"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit
of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Gal. 6:1).

Suppose a person goes wrong and is surprised into what is plainly evil, what then? The Holy Spirit
presses that the spiritual should "restore such an one in the spirit of meekness." This is a very
weighty word indeed. It is the obligation of all in a general way to desire that person’s restoration.
But who are those that the Holy Spirit urges to deal with such a case? "Ye which are spiritual."
Now it does not follow that he who is born of God is spiritual. To "live in the Spirit" is a very
different thing from being "spiritual." A spiritual person not only lives, but walks in the Spirit.
Of course, he has the infirmities of other men, and may at times show his old nature; but in an
obvious way, taken as a whole, through the grace of God, he has learned to judge, not to spare,
self; to detect, especially in himself, departure from the Lord; and to own it frankly and humbly
before God. In consequence of this habitual self-judgment, there will be far greater tenderness in
dealing with sin in others. In cases where the sin is so serious as to make one think that the person
could not be a Christian at all, the spiritual person, knowing more of the subtlety of the flesh as
well as of the grace of God, is able to count upon His goodness and is the very person to deal with
the evil and to restore that soul. You will always find in cases that call for gracious handling, it
is for the spiritual, not those that are the most prone themselves to trip, nor those that are apt to
indulge the flesh and depart from the Lord. These men some might think the most likely to deal
pitifully with such as stumble; but on the contrary, those are called for who walk circumspectly
and in self-judgment, as a general rule, and who are thus kept from slipping through habitual
leaning on a faithful Lord. The very power that preserves them from going astray is what gives
them to understand the grace of God and to use that grace for others. Accordingly these are told
to "restore such an one in the spirit of meekness."

The apostle adds further, "Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." This would justly be
before the mind’s eye of a spiritual man. He has the deepest sense of his own weakness; and hence
would he most readily esteem others better than himself. How is that? Not of course that he who
has made progress in the ways of God is to count a babe’s knowledge greater than his own. Not
that there are not, on the one hand, those who are least esteemed in the Church, and on the other
hand, men of tried and spiritual judgment. Not that we are to suppose all alike wise, strong, and
honorable. This would be not faith, but fanaticism, and contrary to every right thought. In what
sense then are we to esteem "others better than ourselves"? When a soul that is in any measure
spiritual thinks of himself, what he feels is his immense falling short of Christ. He has habitually
before him how greatly he fails, even of that which he desires in his ways before God. But when
he looks at his brother in Christ and sees him as a beloved one of Christ, in full acceptance in, and
the object of, the Father’s tender affections, this draws out both love and self-loathing. Thus, if
grace is at work, what is Christ-like in another saint rises at once before the heart, and what is
unlike Christ in himself. So that it is not a question of striving to cultivate high feelings about
one’s neighbors and to think them what they are not, but really believing what is true about them,
and feeling rightly about ourselves too. If one thinks of what a saint is in Christ and to Christ, and
what he will be through Christ, then one’s heart takes in the wonder of His love, and how much
the Lord makes of him; but when the eye is turned to oneself, all the unworthy ways and feelings

and shortcomings come up in humiliating remembrance. So, in considering "thyself, lest thou also
be tempted," it is not so much looking at what we have been as at what we have to fear and watch
against.

(From Lectures on Galatians.)