The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 368

that we can sow dissipation and ren._p steaafastness. The kind 'that· \\'e bow In our actions, and none other, determines tvbat we reap. 3. As we sow to the flesh or to t?ie. Spirit, ,,,hat we re~p is corrupt-fb7.e ?'" ~11co_rmptib~t. 'l'he.'re ire many kinds of_ see~s •In nature; but there 1s one essential distinction betwe'en th~ln:' '1'here are seeds of phmt's which are '<'ile and noxious, and which we seek o'nly to extirpate. .And there are ~e~ds of plants "·hich are useful or beautiful, and which we seek to cultinte. Sowing to the flesh i~ doing what is right in our own eyei;, acting without regard to the will or God. J t is like so\\·ing the seeds of weeds in the soil of our hearts. Sowing· to the Spirtt' is· what is called, in the Old Test~rnent, sowing in righteousness, doirig what is' right· hefore God. It is like sowing the seeds of usefnl grains, or of beautiful flowers, in the' ~oil of our hearts. It is said, sowing" to our own flesh," but simply" s6'j'nng to the Spirit/'' showing that the point of the distinction is taking th1:1 rule of our actibns from self or from God. The Di'l'ine ordering is that, sowing to the tlesh, we· sh'all of the flesh reap corruption. And we are sufficiently taught what corruption is. Ther~ 1s an offensive~ ness connected ~;th wet, decayed vegetable matter.· There is a greater offensiveness connected with putrid animal matter. .And, as the best things corrupted are the wol'st· there is nothing so offensive, within the material S)?here, as the hu.ma:b. bopy in a stat~ of corrupt-ion. And that, again, is bnt a suggestion· of what tbe'soul is in a sta.t~ ot corruption. Let us not, then, be deceived. • God is not mocked'. !;et us not tl\.l.nk' that we can break God's laws with impunity. Let us _not think that we 'ca.n sin, and have the freshness and beauty of holiness. It is impossible. Sin is working Wr ·work of deterioration even here. It is bringing in the elements of death into bur nature. ''I~· is as though mortification in all its loathsomeness were proceeding'' ih 'our_ vano'Us powers. And it is the most solemn fact of existence that, if we die in. sin; th'e#, as certainly as there is righteousness in the character of God, will retribution follow \is into the ·next world. On the other hand, the Divine ordering is that;-·sowfo.g to·'tbtr Spirit, we shall of the Spirit reap eternal life. 'fhere is nothing within the material spher~ which can fitly set forth what this life is. Ai; spirit is finer thaa matter, so iB' spirltda:l life finer than the most lovely -flower, the most beautiful human borlily form. It· lias- especially the element of imperishableness, eternity. Flowers quickly fade;' the 'mbst' beautiful face loses its freshness. But the life that is begun in Godar1d·carried on in GM.1 1,hall be eternal as God himself. Let us not, then, be deceived. Goq'is not' mocked. It,'fa' only by sowing to the 8pirit that we can get beautiful and imperishable el.ements into· our;' life. "Whatsoever things are troe, whatsoever _things are honourable, whatsoever tllings are just, whatsoever things are pure, wbatsoevet things are' lovely,· wha~oever tbings' are· of goo,1 report; if there be any virtue, and if thete be ·any praise, think on the!le 'things." That is the order of the Divine government which we must ol;>se'tve if we ~ould b~ beautified. with the Divine. beauty and immortalized with the·_ Divine· tinmortali:ty;'' Seeino-, thea, that God cannot deny himself, must honour his' Own~!l,l'I'angement lei 1ui1 learn the supreme importance of sowing to the Spirit. '!'here ·1s ~othihg in this pn\clple, rio-htly considered, which militates against the doctrine of the forgf~·liness of sins.'·. 'Fbr th~ great Substitute of mankind came uuder the' broken 'Law, which nad its full'~oufie in him. He reaped, in terrible experience of forsakenness what we. bad soweli"fu our' sins. "Surely he bath borne our griefs and carried our so1Tows." .Arid, therefore, 'i1Vis that we can reap a rich harvest of forgiveness. But it needs t,o be l:>orne ib m.Tlid,, 1a.s' a complementary truth, that, after we are forgiven, we have st_ill to co_ntend against depraved tendency, and especially against the results of our pre'vioilil\ilinful' life.··' :A.nil it is also to be borne 'in mind that we can on-Jy have the harvest of life eternal fa s~ far as we have thought out the Divine thoughts and carried out_ th\l pivine will. -,~e~ us not be deceived. God is not mocked. In no other way can 1t be secured by_us." III. ENCOURAGEMEl>T AGAINST WEARINEs's IN WELL-DOING. ".And' let us ntl,t be weary in well-d0ing : for in due season we shall reap, if we faint 'not." The· '!-Postle Las been exhorting to do well by Christian teachers; he now proceeds to·exh'ort_to well~ doing in general, i.e. to all kinds of doiag well to the bodies and eoulil'of men. _.And let it be understood, that nothing is worthy of the name of well-doing·wbich i,s· not done from a right motive. It mlllit be, not for self-glorification, but' for the glory· of God. 1. Cawes of wcaririas. (1) There-are discouragement, connected with the nature of well-do-img. It is under a high impulse that we begin the life of well-doing,' It is ,the kind of life that is furtbeet removed from selfishness. n requites a large infusio1:1 CII. VI, 1-lEI.J THE EPISTLE TO THE GAT,ATIAN8. 335