📖 Wagalatia — Somo la Kina — Sehemu ya 7: Fahari Katika Msalaba Peke Yake📖 Galatians Intensive — Unit 7: Glory Only in the Cross

Andiko: Wagalatia 6:1-18 (SUV)Text: Galatians 6:1-18 (NKJV)

Mrejesheni Upya Mtu HuyoRestore Such a One

Baada ya kuwafundisha Wagalatia kuenenda kwa Roho, Paulo anaonyesha jinsi mwenendo huo unavyoonekana ndugu anapoanguka. "Ndugu zangu, mtu akighafilika akakosa, ninyi mlio wa Roho mrejesheni upya mtu huyo kwa roho ya upole; ukijiangalia nafsi yako, usije ukajaribiwa wewe mwenyewe." Neno la kurejesha ni neno linalotumiwa kwa kuunga mfupa uliovunjika — kwa uangalifu, kwa ustadi, kwa kusudi la kuponya na si la kujeruhi. Ndugu aliyeanguka hapaswi kutupwa nje bali kutengenezwa, na kazi hiyo ni ya wale walio wa Roho, wanaoenenda kwa Roho ambaye Paulo amekwisha kumweleza. Hata hivyo hata wao lazima waifanye kwa roho ya upole, wakiangalia pia udhaifu wao wenyewe, wakijiangalia nafsi zao wasije nao wakajaribiwa. Roho yule yule anayezaa tunda la upole hapa anaugeuza upole huo kumwelekea yule aliyejikwaa.Having taught the Galatians to walk in the Spirit, Paul shows what that walk looks like when a brother falls. "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." The word for restore is the word for setting a broken bone — careful, skilled, meant to heal and not to wound. The fallen brother is not to be cast off but mended, and the work belongs to those who are spiritual, who walk by the Spirit Paul has just described. Yet even they must do it in a spirit of gentleness, with one eye on their own weakness, considering themselves lest they too be tempted. The same Spirit who bears the fruit of gentleness here turns that gentleness toward the one who has stumbled.

Mchukuliane MizigoBear One Another's Burdens

Kutoka kwa ndugu mmoja aliyeanguka Paulo anapanua mduara hadi mwili wote. "Mchukuliane mizigo, kisha mtaitimiza sheria ya Kristo." Sheria ambayo Wayahudi-wa-kushika-sheria walisisitiza iliweza tu kumtwika mtu uzito; sheria ya Kristo inawafundisha walio na nguvu kuwaondolea wanyonge uzito. Kubebeana mizigo mizito ni kumtii Kristo kwa njia ile ile ambayo mwili haungeweza kamwe. Lakini Paulo analilinda hili dhidi ya kiburi: "Maana mtu akijiona kuwa ni kitu, naye si kitu, ajidanganya mwenyewe." Kila mtu na aipime kazi yake mwenyewe badala ya kujilinganisha na mwingine, na furaha yake itakuwa ya kweli mbele za Mungu. "Kwa maana kila mtu atauchukua mzigo wake mwenyewe." Hakuna mgongano hapa: tunabebeana mizigo mizito inayotulemea, lakini bado kila mmoja anajibika kwa Mungu kwa furushi lake mwenyewe katika safari ya kila siku. Kubebeana mizigo kwa upendo, na uwajibikaji binafsi mbele za Mungu — vyote viwili vinasimama pamoja.From the single fallen brother Paul widens the circle to the whole body. "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." The law the Judaizers pressed could only lay weight on a man; the law of Christ teaches the strong to lift the weight off the weak. To carry each other's crushing loads is to obey Christ in the very way the flesh never could. But Paul guards this against pride: "For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Let each one test his own work rather than measure himself against another, and his rejoicing will be honest before God. "For each one shall bear his own load." There is no contradiction here: we lift one another's crushing burdens, yet each still answers to God for his own pack on the daily road. Shared burdens in love, personal responsibility before God — both stand together.

Msidanganyike: Kupanda na KuvunaDo Not Be Deceived: Sowing and Reaping

Paulo anatulia kidogo ili kuwaangalia wanaofundisha: "Yeye afundishwaye katika lile neno na amshirikishe yeye amfundishaye katika mema yote." Kisha anaweka wajibu huo ndani ya sheria iliyo thabiti kama mavuno. "Msidanganyike; Mungu hadhihakiwi; kwa kuwa chochote apandacho mtu, ndicho atakachovuna." Hakuna mtu anayeweza kumpitishia Mungu kitu bandia; shamba hurudisha hasa mbegu iliyopandwa. Na Paulo anayataja mashamba hayo mawili waziwazi: "Kwa kuwa yeye apandaye kwa mwili wake, katika mwili wake atavuna uharibifu; na yeye apandaye kwa Roho, katika Roho atavuna uzima wa milele." Kila uamuzi ni mbegu iliyodondoshwa katika udongo mmoja au mwingine. Panda kwa mwili, na zao pekee ni uozo; panda kwa Roho, na mavuno ni uzima usio na mwisho. Mgalatia anayegeuka kutoka kwa neema kwenda kwa mwili si kwamba anabadilisha walimu tu — anapanda katika shamba linalozaa uharibifu.Paul pauses to provide for those who teach: "Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches." Then he sets that duty inside a law as fixed as the harvest. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." No one slips a counterfeit past God; the field returns exactly the seed that was planted. And Paul names the two fields plainly: "For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." Every choice is a seed dropped into one soil or the other. Sow to the flesh, and the only crop is decay; sow to the Spirit, and the harvest is life that never ends. The Galatian who turns from grace to the flesh is not merely changing teachers — he is planting in a field that yields corruption.

Chochote apandacho mtu, ndicho atakachovuna. Mwili huzaa uharibifu tu; Roho huzaa uzima wa milele.Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. The flesh yields only corruption; the Spirit yields everlasting life.

TusichokeLet Us Not Grow Weary

Kwa sababu mavuno ni hakika, Paulo anamhimiza mwamini aliyechoka aendelee kupanda. "Tena tusichoke katika kutenda mema; maana tutavuna kwa wakati wake, tusipozimia roho." Mbegu nzuri haichipui mara inapopandwa; mavuno huja kwa wakati wake, na jaribu ni kuzimia kabla hayajafika. Dawa ya Paulo kwa uchovu ni uhakika wa mavuno. "Basi kadiri tupatavyo nafasi, na tuwatendee watu wote mema; na hasa jamaa ya waaminio." Kutenda mema kunafika mbali kadiri ya nafasi tuliyo nayo — kwa watu wote — lakini kunaanzia nyumbani, miongoni mwa familia ya waamini. Neema haimfanyi mtu kuwa mvivu; humtuma kupanda mema popote shamba linapofunguka, akianza na kaka na dada zake mwenyewe katika Kristo.Because the harvest is sure, Paul presses the tired believer to keep planting. "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Good seed does not sprout the moment it is sown; the reaping comes in its own season, and the temptation is to faint before it arrives. Paul's medicine for weariness is the certainty of the harvest. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." The doing of good reaches as wide as our opportunity — to all people — yet it begins at home, among the family of believers. Grace does not make a man idle; it sends him out to sow good wherever the field opens, beginning with his own brothers and sisters in Christ.

Angalieni ni kwa Herufi Kubwa Namna GaniSee With What Large Letters

Hapa Paulo anachukua kalamu kutoka kwa mwandishi wake na kuandika maneno ya mwisho kwa mkono wake mwenyewe. "Angalieni ni kwa herufi kubwa namna gani nilivyowaandikia kwa mkono wangu mwenyewe." Herufi kubwa si bahati mbaya; ni msisitizo, uzito unaobana wa mtu asiyekubali barua hii isomwe kwa wepesi. Kila kitu alichohoji — kwamba injili ni neema na si sheria, imani na si matendo, msalaba na si mwili — sasa anakipigia mstari kwa mkono wake mwenyewe. Kile anachokaribia kusema katika mistari ya mwisho ndicho moyo wa waraka wote, kilichoandikwa kwa mistari minene ili Wagalatia wasikikose.Here Paul takes the pen from his scribe and writes the closing in his own hand. "See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!" The large letters are not an accident; they are emphasis, the pressing weight of a man who will not let this letter be read lightly. Everything he has argued — that the gospel is grace and not law, faith and not works, the cross and not the flesh — he now underlines with his own hand. What he is about to say in the final verses is the heart of the whole letter, set down in bold strokes so the Galatians cannot miss it.

Nia ya Kundi la ToharaThe Motive of the Circumcision Party

Akiwa na kalamu mkononi, Paulo anawafichua watu waliokuwa wakiyasumbua makanisa. "Wote wanaotaka kuonekana wazuri kwa mambo ya mwili, ndio wanaowalazimisha kutahiriwa; ili tu wasiudhiwe kwa ajili ya msalaba wa Kristo." Dini yao ilikuwa maonyesho ya mwili, na lengo lao la kweli lilikuwa kujilinda: kwa kuiongeza sheria kwenye injili wangeweza kuendelea kukubaliwa na sinagogi na kuepuka mateso ambayo msalaba mtupu huleta siku zote. Paulo anaondoa hata kisingizio chao cha utauwa: "Kwa maana hata wale waliotahiriwa wenyewe hawaishiki sheria; bali wanataka ninyi mtahiriwe, ili wajisifu katika miili yenu." Wao wenyewe hawakuishika sheria; walitaka tu waongofu wa kuhesabu, nyara za mwili za kujisifia. Kampeni yote ilihusu sifa yao wenyewe, si roho za Wagalatia.With the pen in his hand, Paul exposes the men troubling the churches. "As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." Their religion was a performance in the flesh, and their true aim was self-protection: by adding the law to the gospel they could keep the approval of the synagogue and escape the persecution that the bare cross always brings. Paul strips away even their pretense of piety: "For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh." They did not keep the law themselves; they only wanted converts they could count, trophies of the flesh to boast in. The whole campaign was about their reputation, not the Galatians' souls.

Fahari Katika Msalaba Peke YakeGlory Only in the Cross

Kinyume cha kujisifu kwao katika mwili Paulo anaweka fahari yake moja pekee. "Lakini mimi, hasha, nisione fahari juu ya kitu chochote, isipokuwa msalaba wa Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo, ambao kwa huo ulimwengu umesulibiwa kwangu, nami nimesulibiwa kwa ulimwengu." Huu ndio utukufu wa mwamini: si ukoo wake, si utendaji wake, si alama katika mwili wake, bali msalaba. Paulo hana cha kujisifia isipokuwa Mwokozi aliyesulibiwa — na msalaba haumwachii mtu kitu chochote ndani yake cha kujisifia. Kwa msalaba huo ulimwengu umesulibiwa kwake, kibali chake na vitisho vyake sasa vimekufa kwake, naye amesulibiwa kwa ulimwengu, haishi tena ili kupata upendeleo wake. Kitu kile kile ambacho walimu wa uongo walikikimbia — kwazo la msalaba — ndicho kitu pekee ambacho Paulo ataona fahari ndani yake.Against their boasting in the flesh Paul sets his one and only boast. "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Here is the glory of the believer: not his pedigree, not his performance, not a mark in his flesh, but a cross. Paul has nothing to boast in but a crucified Savior — and a cross leaves a man nothing in himself to boast about. By that cross the world has been crucified to him, its approval and its threats now dead to him, and he to the world, no longer living to win its favor. The very thing the false teachers fled — the offense of the cross — is the only thing in which Paul will glory.

Kiumbe Kipya na Israeli wa MunguA New Creation and the Israel of God

Sasa Paulo anakusanya waraka wote katika hukumu moja ya mwisho. "Kwa maana katika Kristo Yesu kutahiriwa hakufai kitu, wala kutokutahiriwa, bali kiumbe kipya." Alama ya mwili haina thamani upande wowote; kile ambacho Mungu anadai na kile ambacho Mungu anatoa ni kiumbe kipya — mtu aliyefanywa mpya na Roho, si aliyeboreshwa kwa kisu. "Na wote watakaoenenda kwa kanuni hiyo, amani na iwe juu yao na rehema, naam, juu ya Israeli wa Mungu." Israeli wa kweli wa Mungu hatambulishwi kwa tohara bali kwa imani katika Kristo na kuzaliwa upya, na juu ya wote wanaoenenda kwa kanuni hii Paulo anatamka amani na rehema. Kisha anamalizia kwa heshima tulivu: "Tangu sasa mtu asinitaabishe; kwa maana nachukua katika mwili wangu chapa zake Yesu." Anabeba makovu ya mateso yake kwa ajili ya Kristo — alama pekee katika mwili zenye maana yoyote — nazo zinamjibu kila anayempinga. Na hivyo waraka ulioanza na laana unamalizika kwa neema: "Ndugu zangu, neema ya Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo na iwe pamoja na roho zenu. Amina."Now Paul gathers the whole letter into one final verdict. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation." The badge of the flesh counts for nothing on either side; what God requires and what God gives is a new creation — a person made new by the Spirit, not improved by the knife. "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God." The true Israel of God is not marked out by circumcision but by faith in Christ and the new birth, and on all who walk by this rule Paul pronounces peace and mercy. Then he closes with quiet dignity: "From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." He carries the scars of his sufferings for Christ — the only marks in the flesh that mean anything — and they answer every challenger. And so the letter that began with anathema ends in grace: "Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen."

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