You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
4 But [de] let [dokimazo] every man [hekastos] prove [dokimazo] his own [heautou] work [ergon], and [kai] then [tote] shall he have [echo]
rejoicing [kauchema] in [eis] himself [heautou] alone [monos], and [kai] not [ou] in [eis] another [heteros]. KJV-Interlinear
4 But let
each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in
regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. NASB
Paul begins his conclusion showing the worthlessness and illusion of human effort, as compared to the vast and intrinsic value of the production of faith.
This entire book of Galatians, compares the works of the flesh vs. the works of the spirit, and the Law of Moses vs. the Law of Christ.
When you do things Gods way, then you have something to be legitimately proud of, because that production, which is through the Spirit and in Christ, is something that you actually possess within your own essence.
When you do things by the way of the world, which is nothing more than your effort which excludes Gods design, then that production is not of yourself, but of the world, which is of another, which is not you, which simply means that you have no credit and nothing to boast about. You cannot receive recognition or credit to yourself for something that someone else has done.
To prove your own work, where prove, ‘dokimazo,’ means to test, examine, discern, to separate out correctly. And work, ‘ergon,’ means to engage in an effort that is directed by another.
And that other person is God who defines and has designed an approach to the spiritual life. And you are to constantly examine your efforts and compare your efforts to Gods mandates, and correct yourself such that you will be in line or in sync with that which God has authorized and designed.
If what you are doing is not Gods way, then you are out of line, and your efforts are an illusion to you, wherein you are fooling yourself, accomplishing nothing spiritually, and you will end up with nothing. When you have nothing, then your bragging over nothing, amounts to nothing.
What would you expect from a world that looks at you while you yell, ‘Hooray! Hooray! Look at me. I have nothing.’
But in contrast, when you do things Gods way, namely confession (acknowledging your sins to God the Father);
Living in fellowship also called living in the spirit (the automatic result of confession);
Engaging in a daily study (the learning process for your spiritual growth);
Repeating that process (the spiritual construction process for the framework of your soul);
Utilizing what you learn in your daily life (spiritual production from all that you do while in fellowship);
Advancing to spiritual maturity as a result of this entire process (the finishing process of the structure within your soul;
And finally the development of your spiritual muscle, which is faith, based not on wishful thinking, but on the substance of doctrine accumulated and metabolized within the structure of your soul.
Anything that you think, say and do, while living within the sphere of fellowship, is an acknowledgement of God and of His role in the entire essence of your life. You take credit for nothing, because all that you are doing is learning and growing up as a result of that learning.
And note that in all of this, even beginning your saved life through faith, it is all God who is doing the work. The Father designed the process, Christ is the written form of the words that you study and learn, and the Holy Spirit is the conduit and finisher and environment of the entire process.
Your spiritual life and growth becomes your possession, something that you will have and own forever. It is all a gift from God, and never something that you acquired on your own.
Everything that you own, legitimately, legally, lawfully, you will have forever. Possessions that are forever, are restricted to spiritual assets.
This whole process of the spiritual life is the Law of Christ.
Anything that comes from the world, is temporary, never a part of your personal essence, and will be lost when you leave this world. And unfortunately this is where most people live their lives, out of fellowship, out of Gods plan, oblivious to the daily study benefits, but under the illusion that they are doing Gods work, when they are really doing nothing.
Therefore, examine your work, your compliance with Gods mandates, and make the necessary corrections to your life in order to be in compliance with Gods mandates. Validate or verify that you are indeed following Gods directions. Grow up and then be confident and content in your accomplishment, courtesy of God, and then actually be the legitimate owner of something genuine and permanent.
