The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 374

Vers. 7, 8.-Sowi11g and rea,p;,ng. The Galatilme appear to have been niggardly in their contributions for the support of their Christian teachers (ver. 6). St. Paul warns them that such conduct will tell against themselves (see Prov. xi. 24). The prin- ciple on which he bases his admonition is one of deep significance and wide application. .l\o doubt the apostle wished it to be impressed upon hie readers in all its bearings ~ well as in relation to the particular case that led him to mention it. L IT I8 A LAW OF NATURE THAT TBB REAPING SHALL OOBBESPOND TO THE BOWING, L This is part of the general law that, other things being equal, the same cause always produces tM sa,me effect. There is no known exception to the law of .causation; there is no possible evasion of it. We see it plainly working in human affairs. The eternal constancy of nature assures us that the consequences of which certain •conduct is known to be the cause will undoubtedly follow. 2. The special' law of sowing antl reaping is that the product of the harvest will be the SOHM in kind as the seed so_wn. Tares will never produce wheat, nor wheat tares. But each seed reproduces its own kind. This is seen in human affairs. Commercial industry tends to commercial wealtb., intellectual study to a state of intellectual culture, etc. It iB vain to think that money will buy refinement or that learnmg is the road to wealth. Each pursuit has its own consequences in accordance with its own nature. IL Tms LAW APPLIES TO SPIRITUAL BOWING AND REAPING. 1. Here the future depends on the past and present by a certain law of causation. No words could more plainly assert that our conduct is shaping our own fate; and these are not the words of St. James, but of St. Paul! and they occur, of all places, in the Epietle,to the Gafatians, where the doctrine of justification by faith is most vehemently asse:rted I Moreover, they are not addressed to Jews still under the Law, nor to heathen who have not yet availed themselves of the privileges of the gospel, but to Christians w.ho have come into the justification by faith, as it is to Christians that St. Paul says elsewhere, •~ We. shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God" (Rom. xiv. 10). , We are here reminded that the future consequences of conduct are, natural, not adventitious-that they are ea.used by what we are and do, that they flow of their owli accord . from ,our lives, and are not assigned from without by any arbitrary dee~. ,We' simply, reap what our own sowing has produced for UB. 2. In spiritual things there is a cor- raporulence between what is sown and what· is reaped. (1) Sowing to the flesh produces its own natural harvest-corruption. The mere animal life, the life .of worldly interests, the life of the lower self, is itself a life of corruptible. things. Its soil and nourishment are earthly and cannot outlast death. ,When the grave opens all is lost. Even before death thieves steal, and moth and rust eat into the •treasures, The &0ul itself, too, is corrupted by such a life. Its faculties are diBSipated and decay. aay. It descends to the evil state of moral rottenness and death. (:~) Sowing to the '>pirit produces its own harvest of ete~l ~e. Spiritual things _are eternal t~~gs. Treasures in heaven are beyond destroymg mfluences. In proportion as the spmtual within us is cultivated. we have what will outlast death and what no grave will ever claim. .Already we have an eternal life in living in the things• that are spiritual and therefore eternal Money goes, but faith remains; the pleasures of the senses pall upon us, but the peace of God never fails ; self-seeking leads to !iisllatisf!LCtiou, thll lovu of Guel 8UStaip.g us with undying interest5, (IU, Vt, 1--18.J THE EPISTLE TO TlIE GALATIANS. 341