Galatians 6 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

Bear one another's burdens 6:1–10

vv. 1–5 — restore the fallen; carry the shared weights, weigh your own pack

Brothers,independent — vocative — the appeal opens in family

even if a person is caught in some trespass,conditional — protasis — ἐὰν καί concessive; leans on the command below

you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness,independent — apodosis — καταρτίζετε, a mending word; gentleness the instrument

watching yourself,participial — singular σκοπῶν after plural καταρτίζετε — each restorer individually on guard

lest you too be tempted.purpose — μή + subjunctive — the restorer's own danger

Bear one another's burdens,independent — Ἀλλήλων fronted — the βάρη are the crushing weights, meant to be shared

and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ.independent — coordinate future — the promise attached to the command

For if anyone thinks he is somethingconditional — protasis — leans on the verdict below

being nothing,participial — concessive participle — though he is nothing

he deceives himself.independent — apodosis — φρεναπατᾷ: self-deceit is what blocks burden-bearing

But let each one test his own work,independent — the remedy — δοκιμαζέτω, assay your own work

and then he will have his boast in regard to himself aloneindependent — coordinate future — the boast confined to one's own record

and not in regard to the other;phrase modifier — elliptical — no boasting by comparison

for each will carry his own load.cause — γάρ — φορτίον, each man's own pack, not the βάρη of v. 2: no contradiction, each answers for his own

vv. 6–10 — sow to the Spirit; do not tire of the good

And let the one who is taught the word share in all good things with the one who teaches.independent — Κοινωνείτω — material fellowship owed to the teacher

Do not be deceived:independent — the warning formula

God is not mocked;independent — μυκτηρίζεται — no one turns the nose up at God

for whatever a person sows,relative — indefinite relative (ὃ ἐάν) — conditional force; leans forward on τοῦτο below

that he will also reap.independent — τοῦτο resumes the relative — the harvest law

because the one who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh,cause — ὅτι — first limb of the antithesis: flesh yields φθορά

but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.cause — second limb — Spirit yields eternal life; the pair sits side by side

And let us not grow weary in doing good,independent — hortatory — the participle folded in: doing the good

for in due season we will reap,cause — γάρ — the harvest has its own καιρός

if we do not give up.participial — conditional participle — the one condition: not fainting

So then, as we have opportunity,comparative — ὡς temporal — while the καιρός lasts; leans on the exhortation below

let us work good toward all,independent — hortatory — the section's ἄρα οὖν conclusion

and especially toward those of the household of faith.phrase modifier — elliptical heightening — the household of faith first

The autograph close — boasting only in the cross 6:11–18

vv. 11–13 — the large letters; the agitators unmasked

Seeindependent — the autograph — Paul takes the pen himself

with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand.content — indirect exclamation — πηλίκοις: large letters; ἔγραψα an epistolary aorist for the close

As many as wish to make a good showing in the flesh —relative — correlative ὅσοι — leans forward on οὗτοι below

these compel you to be circumcised,independent — the indictment — οὗτοι picks up the ὅσοι

only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.purpose — μόνον ἵνα — the sole motive: escaping the cross's offense

For not even the circumcised themselves keep the law,cause — γάρ — the ground: the agitators fail their own standard

but they want you to be circumcisedcause — the ἀλλά counter — what they actually want

so that they may boast in your flesh.purpose — the real aim — your flesh as their trophy

vv. 14–16 — the cross, the new creation, the Israel of God

But far be it from me to boastindependent — μὴ γένοιτο with infinitive — the counter-boast, ἐμοὶ δέ emphatic

except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,conditional — exceptive εἰ μή — backward-leaning, so anchored: the one permitted boast

through which the world has been crucified to me,relative — δι' οὗ read of the cross (Χριστοῦ possible) — the world crucified

and I to the world.relative — ellipsis — the crucifixion is mutual

For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision,cause — γάρ — why only the cross: both marks count for nothing

but a new creation.cause — the canon — verbless: new creation is everything

And as many as will walk by this rule —relative — correlative ὅσοι — leans forward on the blessing below

peace be upon them and mercy,independent — verbless blessing — peace and mercy on the rule-walkers

even upon the Israel of God.phrase modifier — καί read ascensive — the rule-walkers themselves, the church, are God's Israel; others take a distinct blessing on Jewish believers

vv. 17–18 — the stigmata and the grace

From now on let no one cause me troubles,independent — Τοῦ λοιποῦ — henceforth, the question is settled

for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.cause — γάρ — βαστάζω echoes v. 2: he carries Jesus' brand-marks, not the agitators' mark

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.independent — the benediction — ἀδελφοί the last word before ἀμήν: the letter ends in family

Analysis. Galatians 6 is command country, and the shape shows it: the margin is a spine of purple imperatives and hortatory subjunctives — καταρτίζετε, βαστάζετε, δοκιμαζέτω, Κοινωνείτω, Μὴ πλανᾶσθε, μὴ ἐγκακῶμεν, ἐργαζώμεθα, παρεχέτω — each carrying at most a line or two of dependents, so the chapter reads as short pulses rather than the long chains of the letter's argument. What indentation there is leans forward as often as back: the ἐὰν καί protasis of v. 1, the εἰ γάρ protasis of v. 3, the indefinite relative ὃ γὰρ ἐάν of v. 7, the ὡς καιρὸν ἔχομεν of v. 10, and the two ὅσοι correlatives of vv. 12 and 16 all hang above the clause they set up, treated like protases (depth 1, no anchor). Verse 8 is the chapter's one symmetrical picture: two blue ὅτι-limbs side by side under θερίσει — flesh reaping corruption, Spirit reaping life. From v. 11 the apostle's own hand takes over, and the color darkens toward the cross: the agitators' motives descend through amber ἵνα lines (vv. 12–13), while Paul's counter-boast (v. 14) drops from the cross to the double crucifixion — the world to me, I to the world. Interpretive choices the layout takes a side on: the βάρη of v. 2 and the φορτίον of v. 5 are read as different loads (crushing weights shared vs each man's own pack), so vv. 2 and 5 do not collide; μὴ ἐκλυόμενοι (v. 9) is conditional ('if we do not give out'); πηλίκοις γράμμασιν (v. 11) is the large letters of the autograph, ἔγραψα an epistolary aorist covering the close; δι' οὗ (v. 14) is read of the cross rather than of Christ; and in v. 16 the καί before ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ is taken as ascensive — the rule-walkers themselves, the church, are God's Israel — though the reading that blesses Jewish believers as a distinct group is noted.