Restore, Bear Burdens, Examine Yourself

Life in the Spirit becomes practical community care. If someone is overtaken in a trespass, the spiritual response is restoration in gentleness while watching oneself against temptation. Believers are to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill “the law of Christ,” while also testing their own work instead of measuring themselves against others. Paul can say both “bear one another’s burdens” and “each shall bear his own load” because mutual care does not erase personal responsibility.