Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: We are looking at verses 2-5 as a group, because Paul appears to contradict himself directly: In verse 2, he tells us to carry each other’s burdens, then turns around in verse 5 and tells that we each carry our own load. What? Romans papyrus Bible Earliest known fragment of Romans, ca. 200 AD. Ancient Greek did not have paragraphs like we do, so to keep all the connected thoughts together in one topic, a sentence that was thematically connected to a previous sentence would usually contain a connective word. When these are translated into English, they are translated as conjunctions — such as “for,” “and,” “but” — even though there are maybe six or seven Greek terms that are crammed into these three English words. So one helpful trick is to break paragraphs, if possible, so that a paragraph does not begin with a Greek connective word (most often translated “for”). And the trick works here. We see that the first two sentences go together, and the second two sentences go together. We then see that the conflicting teachings about carrying burdens are not both meant as standalone or gnomic truths, but rather, are to be taken as relative to another statement. So the statement about carrying our own load relates to the idea, “Each must examine his own works . . .” But what does “works” mean? It might mean only “good deeds,” as it often does in Paul’s writing. For example, “We are justified not by works alone, but by faith.” Paul could hardly mean works to include sinful deeds in that context, since we could hardly be justified by bad deeds: That use of “works” means that even actions in compliance with God’s will are not going to save us from our sins. So if we understand “works” to refer to good deeds, we should keep them to ourselves. Christ taught this even more explicitly: “[W]hen you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4) Paul and Silenus in Rome One nice thing that comes out of this, by inference, is that we are able to be pleased with ourselves when we have done something good. We should not think that we have satisfied God, or made our place in heaven secure, by doing good; but we know that we have shown God our love for Him when we do something exemplary, and it doesn't hurt to feel good about having done good. So Paul tells us to boast to ourselves, if we want to boast. But “works” might also be read to include all actions, good and evil. Ultimately, we will stand before God as individuals. Each of us must carry our own load, in the sense that we will answer to God for our own actions as individuals. Others can (and should) help us to correct sinful thoughts and conduct during our lives, but when the day comes, we will stand naked. We will have Christ by our side, as our advocate and redeemer; yet, both Paul and Christ Himself indicate that we will regret our disobedience, despite our salvation through forgiveness. But going back to the first paragraph: When it comes to sin, we must help one another out. At various times, the New Testament urges us to share our sins with others and to correct our brothers and sisters when they fall into grave sinfulness. Today, people seem embarrassed to do this, by and large. We don't want other people to think we are sinful — as if we are kidding them, or as if their opinion is important. Paul presupposes that the attitude of church members towards the sins of brothers and sisters will be helpful, not condemnatory; for the burden of sin is a burden we should share. We should not think that we are something special, that we are better than another person who has committed a colorful or shocking sin, for we are “nothing.” We judge not, lest we be judged. Our judgment of another judges only ourselves. Paul adds one more specific caveat to “carrying our own burdens”: Church members should share with those who do the teaching/preaching.