The Two Bear Confusion

“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.” (Galatians 6:2-5)

Sometimes the Bible can be a bit confusing. Other times it seems as if it contradicts itself such as here with Paul’s letter to the Galatians. At first Paul says to bear one another’s burdens and then 3 verses later he says that every man should bear his own burden. Which is it? Do we worry about someone else’s burden or do we mind our own business?

As happens a lot in the Bible, what we think we are reading isn’t what was wrote. Translating from one language to another isn’t always clean and neat. Add to that the English language was in a period of transition around the time the King James Bible was written. Our language certainly has changed radically since 1611 when the King James version was first published.

When Paul says, “Bear ye another’s burdens”, he is telling us to help with other people’s problems. This is a natural desire and impulse for a Christian. It’s part and parcel of loving our neighbor.

But when Paul says, “For every man shall bear his own burden”, this is a reference to our obligations. There are many things in life that each of us are obligated to and responsible for, including God and the church, our family and country.

In the original Greek that this was written in, there are two different words that have been transliterated into English as being, “burden”. The first burden comes from the Greek, “Baros” and the second burden was transliterated from the Greek “Phortion”. These are two distinctly different words with different meanings that were transliterated as the one word, burden.

And speaking of a period of transition, what we as individuals and what our culture and society consider to be our obligations and responsibilities has been going through a drastic transition. People today are striving to shift personal responsibilities away from self and unto the government. This nation was founded on the principle of independence, of both for self and for country. This independence and self-sufficiency were called the “Spirit of ‘76”, a reference to 1776, the year our nation established itself as sovereign and independent nation from the British crown. Today people are trying to gain their personal independence by giving the government their obligations and responsibilities. This is the impetus, the driving force of our society today. The thought being that with no obligations we are free to do as we please, not realizing that obligation and responsibility are the wings of freedom.

But Paul here is teaching that we must take care of our own burdens and that of those incapable of doing so on their own. This is so important that James even defines it as pure religion.

 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27)

We are to relieve burdens, whether it’s our own or that of those incapable of doing so for them self and we are to strive to remain sin free. This is our responsibility and obligation to each other and to God. It is the manifestation of our religion.

It all boils down to burdens, be they problems or obligations. We are to assume them all for the glorification of God.

Bill Hitchcock