The bearing of others' burdens.
"One another's burdens do ye bear, and so ye shall thoroughly fulfil the law of Christ." This verse is an advance upon the first verse, for it greatly widens the sphere of duty. Consider—
I. THE BURDENS TO BE BORNE. They are not simply "the infirmities of the weak," which the Roman Christians were called upon to bear; but sins, sorrows, errors, and temptations. It is a serious thing for the weak or the wayward to make themselves a burden to others, who have burdens enough of their own to carry. The Apostle Paul is an illustration: "Who is weak, and I am not weak?"
II. THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS. As if to show that there is no separate interest in the Church of God, the apostle tells believers that the sins and infirmities of others are not only to be tolerated, but taken up as burdens. This is more than a counsel to "support the weak, to be patient toward all men." Travellers have often to carry the burdens of their comrades who become faint by the way. It would be a serious thing for the weak, if believers were to draw away from them and allow them to carry their own burdens. "A Christian must have strong shoulders and stout legs in order to bear the flesh, that is, the weakness of the brethren" (Luther). Christian life is a burden-bearing, but, after all, it is something short of the supreme Sacrifice. "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Let us, therefore, bear transgressors upon our hearts at the throne of grace, and upon our shoulders by brotherly help and patience. Our gratification is not to be the rule for the exercise of our Christian liberty.
III. THE MOTIVE TO THIS DUTY. "Ye shall thoroughly fulfil the law of Christ." That is the new commandment, "that ye love one another" (John 13:14). There could be no burden-bearing except from a principle of love, and the fulfilment of the duty implies a fulfilment of Christ's law. This law is not to be conceived of as if it had come in the place of the moral Law, or as if believers were now exempt from Law even as a rule of life. "Love is the fulfilling of the Law." It was so in Old Testament times; for the sum of the Decalogue is love (Matthew 22:40); and the Apostle Paul exhorts believers to love one another, on the ground of its being a requirement of the moral Law (Romans 13:8, Romans 13:9). We need Law as well as love. Law tells me what to do; love gives me power to do it. Our Lord never enjoined a greater love than the Law of Moses, though he prescribed more modes of its manifestation. The law of Christ, therefore, is only new in so far as it is enjoined upon a new model, "Love one another as I have loved you"—as it is addressed only to believers, as it sprang out of a new necessity as the distinguishing mark of discipleship, and as it goes forth into life with a new impressiveness. So regarded, the injunction to the Galatians becomes doubly impressive, as our Lord's example has the force of a law for us, for he bore with us in our weaknesses, and cannot but be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.