Having understood that we are to bear one another’s burdens (baros), but we will all have to carry our own burdens (phortion), let us consider their similarities.
SIMILARITIES
We must keep in mind that both words are similar in the sense that they are both speaking of responsibilities which are capable of being light or heavy. Also, they are imposed by people or God and may be rightly or wrongly imposed.
READ BEFORE: BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS (PART 10)
OVERLY HEAVY BURDENS
What does God think about people carrying overly heavy burdens?
Phortion: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads (phortion) and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.Matthew 23:2-4 NIV
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens (phortion) they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. Luke 11:46 NIV
Baros: For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden (baros) than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Acts 15:28-29 NKJV
“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden (baros).Revelation 2:24 NKJV
READ ALSO: JEWELLERY (PART 1)
Loving and Wise Leaders vs Pharisees/Scribes
We are to help one another carry our heavy responsibilities. But we are not meant to carry responsibilities that God does not even intend for us to carry, and we should actively discourage anyone who is doing such. There are many who carry burdens that God never intended at all. This involves labouring under duties or responsibilities that the Lord does not require of you, or suffering troubles beyond what the Lord has apportioned to you.
Examples of bearing responsibilities not given by the Lord is people doing difficult spiritual ‘assignments’, starving yourself in the name of fasting, flagellation (self scourging), and otherwise tormenting your flesh. Colossians 2:20-23, Galatians 4:9-11, Matthew 15:9-20 and Matthew 23:1-4, talk about things that have no value. Legalistic Christians (especially when leaders), create burdens that are not necessary. It is important to understand that these are not the kinds of burdens that God meant us to bear. Good and godly leadership is of great value against false burdens.
Colossians 2:20-23 says, Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
READ NEXT: BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS (PART 12)
Conclusion
Staying faithful and within the boundaries of God’s words and a sound ministry, will keep us under His protection and safe from harmful burdens. But when people step outside of God’s covering through disobedience, they enter a realm of vulnerability, often allowing unnecessary troubles and difficulties into their lives. When we fail to know the Bible properly, or stray from God’s wisdom or yield to the fear of man, we expose ourselves to consequences that He never intended for us to bear.
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