Galatians 6
What Happens in This Chapter
Paul closes his letter with instructions for how the Galatians should treat one another: gently helping someone who has done wrong, carrying each other's burdens, testing their own work, and sharing good things with those who teach them. He says people harvest the kind of thing they plant, and urges them not to give up on doing good. Then he takes the pen himself and writes that the people pushing circumcision want to look good and avoid trouble, while he will boast only in the cross of Christ, where what counts is being made new.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
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.
1Friends, if someone is caught doing wrong, you who follow God's Spirit should help him. Set him right in a gentle way. And watch yourself, or you may be tempted too.
2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
2Help carry each other's heavy loads. That is how you obey the law of Christ.
3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
3If someone thinks he is important when he is not, he is only fooling himself.
4But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
4Each person should look closely at his own work. Then he can be glad about what he himself did. He will not need to compare himself with someone else.
5For every man shall bear his own burden.
5Each person has his own load to carry.
6Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
6If someone teaches you God's word, share your good things with your teacher.
7Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
7Do not be fooled. No one makes fun of God and gets away with it. Whatever kind of seed a person plants, that is what he will harvest.
8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
8If a person plants seeds for his own selfish wants, what grows is ruin. If a person plants seeds for the Spirit, what grows is life that never ends.
9And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
9Let us not get tired of doing good. At the right time we will gather a harvest, if we do not give up.
10As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
10So whenever we get the chance, let us do good to everyone. And let us do good most of all to those in God's family.
11Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
11Look at the big letters I am making as I write this to you with my own hand.
Paul usually spoke his letters out loud for a helper to write down. Here he takes the pen himself and writes in big letters.
12As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
12Some people want to look good in front of others. They push you to be circumcised. They only do it so no one will hurt them for the cross of Christ.
Circumcision was a small cutting of skin on a man's body. It was the sign that he belonged to the Jewish people.
13For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
13Even the men who are circumcised do not keep the law themselves. But they want you circumcised so they can brag about your bodies.
14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
14As for me, I will never brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through that cross, the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world.
15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
15In Christ Jesus, being circumcised does not matter, and not being circumcised does not matter. What matters is being made new.
16And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
16Peace and kindness to everyone who lives by this rule, and to the Israel of God.
17From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
17From now on, let no one give me trouble. My body carries the marks that show I belong to the Lord Jesus.
The word for "marks" meant a scar or brand on the body. Such a mark showed who a person belonged to.
18Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
18Friends, may the kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
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