Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Galatians · About this commentary
Bear One Another's Burdens
Galatians 6:1-2
1 Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted. · WEB
The instruction for handling someone's failure is aimed at the person doing the restoring, and the law it fulfills is named after Christ.
The case is put mildly: even if a man is caught in some fault. The verb suggests being overtaken or surprised by it rather than pursuing it, and the letter does not minimize the fault or dwell on it.
The address is pointed: you who are spiritual. After a chapter on the Spirit's fruit, those qualified for this work are the ones producing it — and the qualification comes with a manner. Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. The verb is a mending word, used of setting a bone or repairing nets. The aim is a working limb, not a verdict.
Then the clause that redirects everything: looking to yourself so that you also aren't tempted. The singular is abrupt in a plural sentence, putting the restorer under examination as he examines.
Verse 2 states the positive command: bear one another's burdens. The noun is a heavy load, something too much for one person, and the burden-bearing is mutual rather than charitable — each carrying, each carried.
And the result is the letter's most striking phrase about law: and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The expression appears nowhere else in Scripture. What it means here is settled by the letter itself, which has already said the whole law is fulfilled in loving one's neighbor Galatians 5:14. Carrying someone's load is that command in its most practical form — and a letter that has spent four chapters denying that law can justify closes by naming a law that can be fulfilled.
settled What this mark means