The Book Of Galatians Chapter 6 Part 1 Deviation From God's Word Leads To Being Overcome By A Fault

A warning against deviating from gospel truth and a remedy from God.

Galatians 6:1  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. 

The Holy Spirit guided Paul to teach us about the dangers and remedy if we or others we know are ever overtaken in a fault.

In order to understand this teaching we must see what certain words mean.

The word "overtaken" literally means to be surprised by something, or to be caught by some circumstance without warning.  

It is the idea of being suddenly invaded and captured before realizing what is going on.

The fact that Paul said "Brethren if a man be overtaken "means potentially any Christian may be overtaken or caught by surprise in some fault.

What is a "fault?" This Greek word is translated as "sins, trespasses, offenses and fault." 

The word "fault" literally means to stumble aside out of the right path by taking a false step.

This word describes the Judaizers and those in Galatian who followed their deviant teaching.

Thus, we can see that a "fault" is a lapse of faith or deviation from God's truth and pursuing uprightness in our character.

This whole phrase indicates that some Christians in Galatia were led astray into false teaching suddenly, and by surprise.

They did not wake up one morning intending to deviate from the clear truth of scripture.

Instead, they stumbled into grave spiritual error propagated by Judaizers.

All of Church history proves that being overtaken in a fault was and is still a very real danger.

Paul described heretics as acting like ravenous wolves stalking an unguarded flock of sheep. 

Peter protested against false teachers who secretly imported “damnable heresies” into the churches.  

In his last writings, John reported that “many false prophets are gone out into the world” and he gave specific instruction to identify and avoiding false teachers.  

All three apostles who wrote the majority of the New Testament were united in expressing alarm about heretics.

After the apostles died, some early church fathers (leaders in the churches, but not apostles) listed various heresies that they learned of.

For example, Augustine's writing in 320 AD, listed about 88 strains of heresy that infected the churches.

Arianism, Gnosticism, Marcionism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Docetism, Dualism, Neo-Platonism and Theosophy, to name a few. 

It is no different today. 

Millions of people are seduced by smooth talking televangelists who preach a false gospel, promising false hope in order to enrich themselves.

They preach a false gospel and instead of seeking first the kingdom of God, they seek first to enrich themselves.

Thus, we must pay attention when God warns us about falling into spiritual error.

With a meek spirit we must seek to restore those who deviated from truth.

Galatians 6:1  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.

Now that we see what Paul is addressing we want to know what remedy God provided for correction of this error. 

He is speaking to "brethren" which is a term that includes all who are born again. 

In this context, it includes all those who are walking as Christ taught us to walk.

Thus, the words "ye who are spiritual" refer to Christians who are walking uprightly and following Christ. 

"Ye who are spiritual" is not restricted to a pastor or an elder. Rather, the apostle is looking to those who have not deviated from God's truth and fallen into error.

What must a brother or sister in Christ do if they observe someone in their church family who is overtaken in a fault?

We are to seek to restore that person by helping them return to the straight gate and narrow way of following Jesus Christ.

We are to have a meek spirit of gentleness, rather than a rebuking spirit. 

The word translated "restore" literally means to help mend something that is broken. 

It means to repair something by making it complete and functional again. 

The idea communicated to us is that God will use us to help a brother or sister who strayed from the right, by showing them again how God wants us to walk.

We must do so with a spirit of meekness, understanding that we too, are prone to error and someone may need to come alongside us and restore us one day. 

We must seek restoration of the wandering brother while "considering" ourselves. 

This means remembering that if our brother or sister fell away from truth, so can we. We must guard ourselves at all times.  

Paul had to confront a division caused by Peter and lead him back to truth.

Galatians 2:11-12  But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12)  For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

Paul saw that Peter separated himself from Gentiles who were recently born again and he had to confront and correct Peter for this error, because if left unchecked, it would foster division in Christ's church.

James teaches us to convert one who strays from the truth back to God.

James 5:19-20  Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20)  Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. 

James wrote about a Christian who may stray from Christ by departing from Him, forsaking His ways and worship. 

They may have strayed from the Scriptures of truth, not speaking according to them, and embracing notions that are contrary unto them. 

They may have strayed from the Gospel, from the doctrine of faith and from uprightness of life and conversation. 

Like Paul, James also addressed a Christian who previously walked in the path of truth and holiness, but is now fallen into error.

James used the words "if one convert him" to teach us to turn a poor, bewildered believer, who is out of the way of truth and holiness, back into the right way again.

With humility of spirit we must seek to use scripture and convince him of the error of his way, in order to bring him back into the fold of Christ from which he strayed.

Jesus teaches us about the Father's heart in seeking one lost sheep.

Matthew 18:10-14  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 11)  For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. 12)  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13)  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. 14)  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. 

Jesus used a parable to show us the heart of God. 

If a man has a hundred sheep and one has gone astray, he will leave the ninety nine and go to seek the one sheep that went astray.

The shepherd rejoices over finding the one lost sheep. 

This parable reflects the Father's heart for seeking and saving the lost. 

This should reflect our heart if or when we encounter a brother or sister who has strayed. 

We must guard our heart and have compassion for those who err.

Jude 1:20-23  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21)  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22)  And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23)  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 

Jude also reminds us about our need to know the scriptures well so that our relationship with Christ and our faith are nourished.

Spending time communing with our Father in prayer as we are helped by the Spirit of God will keep us abounding in the love of God.

It will remind us of the bountiful mercy and unmerited grace that we receive from God, through repentant faith in Christ. 

Then, Jude instructs us to have compassion for other Christians, so that we can make a difference in their lives.

This means that if we see someone being overcome by a fault, we love them enough to seek to pull them back from a downward track.

Jude paints a vivid picture of hating the stain of sin while we pull a wayward brother back from the flames of judgment.

Paul needed to warn us about what to do if we see another Christian that is overcome by a fault.  

We need to have the heart of Christ for that erring brother and seek to show them God's remedy so that they can be restored.

We also need the reminder that being overcome with a fault can happen to each one of us.

We must keep our eyes and heart focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray for our Lord to give us strength to live according to His gospel.

I pray that we will help those who are in need of spiritual help.

May the Lord count us faithful as we love and serve Him. 

Bob