Mutual support? … or mutual destruction?

Paul’s appeal for mutual love is no bland generality, but specifically targets habits of intra-communal rivalry that were characteristic of ancient Mediterranean society. After setting the norm of mutual slavery in love ([Gal] 5:13), Paul issues a dire warning against its dysfunctional alternative: “if you bite and devour one another, watch out lest you be consumed by one another” (5:15). Here, the polar opposite to love is not isolation or indifference, because it is assumed that individuals will interact in one form of reciprocity or another: the only question is whether that interaction will take the form of mutual support or mutual destruction.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 432