Not just any Christian can help!
Can help “restore” a fallen Believer.
Not according to Paul in Galatians 6:1.
Watch the phrase I have framed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, please. You will see what I mean by my assertion. “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.”
First of all, looks like the implication (if not the blatant declaration) is that the “fallen” (or “overtaken”) man is NOT very spiritual. He has succumbed (even if accidentally) to some sort of sin, a debilitating one at that! That’s (ideally) not the trait of a truly Spirit Filled Christian. Not a vibrant, growing one!
Hint: you must be stronger than that downcast Brother or Sister … in order to help pull him or her out of the situation into which he or she has slipped.
(We are going to look more closely at the verb “restore” tomorrow, the Lord willing. “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.”)
But now to the very expression “ye which are spiritual.”
Paul at least means those who are expressing (growing within) the aforementioned “Fruit of the Spirit!” As in “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.”
Those who are living “in conformity” to the nudges and directions of God the Holy Spirit!
They (and they alone) are best suited “to help” any weaker brethren, particularly those who have been deceived/overcome by the ravages of some sin.
“Ye which are spiritual” as opposed to those who display the works of the flesh! Remember that list? “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.” (Each of these is defined in one of the previous Lessons, archived here on the Website.)
So … the Holy Spirit not only works/lives “within us,” He also works/lives “through us!” Reaching out to help others! James 5:19-20 literally says “saving” our brother or sister, who has veered away from the truth! Look: “BRETHREN, if ANY OF YOU do err from the truth, and one convert him. Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner (meaning that fallen believer, James just uses pretty ‘rough’ terms at times) from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”
Wow!
There’s a lot in today’s little descriptor … “Ye which are spiritual.”
What a noble goal this is … “Be ye filled with the Spirit,” quoting Paul elsewhere, in Ephesians 5:18 specifically. (“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be FILLED with the Spirit.”)
Tomorrow, we shall go further into our Text, Galatians 6:1, the Lord willing.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell