the whole question of the collection, see K. F. Nickle, The Collection: A Study in Pauline Strategy (Naperville: Allenson, 1967), and D. Georgi, Die Geschichte der Kollekte des Paulus für Jerusalem (Hamburg-Bergstedt: H. Reich, 1965).

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 419–420.

- Does a verse like this have anything to say to us today? Much in every way! First, the primary responsibility of pastors is to teach and preach the Word of God. All other aspects of the ministry, however worthy, must be subordinate to this fundamental task, for God has chosen “the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor 1:21, KJV). Second, there is a special relationship between those who dispense instruction in the Word of God and those who hear and receive it. A workman is still worthy of his keep, and faithful pastors should not be taken for granted but rather recognized as a special gift from the Lord, one worthy of unstinted and generous support. Finally, in receiving such support from their people, pastors should guard against two temptations. On the one hand pastors who are richly blessed with material goods can forget the basic purpose of their ministry and become seduced by “the love of money [which] is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10, KJV). On the other hand, it is possible for a pastor to become so inured to a comfortable living that he functions as a mere hireling, forgetting that one day he must stand before Christ to give an account of the ministry to which he was called and the message he was privileged to preach.136

136 There is considerable discussion about whether the “all good things” those receiving instruction are to share with their teachers includes spiritual blessings as well as material benefits. Most commentaries follow the interpretation set forth in the translation of the Jerusalem Bible: “People under instruction should always contribute something to the support of the man who is instructing them.” While this seems to be the purport of Paul’s meaning here, the command to provide material support for ministers of the Word does not preclude a wider sharing of spiritual blessings, especially those related to the fruit of the Spirit. W. Perkins held that Paul added this word of instruction because the churches of Galatia were especially neglectful of caring for their ministers, a situation he saw replicated in his own day: “There are so many needy, poor wandering Levites, which would gladly serve for a morsel of bread, or a suit of raiment, it is a pregnant proof that there is very small devotion in men for the maintenance of religion; especially in those which are so straightlaced and short-sleeved in bestowing anything for the good of the ministry, and yet in keeping of hounds and hawks, and worse matters, in maintaining players, jesters, fools, and such like, are very lavish and profuse, to their great cost” (Galatians, 479).

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 421.

7-8절) 7절은 당시 헬라시대의 중요한 3가지 격언을 통합시킨 문장이다. 속이지 말라, 하나님은 업신여김을 받지 않는다. 심는대로 거둘 것이다. 

본문의 업신여김이라는 단어는 ‘미크테리제인’으로 신약에서는 본문에서만 유일하게 사용되는 단어로 조롱이나 경멸하는 의미로 코를 올리는 것을 의미한다. 

- The Greek verb myktērizein is found nowhere else in the New Testament, although it is well attested in the Septuagint. It means literally to “turn up the nose in mockery or contempt.” The Old Testament references are mostly to the mocking of God’s prophets; only once is this graphic word applied to a blasphemous mocking of God himself. In Ezek 8:17 the Lord asked the prophet a series of questions: “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!”  Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 422.

이제 8절에서 바울은 심고 거두는 이 변하지 않는 원리를 갈라디아 교회에 적용하면서 육체와 성령으로 심고 거두는 것에 대해서 가르치고 있다. 

- Like a chalk artist, Paul painted a vivid portrait of the dark side of reality—the certainty of judgment, the harvest of destruction and death, the inescapable and eternal outcome of sowing to the flesh. But the counterdestiny of those who sow to the Spirit is just as glorious as that of unrepentant sinners is horrible. If the works of the flesh issue in corruption and death, the fruit of the Spirit yields the harvest of eternal life. Although “eternal life” as a theological motif is more typically associated with the Johannine writings, it does occur at a number of strategic points in Paul’s letters as well (cf. Rom 2:7; 5:21; 6:22–23; 1 Tim 1:16; Titus 1:3; 3:7). Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 424.

9-10절) 개인적인 책임과 상호 책무(personal accountability and mutual responsibility)

바울은 선을 행하되 낙심하지 말것을, 그리고 포기하지 말 것을 명령한다. 왜나하면 때가 이르면 거두게 될 것이기 때문이다. 이는 농부의 일상이다. 농부는 봄에 씨를 뿌리고, 가뭄과 병충해, 태풍등의 어려움을 통과해야 한다. 이 과정에서 낙심하여 포기하면 열매를 거둘 수 없는 것이다. 하지만 그 때가 이르면, 그 때가 이를때까지 농부가 포기하지 않고 잡초를 뽑고, 논에 물을 대고, 넘어진 줄기들을 세워주는 일들을 소망을 가지고 지속해야 하는 것이다. 본문의 때는 바로 ‘카이로스’이다. 인간적인, 물리적 시간이 아니라 하나님의 시간인 것이다. 농사를 위한 달력으로 추수의 때를 계산할 수 있다. 하지만 하나님의 사역에 있어서 그 때는 하나님만이 정하실 수 있는 것이다. 

- In the last part of v. 9 Paul added a word of motivation to this urgent reminder: “For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” The word for “the proper time” is kairos, the same word Paul used in 4:4 to describe the opportune moment, the fullness of time, in which God sent his Son into the world. The same expression is used in 1 Tim 6:15 to describe the parousia or second advent of Christ—“which God will bring about in his own time.” At this point Paul’s metaphor of the spiritual life as a process of sowing and reaping breaks down. When a farmer plants a crop in the springtime, he can calculate with reasonable accuracy the time of the harvest. Of course, there are always variables to be taken into consideration, matters such as changing weather patterns, a swarm of destructive insects, and the like. Still, with the aid of the Farmer’s Almanac or more scientific agricultural techniques, the wise farmer can usually depend on the expected timetables of seedtime and harvest. Not so in the spiritual life. One of the greatest frustrations in the Christian ministry, and a principal cause for “weariness in well doing,” is the inability to calculate the spiritual outcome of faithful labors in the work of the Lord. For this reason we must be cautious in putting too much stock in what we often call “visible results.” We serve a Sovereign God who has promised that his Word will not return void. The ultimate harvest is assured, but it will only come “at the proper time,” that is, in God’s own good time. Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 425–426.

윌리엄 캐리의 예

- William Carey arrived in India in 1793 with a burden to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard the name. For seven years he proclaimed the gospel message faithfully week after week, month after month, with not a single native of India converted to Christ. Through years of struggle and doubt, Carey was often discouraged but never defeated. To his sisters back home in England he wrote:I feel as a farmer does about his crop: sometimes I think the seed is springing, and thus I hope; a little blasts all, and my hopes are gone like a cloud. They were only weeds which appeared; or if a little corn sprung up, it quickly dies, being either chocked with weeds, or parched up by the sun of persecution. Yet I still hope in God, and will go forth in his strength, and make mention of his righteousness, even of his only.142

On December 28, 1800, Carey baptized in the Ganges River his first Hindu convert, a carpenter named Krishna Pal. William Ward, who witnessed the dramatic deliverance of this man from the grip of paganism into the glorious truth of the gospel, wrote in his diary: “Ye gods of stone and clay, did ye not tremble, when in the Triune Name one soul shook you from his feet as dust?”143 This was the beginning of a mighty harvest of souls that God granted to Carey and his coworkers at the Serampore Mission in India.

142

George, Faithful Witness, 116.

143 Ibid., 132.

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 426.

10절의 기회도 바로 카이로스라는 단어이다. 

- The word kairos is used in both verses, and the connection between them may be understood as follows: Just as the time of reaping will come “at the proper time,” so now we must make good use of the present “opportunity” to sow to the Spirit rather than to the flesh. Paul’s words should certainly not be understood as an endorsement for a lackadaisical approach to ethical living, as if he were saying: “Let us do good to others from time to time as the occasion may present itself.” No, the kairos Paul spoke of in this verse is the divinely given opportunity for fulfilling the law of Christ, the unique dispensation of service granted to every born-again believer through the providential ordering of God. Paul here bore witness to the limitations of human life. The freedom of the Christian is a freedom of service in the moment of opportunity. The life of every person rushes toward its appointed end (Heb 9:27). The time for harvest is irretrievably set in the divine date book. Because this is true, consequently, therefore as we have opportunity (cf. “as opportunity offers,” NEB), let us faithfully fulfill the ministry God has given us to do. Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 427.

우리 그리스도인들은 모든이에게 선을 행해야 하면서 동시에 특별히 믿음의 가족들에게 선을 행할 것을 명령받고 있다. 그리고 우리는 먼저 가까이 있는 믿음의 가족들에게 선을 행하는 노력을 통해서 모든 이에게 선을 행할 수 있게 된다. 

- As Paul summarized it in this verse, Christian ethics has a dual focus: one is universal and all-embracing, “Let us do good to all people”; the other is particular and specific, “especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Paul’s universalistic appeal was based on the fact that all persons everywhere are created in the image of God and are thus infinitely precious in his sight. Whenever Christians have forgotten this primary datum of biblical revelation, they have inevitably fallen victim to the blinding sins of racism, sexism, tribalism, classism, and a thousand other bigotries that have blighted the human community from Adam and Eve to the present day.146

146 Cf. Betz’s comment on this verse: “Since before God there is no partiality, there cannot be partiality in the Christian’s attitude toward his fellowman” (Galatians, 311).

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 427–428.