For each one should carry his own load.
Parallel translations
- WEB For each man will bear his own burden.
- KJV For every man shall bear his own burden.
- NKJV For each one shall bear his own load.
- NASB For each one will bear his own load.
- NLT For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Each person will bear his own load of responsibility before God. While we help carry others' burdens, we each remain accountable for our own life.
Overview
Paul speaks here of the personal accountability every believer has before God, a different word from the shared 'burdens' of verse 2. There is no contradiction: Christians help one another with life's crushing weights, yet each must answer for his own faithfulness. The verse promotes both mutual care and individual responsibility before the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 32:19the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.
- Rom 14:10–12Why, then, do you judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
- 2 Cor 5:10–11For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- Rev 2:23Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
- Rom 2:6–9God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
- Matt 16:27For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.
- 1 Cor 3:8He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
- Rev 20:12–15And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
- Ezek 18:4Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
- Isa 3:10–11Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Jer 17:10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Rev 22:12“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 6:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.