‘Brothers, even if a man has been overtaken within some falling away from close beside, you relating to the realm of breath, properly adjust and restore this one within a breath [pneuma] of gentleness, taking heed yourself in case you also are tested. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this manner you will complete the law of the anointed one’, (Galatians 6 v 1, 2).
Paul has been explaining the opposing currents and energies that exist within Christians. There is an impetus arising from their fleshly constitution, and in opposition to this, there is the movement and impetus of the Breath of God dwelling in their deep inner core. It is clear from all that Paul has been saying that Christians are not ‘perfect’. They are not fully complete within cleanliness and godliness. Most of Paul’s letter to the Galatians has been taken up with Christians in danger of falling into wayward behaviour by turning back to observing Covenant law as a means of obtaining and maintaining divine judicial approval. And here, in verse 1, Paul turns to the problem of a Christian being ‘overtaken within some falling away from close beside’. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, Christians are sometimes taken captive, or ‘overtaken’ by impulses arising from within their fleshly constitution. The word ‘overtaken’ suggests that some self-forfeiture springs upon an individual and overpowers them by the suddenness of the assault.
So what happens in such a situation? Paul says that those Christians walking in and relating to the realm of breath are to ‘properly adjust and restore this one within a breath [pneuma] of gentleness’. This would be an act of practical, beneficial love. ‘Properly adjusting’ includes knowledge, understanding and reasoning within what is true to the facts. It is what Paul has been doing throughout the course of this letter to the Galatians – seeking to promote consistent behaviour within correct, enlightened understanding. This ‘adjustment’ is to be done with care and gentleness. Christians are exhorted to assist and carry each other’s burdens with care so as to avoid falling into error themselves. In seeking to support and restore a fellow Christian, they may be tested themselves.
‘…in this manner you will complete the law of the anointed one’. There is a very biting sarcasm and grave irony in Paul’s use of the word ‘law’ here. The whole of this letter has been directed against the Judaizing teachers who were cramming the written codes of Covenant law down Galatian Christian throats. This letter is addressed to their victims who had fallen into their trap. They have turned things upside down, (Galatians 5 v 12), but Paul turns this back round on them and says, ‘You want law, do you? Well, if you will have it, here it is - the law of the Messiah’. The Messiah’s life is our law, our principle of speech and behaviour. Practical Christianity is founded on emulating the Messiah, and the primary principle of the Messiah is that Christians show practical beneficial love to one another, as he has shown love to them. In this way the Messiah is brought to completion. The dynamic process is to co-work with God to bring forth the Fruit of the Breath. There is no reference to external written codes, but rather, that Christians co-work with God by walking around within the set-apart Breath, within truth, so as to carry across the Fruit of the Breath from within into speech and behaviour, mutually supporting one another.
