(1) В¶ Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (2) Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (3) For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. (4) But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. (5) For every man shall bear his own burden.
There is somewhat uncommonly affectionate, and gracious, in this direction of the Apostle. He calls upon the spiritual, that is, the truly regenerate, to manifest the grace of the Spirit, whose influences they profess to live under, in their conduct towards each other. And as, from the natural weakness, and frailty of their sinful bodies, there will be continual occasion, for the exercise of charity, and forgiveness; Paul here intimates, that in proportion to the largeness of the grace some of them professed to that of others, here the Lord afforded opportunity for exercise. Reader! it is among the highest proofs, that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, when like Christ, we show forth tenderness and compassion, to the - infirmities of his mystical body. And, surely, as the Apostle adds, a consciousness of our own liability to error, becomes an unanswerable motive, to be tender to the errors of others.
The burdens Paul recommends to assist one another under, can only mean, those spiritual sorrows, which may be soothed by counsel, and by prayer; or those temporal exercises, which a fellow-feeling prompts to, in order to lessen. But Christ is the only Almighty burden-bearer, who hath borne away sin, by the sacrifice of himself. And when the Apostle adds, every man, shall bear his own burden, he cannot be supposed to mean, that a child of God will bear his own sins; because Christ hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. And it is one of the most plain, and unalterable truths of the Scripture, that the Lord hath laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6. But the Apostle's meaning is, every man hath his own personal exercise, which can only be borne by himself. There is a joy, and there is a sorrow, in which a stranger cannot intermeddle. Proverbs 14:10. Jesus's sweet law of love, is eminently to be attended to, in every instance, where his people can soften each other's sorrows. John 13:34