“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal 6:1).
I cannot prove it, but I believe there was a dark side to the soul of the apostle Paul which he was well aware of and wanted to control. One day it would be nice to be able to discuss the matter with him if time and opportunity in the eternal state allows.
The dark side of the soul of Paul was a unholy censorious spirit rooted in religious zeal. This part of Paul was manifested prior to his conversion to Christ as he sought to arrest people and put them in jail for what he considered was a violation of the Law of God within the context of Pharisaic Judaism (Acts 9:1-2). Following his conversion the zeal of Paul for righteousness in himself and others is reflected in his censorious spirit of John Mark (Acts 15:36-41) and later with Peter, who was to blame (Galatians 2:11).
While Paul displayed a censorious spirit as a manifestation of his personal temperament and because he believed it was his gospel duty, I am not sure he totally liked that part of himself reflected in part by his desire that others be gentle with those who erred. In this, there is no inconsistency. It is not uncommon for individuals to want others to be better than they are. Certainly parents are prone to train their children to be different than what they are and not make the same mistakes or transgressions they themselves have made in life.
As a spiritual father in the faith Paul instructed the Galatian brethren who considered themselves to be spiritual minded to seek to restore someone overtake in a fault. The primary objective is not to remove someone who has erred, nor to destroy them in the process of correction, but to restore individuals to a spiritual state of righteous and to do so with meekness. Simply stated, those who take it upon themselves to correct and censor someone else must meet established biblical criteria.
Time and again I have witnessed situations in the church whereby a member became angry with someone and began first secretly and then openly to remove the object of their anger from their presence and the presence of the congregation. What I have personally never witnessed is an individual who considered themself spiritual but possessing a militant censorious spirit being verbally gentle or manifesting an altruistic noble objective such as preserving the integrity of the church.
When an individual is worthy of correction because they have been overtaken in a fault, it is proper for the spiritual leadership to reprove, rebuke and exhort them (2 Timothy 4:2), but it must be done with tears in the eyes, brokenness of heart, and with a spirit of meekness. Only when these characteristics are manifested in the personality of those who have a zeal for God to correct others will good results come and the Lord will bless.
