What does it mean to do good unto all men in Galatians 6:10?

The principle of sowing is widened in verses 9 and 10 to include our whole conduct of life. Well-doing of whatever sort is sowing pure seed. May we never become weary in doing it! The season of final reaping is close at hand -- the Judgment Seat of Christ (Rom.14:10; 2 Cor.5:10). There is no reason to faint or be discouraged, however, and we shall not faint if Christ is the Object before our souls. Opportunities for doing good are abundant if we keep our eyes open, and we are to exclude no one from our thoughtfulness and care. Partiality can have no place, except in this, that we are to have special consideration for those who are of the household old of faith (v.10) -- for every individual whose trust is in Christ. This is not merely enjoying people and indulging their desires, but actual, positive good done toward them.

"So then, while we have time (or it may be translated, as we have opportunity, but the word 'time' is the same as in the sentence before), let us labor (doing) good towards all." The word for "labor" makes us think of the hard work that is needed. And if we are to do good towards all, it does require hard work. You remember we saw in Gal. 5:13 that we were to be slaves to one another in love. Here we see the hard work we are to do for one another. The word "towards all" may indicate our daily contact with others, when we have opportunity to speak a word, or give a tract or booklet. I know a very earnest Christian man who has meetings in his shop. He was first led towards Christ, through a boy, only a child, who used to go to his shop to buy things, and often gave him a tract or spoke a word to him. He laughed at the boy, but he told me years afterwards that this was what really made him come to Christ. And it is only as we have time! "But this I say, brethren, the time is short!" (1 Cor. 7:29.) Soon our opportunities will be gone. Soon it will be too late. We will not have the opportunities in heaven to do good towards all as we have now down here. And notice the word is to "all men," saved and unsaved, as wide as God's love to the world. (Compare John 3:16.) May God help us each one to give heed to this urgent call: "So then, while we have time, let us labor doing good towards all."

But there is one more little word added to that exhortation: "especially towards the household of the faith." How often we have had the word brothers in this little epistle. Now we have the whole household: brothers and sisters, father and mother, and little children. We find them all in 1 John 2. Here we find them again, with the command to labor especially doing good towards these: the household of the faith. "The faith" is a term which tells us of the faith in Christ Jesus, and the household of faith includes every believer. May we remember that we all belong to the same household. Man may build walls, with sects and societies that shut out other believers, but in God's eyes, we all belong to the same household: the household of faith. In Ephesians 3:15 we read of "the family of God." Let not our thoughts become narrow, to think of only one small part of that household, one group, one company in that household. May God help us always to have hearts that take in every blood-bought child of God, and may He give us grace to labor for them all, doing good (the same word as in verse 6) towards them all, and towards all men.

Verse 10. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all," etc. What "well-doing" is in its external sense is set forth for us plainly here. There can be no limit to the love which is of God, and Christian well-doing is an imitation of Himself. As Christ went about doing good while here below, according to the fulness of His personal sufficiency and grace, yet doing all things at the will and by the power of the Father who had sent Him, so they that follow Him are taught to regard themselves as debtors, for His name's sake, in the bond of kindness unto all. If true children of the Father, we shall not only cherish and exhibit the natural sympathy of kind, but shall imitate Him also in the patient actings of His long-suffering and grace. Let it never be forgotten that love's service is, in its proper character, a sacrifice. Natural benevolence pleases itself, and works within its limits at its own discretion. What the world calls "good-nature" or "goodness of heart" is not the love which is of God. Faith delights in God, and in His ways, and thus forgets itself; or if remembered, self is remembered only to be denied in the better remembrance of His costly and unsparing love to us. We do good to Him when, to please Him, we are kind to those whom He has made (Matt. 5:44-48).

With such sacrifices God is pleased (Heb. 13:16). As we have received, we are expected also to bestow freely, for His name's sake, upon enemies as well as friends. For our lives and actions here are worse than useless, if they do not lead other men to think of Him. "The kindness and philanthropy of God our Saviour" (Titus 3:4) is to be commended by us, not by word only, but much more in our ways among our fellow-men. His witnesses we are so long (and no longer) as we are reflecting Him in our lives. Let us beware also of narrowing this precept in its interpretation. To do good is in the power of every real Christian, though not always in the same manner. A penniless believer, rich in faith and love, may be a greater blessing to his generation than the largest benefactor in a material sense only. "Such as I have give I thee," is an apostolic example of the manner and spirit in which this general exhortation may be honoured (Acts 3:6). Miraculous power adds no strength to kindness. Its true effect is only to turn more forcibly the gratitude of the recipient towards the Source of all true kindness. Power or no power, of His grace have all we who believe received; and a cup of cold water, or a cheering word in season, is not less precious in the Master's eyes than the moving of a mountain in His name. Opportunity is to be sought, not idly waited for. Life with its sorrowful necessities abounds in such, nay rather is itself our ready but fast-escaping vantage time (John 9:4; Ecc. 9:10).

But let us not, in wrong narrow-mindedness, think only of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul writes to the Galatians: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). The power of our testimony for the Lord depends more on our actions than on our words! The world may not study Scripture, but often it knows how to judge our behaviour. How many a soul has been broken down, not only by the pure gospel, clearly presented, but also by the mercy shown!

This makes all plain, when men ask if we are not to do anything for the world. If there is sorrow and want, am I not to help sufferers? Surely if there be a peculiar duty to the household of faith, I am also bound to do good unto all men; but there is no yoking together with others outside Christ in this, and no communion. The worldly man gives because he is generous, or feels for the need of the person, or is expected to give. The child of God does it because it is the will of God. The one acts on the ground of nature, the other in faith. Even in the most ordinary necessary acts, as eating and drinking, I may and ought to do it all to God's glory.

Now, as we previously noticed, all this important truth is brought in to stir up the Galatians and ourselves to generosity in our giving, and to this point the Apostle recurs in verse 10. We are to be givers and doers of good to all men; whilst the household of faith have upon us the first call. By creation we are connected with all men. By redemption and its results we are found in the household of faith. The former natural, the latter spiritual, and the spiritual has precedence over the natural.

The apostle proceeds to define the sphere in which we should do good, with the order in which the matter should be considered. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10). No doubt temporal good is to the front in the exhortation of this place; but we learn nevertheless an important principle as to all service. The church of God has the first claim. It is the circle of Christ's affections and interest in the earth; and it should be our joy and privilege to serve Him in it in any possible way.

This should encourage the heart of the believer in the midst of all the trials of the present scene. Often now the foot has to be placed on the neck of some cherished object; often has the knife to be applied to what our poor hearts naturally cling to; but the path will end presently in bliss and glory, where the divine life in us can develope itself without alloy. Thus the apostle exhorts; "and let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Gal. 6:9). The hands must not be allowed to hang down, however earnestly the heart may suggest it; every good work must be steadily pursued until the Lord Jesus comes. The "due season" is not far distant; then joy will crown the servant's toil. We need especially to remind each other of this now. Latter-day service for Christ is often deeply discouraging in many respects, and the worker is apt to faint on the road or give up in despair. Courage, brethren! the Lord is at hand.

The apostle proceeds to define the sphere in which we should do good, with the order in which the matter should be considered. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10). No doubt temporal good is to the front in the exhortation of this place; but we learn nevertheless an important principle as to all service. The church of God has the first claim. It is the circle of Christ's affections and interest in the earth; and it should be our joy and privilege to serve Him in it in any possible way.

Now we come to another point which goes together with the previous verse. Verses 9 and 10 really go together in forming the seventh point as to how we can walk in step and produce good things even towards all men. This is the characteristic of Christianity: it seeks the blessing of all, but in actual practice, “especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”Those who should receive the benefit of this, the recipients, are first of all the household of faith. Here we see the believers as members of one family, one household. This is one way to describe them and there are many others. We try to do them good in the first place but we also reach beyond this circle to all men.

We are to love all (1 Thess. 3:12), to pray for all (1 Tim. 2:1), to do good to all (Gal. 6:10), to love and to succour our enemies (Rom. 12:19-21), and to be kind to the unthankful and the evil (Matt. 5:43-48). At the same time we are specially to do good to the household of faith, and to love our brethren as Christ has loved us, which means that we are to be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16.)