Bear One Another’s Burdens
6 Brothers,1 oif anyone is caught in any transgression, pyou who are spiritual should restore him in qa spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 rBear one another’s burdens, and sso fulfill tthe law of Christ. 3 For uif anyone thinks he is something, vwhen he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one wtest his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5
For xeach will have to bear his own load.
1절) 신령한 너희는, 본문에서 말하는 신령한 이들은 누구를 말하는가? 여러가지 해석이 있는데 첫번째는 갈라디아 교회안의 영지주의자들이라고 말하기도 하고 두번째는 비꼬는 형태로 ‘신령한 자들’이라고 말한다고 보기도 한다. 앞서 말한대로 교만하고 헛된 영광을 구하며 서로 질투하는 자들에게 비꼬는 말을 하고 있다는 것이고 세번째는 긍정적인 의미로 말그대로 신령한, 성숙한 이들로 영적 어린아기가 아니라 장성하여 자신의 일에 책임을 질줄 아는 이들을 향해 말하고 있다고 보기도 한다. 어떤 교파는 성도들을 추구자, 구원받은 자, 성화된 자(the seeker, the saved, the sanctified)로 구분하기도 했다. 중요한 것은 교회안에 영적으로 성숙한 이들은 성령의 열매의 지도하에 인도함을 받는 삶을 살아야 한다. 그렇기에 교회안에 연약한 자들이나 범죄한 자들에 대해서 주도적으로 이들을 회복시키고 화해시키기 위해서 노력할 책임을 가지고 있다.
- Paul addressed his advice to “those who are spiritual,” the pneumatikoi. Again, there has been much scholarly debate about who these “spirituals” were. W. Schmithals, among others, has argued on the basis of this word that Paul was addressing here an incipient party of Gnostics whose disruptive activities among the Galatians had occasioned Paul’s letter in the first place.115 Although later Gnostics did use the word pneumatikoi as a term of self-designation, there is no reason to believe that Paul was here addressing such a self-conscious heretical group. Another, more plausible interpretation has been set forth by those who detect a note of irony and sarcasm in Paul’s use of this term in the Galatian context. Given the picture that has already emerged of a group of fractious Christians consumed by arrogance, conceit, and selfish ambition, we can well imagine that a group of “Holy Joes” and “Pious Pollys” had formed themselves into a cadre of moral watchdogs and were self-righteously lording it over their less “advanced” brothers and sisters. If we accept this interpretation, then Paul would, in effect, have been saying: “Listen to me, those of you who think you’re so ‘spiritual.’ You talk as though you’ve swallowed the Holy Ghost, feathers and all! If you’re so ‘spiritual,’ then demonstrate your spirituality by acting responsibly and lovingly with your fallen brothers and sisters.”116
It seems best, however, to understand the “spirituals” in the same kind of positive sense Paul used it in 1 Cor 2:15–3:4. There the apostle contrasted the “spiritual” believers at Corinth with those who were sarkikoi, “fleshly,” worldly minded, that is, those who had to be fed on milk instead of meat because they were spiritually immature. They were, so to say, baby Christians more concerned with status and self-gratification than with the mind of Christ or service toward others.117
In Gal 6:1, then, “those who are spiritual” are identical with those Christians who walk in the Spirit, are led by the Spirit, and keep in step with the Spirit. Some early Methodist church registers contained three columns for listing those persons who attended services of worship: the seekers, the saved, and the sanctified. Paul was not here dividing the body of Christ into a two- or three-tiered society. However, he was acknowledging the fact that believers can and do sin and fall. While all sin is detestable before God and should be resisted as the plague, certain transgressions are especially hurtful to the fellowship of the church and must be dealt with according to the canons of Christian discipline. Those who are spiritually minded, that is, those whose lives give evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, have a special responsibility to take the initiative in seeking restoration and reconciliation with those who have been caught in such an error.
115 See W. Schmithals, Paul and the Gnostics (Nashville: Abingdon, 1972), 46–51. E. Pagels indicates how later Gnostics actually interpreted Gal 6:1: “Paul directs the pneumatics specifically to restore the psychics who are caught in sin and need (6:1–2). In doing this ‘fulfill the law of Christ,’ the only law the pneumatics recognized, the ‘law of love’ (5:14)” (Gnostic Paul [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975], 111).
116 The ironic interpretation has been favored by H. Schlier, Der Breif an der Galater, KEK 7, 10th ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1899), 270, and R. A. Cole, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, TNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 172.
117 See C. H. Talbert, Reading Corinthians (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 4–11. See also B. Pearson, The Pneumatikos-Psychikos Terminology in 1 Corinthians (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1973).
Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 409–410.
본문에서 바로잡다라고 번역된 단어는 ‘카타르티조’라는 단어로 문자적으로 질서를 세우다, 원래의 상태로 회복시키다라는 의미이다. 마 4:21; 막 1:19에서 그물을 깁는데 사용된 단어이다. 또한 의학적인 단어로 ‘부러지거나 어긋난 뼈를 맞추다’라는 의미로 사용되었고 고전 1:10에서 바울은 윤리적 문제, 분쟁속에서 화합할 것을 요구하는데 사용하였다.
- But how is this to be done? The lapsed brother or sister should be “restored gently.” The word for “restore” is katartizō, literally “to put in order,” “to restore to its former condition.” Elsewhere in the New Testament (cf. Matt 4:21; Mark 1:19) this same word is used for the mending or overhauling of fishnets. It was also a part of the medical vocabulary of ancient Greece, where it meant “to set a fractured or dislocated bone.” In 1 Cor 1:10 Paul used the same word in an ethical sense exhorting the strife-torn Corinthian believers to put aside their dissensions so that they may be “restored” to unity in thought and purpose. Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 411.
본문은 마 18장에서 형제의 죄를 처리하는 방법을 떠오르게 한다. 처음에는 1:1로, 나아가 두세사람이 증참하고 이도 듣지 않으면 교회의 이름으로 말하고 마지막에는 출교시키는 것이다. 갈라디아 교회를 향한 바울의 이러한 가르침은 예방적인 차원의 조치라고 볼 수 있다. 교회안에서 이러한 범죄한 일이 없어야 하겠지만 사후 조치도 필요하고 예방적인 차원에서 미연에 이러한 일들을 대비할 필요가 있다. 본문에서 이러한 일을 처리하는데 중요한 원리는 바로 온유한 심령이다. 이는 그저 눈감아주는 것도 아니며 원칙만을 내세우며 재단하는 방식도 아니다. 이러한 화해의 프로세스는 반드시 민감함과 심사숙고하는 이해심을 가지고 접근해야만 한다.
2-3절) 짐(burden)은 ‘바로스’로 문자적으로 무거운 무게 혹은 돌로 어떤 이에게 먼거리를 옮기게 요구하는 것을 의미한다.(마 20:12)
- 짐의 실제 : 유혹, 시험의 짐도 있고 도덕적 실수의 결과로 요구되는 짐이 있다. 육체적 질병, 정서적 장애, 가족들의 위기, 실업, 사탄의 압제등이 있을 수 있다. 죄로 인해 창조의 실제가 파괴되었기에 신자들도 울부짖는다.
- 자만의 신화(The myth of self-sufficiency)
- 상호관계의 명령(The imperative of mutuality)
- 그리스도의 법을 따르는 삶(Living by the law of Christ)
4절) 살피다는 ‘도키마조’라는 단어로 뜨거운 불로 금의 순도를 결정하기 위해서 테스트 하는 것을 말한다.
- The word for “test” is dokimazō, which is the word used for the fiery testing of gold so as to determine its purity. This verse has important implications for Christian spirituality, and we do well to heed its message in our own individual lives. Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 417.
자기를 돌아보는 것과 자기반성은 다르다.
- First, there is a great difference between introspection and self-examination. The former can easily devolve into a kind of narcissistic, spiritual navel-gazing that has more in common with types of Eastern mysticism than with classic models of the devotional life in historic Christianity. True self-examination is not merely taking one’s spiritual pulse beat on a regular basis but rather submitting one’s thoughts, attitudes, and actions to the will of God and the mind of Christ revealed in Holy Scripture. To “test” or “prove” something presupposes that there is some external standard or criterion by which the quality or purity of the object under scrutiny can be measured with accuracy. No higher or better standard can be found for this important exercise than the law of Christ Paul had just extolled. This does not mean, of course, that we should not seek the assistance of fellow believers in the process of self-examination. An important part of bearing one another’s burdens is to offer spiritual guidance and friendship to one another, holding each other accountable to the high calling of God in our lives. Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 417.
자기 반성은 크리스찬의 삶에서 서로 경쟁하며 자랑하는 것과 관계 있다. 고린도 교회안에서 영적인 은사가 발현되었는데 이것을 자랑하면서 자신들처럼 영적 은사를 가지지 못한 자들과 비교하고 평가하였다. 그런 자들을 향해서 각각 자기 자신을 시험하라고 바울은 요구하고 있는 것이다. 앞서 우리에게 제시된 성령의 은사라는 기준속에서 자신을 평가할때 이전보다 더욱 온유해졌는지? 더욱 충성스럽고 정직하고 더 사랑하며 오래참고 있는지를 시험하라는 것이다. 이렇게 정직하게 자신을 살필때 경쟁이 아니라 자기 고백을, 자만이 아니라 겸손을 낳게 될 것이다.
5절) 본문에서는 각각 자기의 짐을 질것을 요청한다. 이는 2절에서 서로의 짐을 지라고 요청하는 것과 배치되는 것처럼 보인다. 하지만 각각의 구절에 사용된 동사를 살펴보면 그 의미를 이해할 수 있다. 2절에서의 짐은 혼자 지기에는 무거운 짐으로 이를 함께 질 것을 요청 한 것이고 본문 5절에서의 짐은 ‘포션’으로 선박에 싣는 짐, 병사의 배낭, 나그네의 짐을 의미하는 것으로 마땅히 스스로 감당해야할 무게의 짐을 말한다. 우리의 인생속에서 홀로 질 수 없어서 반드시 함께 나누어 져야하는 짐이 있는가 하면 다른 사람이 대신 져 줄 수 없는, 홀로 감당해야할 무게의 짐이 있다.
- On first blush it seems that Paul had flatly contradicted himself within the space of three short verses. In 6:2 he instructed the Galatians to “carry each other’s burdens.” Now in 6:5 he said that each one “should carry his own load.” This apparent discrepancy is easily resolved when we realize that Paul was using two different words to refer to two disparate situations. The word translated “burdens” in v. 2 (barē) refers, as we have seen, to a heavy load, an oppressive weight, which one is expected to carry for a long distance. But the word for “load” in v. 5 is phortion, which is used elsewhere to refer to a ship’s cargo (cf. Acts 27:10), a soldier’s knapsack, or a pilgrim’s backpack.129 J. Stott correctly delineates the difference between the two “loads” in Gal 6: “So we are to bear one another’s ‘burdens’ which are too heavy for a man to bear alone, but there is one burden which we cannot share—indeed do not need to because it is a pack light enough for every man to carry himself—and that is our responsibility to God on the day of judgment. On that day you cannot carry my pack and I cannot carry yours.”130
On several occasions throughout this commentary we have had occasion to note that Galatians, while not laden with apocalyptic imagery or extensive discourses on last things, nonetheless presupposes a strong eschatological orientation. Here in v. 5 Paul placed the verb in the future tense (bastasei) to indicate that he was thinking not merely of an individual’s carrying his own weight or bearing his own responsibility here in this life but more particularly the future reckoning that every Christian must make before the judgment seat of Christ.
129 Moffatt translates this verse, “Everyone will have to bear his own load of responsibility.” Burton correctly notes that no sharp distinction can be drawn between these two words as such (Galatians, 334). However, the context in Gal 6 clearly shows that Paul had two distinct meanings in mind.
130 Stott, Only One Way, 159–60. Cole has suggested that Paul may be here taking one final glance toward the Judaizers, reminding them that they should be less concerned with “counting scalps” than with their own standing before God on the coming day of judgment (Galatians, 175).
Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 418.
