Carrying Others’ Burdens. What Does It Mean? ???

[Bible Speaks]

??? (James 5:13-16)  Carrying Others’ Burdens. Paul wrote to the Galatians: “Go on carrying the burdens [or, “troublesome things”; literally, “heavy things”] of one another, and thus fulfill the law of the Christ.” (Ga 6:2, ftn) 

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Here for “burdens” the apostle used baʹre, the plural form of baʹros, a Greek word always used to denote something burdensome or heavy. Certainly the sin and hence the burden of a man taking some “false step” (referred to in the preceding verse) would not be light but heavy. However, in verse 5 the apostle states: “For each one will carry his own load,” that is, his load of responsibility. For “load” Paul here used the Greek word phor·tiʹon, signifying something that is to be borne or carried, without any reference to the weight of the thing. 

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So he drew a distinction between “burdens” and “load” in these verses. This would indicate that if a Christian got into spiritual difficulty that was very hard for him to bear, fellow believers would aid him, thus helping to bear another’s burden. Such persons would be displaying love and would thus fulfill the law of Christ. (Joh 13:34, 35) 

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This harmonizes with what Paul had just said, as recorded in Galatians 6:1, about endeavoring to restore a man spiritually, something that may be possible through love, kindness, and prayer. (Compare Jas 5:13-16.) 

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Yet, as the apostle proceeded to show, bearing the burdens of one another does not mean carrying another person’s load of spiritual responsibility to God. In the same context, Paul makes clear that a person is deceiving his own mind if he thinks that he is something when he is nothing, and the apostle urged the Christian to “prove what his own work is,” for “then he will have cause for exultation in regard to himself alone, and not in comparison with the other person.” (Ga 6:3, 4; compare 2Co 10:12.) 

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It was then that the apostle observed that “each one will carry his own load” of responsibility before the Supreme Judge, Jehovah God. He knows that the burdens many of us carry—be they emotional or physical—are often not of our own making, and he lovingly takes this into account. 

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In the approaching new earth under the Messianic Kingdom, all faithful humans can expect to be released from the burdens of Satan’s system. What a relief that will be! Then we will see even more evidence of how largehearted Jehovah is. Until that time, let all be assured that “God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.”—1 John 3:20. 

http://m.wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200000841?q=burdens&p=par#h=10