| Chapter 6 |
1 | Brethren, if anybody be detected in any misconduct, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. And let each of you keep watch over himself, lest he also fall into temptation. |
2 | Always carry one another's burdens, and so obey the whole of Christ's Law. |
3 | For if there is any one who thinks himself to be somebody when he is nobody, he is deluding himself. |
4 | But let every man scrutinize his own conduct, and then he will find out, not with reference to another but with reference to himself, what he has to boast of. |
5 | For every man will have to carry his own load. |
6 | But let those who receive instruction in Christian truth share with their instructors all temporal blessings. |
7 | Do not deceive yourselves. God is not to be scoffed at. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. |
8 | He who sows in the field of his lower nature, will from that nature reap destruction; but he who sows to serve the Spirit will from the Spirit reap the Life of the Ages. |
9 | Let us not abate our courage in doing what is right; for in due time we shall reap a reward, if we do not faint. |
10 | So then, as we have opportunity, let us labour for the good of all, and especially of those who belong to the household of the faith. |
11 | See in what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. |
12 | All who desire to display their zeal for external observances try to compel you to receive circumcision, but their real object is simply to escape being persecuted for the Cross of Christ. |
13 | For these very men do not really keep the Law of Moses, but they would have you receive circumcision in order that they may glory in *your* bodies. |
14 | But as for me, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world. |
15 | For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only a renewed nature. |
16 | And all who shall regulate their lives by this principle--may peace and mercy be given to them--and to the true Israel of God. |
17 | From this time onward let no one trouble me; for, as for me, I bear, branded on my body, the scars of Jesus as my Master. |
18 | May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits, brethren. Amen. |