Galatians 6:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“And then he will have his boast in himself alone, and not in another.” By these words the Apostle does not prescribe a rule, but only shows condescension. It is as though he were saying, “Boasting is certainly madness. Yet if you wish to boast, do not boast before your neighbor like the Pharisee.”

Whoever learns not to boast before his neighbor will undoubtedly soon cease boasting within himself as well. This is why he made this concession to them, so that little by little he might destroy all the evil in them.

Indeed, one who has become accustomed to boasting only within himself, and not before others, will soon correct even this defect. For whoever does not consider himself better than others, which is what “not in another” means, but boasts only in himself while examining himself alone, will finally stop doing even this.

So that you may be convinced that the Apostle has precisely this aim, see how he humbles such a man with fear, having said above: “Let him test his own work.”

The Apostle said this while concealing his intention to remove self-praise entirely” (Bishop Theophan).

To those who are guided and “instructed in the word,” the Apostle commands that they “share in all good things” with those who instruct them (Gal 6:6).

“To boast is not good. But if you wish to boast, do not boast before your neighbor like the Pharisee. For whoever learns not to boast before his neighbor will soon cease boasting even within himself.” To this Blessed Theophylact adds: “Why do you boast against your neighbor? Both you and he will equally bear your burdens at the judgment, and then each one's work will be tested. Therefore, since you too have a burden, and a heavy one, do not boast against another, nor sound a trumpet within yourself about your good deed.”

“If it happens that someone thinks himself to be something, this is because he has not labored well to determine how insignificant he is in himself. He falls into this sin through the flattery of the mind, which is accustomed to arrogance” (Bishop Theophan).

Here one may understand not only each deed in particular, but the work of one’s whole life in general. The work of life is the work of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the Lord. According to faith, we receive grace in the mysteries as help for life according to faith, or for fulfilling the commandments of the Lord. This has been done once for all, according to the divine economy of salvation, and forms the beginning of the work of accomplishing salvation. We stand in this work if we are conscious that we have zeal for it and labor diligently at it. Of course, this too must be examined. Is everything here as it should be? Is our moral and religious disposition what it should be in a Christian? Yet the whole examination cannot be limited to this alone. This is only equipping oneself for the work of salvation. From this alone you will not know how far the work itself has been done. As was mentioned, one must have in mind the norm of the perfection of Christian life, and compare one’s own life with it. A builder of a church has the plan of the church. According to it he builds the church and sees whether the building is proceeding correctly, and how far it has fulfilled the plan. So also the Christian life has its own all-embracing design. Know it, apply it to your life, and you will see how far the work of your own salvation has advanced. Someone will say: this is too general a rule, and therefore indefinite. It can be reduced to something very definite and tangible. Let us remember that man, by creation, is a very good creature, made in the likeness of God. But egotism came with the passions and spoiled, broke, and disordered everything in him. Drive all this out, and you will become as you were created, and you will be saved. Everyone knows what selfhood is and what the passions are. Therefore look and see: to the degree that self-love and the passions have diminished in you, to that degree the work of your salvation has advanced. Here one cannot refuse on the grounds that the indication is indefinite. The works of the passions are tangible. But since they are many, the Apostle, as we have seen, reduces them all to two chief ones, so that we may not become entangled: desire and irritability. If you become angry, if you desire something lustfully, or if you are attached to something created so that another cannot touch it, then your heart is passionate. The work of your salvation is in doubt. One can meet indications of this kind at every moment. Here one must also distinguish external passionate deeds, inner passionate movements, and, chiefly, the relation of freedom and deliberate choice to them. Even more, one must distinguish the heart’s relation to them. A man may not commit passionate deeds, yet inwardly be agitated by the passions. This is almost the same thing, if there is also delight in the passions. Inwardly, in relation to the passions, there are thought, sympathy, attraction, and inclination. The path of passion begins with inclination. Attraction, sympathy, and thought may be involuntary. Free deliberate choice may keep itself from reaching inclination. Yet attractions will keep appearing, sympathies will break forth, and thoughts will push through. When rational and free deliberate choice keeps the rule of never inclining toward the suggestions of the passions, and truly does not incline, enduring its post through inner warfare, this is a decisive sign. It shows that the person so disposed has entered the path of salvation and is walking on it. But if at the same time he feels within himself not only passionate thoughts, but also sympathies and attractions toward them breaking forth, he must recognize and keep recognizing that his mind, or spirit, has taken and occupies a place not its own. His soul and heart are still impure. The pledges or deposits of the passions still remain in them. This is like a city that has closed its gates and is defending itself against enemies, while traitors are hiding inside it. Therefore the work has only begun, and it is not clear whether it has moved forward. Here are the signs of its movement forward. Through constancy and resolute refusal to yield in the inner battle, one first reaches the point where attractions begin to diminish and then cease altogether. This is the first stage. Then sympathies diminish and cease altogether. This is the second stage. When disgust, aversion, and anger against the passionate thoughts themselves begin to appear in the heart, this will be the third and final stage. This is a sign that the ore has melted and has cast out of itself everything foreign to it. By these signs each person can determine quite accurately the state of his work of salvation: whether it is proceeding, how it is proceeding, and how much has been accomplished. It is not at all difficult to notice how, at the sight of an object of passion, or at the thought of it, sympathy for it breaks forth from the heart. When you notice this, know that the passion lives in the heart. If passion lives in the heart, then the heart is impure. If it is impure, where will its place be in the other life? Consider all this, and then boast in yourself, if your tongue can turn to do so. “And then he will have his boasting in himself alone, and not in another.” What is the thought? If it means, “boast to yourself within yourself, and not before another,” this would contradict what was said above: “If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself in his mind.” To praise oneself before oneself is precisely to count oneself as something. With such a thought, the Apostle would be favoring self-opinion. Yet in this very place he is arming himself against it. The more direct meaning is this: take your praise not from comparing yourself with the weaknesses of a weak brother, but from comparing yourself with the norm of Christian perfection. If, after strict examination, you find that you answer to that norm, then have your boasting in this correspondence, and not in the fact that another is somewhat weaker than you. The Apostle spoke in this way while concealing his intention. We are all eager to boast. The Apostle seems not to abolish this, but only indicates the way by which one may come to just and true boasting in oneself. Yet the way he proposes is such that, once you begin to judge yourself by it, you will never have occasion to boast. Rather, by it you will keep yourself in constant self-reproach. If the Apostle said of himself that he had not yet attained, but only pressed on to attain, who will dare say of himself that he has already attained? And if he will not dare, what is there to boast about? St. Chrysostom understands “in another” to mean “before another.” He expresses the Apostle’s thought in this way: do not boast before another, but within yourself. He says that the Apostle’s intention is first to wean men from boasting before others. When someone has become unused to this, he will cease boasting before himself as well. “By these words the Apostle does not prescribe a rule, but only shows condescension, as though saying: boasting is not good. But if you wish to boast, do not do it before your neighbor, like the Pharisee. Whoever learns not to boast before his neighbor will soon cease boasting even in himself. Therefore he grants them this condescension, so that little by little he may finally destroy the evil in them. The man accustomed to boast only in himself, and not in others, will soon correct even this defect. For he who does not count himself better than others, which is what the words ‘not in another’ mean, but boasts only in himself while considering himself alone, will finally cease doing even this. You can see that the Apostle had precisely this goal in view from the way he humbles such a man by fear. First he said, ‘Let each one test his own work.’ Then he immediately added, ‘Each one shall bear his own burden.’ He pretends to give a command forbidding boasting in another. Meanwhile, at the same time, he corrects the one who boasts, so that he may not think highly even of himself. He brings him to awareness of his own sins and strikes his conscience by the words ‘burden’ and ‘bear.’”