Paul turns again to the corporate responsibility of all Spirit-led Christians: Carry each other's burdens. To "serve one another in love" (5:13) means to bear each other's burdens. After all, bearing burdens is the work of servants. The term burdens may refer to all kinds of physical, emotional, mental, moral or spiritual burdens: for example, financial burdens, the consequences of cancer or the results of divorce. The list of burdens crushing fellow Christians could be extended indefinitely. And no doubt the command to carry each other's burdens covers every conceivable kind of burden and calls for us to be sensitive enough to perceive even the unseen burdens that our brothers and sisters try to hide.

But in the context the command seems to be directed primarily to the burdens of sin referred to in 6:1. Sin always has a kind of domino effect in a person's life. The consequences of one moral failure can be multiplied almost indefinitely. For example, the sin of fornication, sexual union before marriage, may seem natural in the heat of passion. But then the young woman finds out that she is pregnant. And the burdens caused by a moment of sin start to multiply. My wife spends time each week with such young women. Without condoning the sin, she walks with these friends through their emotional turmoil and constantly reassures them that she does not reject them and God does not reject them. She tries to lead them to understand what got them into trouble in the first place and how they can walk in moral freedom. She demonstrates her loving acceptance not only through her warm, affectionate attitude toward them but also by getting involved in their lives. She helps them in many ways to get ready for the birth of their children. She is often called upon to be a mediator between them and their angry, upset families. When the call comes in the middle of the night that her friend is in labor, she goes to the hospital to encourage and comfort. In many ways she bears their burdens.

When we carry each other's burdens in this way, we will fulfill the law of Christ (v. 2). Paul's reference to the law of Christ here establishes a striking contrast between fulfilling the law of Christ and keeping the law of Moses. Keeping the law of Moses was the preoccupation of the law teachers and all who followed their message in the Galatian churches. But their focus was on how the observance of the Mosaic law separated God's people, the Jewish nation, from "Gentile sinners" (2:15). Circumcision, purity and dietary laws, and sabbath and festival regulations were boundary markers established by the law of Moses to preserve the unique identity of the Jewish people. Maintaining the ethnic identity of the Jewish people by observing these boundaries was viewed as a fulfillment of the purpose of the law of Moses. All who lived within these boundaries would certainly enjoy the blessing of God; all who lived outside of these boundaries by neglecting to observe them were under God's curse. The law teachers insisted that the Gentile believers had to live within these boundaries to be reckoned among the people of God. Their zeal for the law made them intolerant of all nonconformists to these standards.

Paul knew from his own experience in Judaism before his encounter with Christ how destructive such zeal for the law could be (1:13-14). His conflict with "false brothers" in the Jerusalem church (2:4-5) and with Peter in the church at Antioch confirmed how quickly zeal for the law could divide the church by classifying Gentile believers as "Gentile sinners" and excluding them from the people of God. And now the zealous teachers of the law are inciting Christians in the Galatian churches to bite, devour, provoke and envy each other. Ironically, their preoccupation with keeping the Mosaic law resulted in breaking the central commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself."

In contrast to this attitude, Paul says that the law of Christ is fulfilled when his people carry the burdens of sinners! Serving sinners in the church, not separating sinners from the church, is the way to fulfill the law of Christ. There are two striking parallels between this reference to the law of Christ in 6:2 and the quotation of the love commandment from the law of Moses in 5:13-14. First, both "laws" are prefaced by parallel references to mutual service: "serve one another in love" and carry each other's burdens. Second, in both places Paul uses the term fulfill to describe what happens when mutual service is performed: "the entire law is summed up" (literally, "fulfilled") and you will fulfill the law of Christ.

These parallels in 5:13-14 and 6:2 indicate that despite the great contrast between keeping the law of Moses and fulfilling the law of Christ, there is also a close connection between Moses' law and Christ's law. Some have thought that this close connection indicates that the law of Moses and the law of Christ are one and the same. Others suggest that only the command to love, apart from any other external principles, is the law of Christ. Still others say that the love commandment defined and clarified by Christ's words and example is the law of Christ. The simple equation of the first interpretation does not work, since at least some aspects of the Mosaic law (such as dietary laws [2:14], sabbath/festival regulations [4:10] and circumcision [5:1-3]) are clearly not applicable to the Gentile churches. The second interpretation is too reductionistic, since both Jesus and Paul do define and apply the command to love in terms of external principles. The third interpretation is not entirely adequate either, because Paul does not simply substitute one code of precepts, the Mosaic law, with a new collection of rules based on Jesus' words and illustrated by Jesus' works. He does not simply replace the Mosaic law with a Messianic law. What such an interpretation misses is the centrality of the cross and the Spirit in Paul's ethical teaching.

The law of Christ is not so much the law taught by Christ, though of course he did teach and apply the love commandment. But when he taught the love commandment, he directed attention to himself: "Love each other as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12). The law of Christ is the love commandment fulfilled, confirmed and heightened in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. He loved sinners and gave himself for them (Gal 2:20); on the cross he bore the terrible burden of the law's curse against them (3:13); he set them free from the burden of the yoke of slavery under the law (5:1). Hence all who are united with Christ and are led by the Spirit will also fulfill the high standard of love established by the life, death and resurrection of Christ: like him, they will love sinners and carry their burdens. Serving one another in love in this way expresses Christ's love and so fulfills Christ's law.

And here is a delightful surprise: those who have received the Spirit and have been set free from the Mosaic law actually fulfill the requirements of the Mosaic law (see Rom 8:4) summed up in the single command "Love your neighbor as yourself"! Christlike, Spirit-empowered love fulfills the law.