Correspondence: Burdens in Gal. 6:2, 5; Luke 11:24-26; Matt. 16:17

Galatians 6:2,5; Luke 11:24‑26; Matthew 16:17  •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 6
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Answer: In the 2nd verse it is helping others to bear their trials. This is the law of Christ, this is what He did when here on earth. We can do it by prayer for them and sympathy with them, and relieve them when we are able. Verse 5 means that each of us is responsible before God for our own work. The false teachers thought of themselves instead of serving Christ. (See Gal. 6:3-43For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. (Galatians 6:3‑4)). This will come out at the judgment seat of Christ.
In Luke it is applied generally. The Jews, since Ezra’s time, had been reformed, so that in the days of our Lord on earth, they, as a house, were empty, swept and garnished. So a man may be reformed, give up much outward evil, and may be proud of the change. The Jews did not receive Christ, and remained short of having Him as the One to fill them. So a man must he born again, must receive Christ as his Saviour, and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, or his reformation will be of no avail. In the time of tribulation, the Jews will go back to idolatry, and their last state will be worse than their first. So a man that is only reformed, is taken possession of by Satan, as his house. “I will return unto my house, whence I came out,” and his last state is worse than his first. (Compare 2 Peter 2:20-2220For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. (2 Peter 2:20‑22).) Man must have an object, and if he has not Christ, he will have self in one form or another.
A profession without reality avails nothing. We are to hear the Word of God and to keep it (Luke 11:2828But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. (Luke 11:28)). Obedience is one of the characteristics of eternal life.
Answer: Peter’s confession: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” is the occasion for the Lord to reveal what He was going to do. Verse 17 tells us, this revelation of His person to Peter did not come from flesh and blood, but from His Father which is in heaven. “And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter (a stone), and upon this rock (Christ, the Son of the living God), I will build My church (assembly), and the gates of hell (hades), (meaning the unseen world), shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)).
This is the first time in Scripture we find the church mentioned. Peter was a stone to be built into it (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)). Christ is the rock on which it is built. He is also the Builder. I will build, shows it was yet future.
At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down to dwell on earth, this church, or assembly was formed, “a spiritual house,” of which every believer is a living stone. Hades is the unseen world or state of the dead. Satan, through sin, has the power of death; but against this church, Satan has no power; the gates of hades, the power of the enemy, shall not prevail against it; for it is built on Christ, the Son of the living God. He is the living One and has the keys of death and of hades (Rev. 1). His is a life that cannot be overcome or destroyed, and what is founded upon this rock of the unchangeable power of life in the Son of the living God shall not be overthrown by the kingdom of death. Satan can go no further than God allows him to go. How blessed and secure are all that belong to Him in all ages! (Num. 23:2323Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! (Numbers 23:23); Isa. 54:1717No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 54:17)).