Crux Sola: Formed by Scripture to Live like Christ
My Northern Seminary faculty assistant, Cody Matchett, wrote an excellent paper on “Law of Christ” (Gal 6:2) for a recent seminary course I taught on Galatians. I asked him to share (briefly) a short version of his work.
Cody looked at several of the earliest patristic writers’ understanding of “Law of Christ.” He offers excerpts as well as his own synthesis and final reflections on the meaning of this much debated Pauline phrase.
Not Law, but the way of Christ has become the ‘Law of Christ’
By Cody Matchett
Paul’s use of the phrase ‘Law of Christ’ at the end of his letter to the Galatians is one of the most perplexing turns of phrases in the Pauline corpus (Gal 6:2). In a letter where the law features centrally, and where Paul argues aggressively that the Galatians must not put themselves ‘under the law,’ reference to ‘the law of the Christ’ can hardly be incidental — the phrase seems deliberately provocative, a “breathtaking paradox.” [1] Precisely what Paul means by the phrase ‘law of the Christ’ remains disputed.
In this post, we will reflect briefly upon the way this phrase was understood (received and interpreted) by six early interpreters from the Patristic period (AD 100 – AD 451).
Gaius Marius Victorianus (290AD – 364AD)
“Frequently Paul has laid down this thought, and we too have treated it: that the whole Law, and the entire working of the Law, is fulfilled by this word — that is, love. A person who loves another neither kills, commits adultery against, nor steals from the other. This is what it means to love Christ and to love God.” [2]
“We ought to accept every human being as a neighbor, and then we will also have Christ as our neighbor. Therefore you too ought to have love among yourselves, but in the Spirit.” [3]
“And in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. For Christ himself was patient in this way: he both bore our ills and put up with adversity on account of our ills. The law of Christ — he says —you will fulfil, not simply the Law.” [4]
Ambrosiastor (339AD – 397AD)
“The law of Christ wants everyone to be saved, and for this reason Paul says that whoever counsels a sinning brother and persuades him to return to the right way is fulfilling the will of Christ.” [5]
“In order to ensure that this would be done with all gentleness, Paul added: Lest you too be tempted. With this in mind they would not reject the sinner, knowing that they too were capable of sinning. The law of Christ wants everyone to be saved, and for this reason Paul says that whoever counsels a sinning brother and persuades him to return to the right way is fulfilling the will of Christ.” [6]
St. Jerome (347AD – 420AD)
“The Savior carried this burden for us, teaching us by his example what we ought to do. He indeed carries our iniquities and grieves for us and invites those who are weighed down by the burden of sin and the Law to take up the light burden of virtue, saying, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [7]
“What is the Law of Christ? ‘This is my commandment: that you love one another.’ What is the Law of the Son of God? “Love one another, just as I have loved you.” In what way has the Son of God loved us? “There is no greater love than this, that one would lay his life down for his friends.” He has not fulfilled the Law of Christ who, even if he is spiritual, has no clemency and has not put on the bowels of compassion and tears.” [8]
John Chrysostom (347AD – 407AD)
“He says not “fulfil” (πληρώσατε) but, “complete” (ἀναπληρώσατε); that is, make it up all of you in common, by the things wherein ye bear with one another. For example, this man is irascible, thou art dull-tempered; bear therefore with his vehemence that he in turn may bear with thy sluggishness; and thus neither will he transgress, being supported by thee, nor wilt thou offend in the points where thy defects lie, because of thy brother’s forbearing with thee. So do ye by reaching forth a hand one to another when about to fall, fulfil the Law in common, each completing what is wanting in his neighbor by his own endurance. But if ye do not thus, but each of you will investigate the faults of his neighbour, nothing will ever be performed by you as it ought. For as in the case of the body, if one were to exact the same function from every member of it, the body could never consist, so must there be great strife among brethren if we were to require all things from all.” [9]
Theodore of Mopsuestia (350AD – 428AD)
“In this way it is possible for those who are not under the law to fulfill the law’s requirements. For love is customarily fulfilled not by the law but only by the judgment of the soul. But fulfilling what the law wills is the necessary consequence of love. And it is especially fitting for you to fulfill the law of love because you await that future and immortal life when you will keep the law of love inviolate, since there will be nothing in human affairs capable any longer of breaking it.” [10]
“He means “love,” for he calls this the law of Christ. ‘But each one of you ought to share with them so far as you can, by supporting their load.’ How can this be done? If by exhortation and gentleness of words you are eager to restore the soul that is plainly greatly weighed down by consciousness of sin, if by sound advice you are willing to raise up his mind, if by exhortation you are willing to restore him, if you make him more calm-minded, inviting him to the promise of better things.” [11]
Augustine (354AD – 430AD)
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6.2), specifically the law of love. But if loving one’s neighbor fulfills the law and the love of one’s neighbor is especially urged in the Old Testament also (in which love, the same apostle says elsewhere, all the commandments of the law are summed up), then it is clear that the Scriptures given to the earlier people is also the law of Christ, which he came to fulfill by love when it was not being fulfilled by fear. The same Scripture and the same commandment, then, is called the Old Testament when it weighs down slaves for panting for earthly goods, and then New Testament when it lifts up free people ardent for eternal goods.” [12]
Synthesis
All of the Patristic authors we have quoted above seem to prioritize Paul’s use of the phrase ‘Law of Christ’ within the context of Galatians 5.13-6.2: the fulfilment of the ‘love command’ (5.13-14), Paul’s discourse on the Spirit (5.16-26), and his exhortation to follow the pattern of Christ by bearing one another’s burdens (6.1-2). While they differentiate in their explanations of the outworking of the pattern, they all highlight Paul’s exhortation to follow the ‘loving pattern’ (example) set forth by Christ in bearing burdens. Moreover, all of their understandings of the fulfillment ‘Law of Christ’ seem to function in some way in connection with the fulfillment ‘Law of Love’ (5.13-14).
In addition, in spite of the recent trend in scholarship to highlight the continuity between the Mosaic Law and the Law of Christ, [13] virtually all of surveyed interpreters understand Paul’s phrase to be a significant mark of discontinuity. In other words, in spite of connection with the ‘Mosaic Law,’ the ‘Law of Christ’ is a new Law, even if it is a spiritualized version of the former Law, which is now fulfilled in love. All of the commandments and precepts from the Mosaic Law, then, which had previously been motivated by fear, have now been spiritualized and summarized under the rubric of love, because the new era of Christ’s law of self-giving love has been inaugurated.
Reflection
To fulfill the ‘Law of Christ’ is to follow the paradigmatic example of Christ’s loving death. We are not summoned to obey a new Law enforced by Christ, but empowered by the Spirit, we are to follow his example, which redefines the Law. The driving rhetorical force of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, with its unrelenting focus on the death of Christ confronts us with this new-found reality: Not Law, but the way of Christ has become the Law of Christ.
Notes
[1] Hays, Richard. Christology and Ethics in Galatians: The Law of Christ, 276. [2] Cooper, Stephen Andrew. Marius Victorinus’ Commentary on Galatians, 334. [3] Cooper, Stephen Andrew. Marius Victorinus’ Commentary on Galatians, 335. [4] Cooper, Stephen Andrew. Marius Victorinus’ Commentary on Galatians, 337. [5] Ambrosiaster. Commentaries on Galatians-Philemon, 31. [6] Ambrosiaster. Commentaries on Galatians-Philemon, 31. [7] Jerome, St. Commentary on Galatians, 249-250. [8] Jerome, St. Commentary on Galatians, 249-250. [9] NPNF1. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on Galatians, 43. [10] Theodore of Mopsuestia: Commentary on the Minor Pauline Epistles, 147. [11] Theodore of Mopsuestia: Commentary on the Minor Pauline Epistles, 159. [12] Plumer, Eric. Augustine’s Commentary on Galatians, 227. [13] Dunn, James D.G. The Theology of Paul the Apostle, 653-657; Stanton, Jesus and the Gospel, 110-123.
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