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
1
Ἀδελφοί,independent — vocative — the appeal opens in family
ἐὰν καὶ προλημφθῇ ἄνθρωπος ἔν τινι παραπτώματι,conditional — protasis — ἐὰν καί concessive; leans on the command below
ὑμεῖς οἱ πνευματικοὶ καταρτίζετε τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐν πνεύματι πραΰτητος,independent — apodosis — καταρτίζετε, a mending word; gentleness the instrument
σκοπῶν σεαυτόν,participial — singular σκοπῶν after plural καταρτίζετε — each restorer individually on guard
μὴ καὶ σὺ πειρασθῇς.purpose — μή + subjunctive — the restorer's own danger
2
Ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε,independent — Ἀλλήλων fronted — the βάρη are the crushing weights, meant to be shared
καὶ οὕτως ἀναπληρώσετε τὸν νόμον τοῦ Χριστοῦ.independent — coordinate future — the promise attached to the command
3
εἰ γὰρ δοκεῖ τις εἶναί τιconditional — protasis — leans on the verdict below
μηδὲν ὤν,participial — concessive participle — though he is nothing
φρεναπατᾷ ἑαυτόν·independent — apodosis — φρεναπατᾷ: self-deceit is what blocks burden-bearing
4
τὸ δὲ ἔργον ἑαυτοῦ δοκιμαζέτω ἕκαστος,independent — the remedy — δοκιμαζέτω, assay your own work
καὶ τότε εἰς ἑαυτὸν μόνον τὸ καύχημα ἕξειindependent — coordinate future — the boast confined to one's own record
καὶ οὐκ εἰς τὸν ἕτερον·phrase modifier — elliptical — no boasting by comparison
5
ἕκαστος γὰρ τὸ ἴδιον φορτίον βαστάσει.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
6
Κοινωνείτω δὲ ὁ κατηχούμενος τὸν λόγον τῷ κατηχοῦντι ἐν πᾶσιν ἀγαθοῖς.independent — Κοινωνείτω — material fellowship owed to the teacher
7
Μὴ πλανᾶσθε,independent — the warning formula
θεὸς οὐ μυκτηρίζεται·independent — μυκτηρίζεται — no one turns the nose up at God
ὃ γὰρ ἐὰν σπείρῃ ἄνθρωπος,relative — indefinite relative (ὃ ἐάν) — conditional force; leans forward on τοῦτο below
τοῦτο καὶ θερίσει·independent — τοῦτο resumes the relative — the harvest law
8
ὅτι ὁ σπείρων εἰς τὴν σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς θερίσει φθοράν,cause — ὅτι — first limb of the antithesis: flesh yields φθορά
ὁ δὲ σπείρων εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος θερίσει ζωὴν αἰώνιον.cause — second limb — Spirit yields eternal life; the pair sits side by side
9
τὸ δὲ καλὸν ποιοῦντες μὴ ἐγκακῶμεν,independent — hortatory — the participle folded in: doing the good
καιρῷ γὰρ ἰδίῳ θερίσομενcause — γάρ — the harvest has its own καιρός
μὴ ἐκλυόμενοι.participial — conditional participle — the one condition: not fainting
10
ἄρα οὖν ὡς καιρὸν ἔχομεν,comparative — ὡς temporal — while the καιρός lasts; leans on the exhortation below
ἐργαζώμεθα τὸ ἀγαθὸν πρὸς πάντας,independent — hortatory — the section's ἄρα οὖν conclusion
μάλιστα δὲ πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους τῆς πίστεως.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
11
Ἴδετεindependent — the autograph — Paul takes the pen himself
πηλίκοις ὑμῖν γράμμασιν ἔγραψα τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί.content — indirect exclamation — πηλίκοις: large letters; ἔγραψα an epistolary aorist for the close
12
ὅσοι θέλουσιν εὐπροσωπῆσαι ἐν σαρκί,relative — correlative ὅσοι — leans forward on οὗτοι below
οὗτοι ἀναγκάζουσιν ὑμᾶς περιτέμνεσθαι,independent — the indictment — οὗτοι picks up the ὅσοι
μόνον ἵνα τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μὴ διώκωνται·purpose — μόνον ἵνα — the sole motive: escaping the cross's offense
13
οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι αὐτοὶ νόμον φυλάσσουσιν,cause — γάρ — the ground: the agitators fail their own standard
ἀλλὰ θέλουσιν ὑμᾶς περιτέμνεσθαιcause — the ἀλλά counter — what they actually want
ἵνα ἐν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ σαρκὶ καυχήσωνται.purpose — the real aim — your flesh as their trophy
vv. 14–16 — the cross, the new creation, the Israel of God
14
ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαιindependent — μὴ γένοιτο with infinitive — the counter-boast, ἐμοὶ δέ emphatic
εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,conditional — exceptive εἰ μή — backward-leaning, so anchored: the one permitted boast
δι' οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωταιrelative — δι' οὗ read of the cross (Χριστοῦ possible) — the world crucified
κἀγὼ κόσμῳ.relative — ellipsis — the crucifixion is mutual
15
οὔτε γὰρ περιτομή τί ἐστιν οὔτε ἀκροβυστία,cause — γάρ — why only the cross: both marks count for nothing
ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις.cause — the canon — verbless: new creation is everything
16
καὶ ὅσοι τῷ κανόνι τούτῳ στοιχήσουσιν,relative — correlative ὅσοι — leans forward on the blessing below
εἰρήνη ἐπ' αὐτοὺς καὶ ἔλεος,independent — verbless blessing — peace and mercy on the rule-walkers
καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ.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
17
Τοῦ λοιποῦ κόπους μοι μηδεὶς παρεχέτω,independent — Τοῦ λοιποῦ — henceforth, the question is settled
ἐγὼ γὰρ τὰ στίγματα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματί μου βαστάζω.cause — γάρ — βαστάζω echoes v. 2: he carries Jesus' brand-marks, not the agitators' mark
18
Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοί· ἀμήν.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.