by Michael McCoy
Of the many words spoken by Jesus Christ, some have come to be regarded as “law,” not specifically Mosaic, but rather it is that which is more closely aligned with the perfect and divine will of God. The law is intrinsic to the character of God, and in the person of Jesus Christ, the union of divinity and humanity is the quintessence of that law. Though it is the life of Paul that personifies the coalescing of human obedience and divine will in fulfillment of “the law of Christ.” This expression will be examined as it appears in the context of Galatians 6:2, but not without consideration given to the Pauline corpus. For it will be argued that Paul’s use of “ton nomon tou Cristou” is intimately connected with the context in which it is spoken, embracing not only the heart of Christ’s teaching, but ultimately being the heartbeat of the apostle himself. 1 Corinthians 9:21 will also be shown to corroborate the Biblical evidence for understanding Paul’s thought concerning the law of Christ.
