Scripture Reading: Gal. 6:1-10
Galatians 6:1-10 is a continuation of Paul’s word at the end of chapter five. In 5:25 Paul charges us to walk by the Spirit. In 6:1-10 Paul develops this matter of walking by the Spirit. In these verses he covers three things: how to restore one who has fallen, how to fulfill the law of Christ, and how to sow unto the Spirit. For all three, we need to turn to our spirit and walk by the Spirit.
Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers, if ever a man is overtaken in some offense, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also are tempted.” Those who are spiritual are those who live and walk by the Spirit. This is the only way to be genuinely spiritual. Those who are spiritual should restore one who has fallen in a spirit of meekness. This is our regenerated spirit, indwelt by and mingled with the Holy Spirit. Such a spirit is the issue of living and walking by the Spirit. Notice that Paul speaks of a spirit of meekness. The meekness we need must be in our spirit. The source of what we do should be our spirit, not simply our kind heart. Therefore, this verse indicates that everything we do in our daily walk should be done in our spirit and from our spirit.
In 6:2 Paul continues, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Some expositors say that the law of Christ here refers to the Lord’s commandment that we love one another. According to them, the law of Christ is the law of love. This is correct. However, we must go on to see that the law of Christ is the higher and better law of life which works through love (Rom. 8:2; John 13:34). The law of love, which is the law of Christ, is the law of life. Love is the expression, but life is the substance. Real love is that which issues from the divine life. The love described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 is the expression of the divine life. Furthermore, the fact that love is a fruit of the Spirit indicates that the substance of love must be the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). In fact, all spiritual virtues must have the Spirit with the divine life as their substance. The law of Christ, which is the law of love, must be substantiated by the divine life. This is the reason we say that the law of Christ in 6:2 denotes the law of life. Expressed by the law of love, the law of life will cause us to bear one another’s burdens. In this way we fulfill the law of Christ.
In verse 3 Paul says, “For if anyone thinks he is something, being nothing, he deceives himself.” Apparently there is no connection between verse 3 and verse 2; actually there is a very real and significant connection. Those who think of themselves as something will not bear the burdens of others. Only those who do not regard themselves as anything will bear others’ burdens. Perhaps you would say that certain ones who consider themselves to be something seem to bear the burdens of others. However, this is merely an outward show, the exhibition of the self, not the genuine bearing of someone else’s burden. In the eyes of the Lord, such a person does not actually bear anyone’s burden. Instead, thinking himself to be somebody, he takes advantage of an opportunity to display himself.
No doubt, Paul wrote these verses according to his experience. From experience he realized that it is when we consider ourselves as nothing that we spontaneously, even unconsciously, bear the burdens of others. We do not place a high estimate on what we do. We simply do it because we are walking in the Spirit and by the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit, we are led of the Spirit to do certain things. The result is that we bear someone’s burden without even realizing it. Paul’s word is simple and brief, but it is full of experience.
In 6:6 Paul says, “But let him who is instructed in the word share with him who instructs in all good things.” The good things in this verse refer to things which are good for this life, the necessities of daily living. Even in the matter of sharing such things, we may fulfill the law of Christ, fulfilling the law of love according to the law of life.
In 6:7-10 Paul covers the matter of how to sow. In verse 7 he warns, “Do not be led astray, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he shall also reap.” The admonition not to be led astray was spoken in reference to the false teachings of the Judaizers. These teachings led the Galatians astray from the Spirit in their spirit to the law by their flesh.
The matter of sowing is quite mysterious. What is it that we sow, and for what purpose do we sow? Some may understand Paul’s word about sowing to refer to what he has previously spoken about bearing the burdens of others and about sharing the necessities of life with those who have need. According to this understanding, if one contributes to the daily need of a person serving the Lord in the Word, he is then sowing to the Spirit. I would agree that this is a proper application of Paul’s word about sowing. However, our understanding of sowing should not be limited to this matter. As we shall seek to point out, sowing covers the totality of our Christian life.
Verse 8 says, “Because he who sows unto his own flesh, shall reap corruption of the flesh, but he who sows unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.” To sow unto the flesh is to sow with a view to the flesh, or for the flesh, with the purpose of the flesh in view, fulfilling what the flesh covets. To sow unto the Spirit is to sow for the Spirit, with the aim of the Spirit, accomplishing what the Spirit desires. To sow for the fulfilling of the purpose of the flesh issues in corruption; to sow for the accomplishing of the aim of the Spirit issues in life, even eternal life. Corruption is of the flesh, indicating that the flesh is corrupted; eternal life is of the Spirit and is the Spirit Himself.
Everything we do is some kind of sowing, either to the flesh or to the Spirit. Wherever we may be and whatever we are doing, we are sowing seeds. You sow at work and also at school. The elders sow while they are caring for the church, and those who minister the Word sow as they minister. Husbands and wives are constantly sowing in their married life, and parents are sowing in their family life. Everything parents say to their children and do with them is a seed sown into them. Day by day we all are sowing. The Christian life is a life of sowing. Furthermore, the place where we live and work is our farm. You are sowing even by the way you dress or style your hair. Virtually everything you do is an act of sowing. It is crucial for us to realize that the Christian walk must be a walk by the Spirit and a life of sowing to the Spirit.
Paul showed marvelous wisdom in his writing of 6:1-10, covering a number of crucial points. As we have seen, he speaks of things such as restoring a fallen one in a spirit of meekness and of fulfilling the law of Christ by giving something to meet the need of another. Then he tells us not to be led astray, since God is not mocked. There is no need for us to go far off to be led astray. We may be led astray even in our thinking. But God is not mocked, and we cannot deceive Him. He knows what we are and what we are doing. Thus, Paul admonishes us to take care of our sowing. Instead of sowing to the flesh, we should sow to the Spirit, realizing that everything we say or do is part of our daily sowing.
In our experience, the flesh should be crucified. As Paul says in 5:24, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.” We should not continue to walk according to the flesh. We should not be in the flesh in expressing our attitudes. In speaking to their children, parents need to be in the Spirit and according to the Spirit. Otherwise, what they say will be a sowing unto the flesh. We should also be careful of the way we express our attitude. Even the expression of an attitude may be sowing according to the flesh. On the other hand, we may express our attitude by sowing unto the Spirit. We should also be cautious in expressing opinions. Do you have the assurance that the utterance of your opinion is according to the Spirit? If not, be careful, lest you sow unto the flesh. If we all sow unto the Spirit day by day, many problems will be eliminated. The troubles in the church life and in the family life will diminish. Most problems and troubles come from sowing unto the flesh.
Seeds are small. Have you ever seen a farmer sow seed which is a foot in diameter? No, the seeds a farmer sows are tiny. The same is true of our sowing. We may regard certain things as tiny — a little gossiping or a little criticizing — but they are seeds sown into others. Have you ever asked yourself how many seeds you have sown into others, seeds that are not according to the Spirit but according to the flesh? In the church life we are constantly sowing tiny seeds. Even the way one brother looks at another is a seed. We certainly sow to the flesh when we criticize, argue, or condemn. In principle, all that we say or do is a seed sown either to the flesh or to the Spirit.
We shall always reap what we sow. If we sow unto the flesh, we shall reap corruption of the flesh. If we sow unto the Spirit, we shall reap eternal life of the Spirit. I know cases where co-workers and elders have reaped corruption because they sowed unto the flesh. The longer they stayed in a certain place, the more difficult it was to remain there. This difficulty was the result of sowing to the flesh. Eventually, after sowing to the flesh week by week, month by month, and year by year, these co-workers and elders had to leave and go elsewhere.
Difficulties in married life are also caused by sowing to the flesh. At first, the husband and wife may have loved each other very much. But after years of sowing unto the flesh, they may want a separation or even a divorce. They reap corruption because of sowing according to the flesh. As the years have gone by, they have sowed tiny seeds of words, attitudes, and feelings. Eventually, the issue is reaping corruption of the flesh.
According to God’s ordination, both married life and the church life are to be permanent. If a brother cannot remain an elder permanently in a certain locality, he cannot be a proper elder, just as a man cannot be a proper husband if his marriage is only temporary. How dreadful to have only a temporary married life or family life! Our relationship with our spouse and children must be permanent. In the same principle, our commitment to the church life should also be permanent. However, many of those who sow to the flesh participate in the church life only temporarily.
Let us honestly, faithfully, and sincerely consider ourselves. Are we sowing unto the flesh or unto the Spirit? If we sow to the flesh by playing politics, we shall eventually reap corruption. But if we sow unto the Spirit, we shall reap life eternal. If an elder sows according to the Spirit, the longer he remains in a certain locality, the more he will reap of eternal life. There will be no need for him to leave that place. On the contrary, it will be very profitable for him to remain.
If those who minister the Word to the Lord’s people minister according to the flesh, sowing seeds of the flesh, they will eventually reap corruption of the flesh. This will make it impossible for them to remain in a certain place. But if they minister according to the Spirit, sowing seeds of the Spirit, they will reap eternal life year after year.
What is true of the elders and of the co-workers is also true of every member of the church. Even in our fellowship we should be on the alert to sow unto the Spirit and not unto the flesh. We should not love others in the flesh, but love them in the Spirit. If we love others according to the flesh, we shall reap corruption, the issue of our fleshly love. But if we love others in the Spirit, we shall reap eternal life.
In 5:25 Paul speaks of walking by the Spirit, and in 6:8, of sowing unto the Spirit. Actually, to walk by the Spirit is to sow unto the Spirit. Whenever we walk by the Spirit, we sow unto the Spirit. Sowing unto the Spirit, we eventually reap life eternal.
In the church life there are a number of elderly brothers and sisters who have been sowing unto the Spirit throughout the years. Now they are reaping eternal life. Others, however, have brought corruption to themselves and to others by sowing unto the flesh. When they were participating in the church life, they sowed to the flesh. That kind of sowing damaged their church life. As a result, some have turned away from enjoying the Lord in the church and turned to the world. They claim to be liberated. Yes, they have been liberated from the restriction of the Spirit to the indulgence of the flesh. This is the reaping of corruption.
The fact that we may sow either to the flesh or to the Spirit and thereby reap either corruption or eternal life should encourage us to be careful in what we say and do. Let us realize that everything in our daily living is a sowing either to the flesh or to the Spirit.
In 6:9 Paul goes on to say, “And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not faint.” According to the context, “doing good” in verse 9 is sowing to the Spirit. Paul’s use of the word reap in this verse connects it with the foregoing verse about sowing. We should not lose heart in doing good, in sowing unto the Spirit. Sowing to the flesh usually produces a quicker result than sowing to the Spirit. A higher form of life often grows more slowly than a lower form. In the same principle, what we sow unto the Spirit will usually grow more slowly than what we sow unto the flesh. This is the reason that Paul encourages us not to lose heart in sowing unto the Spirit. A brother who is an elder should not say, “I have been in this city for years sowing unto the Spirit. What do I have to show for my labor? I don’t see any result.” Remember Paul’s word that in due time we shall reap, if we do not faint. In working for the Lord, in ministering the Word to the children of God, and in caring for the churches, we should not expect that what we sow unto the Spirit will grow quickly. Like farmers, we need to be patient. Eventually, in due time, we shall reap. The more precious are the things sown, the longer it will take for them to grow. While they are growing, let us be patient and not lose heart.
In 6:10 Paul says, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good toward all men, and especially toward those of the household of the faith.” Doing good in this verse refers mainly to ministering material things to the needy (2 Cor. 9:6-9). The household of the faith refers to the children of promise (4:28), all the sons of God through faith in Christ (3:26). All believers in Christ are a universal household, the great family of God through faith in Christ, not through works of law. This household, as the new man (Col. 3:10-11), is composed of all the members of Christ with Christ as their constituent. Hence, we should do good, especially toward those of this household, regardless of their race or social rank (3:28).
