1. Easily Deceived
At times people are so easily deceived.
1.1 We can easily be deceived by others
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, last financial year, an estimated 596,000 people fell victim to scams. According to the Sydney Morning Herald $334.9 million was stolen from Australians. Reportedly the scams by which people lost the most money were investment scams, phishing scams and romance scams[1].
People gave away money or their personal details to people who were not who they said they were. Sadly, people go to great lengths to deceive others appearing genuine, friendly and caring but in reality, they are false, malicious and callous and can leave the lives of people in ruin.
1.2 We can easily deceive ourselves
But the danger not only comes from those who would deceive us but also from our own desires of our hearts. As the prophet Jeremiah wrote…
“the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9)
We can so easily convince ourselves of something when we want something. We persuade ourselves that we are doing the right thing when deep down we know that what we are doing is wrong and disobedient. As James wrote, “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). We deceive ourselves.
So, the danger is not just external to us but also internal. It isn’t just the threat of deceivers that we must watch out for, we also must watch out that we aren’t self-deceived. In fact, sometimes it is our own desires that make us more vulnerable to those who would deceive us.
2. Don’t be deceived
In this final part of Paul’s letter, the apostle concludes the letter by issuing the Galatians two warnings: First, don’t deceive yourself (6:1-10). Second, don’t be deceived by others (6:11-18).
2.1 Don’t deceive yourselves
Paul in the first part of chapter 6 warns people to not deceive themselves. Paul has been calling the Galatians to walk by the Spirit. He has explained that if they live by the Spirit, then they were to keep in step with the Spirit (chapter 6). And he puts this another way to conclude what he has been saying here those who live by the Spirit (chapter 5) will sow to please the Spirit and not the flesh. And they aren’t to be deceived about this.
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
You can’t deceive God, only yourself. God can’t be mocked. You only deceive yourself. If what we sow in life isn’t to please the Spirit, but the flesh then we don’t live by the Spirit and what we will reap from the flesh (the old life ruled by sin which we continue in) will be destruction. We therefore need to watch out that we don’t deceive ourselves.
What the Spirit desires is to see Christ formed in us and for us to display the fruit of the Spirit. What the Spirit desires is that we love and care for one another as Christ has loved us. What does that look like?
Restore others gently
Paul says it means restoring others gently.
Galatians 6:1
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
Gentleness is one of those virtues that make up the fruit of the Spirit. Gentleness means not dealing with people harshly or arrogantly but treating them with grace and mercy. But there is also a warning. We are to watch out so that we don’t fall into temptation.
What that temptation might be isn’t specifically identified by the apostle in this verse. It could be the sin that the other person is caught up in, but more than likely it is the temptation to become conceited or proud as we compare ourselves to other. It is to think more highly of ourselves than we should. Paul warned the believers about this in the previous verse: “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” (5:26). We aren’t to let pride and conceit get in the way of love and care of others. If we do, we deceive ourselves for we have the same mindset as Christ.
Carry each other’s burdens
If we are to sow to please the Spirit, we will also carry each other’s burdens.
Galatians 6:2
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.
A burden is a heavy load, and the law of Christ is probably a reference to what the Lord Jesus referred to as the new command to love one another as he has loved them (John 13:34). As Paul wrote in chapter 5 believers are called to not indulge the flesh, but rather to serve one another humbly in love. If we are to love one another and keep in step with the Spirit, then we are to bear or carry each other’s burdens rather than provoke and envy one another (5:26).
We aren’t to let people struggle with their burdens alone. We are to love and care for others in need who need our support and help. This is true even when those burdens are due to their own sinfulness. We are not to stand in judgment of them, but to stand alongside them and help them bear the load.
We aren’t to deceive ourselves thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, but rather in humility to value others above ourselves and do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit (see Phil. 2:3).
Galatians 6:3-5
3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load.
Instead of comparing ourselves with others, we should examine ourselves. For if anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. They are self-deluded because instead of loving and caring for others, they compare themselves with them so that they take pride in themselves.
We like to compare ourselves to make us feel better about ourselves. People are just naturally inclined to do so. I’m fitter than they are. They look older than me. At least I wouldn’t do that. I don’t complain like they do.
But we only deceive ourselves. If we are keeping in step with the Spirit, we don’t compare ourselves with others, we value others and care for them. We serve them humbly in love.
And it’s no use comparing ourselves with others because one day, we will stand before God and must give account of ourselves without reference to anyone else. This is probably what Paul is indicating by saying that each one should or will carry their own load.
Don’t deceive yourself by comparing yourself with others, humbly love and care for your brothers and sisters in Christ and carry each other’s burdens.
Don’t become weary in doing good
Paul says don’t be deceived. You reap what you sow. If you sow to please the desires for the flesh, then what you reap from the flesh is destruction, but if you sow to please the Spirit you will reap eternal life. Therefore, the last thing that Paul mentions about those who live by the Spirit is that they don’t become weary in doing good.
Galatians 6:9-10
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Goodness was one of the fruit of the Spirit. And as those who are to keep in step with the Spirit, we are not to grow weary in doing good. We are to keep putting the interest of others above our own. It’s something that we aren’t to give up on. It isn’t something that you we are tired of doing as though we have done our fair share of good and it’s time to hang up our boots. We are not become weary in doing good.
Of course, as we get older there inevitably are things that we do have to give up. I gave up playing football just before I turned sixty. And eventually most of us will give up work and a large majority of us will give up living in the family home or giving up driving. But we don’t give up doing good. The kind of good that we do might change, but we are to grow weary at doing good.
Paul wrote as we have opportunity, we are to do good to all people, especially the family of believers. The word opportunity is the word for time – while we have time we are to keep on loving and serving others and doing good. We aren’t to deceive ourselves about this. We are to keep in step with the Spirit and gently restore people, and get involved and share their burdens, and do good to all people but especially those who belong to the family of believers.
Don’t be deceived. If we live by the Spirit we will keep in step with the Spirit and instead living a life to please ourselves, we will a live to please the Spirit. We need to examine ourselves and ask ourselves, “Are we sowing to please the Spirit?”
2.2 Don’t be deceived by others
In the first half of chapter 6 Paul’s concern was that we don’t deceive ourselves, but in the second half of this chapter there is a warning to the believers in Galatia watch out for those who would deceive them.
Paul wrote this letter because there were people in Galatia who were perverting the gospel and were throwing the believers into confusion (1:6). Paul concludes the letter as he began it, warning the Galatians about those who were trying to compel them to keep the law and be circumcised, revealing their motives and reminding the Galatians of what really mattered.
Beware of wrong motives
I don’t know whether you have ever got an email where in the body of the email the author breaks out into ALL CAPS but I have on a few occasions. It is usually done to make, what the author thinks, is a very important point that you are not to ignore or miss. For instance, “I told you before I left NOT to turn the gas heater on when you get there. And when you leave make sure you have LOCKED the front door behind you.” If I wanted to emphasise the actions that they should take, the word “NOT” and “LOCKED” would be capitalised.
Many think this is kind of what the apostle Paul is doing at the end of the letter to the Galatians when he takes the pen from the scribe (amanuensis) writing the letter and writes the last bit of the letter in his own handwriting in large letters …
Galatians 6:11
See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
The apostle wanted the believers in Galatia to pay particular attention to what he was about to say about the motives of those who were trying to compel them to be circumcised and what really was important.
Galatians 6:12-13
12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.
Paul wrote that those who were trying to compel the Galatians to be circumcised were doing it to impress others and avoid persecution for the cross of Christ. Of course, they wanted to impress others so that they could make much of themselves. By compelling Gentiles to be circumcised and come under the law, they perhaps thought that they would be praised by non-believing Jews and avoid be persecuted. It was often the non-believing Jews at that time who stirred up trouble for the early believers.
But Paul points out the hypocrisy of what they were demanding of the Gentiles, as he did in chapter 2. He wrote that even those who are circumcised don’t keep the law and that those who were compelling the Gentiles to be circumcised were only doing so, so that they could boast about their flesh and avoid suffering for the cross of Christ.
Their motives were all wrong. They were just wanting to avoid persecution and were looking to impress others who wanted the Gentiles to keep the Law, even though they themselves were not keeping it. But these people were deceiving the Galatians.
What counts and what doesn’t
What counts, wrote Paul, is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ through which he had died to this world and become a new creation.
Galatians 6:14-17
14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God. 17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
What counts, what makes the difference to our lives is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the only thing that the apostle said that he should ever boast about. It’s the only thing any of us should boast about. It’s the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that counts. Circumcision or uncircumcision means nothing. It isn’t important for what counts is a new creation and that only happens through faith in the cross of Christ.
It’s through his sacrifice for sin on the cross that we pass from death to life. It is through his death on the cross that we are crucified to the world and the world is crucified to us. Right at the start of the letter, Paul said that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age (see 1:3-4). In him we are a new creation (see also 2 Corinthians 5:14-19).
The rule to follow
It’s all who follow this rule that enjoy God’s peace and mercy. It’s all who have faith in Christ and his death on cross who are the true of Israel of God and the heirs of the promise whether they be Jew or Gentile.
3. What really matters
Don’t be deceived about what really matters. We are not to think we are something when we are not. We are not to become conceited and think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Our boasting is in the cross of Christ and his amazing grace. That’s what matters, not whether we are circumcised or not. But whether we rely on the grace of Christ or not.
Relying on the grace of Christ
Paul ends the letter praying that the grace of Jesus Christ might be with the spirit of the brothers and sisters. He began the letter by reminding the Galatians that they had been called to live in the grace of Christ (1:6). Paul wrote back in chapter 3 that before their very eyes Christ Jesus had been clearly proclaimed as crucified and they received the Spirit not by the works of the law but believing this message of grace. That’s what they needed to go on in. And that’s what the letter has been all about.
The Galatians weren’t to let these deceivers move them from this grace of Christ. They were to stand firm and live by faith in the Son of God who, as Paul said back in chapter 2, loved him and gave himself for him and who now lives in him (see 2:20). He makes all the difference. Paul said back in chapter that he doesn’t set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law Christ died for nothing (see 2:21).
Living by this rule
We only enjoy God’s peace and mercy when we live by this rule and rely on the grace of God. God’s peace and mercy is ours through trusting in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. So don’t be deceived. Don’t compare yourself with others. Don’t be proud or conceited. Don’t look to make much of yourself or your achievements. Live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you. Rely on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Make your only boast the cross of Christ through which we have died to the world and the world to us so that we are a new creation. That’s what truly matters.
[1] Victoria Devine, “These four scams could cost you thousands. Here’s how to spot them”, The Sydney Morning Herald, May 3 2026.
