There are two reflections which should instantly correct the spirit of vain-glory. The Apostle appeals in the first place to _brotherly love_, to the claims that an erring fellow-Christian has upon our sympathy, to the meekness and forbearance which the Spirit of grace inspires, in fine to Christ's law which makes compassion our duty. At the same time he points out to us _our own infirmity_ and exposure to temptation. He reminds us of the weight of our individual responsibility and the final account awaiting us. A proper sense at once of the rights of others and of our own obligations will make this shallow vanity impossible. This double-edged exhortation takes shape in two leading sentences, sharply clashing with each other in the style of paradox in which the Apostle loves to contrast the opposite sides of truth: "Bear ye one another's burdens" (ver. 2); and yet "Every man shall bear his own burden" (ver. 5). I. What then are the considerations that commend _the burdens of others_ for our bearing? The burden the Apostle has in view is that of _a brother's trespass_: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in some trespass." Here the question arises as to whether Paul means _overtaken by the temptation_, or _by the discovery of his sin_--surprised _into_ committing, or _in_ committing the trespass. Winer, Lightfoot, and some other interpreters, read the words in the latter sense: "_surprised_, _detected_ in the act of committing any sin, so that his guilt is placed beyond a doubt" (Lightfoot). We are persuaded, notwithstanding, that the common view of the text is the correct one. The manner of the offender's detection has little to do with the way in which he should be treated; but the circumstances of his fall have everything to do with it. The suddenness, the surprise of his temptation is both a reason for more lenient judgment, and a ground for hope of his restoration. The preposition "in" (έν), it is urged, stands in the way of this interpretation. We might have expected to read "(surprised) _by_," or perhaps "_into_ (any sin)." But the word is "trespass," not "sin." It points not to the cause of the man's fall, but to _the condition in which it has placed him_. The Greek preposition (according to a well known idiom of verbs of _motion_)[143] indicates the result of the unexpected assault to which the man has been subject. A gust of temptation has caught him unawares; and we now see him lying overthrown and prostrate, involved "in some trespass." [143] For this pregnant force of έν see the grammarians: Moulton's _Winer_, pp. 514, 5; _A. Buttmann_, pp. 328, 9. (Eng. Ver.).