Fulfill the Law of Christ
Galatians 6:2
When Paul exhorts his readers to help carry one another’s burdens, he may have in mind what he has referred to in the previous verse, namely, the act of setting right a wrongdoer in the fellowship. The root of the word translated burdens, however, refers metaphorically to anything borne, either good (2 Cor 4:17) or bad (Acts 15:28; Rev 2:24; Gal 5:10). It is possible, therefore, to interpret burdens as a general term, referring to any problems that might befall a Christian.
The position of one another in the Greek is emphatic, meaning that Paul wants to stress it, but what he intends is not completely clear. Two interpretations are possible: (1) he may be harking back to Galatians 5:10 and therefore exhorting his readers to put emphasis, not on the burdens of following the Law, but on the burdens of helping each other; or (2) he may be emphasizing the nature of the Christian fellowship, where concern for one another is the basic rule, as he has already expounded it (Galatians 5:13–14).
Though the figurative language involved in help carry one another’s burdens is very meaningful in many languages, it can be relatively meaningless in others. In some instances it may be possible to change the metaphor into a simile, for example, “help carry one another’s burdens, as it were,” but in other instances it may be better to shift the metaphor into a non figurative expression, for example, “help one another in difficulty,” or “if anyone is in difficulty, you should help him.”
In this way is literally “thus,” which has the connotation of “in doing this” (Knox “then”). In other words, it is in helping each other that they obey the law of Christ. The word translated obey is literally “to fulfill,” a verb which denotes the idea of completeness (Phps “live out”).
The expression the law of Christ means either the law of God as shown by Christ in his life or the law which Christ taught. In either case, Paul is asserting, that if the whole law is fulfilled in the concept of love (as he has already expressed in Galatians 5:14), then to share in each other’s burdens is to be obedient to that law. In this context you will obey the law of Christ may be rendered as “you will obey the commandment that Christ gave,” “… the law that Christ taught,” or “… what Christ commanded.”
As the footnote in TEV indicates, there is an alternative to the reading translated you will obey. This reading has another imperative, rather than a future indicative. The meanings of both readings, however, are essentially the same, especially in light of the word “thus,” for this word makes it clear that it is by bearing the burdens of others that a person obeys the law of Christ—it is not as if there were two separate commands, one about bearing and one about obeying. This is really just what the future tense is also saying.
Arichea, Daniel C., and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. New York: United Bible Societies, 1976. Print. UBS Handbook Series.
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