6:2-5 Do not V2 and V5 here contradict each other?
6:2-5 Do not V2 and V5 here contradict each other?
No, although at first glance they appear to. In V2 we are exhorted to bear each other's burden, while in V5 we are told that every man shall bear his own burden.
There is no contradiction however.
These verses are referring to two different burdens. In the Greek construction of this passage the burden in V2 is a spiritual burden: a heavy burdensome weight pressing on the heart as a consequence of sin (cp V1). In V5, the burden is one's own; it is the personal responsibility we each have towards God for the kind of life we live.
It refers to life's routine obligations and each believer's ministry calling (cp Ro 14:12 with 1Cor 3:12-15).
Bearing one another's burden means helping a fallen brother or sister come back to their place in God (cp Ro 15:1).
In so doing we fulfil God's law of love for one another (cp Ga 5:14 with Jn 13:34-35; Ro 13:8-10 and Jas 2:8).
We are not to condone what the fallen brother or sister has done - Fault in Galations 6:1 refers to a moral failure, a sex sin - but we are also not to browbeat or condemn them.
We are not to think of ourselves as morally superior to them, but are to minister to them in a spirit of gentleness, being aware of our own shortcomings, lest we too fall into sin (cp Ac 20:35; Ro 12:3; 2Cor 3:5; Eph 4:2).