The Law of Christ
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Scripture
For information on semicontinuous and complementary readings in the season after Pentecost or Ordinary Time, click here.
Semicontinuous: 2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Complementary: Isaiah 66:10-14; Psalm 66:1-9; Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
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Prayer
God of fresh beginnings, you make all things new in the wisdom of Jesus Christ. Make us agents of your transforming power and heralds of your reign of justice and peace, that all may share in the healing Christ brings. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)
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Reflection
When Paul writes to the Galatians, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2), he is offering a vision of Christian community—a community grounded not in individualistic piety but in shared life, mutual responsibility, and self-giving love. These few words—packed with meaning— draw together threads of theology, ethics, and ecclesial practice. Paul is not merely issuing a moral command; he is articulating the very shape of the gospel as it takes root in the lives of believers. To bear another’s burden is to enter into their struggle, to be inconvenienced by their pain, to risk vulnerability by shouldering their weight as if it were our own. In doing so, Paul says, we fulfill the “law of Christ,” a phrase that might seem surprising in a letter so adamant in its rejection of the Mosaic Law as a means of justification. Yet it is precisely in this contrast that Paul’s words gain their depth.
Throughout Galatians, Paul has been engaged in a fierce argument against those who were teaching that Gentile believers must adopt the works of the Jewish law—circumcision, dietary regulations, and the like—in order to be true members of God’s people. Paul counters this teaching by insisting that justification comes by faith in Christ alone, not by works of the law. Yet he does not abandon the idea that the gospel has moral and communal consequences. Freedom in Christ is not license for self-indulgence; rather, it is freedom to love (Gal. 5:13). The “law of Christ,” then, is not a return to Torah observance, but the new covenant shape of life conformed to Jesus. It is the ethic of the cross, the pattern of servanthood and sacrificial love that Christ embodied and calls his followers to imitate. When Paul speaks of fulfilling the law of Christ, he is pointing to this cruciform way of life—bearing each other’s burdens as Christ bore ours.
Paul’s use of the word “burdens” is open-ended. He is not referring to one particular kind of hardship but to anything that weighs a person down—sin, suffering, grief, weakness, poverty, or anxiety. This includes the moral failings he mentions just before this verse, when he exhorts the “spiritual” among the Galatians to restore those caught in sin “in a spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1). Such restoration is a burden-bearing act: it requires patience, humility, and the willingness to walk alongside someone who has stumbled. But Paul likely has in mind more than just moral correction. He envisions a church where believers step into one another’s lives with compassion and active support, refusing to let others carry their loads alone. In contrast to the rivalry and conceit he warns against, Paul calls the Galatians to a kind of relational solidarity that mirrors the way Christ has acted for them.
To bear another’s burden is, in some sense, to lose control—to accept that life in community will cost us something. It may require time, emotional energy, material resources, or the humbling realization that we too need help. Paul’s instruction undercuts the self-sufficiency and pride that so often undermine genuine community. In fact, in the very next verses (Gal. 6:3–5), Paul warns against thinking oneself “something” when one is nothing, reminding believers that while each will carry their own load in some sense, there is no room for boasting or comparison. The paradox is that we are called both to personal responsibility and to mutual care. These are not contradictory but complementary; spiritual maturity means knowing when to lean on others and when to offer our strength.
Fulfilling the law of Christ, then, is conformity to the likeness of Jesus, who bore our sins, carried our sorrows, and gave himself in love. Paul is redefining obedience in terms of relationship. The Spirit-led life is a life poured out for others, not because we must earn our place with God, but because we have already been embraced by grace. When we bear each other’s burdens, we enact the gospel—we become living parables of the grace we have received.
In this way, Galatians 6:2 serves as both a practical exhortation and a theological summary. It captures the heart of Paul’s vision for the church: not a competitive religious hierarchy, but a Spirit-filled community marked by love. It shows that the freedom we have in Christ is not freedom from responsibility, but freedom for one another. And it points us again to the cross, where Christ bore the ultimate burden, so that we might do the same for others in his name.
PRAYER: God of all nations and peoples, your Son commanded his disciples to preach and heal throughout the world. Grant us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the zeal to proclaim the good news of peace and justice, and gather all humanity into life with you. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)
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