Chapter 1 introduces the problem in terms of multifarious views regarding the phrase ὁ νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ in Galatians 6:2. I place my work within broader scholarship’s trajectory by explaining my thesis–that the νόμος in the phrase refers to “principle,” unwritten law, rather than written law such as the Mosaic law and another law–briefly addressing my intended method. Chapter 2 briefly investigates the usages of νόμος from 7th century BC and AD 2nd century and paves the way for its various possible meanings. With the certainty that the meaning of a word is revealed in the context in which it is found, I argue that νόμος in the phrase in 6:2 refers to “principle,” unwritten law in the situational context of Galatians. I also reveal that the verb ἀναπληρόω, which takes the phrase as a direct object, means conforming to a certain standard. Chapter 3 focuses on the new era referred to in the phrase in 6:2. In order to highlight how the new era is depicted in Galatians, I explore the ὑπὸ phrases to signify the old era. Along with the coming of Christ in history, I give much attention to the fact that two epochal events, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, brought about the end of the old era and the beginning of the new era. Chapter 4 centers on Paul’s exhortation to conform to the principle of the new era in 6:2 within the broader context of Galatians. Specifically, after investigating Paul’s eschatology in Galatians, I reveal that Paul emphasizes the aspects of the “already” and of the overlapping ages rather than the “not yet” to awaken the identity of the Galatians who are the people of the new era. Chapter 5 summarizes and synthesizes the material, showing that in 6:2 Paul’s appeal to bear one another’s burdens refers to the believers’ conformity to the principle of the new era inaugurated by the crucified and risen Christ in the overlapping ages.

Traditionally, Paul's phrase "under the law" has been interpreted as a reference to being under a legal/legalistic system of the law, being under the law as a guiding/restraining power, or being under the curse/condemnation of the law. Recently many scholars have avoided the condemning aspect of the law in existence under the law. Especially, James D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright tend to reject the law’s condemning function as its “negative” function (Dunn) or to minimize it as a "secondary" element (Wright). Thus, they, emphasizing the law's constraining element, understand that with the salvation-historical assumptions they posited, Paul uses the phrase as a reference to Jewish covenantal experience under the law of Moses prior to Christ─Jews’ nationalistic misuse of the law under the law (Dunn) and Israel’s continuing curse of exile under the law (Wright). Here, despite their emphasis on eschatological elements in Paul, Dunn and Wright, from their view of covenantal nomism, emphasizing the law’s guardianship of Israel in salvation history, fail to see the just, eschatological condemning function of the law in the existence under the law apart from Christ, and thereby the forensic, eschatological aspect of freedom in Christ. In this dissertation, I investigate every occurrence of the phrase “under the law,” and develop my thesis that in his view of eschatological situation, Paul uses the phrase to refer to the universal human plight under the law's eschatological condemnation, from which Christ set us into all the eschatological blessings in Christ─sonship, freedom, and new life.