6
Help Each Other
1 Brothers and sisters, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are following the Spirit should go to the one who is sinning. Help make that person right again, and do it in a gentle way. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin too. 2 Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you are obeying the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to do this, you are only fooling yourself. 4 Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. 5 You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours.
Never Stop Doing Good
6 Whoever is being taught God’s word should share the good things they have with the one who is teaching them.
7 If you think you can fool God, you are only fooling yourselves. You will harvest what you plant. 8 If you live to satisfy your sinful self, the harvest you will get from that will be eternal death. But if you live to please the Spirit, your harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life. 9 We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up. 10 When we have the opportunity to do good to anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.
Paul Ends His Letter
11 This is my own handwriting. You can see how big the letters are. 12 Those men who are trying to force you to be circumcised are only doing it so that their people will accept them. They are afraid they will be persecuted if they follow only the cross* of Christ. 13 They are circumcised, but they don’t obey the law themselves. They want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about what they did to you.
14 I hope I will never boast about things like that. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for boasting. Through Jesus’ death on the cross the world is dead† to me, and I am dead to the world. 15 It doesn’t matter if anyone is circumcised or not. The only thing that matters is this new life we have from God.‡ 16 Peace and mercy to those who follow this rule—to all God’s people.§
17 So don’t give me any more trouble. I have scars on my body that show* I belong to Jesus.
18 My brothers and sisters, I pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with your spirits. Amen.
* 6:12 cross Paul uses the cross as a picture of the Good News, the story of Christ’s death to pay for people’s sins. The cross (Christ’s death) was God’s way to save people. Also in verse 14. † 6:14 is dead Literally, “has been crucified.” ‡ 6:15 this new life … God Or “being the new people God has made.” § 6:16 all of God’s people Literally, “the Israel of God.” * 6:17 scars … show Many times Paul was beaten by people who tried to stop him from teaching about Christ. The scars were from these beatings.