For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else. For each man will bear his own burden.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Galatians 6:3-5 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else. For each man will bear his own burden.
Parallel Translations
-
For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else.
For each man will bear his own burden.
-
If eny man seme to him silfe that he is somwhat when in dede he is nothynge the same deceaveth hym silfe in his ymaginacion.
Let every man prove his awne worke and then shall he have reioysinge in his awne silfe and not in another.
For every man shall beare his awne burthen.
Show all 3 translations
-
For if any man seeme to himselfe, that he is somewhat, when he is nothing, hee deceiueth himselfe in his imagination.
But let euery man prooue his owne worke: and then shall he haue reioycing in himselfe onely and not in another.
For euery man shall beare his owne burden.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (40)
- Proverbs 26:12 (v3) Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
- 1 Corinthians 3:18 (v3) Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
- 1 Corinthians 8:2 (v3) But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.
- 2 Corinthians 13:5 (v4) Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know about your own selves, that Jesus Christ is…
- Romans 12:3 (v3) For I say through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think;…
Show all 39 cross-references
- Psalms 26:2 (v4) Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.
- 2 Corinthians 3:5 (v3) not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,
- Luke 18:11 (vv3–4) The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous,…
- Jeremiah 32:19 (v5) great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give everyone according to his ways,…
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 (v3) If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t…
- Romans 12:16 (v3) Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own…
- 1 Corinthians 11:28 (v4) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.
- James 1:22 (v3) But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
- 1 John 1:8 (v3) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Proverbs 25:14 (v3) As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.
- Romans 14:10-12 (v5) But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of…
- James 1:26 (v3) If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is…
- 2 Corinthians 12:11 (v3) I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for I am in no way inferior to the very…
- 2 Timothy 3:13 (v3) But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
- Galatians 2:6 (v3) But from those who were reputed to be important—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man—they,…
- 2 Corinthians 5:10-11 (v5) For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has…
- Romans 2:6-9 (v5) who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and…
- 2 Corinthians 1:12 (v4) For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of…
- 2 Corinthians 11:12-13 (v4) But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from those who desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found…
- Revelation 2:23 (v5) I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each…
- Matthew 16:27 (v5) For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
- 1 Corinthians 3:8 (v5) Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 (v5) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the…
- Revelation 20:12-15 (v5) I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of…
- Isaiah 3:10-11 (v5) Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his…
- Jeremiah 17:10 (v5) “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Ezekiel 18:4 (v5) Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.
- 1 John 3:19-22 (v4) And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him, because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our…
- 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (v4) Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or…
- Revelation 22:12 (v5) “Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.
- Proverbs 14:14 (v4) The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.
- 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 (v4) But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man’s judgment. Yes, I don’t judge my own self. For I know…
- Job 13:15 (v4) Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
- 1 Corinthians 1:12-13 (v4) Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ…
39 distinct cross-references across this passage (40 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Martin Luther 1535 · Public Domain On vv3–5 VERSE 3. For if a man think himself to…
VERSE 3. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Again the Apostle takes the authors of sects to task for being hard-hearted tyrants. They despise the weak and demand that everything be just so. Nothing suits them except what they do. Unless you eulogize whatever they say or do, unless you adapt yourself to their slightest whim, they become angry with you. They are that way because, as St. Paul says, they "think themselves to be something," they think they know all about the Scriptures.
Read full note →
Paul has their number when he calls them zeros. They deceive themselves with their self-suggested wisdom and holiness. They have no understanding of Christ or the law of Christ. By insisting that everything be perfect they not only fail to bear the burdens of the weak, they actually offend the weak by their severity. People begin to hate and shun them and refuse to accept counsel or comfort from them.
Paul describes these stiff and ungracious saints accurately when he says of them, "They think themselves to be something." Bloated by their own silly ideas and schemes they entertain a pretty fair opinion of themselves, when in reality they amount to nothing.
Martin Luther — Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), English translation by Theodore Graebner (Zondervan, 1939) — public domain (U.S. copyright not renewed). Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. For if a man think himself. There is…
3. For if a man think himself. There is an ambiguity in the construction, but Paul’s meaning is clear. The phrase, When he is nothing, appears at first view to mean, “if any person, who is in reality nothing, claims to be something;” as there are many men of no real worth who are elated by a foolish admiration of themselves. But the meaning is more general, and may be thus expressed: “Since all men are nothing, he who wishes to appear something, and persuades himself that he is somebody, deceives himself.” First, then, he declares that we are nothing, by which he means, that we have nothing of our own of which we have a right to boast, but are destitute of every thing good: so that all our glorying is mere vanity. Secondly, he infers that they who claim something as their own deceive themselves. Now, since nothing excites our indignation more than that others should impose upon us, it argues the height of folly that we should willingly impose upon ourselves. This consideration will render us much more candid to others. Whence proceeds fierce insult or haughty sternness, but from this, that every one exalts himself in his own estimation, and proudly despises others? Let arrogance be removed, and we shall all discover the greatest modesty in our conduct towards each other.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v5 A reason wherefore men ought to have the greatest…
A reason wherefore men ought to have the greatest eye upon themselves, because that every man shall be judged before God according to his own life, and not by comparing himself with other men.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3 For if a man think himself to be…
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Ver. 3. Think himself to be something] The self-deceiver takes his counter, and sets it up for a thousand pound, as the Pharisees and Laodiceans. Of such it may be said, as Quintilian somewhere of some overweeners of themselves, that they might have proved excellent scholars if they had not been so persuaded already.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–5 It is a general maxim, and the truth of…
It is a general maxim, and the truth of it is obvious to every one that readeth it, for supposing a man to be
nothing of what he thinks himself to be, he must needs
Read full note →
deceive himself in nourishing and entertaining such an opinion of himself. For the dependence of it upon what the apostle had said before, it is obvious. Pride, and men’s high opinions of themselves above what they ought, are the cause of their censoriousness and morosity in dealing with other offenders; which modesty would not suffer in them, if they apprehended themselves to be as weak, and as much exposed to temptations, as others are. It is pride and overweening opinions of ourselves, that make us despise or neglect others under their burdens, and so forget the law of Christ; the apostle therefore properly addeth this precept for humility and modesty to those former precepts.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v3 The apostle is still directing the Galatians, and enforcing…
The apostle is still directing the Galatians, and enforcing them to express great lenity and tenderness towards such of their brethren as had fallen into sin and error, and particularly cautions them,
1. To beware of the sin of pride and self-conceit, and to abound in the grace of humility and modesty; intimating to us, that pride, and an high opinion of ourselves, are the certain cause of censoriousness and rash judging of others, and the true reason why we despise and glory over an offending brother, instead of pitying of him, sympathizing with him, and endeavouring to restore him.
Read full note →
He that thinks himself to be something here, is the man that hath proud thoughts of himself, who thinks himself more righteous and holy, more steady and steadfast, than his fallen brother; and conceits he has more power to preserve himself than others: such an one thinks himself to be some great thing; when, alas! every man is nothing; and the best of men having nothing but what the grace of God confers upon them, 2Co 12:11
Observe, 2. How the apostle strikes at the root of the fore-mentioned sin of pride and self-conceit; namely, the comparing of themselves with those who are worse than themselves, which is very apt to stir up pride and arrogancy: to cure which, he directs them to compare themselves with those who are better than themselves, and to try and prove their own works by the rule of the word of God, and not by the example and practice of others; and so shall they find matter of rejoicing in themselves, in the testimony of God, and the silent applause of their own consciences, without borrowing matter of rejoicing from the failings and infirmities of other persons.
Observe, 3. The argument or motive used by the apostle to enforce upon every man the duty of trying his own work, rather than to be prying into the infirmities of others; because when he cometh to judgment, every man must bear his own burden, or give an account of himself and his own actions to God; who will then absolve or condemn men, not as they have done better or worse than others, but as they shall be then found in themselves, absolutely considered. It is a great error for any man to measure himself by the measure of other men, either by their perfections, or by their imperfections.
To conclude our estate safe, because we are not so bad as others, or unsafe, because we have not attained to the perfections of others, is alike dangerous: God will not proceed by this rule, no more should we; every man that appears before him, shall bear his own burden, and answer for his own sins.
Here note, 1. That how light soever men make of sin in the commission of it, it will be found heavy and burdensome when they come before God to account for it; He shall bear his own burden.
Note, 2. That the righteous God, in the great judgment, will call no man to account for the sins of others, unless he has some ways been accessary to them; but every man shall bear his own burden both of guilt and punishment.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–5 For if a man think himself to be something,....…
For if a man think himself to be something,.... Of himself; to have anything of himself, to do anything of himself, and of himself to attain to life and salvation:
when he is nothing: of himself; not even as a creature, but owes his being and preservation, and all the mercies of life, to another, even to God; has no grace nor gifts of himself, but what he has received, and can do no good thing, not think a good thought, or perform a good action, of himself, and much less of himself procure eternal life and salvation:
Read full note →
he deceiveth himself: and will find himself sadly mistaken, and wretchedly disappointed another day; or whoever thinks himself to be some famous and excellent person, to be something more, and better than others, of a more excellent nature, and of greater abilities, that he is free from sin, or at least holier than others, and not liable to fall as others, whom he looks upon with disdain and contempt, wanting that charity which the law, and new commandment of Christ, requires, when he is nothing but sin and vanity, he is destitute of the grace of God, he deceives himself and the truth is not in him. This the apostle says to depress pride, and a swelling conceit of themselves, and all uncharitable, rough, and severe usages of others. A saying like this the Jews have (y);
"whoever he is that is something, or thinks in himself that he is "something", it would be better for him if he had never been created.''
(y) Midrash Kohelet, fol. 79. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3–5 If any one think himself to be something -…
If any one think himself to be something - Above his brethren, or by any strength of his own. When he is nothing, he deceiveth himself - He alone will bear their burdens, who knows himself to be nothing.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Verse 3. If a man think himself to be…
Verse 3. If a man think himself to be something] i.e. To be a proper Christian man; when he is nothing; being destitute of that charity which beareth, hopeth, and endureth all things. See 1Co 13:1, c. Those who suppose themselves to excel all others in piety, understanding, c., while they are harsh, censorious, and overbearing, prove that they have not the charity that thinketh no evil and in the sight of God are only as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. There are no people more censorious or uncharitable than those among some religious people who pretend to more light and a deeper communion with God. They are generally carried away with a sort of sublime, high sounding phraseology, which seems to argue a wonderfully deep acquaintance with Divine things stripped of this, many of them are like Samson without his hair.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–5 For if a man think himself to be something…
For if a man think himself to be something ... - see Gal 5:26. This is designed, evidently, to be another reason why we should be kind and tender to those who have erred. It is, that even those who are most confident may fall. They who feel secure, and think it impossible that they should sin, are not safe. They may be wholly deceived, and may be nothing, when they have the highest estimate of themselves. They may themselves fall into sin, and have need of all the sympathy and kindness of their brethren.
When he is nothing - When he has no strength, and no moral worth. When he is not such as he apprehends, but is lifted up with vain self-conceit.
Read full note →
He deceiveth himself - He understands not his own character. “The worst part of the fraud falls on his own head” - Doddridge. He does not accomplish what he expected to do; and instead of acquiring reputation from others, as he expected, he renders himself contemptible in their sight.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Self-conceit, the chief hindrance to forbearance and sympathy towards…
Self-conceit, the chief hindrance to forbearance and sympathy towards our fellow men, must be laid aside.
something--possessed of some spiritual pre-eminence, so as to be exempt from the frailty of other men.
Read full note →
when he is nothing--The Greek is subjective: "Being, if he would come to himself, and look on the real fact, nothing" [ALFORD] (Gal 6:2, Gal 6:6; Rom 12:3; Co1 8:2).
deceiveth himself--literally, "he mentally deceives himself." Compare Jam 1:26, "deceiveth his own heart."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. For if, in the spirit of the above…
3. For if, in the spirit of the above vainglory, forgetting the spirit of meekness, with which we should bear.
A man… something—A proper corrector and restorer of others. The maxim is, indeed, general, but Paul uses it now in special reference here to the spiritual reprover.
Read full note →
Nothing— As he truly would be, if, while correcting his neighbour’s fault, he is falling into vainglory.
Deceiveth himself—A very expressive single Greek word, not found in any previous author, perhaps invented by St. Paul, and used by himself again in Tit_1:10, and may be rendered cheats-his-own-brain.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3. The connexion seems to be: Christ by precept…
3. The connexion seems to be: Christ by precept and by example bade you bear one another’s burdens. To neglect this duty is to set up yourselves above Christ. He ‘humbled Himself’ for us. You will not stoop to comfort and help your brethren. This must arise from pride—from a fancy that you are something exceptionally exalted, whereas such notions arise from self-deception—a phantom which represents nothingness.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–5 (3) He deceiveth himself.—A peculiar word, perhaps coined by…
(3) He deceiveth himself.—A peculiar word, perhaps coined by St. Paul: puts himself under an hallucination; persuades himself of the existence of that which has no reality.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–5 For if a man think himself to be something,…
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself (eij ga ti mhden Receptus, eJauton frenapata); for if a man is nothing and thinketh himself to be something, he is deceiving his own soul. The conjunction "for" points back to the practical direction just given to the "spiritual;" meaning that for those who wished to be, and also perhaps to be thought to be, fulfilling Christ"s law, this was the behaviour which they were to carry out, and without which their claim was mere self-delusion. The phrase, dokei einai ti mhden wn, is well illustrated by the passage cited by critics from Plato"s "Apologia," p. 41, E: jEa ti ei+nai mhdezete aujtoiv... oti, oiontai ti ei+nai ontev oujdenov axioi "Something" is, by a common meiosis, put for "something considerable" (cf. Gal_2:6) The especial form of eminence, the claim to which is here referred to, is eminence in spirituality and consistency as a servant of Christ. Possibly the apostle has in his eye certain individuals among the Galatians that he had heard of, who, professing much, were, however, self-complacently bitter and contemptuous towards brethren who had gone wrong in moral conduct or who differed from themselves in the disputes then rife in those Churches. The phrase, mhden wn, "being nothing," is a part of the hypothesis relative to the individual case spoken of, not a statement putting forth the aphorism that no one is really anything. The passage quoted above from Plato shows, that in the latter case we should have had oujden and not mhden. Some men, by the grace of God, are "something;" but these persons only fancy themselves to be so. Whether any man is really "something" or not is determined by his practical conduct his "work" as the apostle expresses it in the next verse. The verb frenapatan occurs in the New Testament only here, though we have the substantive frenapathv, deceivers, in Tit_1:10. St. James. (Jam_1:26) speaks of a man "deceiving his heart" in seemingly just the same sense. In both passages it appears to be meant that a man palms off upon his own mind fancies as if they were just apprehensions of real facts; in both also these fancies are but illusive notions of one"s own religious character here, as being "spiritual;" in James, as being "religious" or "devout" (qrhskov) the activity of practical benevolence being in both cases wanting; for the bridling not his tongue" in ver. 26 is proved by the contrasted behaviour spoken of in the next verse to refer to those sins of the tongue which are implicitly condemned in vers. 19-21.
A warning against self-deceit.
Read full note →
The high but false estimate that men may form of themselves is the great hindrance to this mutual burden-bearing. Consider
I THE STRANGENESS OF SELF-DECEPTION. It is not remarkable that a man should be the dupe of others, but strange that he should be the dupe of himself. Yet there are many who think themselves to be something when they are nothing partly from the want of self-knowledge; partly from the deceitfulness and pride of the human heart; partly from the fallacious habit of measuring themselves by the attainments of others; partly, too, from the influence of false teachings.
II ITS EVIL EFFECTS UPON THE MAN HIMSELF. He deceives himself, but he cannot deceive either God or man. It is a fatal delusion while it lasts, for it stands in the way of all improvement. He lives in a fool"s paradise. If he had once discovered that he was nothing he would be put in the way of getting the foundation rightly laid, and he would be the more likely to have points of sympathy with the outcast and fallen. The sense of our own weakness is the best motive to an indulgent consideration for others.
III ITS EVIL EFFECTS AS REGARDS OTHERS. This is the crowning idea of the passage. The self-deceived man is incapable of bearing others" burdens, in fact, the imagination of superior piety leads him to be harsh and censorious and overbearing to others. There are sects in our day which pretend to a deeper communion with God than other Christians, and they are only remarkable for a censorious pride which kills love. The self-deceived man thinks meanly of others" attainments, in opposition to the gospel temper, which counsels Christians "in lowliness of mind to think others better than themselves;" while he takes no delight in their graces or gifts, and will accept neither instruction nor correction from others. He seems self-supporting and self-contained, exempt from frailty, sin, and sorrow, and therefore cares nothing for the sins or the sorrows of others. It is only the disposition that can say, "Not I, but the grace of God in me," that will be ready for that mutual burden-bearing which conduces so much to the comfort and cohesion of Christian society.
The self-deception of self-conceit.
A truism, yet such that, while everybody is ready to apply it to his neighbour, few are wise enough to take it home to themselves. By the very nature of the case it is always ignored where it fits most aptly. Hence the need of insisting upon it.
I THERE ARE STRONG INDUCEMENTS FOR FORMING AN UNDULY FAVOURABLE OPINION OF ONE"S SELF. Self-knowledge is a difficult acquisition. We cannot get the right perspective. The effort of turning the mind in upon itself is arduous. Then we are inclined to take imagination and desire for direct perception, i.e. to think we possess qualities which we only picture in thought; or to measure our faculties by our inclinations, to suppose that the wish to do certain things carries with it the power. E.g. an enthusiast for the violin is likely to suppose he can handle the instrument musically before other people are of that opinion. The very habit of thinking about ourselves causes a growing sense of self-importance. Moreover, by an unconscious selection we are led to dwell on the favourable features of our own characters, and leave out of account the unfavourable.
II A HIGH OPINION OF ONE"S SELF IS COMMONLY FOUND TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH A LOW CONDITION OF REAL WORTH. Not invariably, for we sometimes find men of high endowments painfully self-assertive, either because they know that their merits have not been duly recognized, or because their vanity has been excited by the applause of their friends. Such cases reveal a weakness, and strike us as peculiarly unfortunate, for the men of worth would be wiser to wait for the acknowledgment which their merits by themselves will ultimately command had they but patience enough, or at the worst should be above caring overmuch for any such acknowledgment. Still, the merit may be real. In most cases, however, it is those who are least who boast the loudest. The man of little knowledge thinks he knows everything; wide knowledge reveals the awful vastness of the unknown, and impresses profound humility. So the holiest man is most conscious of his own sinfulness. At best, too, what right have we to think much of ourselves when all we have comes from God-our natural abilities as gifts of Providence, our spiritual attainments as graces of the Spirit?
III AN UNDUE OPINION OF ONE"S SELF IS NOTHING BUT SELF-DECEPTION. It cannot long impose upon others. The world is not inclined to attach much weight to a man"s own evidence in favour of himself. (Hypocrisy, or the deliberate effort to deceive others, is out of the question here, as that implies a knowledge of the falseness of our pretensions, while we are now considering the honest belief in them.) Such self-deception is unfortunate,
(1) because it will put us in a false position, incline us to make wrong claims, and to attempt the unattainable, and so result in disastrous failure;
(2) because it precludes the endeavour to improve ourselves;
(3) because it destroys the Christ-like grace of humility;
(4) because it provokes the ridicule, scorn, or even enmity of others. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3–5 For if a man think himself to be something,…
Gal_6:3
For if a man think himself to be something, when he Is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Read full note →
Caution against over self-estimation
These words admit of two different interpretations, according as you connect the middle with the first or with the last clause.
1. If we connect the middle clause with the first one, as our translators have done, the meaning is, If a man think himself to be a Christian of a high order, while he either is not a Christian at all, or, at any rate, a Christian of a very inferior order, he commits an important mistake and falls into a hazardous error. The man who supposes himself arrived at the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, when in reality only a babe in Christ, deceives himself, and throws important obstacles in the way of his own improvement. In their own estimation they have little to learn, while the truth is, they have learned but little. But the mistake is much more deplorable when a man flatters himself into the belief that he is a Christian, perhaps a Christian of the first order, while in reality he is not a Christian at all. The thing is quite possible--I fear not uncommon. We pity the poor maniac mendicant who thinks himself a king; we pity the man who has persuaded himself he is a man of wealth, while in reality he is in immediate hazard of bankruptcy; we pity the man who is assuring himself of long life, when he is tottering on the brink of the grave; but how much more to be pitied is the man who thinks himself secure of the favour of God, and of eternal happiness, while in reality the wrath of God is abiding on him, and a miserable eternity lies before him! No kinder office can be done to such a person than to arouse him from his state of carnal security, to undeceive him, to convince him of his wants while they may be supplied, of his danger while it may be averted. A woe is denounced against such as are thus at ease in Zion.
2. Perhaps, however, the apostles meaning is, If any man think he is something, he deceiveth himself, for he is nothing. The apostle is cautioning the Galatians against a vainglorious disposition; and in this verse I apprehend he means that the habitual indulgence of vainglory is utterly inconsistent with the possession of genuine Christianity. Humility is a leading trait in the character of every genuine Christian. He knows and believes that he is guilty before the God of heaven exceedingly, and he feels that he is an ignorant, foolish, depraved creature, that of himself he is nothing, less than nothing, and vanity. Feeling thus his insignificance as a creature, and his demerit and depravity as a sinner, he is not--he cannot be--vainglorlous. Whatever he is that is good, he knows God has made him to be. Whatever he has that is good, he knows God has given him. The falls of others excite in him not self-glorification, but gratitude. (John Brown, D. D.)
Self-magnifiers
A friend had fitted two glasses into a little ivory tube in such a way that any small object, like a midge or other insect, when put into it, and viewed through the smaller and upper glass, seemed of enormous magnitude, with all its parts, however diminutive, distinctly visible. If, however, the tube was reversed, and the objects contemplated through the larger glass, they then appeared to shrink below the usual size. Gotthold looked upon the contrivance with no ordinary pleasure, and said: I know not what better name to give this instrument than the magnifier. In my opinion, however, the hearts of the proud and of the hypocritical are of the same construction. When they contemplate what is their own--their virtues and talents--they see through a glass which self-love has so artfully prepared that all seems of vast dimensions, and they imagine that they have good reason to boast and congratulate themselves upon their gifts. If, however, they have occasion to look at their neighbour and his good points, they turn the instrument upside down, and then all seems small and commonplace. In like manner, their own faults and vices they observe through the diminishing glass, and reckon them very inconsiderable; while they contemplate their neighbours from the opposite side, and so convert a midge into an elephant: The greatest of all delusions in the world is that which man voluntarily practises upon himself, and which betrays him, with his eyes open, into pride, self-esteem, and contempt of others. You will own that the heart of the Pharisee, who looked upon himself as a mighty saint, and upon the publican as a brand fit for the burning, was of this description. That Pharisee, however, has left behind him a numerous breed, and spread his line over the whole earth. In fact, I do not believe there exists a man who has not sometimes used such an instrument in the way we have described. (Scriver.)
Self-deception
Boswell relates that Dr. Johnson told him that when his fathers workshop, which was a detached building, had partly fallen down for want of being repaired, he was no less diligent to lock the door every night, though he saw that anybody might walk in at the back. Even so do many persons, guarding themselves against one approach of sin only, while they are exposed to danger from some other point, vainly suppose themselves safe from their spiritual foes. (R. Brewin.)
I. Men are nothing of themselves.
1. The gifts of God, whether of nature or grace, are not ours, but Gods.
2. In the use of these gifts the best fall far short of what they ought to be (1Co_15:10; 1Co_8:2).
II. Though men are nothing, yet they seem to be something, and that of themselves. This arises from--
(1) Pride;
(2) the excessive consideration of our good things;
(3) the comparing of ourselves with the infirmities of others;
(4) the flattery of men.
III. In so doing, men deceive themselves. Self-deception is
(1) The worst deception (Jam_1:22; Jam_1:26);
(2) the most dangerous deception;
(3) self-degradation;
(4) spiritual impotence. Conceit is fatal to the duty of burdenbearing, for it is the death of love.
IV. The remedies against the overweening of ourselves.
1. To look ourselves in the glass of the law (1Co_3:18).
2. To remember that the gifts on which we pride ourselves are ours only for a time (Luk_16:2), and for the use of them we shall be held responsible.
3. To compare ourselves with Gods majesty (Psa_8:4). (R. Cudworth.)
Self-complacency
One day Narcissus, who had resisted all the charms of others, came to an open fountain of silvery clearness. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own image, and thought it some beautiful water-spirit living in the fountain. He gazed, and admired the eyes, the neck, the hair, the lips. He fell in love with himself. In vain he sought a kiss and an embrace. He talked to the charmer, but received no response. He could not break the fascination, and so he pined away and died. The moral is, Think not too much nor too highly of yourself.
A mans talk better than himself
A hungry man once caught and killed a nightingale that filled a grove with its song. A bird that makes so much noise, thought he, must be something. So he plucked it. And lo! it was no bigger than a sparrow. Ah! said the man, I see what you are. You are voice and nothing else. So it is with not a few. They are full of vauntings, they talk of their goodness, their liberality the whole parish rings with the praises of themselves, which they warble so well. But pluck them, strip them of all appearances, and you will find them voice and nothing else. A great deal of talk, and very little action. (S. Baring-Gould, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv3–5 3–6. If a man think, etc. If he thinks…
3–6. If a man think, etc. If he thinks he is strong, needs no help, will never need sympathy, etc., he deceiveth himself.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v5
Galatians
BURDEN-BEARING
Read full note →
Gal 6:5.
The injunction in the former of these verses appears, at first sight, to be inconsistent with the statement in the latter. But Paul has a way of setting side by side two superficially contradictory clauses, in order that attention may be awakened, and that we may make an effort to apprehend the point of reconciliation between them. So, for instance, you remember he puts in one sentence, and couples together by a ‘for,’ these two sayings: ‘Work out your own salvation’; ‘It is God that worketh in you.’ So here he has been exhorting the Galatian Christians to restore a fallen brother. That is one case to which the general commandment, ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens,’ is applicable.
I cannot here enter on the intervening verses by which he glides from the one to the other of these two thoughts which I have coupled together, but I may just point out in a word the outline of his course of thought. ‘Bear ye one another’s burden,’ says he; and then he thinks, ‘What is it that keeps men from bearing each other’s burdens?’ Being swallowed up with themselves, and especially being conceited about their own strength and goodness. And so he goes on: ‘If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.’ And what is the best cure for all these fancies inside us of how strong and good we are? To look at our work with an impartial and rigid judgment. It is easy for a man to plume himself on being good, and strong, and great; but let him look at what he has done, and try that by a high standard, and that will knock the conceit out of him. Or, if his work stands the test, then ‘he shall have rejoicing in himself, and not’ by comparing himself with other people. Two blacks do not make a white, and we are not to heighten the lustre of our own whiteness by comparing it with our neighbour’s blackness. Take your act for what _it_ is worth, apart altogether from what other people are. Do not say, ‘God! I thank thee that I am not as other men are . . . or even as this publican’; but look to yourself. There is an occupation with self which is good, and is a help to brotherly sympathy.
And so the Apostle has worked round, you see, to almost an opposite thought from the one with which he started. ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens.’ Yes, but a man’s work is his own and nobody else’s, and a man’s character is his own and nobody else’s, so ‘every man shall bear his own burden.’ The statements are not contradictory. They complete each other. They are the north and the south poles, and between them is the rounded orb of the whole truth. So then, let me point out that:
I. There are burdens which can be shared, and there are burdens which _cannot_.
Let us take the case from which the whole context has arisen. Paul was exhorting the Galatians, as I explained, in reference to their duty to a fallen brother; and he speaks of him--according to our version--as ‘overtaken in a fault.’ Now, that is scarcely his idea, I think. The phrase, as it stands in our Bibles, suggests that Paul is trying to minimise the gravity of the man’s offence; but just in proportion as he minimised its gravity would he weaken his exhortation to restore him. But what he is really doing is not to make as little as possible of the sin, but to make as much of it as is consistent with the truth. The word ‘overtaken’ suggests that some sin, like a tiger in a jungle, springs upon a man and overpowers him by the suddenness of the assault. The word so rendered may perhaps be represented by some such phrase as ‘discovered’; or, if I may use a ‘colloquialism,’ if a man be caught ‘red-handed.’ That is the idea. And Paul does not use the weak word ‘fault,’ but a very much stronger one, which means stark staring sin. He is supposing a bad case of inconsistency, and is not palliating it at all. Here is a brother who has had an unblemished reputation; and all at once the curtain is thrown aside behind which he is working some wicked thing; and there the culprit stands, with the bull’s-eye light flashed upon him, ashamed and trembling. Paul says, ‘If you are a spiritual man’--there is irony there of the graver sort--’show your spirituality by going and lifting him up, and trying to help him.’ When he says, ‘Restore such an one,’ he uses an expression which is employed in other connections in the New Testament, such as for mending the broken meshes of a net, for repairing any kind of damage, for setting the fractured bones of a limb. And that is what the ‘spiritual’ man has to do. He is to show the validity of his claim to live on high by stooping down to the man bemired and broken-legged in the dirt. We have come across people who chiefly show their own purity by their harsh condemnation of others’ sins. One has heard of women so very virtuous that they would rather hound a fallen sister to death than try to restore her; and there are saints so extremely saintly that they will not touch the leper to heal him, for fear of their own hands being ceremonially defiled. Paul says, ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens’; and especially take a lift of each other’s sin.
I need not remind you how the same command applies in relation to pecuniary distress, narrow circumstances, heavy duties, sorrows, and all the ‘ills that flesh is heir to.’ These can be borne by sympathy, by true loving outgoing of the heart, and by the rendering of such practical help as the circumstances require.
But there are burdens that cannot be borne by any but the man himself.
There is the awful burden of personal existence. It is a solemn thing to be able to say ‘I.’ And that carries with it this, that after all sympathy, after all nestling closeness of affection, after the tenderest exhibition of identity of feeling, and of swift godlike readiness to help, each of us lives alone. Like the inhabitants of the islands of the Greek Archipelago, we are able to wave signals to the next island, and sometimes to send a boat with provisions and succour, but we are parted, ‘with echoing straits between us thrown.’ Every man, after all, lives alone, and society is like the material things round about us, which are all compressible, because the atoms that compose them are not in actual contact, but separated by slenderer or more substantial films of isolating air. Thus there is even in the sorrows which we can share with our brethren, and in all the burdens which we can help to bear, an element which cannot be imparted. ‘The heart knoweth its own bitterness’, and neither ‘stranger’ nor other ‘intermeddleth’ with the deepest fountains of ‘its joy.’
Then again, there is the burden of responsibility which can be shared by none. A dozen soldiers may be turned out to make a firing party to shoot the mutineer, and no man knows who fired the shot, but one man did fire it. And however there may have been companions, it was his rifle that carried the bullet, and his finger that pulled the trigger. We say, ‘The woman that Thou gavest me tempted me, and I did eat.’ Or we say, ‘My natural appetites, for which I am not responsible, but Thou who madest me art, drew me aside, and I fell’, or we may say, ‘It was not I; it was the other boy.’ And then there rises up in our hearts a veiled form, and from its majestic lips comes ‘Thou art the man’; and our whole being echoes assent--_Mea culpa; mea maxima culpa_--’My fault, my exceeding great fault.’ No man can bear that burden.
And then, closely connected with responsibility there is another--the burden of the inevitable consequences of transgression, not only away yonder in the future, when all human bonds of companionship shall be broken, and each man shall ‘give account of himself to God,’ but here and now; as in the immediate context the Apostle tells us, ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ The effects of our evil deeds come back to roost; and they never make a mistake as to where they should alight. If I have sown, I, and no one else, will gather. No sympathy will prevent to-morrow’s headache after to-night’s debauch, and nothing that anybody can do will turn the sleuth-hounds off the scent. Though they may be slow-footed, they have sure noses and deep-mouthed fangs. ‘If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thyself, and if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it.’ So there are burdens which can, and burdens which cannot, be borne.
II. Jesus Christ is the Burden-bearer for both sorts of burdens.
‘Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ,’ not only as spoken by His lips, but as set forth in the pattern of His life. We have, then, to turn to Him, and think of Him as Burden-bearer in even a deeper sense than the psalmist had discerned, who magnified God as ‘He who daily beareth our burdens.’
Christ is the Burden-bearer of our sin. ‘The Lord hath laid’--or made to meet--’upon Him the iniquity of us all.’ The Baptist pointed his lean, ascetic finger at the young Jesus, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God which beareth’--and beareth away--’the sin of the world.’ How heavy the load, how real its pressure, let Gethsemane witness, when He clung to human companionship with the unutterably solemn and plaintive words, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with Me.’ He bore the burden of the world’s sin.
Jesus Christ is the bearer of the burden of the consequences of sin, not only inasmuch as, in His sinless humanity, He knew by sympathy the weight of the world’s sin, but because in that same humanity, by identification of Himself with us, deeper and more wonderful than our plummets have any line long enough to sound the abysses of, He took the cup of bitterness which our sins have mixed, and drank it all when He said, ‘My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ Consequences still remain: thank God that they do! ‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them, and Thou didst inflict retribution on their inventions.’ So the outward, the present, the temporal consequences of transgression are left standing in all their power, in order that transgressors may thereby be scourged from their evil, and led to forsake the thing that has wrought them such havoc. But the ultimate consequence, the deepest of all, separation from God, has been borne by Christ, and need never be borne by us.
I suppose I need not dwell on the other aspects of this burden-bearing of our Lord, how that He, in a very deep and real sense, takes upon Himself the sorrows which we bear in union with, and faith on, Him. For then the griefs that still come to us, when so borne, are transmitted into ‘light affliction which is but for a moment.’ ‘In all their afflictions He was afflicted.’ Oh, brethren! you with sad hearts, you with lonely lives, you with carking cares, you with pressing, heavy duties, cast your burden on the Christ, and He ‘will sustain you,’ and sorrows borne in union with Him will change their character, and the very cross shall be wreathed in flowers.
Jesus bears the burden of that solemn solitude which our personal being lays upon us all. The rest of us stand round, and, as I said, hoist signals of sympathy, and sometimes can stretch a brotherly hand out and grasp the sufferer’s hand. But their help comes from without; Christ comes in, and dwells in our hearts, and makes us no longer alone in the depths of our being, which He fills with the effulgence and peace of His companionship. And so for sin, for guilt, for responsibility, for sorrow, for holiness, Christ bears our burdens.
Yes! And when He takes ours on His shoulders, He puts His on ours. ‘My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.’ As the old mystics used to say, Christ’s burden carries him that carries it. It may add a little weight, but it gives power to soar, and it gives power to progress. It is like the wings of a bird, it is like the sails of a ship.
III. Lastly, Christ’s carrying our burdens binds us to carry our brother’s!
‘So fulfil the law of Christ.’ There is a very biting sarcasm, and, as I said about another matter, a grave irony in Paul’s use of that word ‘law’ here. For the whole of this Epistle has been directed against the Judaising teachers who were desirous of cramming Jewish law down Galatian throats, and is addressed to their victims in the Galatian churches who had fallen into the trap. Paul turns round on them here, and says, ‘You want law, do you? Well, if you _will_ have it, here it is--the law of Christ.’ Christ’s life is our law. Practical Christianity is doing what Christ did. The Cross is not only the ground of our hope, but the pattern of our conduct.
And, says Paul in effect, the example of Jesus Christ, in all its sweep, and in all the depth of it, is the only motive by which this injunction that I am giving you will ever be fulfilled. ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens.’ You will never do that unless you have Christ as the ground of your hope, and His great sacrifice as the example for your conduct. For the hindrance that prevents sympathy is self-absorption; and that natural selfishness which is in us all will never be exorcised and banished from us thoroughly, so as that we shall be awake to all the obligations to bear our brother’s burdens, unless Christ has dethroned self, and is the Lord of our inmost spirits.
I rejoice as much as any man in the largely increased sense of mutual responsibility and obligation of mutual aid, which is sweetening society by degrees amongst us to-day, but I believe that no Socialistic or other schemes for the regeneration of society which are not based on the Incarnation and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ will live and grow. There is but one power that will cast out natural selfishness, and that is love to Christ, apprehending His Cross as the great example to which our lives are to be conformed. I believe that the growing sense of brotherhood amongst us, even where it is not consciously connected with any faith in Christianity, is, to a very large extent, the result of the diffusion through society of the spirit of Christianity, even where its body is rejected. Thank God, the river of the water of life can percolate through many a mile of soil, and reach the roots of trees far away, in the pastures of the wilderness, that know not whence the refreshing moisture has come. But on the wide scale be sure of this: it is the law of Christ that will fight and conquer the natural selfishness which makes bearing our brother’s burdens an impossibility for men. Only, Christian people! let us take care that we are not robbed of our prerogative of being foremost in all such things, by men whose zeal has a less heavenly source than ours ought to have. Depend upon it, heresy has less power to arrest the progress of the Church than the selfish lives of Christian professors.
So, dear friends, let us see to it that we first of all cast our own burdens on the Christ who is able to bear them all, whatever they are. And then let us, with lightened hearts and shoulders, make our own the heavy burdens of sin, of sorrow, of care, of guilt, of consequences, of responsibility, which are crushing down many that are weary and heavy laden. For be sure of this, if we do not bear our brother’s burdens, the load that we thought we had cast on Christ will roll back upon ourselves. He is able to bear both us and our burdens, if we will let Him, and if we will fulfil that law of Christ which was illustrated in all His life, ‘Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor,’ and was written large in letters of blood upon that Cross where there was ‘laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv3–5 For if a man thinketh himself to be something…
For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 For if
For if
"Because if." The words that follow tell why the Galatians should 1) "carry one other's burdens" (Galatians 6:2) or 2) be careful that they themselves are not tempted (Galatians 6:1) or 3) "not become conceited" (Galatians 5:26).
Read full note →
he is something
"he is someone important" or "he is better than others"
he is nothing
"he is not important" or "he is not better than others"
Each one should
"Each person must"
each one will carry his own load
"each person will be judged by his own work only" or "each person will be responsible for his own work only"
each one will
"each person will"
translationWords
deceive
works
proud
burden
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3–5 6:3 Those with a proud attitude wrongly assume they…
6:3 Those with a proud attitude wrongly assume they are too important to help the weak (see study note on 6:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.