Galatians is Paul’s brilliant argument concerning the gospel. Paul put all of his eggs in one basket and that basket was Jesus. We get saved by our faith in the work of Christ alone, and the Christian life is a step-by-step unveiling of the life of Christ in you who alone is able to manifest a walk of righteousness through you. Paul’s argument for the person of Christ alone being the source of holiness comes to a powerful crescendo in chapter 5 when he says “walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.” Notice he didn’t say, “stop fulfilling the desires of the flesh so that you can walk in the Spirit.” Holiness is a supernatural person living His supernatural life through us. It we will not let Christ do everything in us, then he can do nothing for us. If we try to help ourselves, Christ will be no help at all.
When he gets to chapter 6 Paul speaks about this walk in the Spirit being worked out in the context of the household of God. After speaking of the fruit of the Spirit that’s produced in us by the indwelling Christ, he then says “Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourselves, lest you too be tempted.”
When Paul refers to those who are spiritual, he is referring to those who have learned to walk in the Spirit, as opposed to those who are still living by their own personal performance and best for God. Only those who understand that the righteousness that comes from them has only one source which is Jesus and His grace, are able to see people who have fallen through the eyes of the compassionate heart of Christ. Only those who are being carried by the supernatural life of the Holy Spirit one step at a time understand, that in a spirit of gentleness, their role in the lives of the fallen is to “restore” them. People who live under performance-based Christianity, who are constantly measuring whether or not they’ve been keeping enough rules to be spiritual, always approach the fallen with an attitude of self-righteousness, accusation and condemnation. Those who are being graced step-by-step know that apart from grace they too would fall, and therefore they understand the heart of Christ is always to restore in the spirit of gentleness.
On the night before the crucifixion the upper room was filled with men full of proud hearts and dirty feet. Christ alone, the source of all grace, was able to dress down, get on his hands and knees and wash their feet. If every self-righteous person were to just stop judging those who fall and look down they would see the dirtiest feet in the room; their own.