Scripture Reference: Galatians 6:1-10

Reaping What You Sow (verses 7-8) – Continued

Those who are sowing to please the sinful nature are destroying relationships with others. As we’ve shown before, they are biting, devouring, provoking and envying others, thereby consuming or destroying one another (Galatians 5:15, 26). In their arrogance they are seeking to pressure everyone to conform to the same ethnic customs and traditions that they themselves hold dear. Churches are being torn apart and destroyed by ethnic rivalries and social competition. Sowing to please the sinful nature will always result in a harvest of destruction, a destruction of relationships with others and with God.

Sowing to please the Spirit means “through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13), restoring one who has been caught in sin (Galatians 6:1), carrying or bearing the burdens of others (Galatians 6:2), giving generously to those who teach in the church (Galatians 6:6) and doing good to all (Galatians 6:9). Sometimes sowing to the Spirit has been defined in terms of private, personal holiness, as if it were something done in a closet by oneself. But sowing to the Spirit in the context of Paul’s teaching here involves building relationships based on love with others. Sowing to the Spirit cannot be done in isolation or separation from others. Carrying the burdens of others requires in-depth participation in their pain and sorrow. As we see in verse 9, sowing to the Spirit means doing good to others. If sowing to the sinful nature means selfish indulgence, then sowing to the Spirit means selfless service. The harvest of sowing to the Spirit is eternal life. The meaning of eternal life must be understood within the “already-not yet” structure of Paul’s thought in this letter. From Paul’s perspective, Christians have already been delivered “from the present evil age” (Galatians 1:4) and are already in the new creation (Galatians 6:15). But the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature is not yet over (Galatians 5:17). In Christ we already have new relationships with God and with one another: we now relate not as slaves but as children who call God Father (Galatians 4:6-7); and we relate to one another not as people divided by racial, social and gender barriers but as people united in Christ, children of the Father, thus, brothers and sisters in Christ (Galatians 3:28). But since the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature continues, we do not yet experience total harmony in these relationships. Those who continue to grow in these relationships by the power of the Spirit will ultimately experience the fullness of eternal life, perfect harmony in relationship with God and others.

To Be Continued

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