Gálatas 6
Kenneth Wuest · Citado em PreceptAustin
Gálatas 6
Wuest adds that eleos is "God’s “kindness and goodwill toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them” Grace meets man’s need in respect to his guilt and lost condition; mercy, with reference to his suffering as a result of that sin." And upon the Israel of God - In context of this letter, there were many Jews (the Israel) but they were not truly of God, but were false teachers, enemies of the Cross. There would not receive mercy but would receive their due compensation for leading others astray from grace to Law. Donald Campbell on Israel of God - While some believe that “Israel of God” is the church, the evidence does not support such a conclusion. First, the repetition of the preposition (“upon” or “to”) indicates two groups are in view. Second, all the 65 other occurrences of the term “Israel” in the New Testament refer to Jews. It would thus be strange for Paul to use “Israel” here to mean Gentile Christians. Third, Paul elsewhere referred to two kinds of Israelites— believing Jews and unbelieving Jews (cf. Rom. 9:6). Lest it be thought that Paul is anti-Semitic, he demonstrated by means of this benediction his deep love and concern for true Israel, that is, Jews who had come to Christ. (Bible Knowledge Commentary) Thomas Constable on Israel of God - Especially he wished this for the "Israel of God." This unusual title refers to saved Jews. It describes a second group in the verse, not the same group. Note the repetition of "upon" that makes this distinction. Also "Israel" always refers to physical Jews everywhere else in the New Testament (65 times). Furthermore it would be natural for Paul to single out Christian Jews for special mention since in this epistle he sounded almost anti-Semitic. Therefore it is better to take this phrase in its regular usage rather than as a unique designation for the church as a whole, as many non-dispensationalists do. (Constable's Expository Notes - Galatians)
Gálatas 6
Wuest says "In this verse, Paul gives his reason for glorying in the Cross of Christ. It is because, while circumcision is of no avail to the Jew, nor the lack of circumcision of any avail to the Gentile, yet the Cross has power to make of believing Jew and Gentile a new creation which results in a radical transformation of character. (Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse) Neither is circumcision (peritome) anything, nor uncircumcision (akrobustia) - These works (or non-works) do not matter. It is not by observing the Law in any form. Ultimately it is faith in Christ which makes a person a new creation in Him. That is all that really counts. Compare the parallel passage For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. (Gal 5:6+) Lightfoot - In Christ Jesus old things have passed away. Circumcision is not and uncircumcision is not. All eternal distinctions have vanished. The new spiritual creation is all in all.’ Campbell - In view of the Cross of Christ and a believer’s new position with respect to the world, no outward religious symbol or lack of it means anything as a way of salvation (cf. 5:6). The only thing that matters is to be a part of the new creation by the new birth (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17). (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
Gálatas 6
Wuest adds that katartízō "has in it the idea of equipping something or preparing it for future use (ED: IN THIS CASE A "BROKEN" BELIEVER IN NEED OF "MENDING"!)" Katartízō conveys the fundamental idea of putting something into its appropriate condition so it will function well. It conveys the idea of making whole by fitting together, to order and arrange properly. When applied to that which is weak and defective, it denotes setting right what has gone wrong, to restore to a former condition, whether mending broken nets, setting broken bones or coming alongside "broken" people! Too often I have heard the phrase that they church is the only institution that shoots it's wounded. That’s a graphic way of saying that we do a poor job of helping people who have been “overcome by some sin” to get “back onto the right path.” Paul's instructions counter such a sad practice. Church discipline should always seek to be redemptive, never vindictive! The propose is restoration to service. The fallen can be used of God once restoration has taken place. As John Brown says "When a member of the human body is dislocated, amputation is not immediately resorted to.” Katartízō was used in secular Greek to describe a trainer who adjusts parts of the body, as a surgical term of the setting of a broken bone or putting a dislocated limb back in place or of the repairing and refitting of a damaged vessel (ship). Katartízō is used in other contexts of the strengthening or sustaining of a worn down people, of the mixing of medicine or of politicians appeasing factions and restoring unity (used by Herodotus for composing civil disorder)
Gálatas 6
Wuest - Moreover, let the one who is being taught the Word constantly be holding fellowship with the one who is teaching in all good things. (Eerdmans Publishing) NET Galatians 6:6 Now the one who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with the one who teaches it. GNT Galatians 6:6 Κοινωνείτω δὲ ὁ κατηχούμενος τὸν λόγον τῷ κατηχοῦντι ἐν πᾶσιν ἀγαθοῖς. NLT Galatians 6:6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. KJV Galatians 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. ESV Galatians 6:6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. ASV Galatians 6:6 But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. CSB Galatians 6:6 The one who is taught the message must share all his good things with the teacher. NIV Galatians 6:6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. NKJ Galatians 6:6 Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. NRS Galatians 6:6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher. YLT Galatians 6:6 And let him who is instructed in the word share with him who is instructing -- in all good things. NAB Galatians 6:6 One who is being instructed in the word should share all good things with his instructor. NJB Galatians 6:6 When someone is under instruction in doctrine, he should give his teacher a share in all his possessions. GWN Galatians 6:6 The person who is taught God's word should share all good things with his teacher. BBE Galatians 6:6 But let him who gets teaching in the word give a part in all good things to his teacher. De 12:19 Mt 10:10 Ro 15:27 1Co 9:9-14 1Ti 5:17,18 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries SHARING ALL GOOD THINGS The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him - Share (first word in Greek text for emphasis) is in the present imperative calling for this to be one's habitual practice, which necessitates continual dependence on the Holy Spirit. Many teach that Paul is saying here that those who are taught spiritual truth should share their material goods with the teacher. While this principle is certainly true, not everyone agrees with this interpretation as shown in comments at end of this verse note. All good things - While it is possible this includes money, it says all good things which would be much broader than money. I would suggest it includes good things like speaking a kind word to the teacher, sending him an email of encouragement (I receive those on preceptaustin.org and have been amazed how God stimulates someone to send a kind note of gratitude "out of the blue" many times when I am feeling a bit "blue!), telling them you are praying for them (is that in fact worth far more than money!), etc. Share (2841)(koinoneo from koinos = common, shared by all) means literally to share one's possessions with the implication of some kind of joint participation and mutual interest. It conveys the idea of sharing equally and the related noun (koinonia) means fellowship. This Greek word was used in a marriage contract where the husband and wife agree to a joint-participation in the necessaries of life. The key idea in the word is that of a partnership, a possessing things in common, a belonging in common to. Good (18)(agathos) means intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent (marked by or disposed to doing good). Agathos is one whose goodness and works of goodness are transferred to others. Agathos is used in the New Testament primarily of spiritual and moral excellence (e.g., "good things" in Ro 10:15) Taught (instructed) (2727)(katecheo from katá = down or intensive + echeo = sound, our English "echo") literally means to sound down on or into the ears. From this the derived meaning is “to inform” or “to instruct orally.” The idea is to re-sound, to re-echo, to teach by by insistent repetition into the ears as the Arabs do when learning the Koran (learning aloud). The present tense indicates they were continuously being (passive voice) instructed out. Continuously systematically instructed through catechetical instruction. This formal instruction is the basis of the critical discrimination or discernment. The Word (3056)(logos from légō = to speak with words; English = logic, logical) means something said and describes a communication whereby the mind finds expression in words. The definite article ("the") signifies a specific word and could refer to the Gospel or Scripture in general. John
Gálatas 6
Wuest says zoe speaks of "the life which God gives to the believing sinner, a vital, animating, spiritual, ethical dynamic which transforms his inner being and as a result, his behavior." J C Ryle soberly reminds us…Our state in the unseen world of eternity depends entirely on what we are in time. The life that we live upon earth is short at the very best, and soon gone. "We spend our days as a tale that is told." (Ps 90:9.) "What is our life? It is a vapor—so soon passes it away, and we are gone." (Jas 4:14) The life that is before us when we leave this world is an endless eternity, a sea without a bottom, and an ocean without a shore....In that world time shall be no more. But short as our life is here, and endless as it will be hereafter, it is a tremendous thought that eternity hinges upon time. Our lot after death depends, humanly speaking, on what we are while we are alive....How are you using your TIME? Life is short and very uncertain. You never know what a day may bring forth. Business and pleasure, money-getting and money-spending, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage—all, all will soon be over and done with forever. And you, what are you doing for your immortal soul? Are you wasting time, or turning it to good account? Are you preparing to meet God? (Except from Thoughts on Immortality) Adoniram Judson (bio) missionary to Burma alluded to the eternal impact of sowing and reaping when he wrote that… A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity… the same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, it will exhibit forever… each day will not only be a witness of our conduct, but will affect our everlasting destiny… How shall we then wish to see each day marked with usefulness… ! It is too late to mend the days that are past. The future is in our power. Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly marked. Galatians 6:8 Spiritual Sowing - Devotional by C H Spurgeon -- Sowing looks like a losing business, for we put good corn into the ground never to see it anymore. Sowing to the Spirit seems a very fanciful, dreamy business; for we deny ourselves and apparently get nothing for it. Yet if we sow to the Spirit by studying to live unto God, seeking to obey the will of God, and laying ourselves out to promote His honor, we shall not sow in vain. Life shall be our reward, even everlasting life. This we enjoy here as we enter into the knowledge of God, communion with God, and enjoyment of God. This life flows on like an ever-deepening, ever-widening river till it bears us to the ocean of infinite felicity, where the life of God is ours forever and ever. Let us not this day sow to our flesh, for the harvest will be corruption, since flesh always tends that way; but with holy self-conquest let us live for the highest, purest, and most spiritual ends, seeking to honor our most holy LORD by obeying His most gracious Spirit. What a harvest will that be when we reap life everlasting! What sheaves of endless bliss will be reaped! What a festival will that harvest be! LORD, make us such reapers, for thy Son's sake. Galatians 6:8 The Effects of Selfishness Isaac is suddenly awakened to his failure to heed God's plan. When Isaac learned that the last son to appear to him was actually Esau, he "trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed" (Gen. 27:33). The key to Isaac's faith is that after he realized what he had done, he emphasized that the blessing would remain Jacob's--"and he shall be blessed." Although we can never thwart God's plan, we can reap bitter results by sowing to the flesh. God's Word says that "he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption" (Gal. 6:8). Although Isaac did not upset the plan of God, he reaped serious results from what he had sown. Jacob had to flee from home as a result of his conniving. Rebekah never saw Jacob again because she died before he returned. Even though Isaac lived another 43 years after the incident of the blessing, nothing else is recorded about him except his death. After sending Jacob away, Isaac disappeared from the biblical scene. About 30 years later Jacob saw his father again, but his mother had already died. The entire family was affected because they had sown to the flesh. They had sought their selfish desires rather than seeking to please God. "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves" (2 Tim. 3:1,2). Now—Or Later- The principle that we reap what we sow is taught and illustrated throughout the Bible. The effects of our choices may be in the here and now, or they may be experienced in the hereafter, when we stand before God. From the perspective of eternity, it is far better to reap the consequences of sin now in this lifetime. That’s because there is still time for repentance and restoration. In Judges 1, we learn that the Canaanite king Adoni-Bezek was among the more fortunate in this respect. In keeping with the cruelty of his day, he had cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 captured kings. But then the tables were turned. The Israelites captured Adoni-Bezek and cut off his big toes and thumbs. The wicked scoundrel, though, had enough sense to admit that God was causing him to reap what he had sown (v.7). We are not told whether he truly repented, but we can consider him fortunate to have had the opportunity to do so. THINKING IT OVER What is society reaping today? What am I personally reaping? What do I need to stop sowing? Start sowing? Present choices determine future rewards. Which Way Am I Growing? - Some folks grow old gracefully, while others become grouchy and ill-tempered. It’s important to know which way we’re growing, because we’re all growing older. People don’t get irritable and short-tempered merely because they’re getting older. Aging doesn’t have to make us hypercritical and cranky. No, it’s more likely that we’ve become what we’ve been becoming all along. Paul wrote: “He who sows to his flesh will … reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will … reap everlasting life” (Gal. 6:8). Those who pander to self-interest and think only of themselves are sowing seeds that will produce a harvest of misery in themselves and in others. On the other hand, those who love God and care for others are sowing seeds that, in time, will yield a harvest of joy. C. S. Lewis put it this way: Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. We can choose to submit our wills to God each day, asking Him to give us strength to live for Him and for others. As He works in us, we will grow in grace and in kindness. Surer than autumn’s harvests Are harvests of thought and deed; Like those that our hands have planted, The yield will be like the seed. —Harris The seeds we sow today determine the kind of fruit we’ll reap tomorrow. We Reap What We Sow - Many of us are deeply troubled by the injustices we see in life. Unscrupulous, dishonest, God-denying people are often the ones who prosper the most. But you can be sure of this: “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). This principle is illustrated in The Gray and Adams Commentary. “The Emperor Charlemagne wanted to have a magnificent bell cast for the church he had built. An artist named Tancho was employed by the church to make it. He was furnished, at his own request, with a great quantity of copper, and a hundred pounds of silver for the purpose. He kept the silver for his own personal use, however, and substituted in its place a quantity of highly purified tin. When the work was completed, he presented the bell to the Emperor, who had it suspended in the church tower. The people, however, were unable to ring it. So Tancho himself was called in to help. But he pulled so hard that its tongue fell down and killed him.” We're always sowing seeds in life In everything we do and say, And we will surely reap the fruit Of what we're planting every day. —Hess The Pathetic Pelican - Pelicans, with their huge beaks, are strange-looking birds. But I saw one that was especially weird. Its beak was crisscrossed, as if someone had pulled the upper and lower parts in opposite directions. He was a pathetic sight! Remembering that pelicans zoom headfirst from a considerable height into schools of fish to obtain their meals, I wondered if this particular bird had seen such a tempting catch that he dove into water that was too shallow for him and hit bottom. I don’t know if this is what happened, but it made me think about the consequences and sometimes permanent effects of bad choices. The bounty of God’s matchless grace Is greater than our vilest deeds, Yet from the evil that we sow There may remain a crop of weeds. —DJD One reason for doing the right thing today is tomorrow. Surer than autumn's harvests Are harvests of thought and deed; Like those that our hearts have planted, The yield will be like the seed. —Harris The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow. Poor Trade-Offs— Life is full of trade-offs. Today’s poor choices are a down payment on tomorrow’s problems. It’s all a part of living with the law of God that says we reap what we sow (Gal 6:7). That was true of a 30-year-old Mississippi resident. A conviction for felony drunk driving resulted in his getting a 15-year prison sentence. The judge then suspended 14 years of the sentence if the man would honor the terms of a 1-year house arrest. The trade-off was simple: Stay home and out of trouble for 1 year instead of going to prison for 15. But the man didn’t like being cooped up, so he went fishing—driving with a suspended license to get there. He was arrested and the judge threw him in prison. The fishing trip cost him many years of freedom. What bad trade-offs do we make? Do we reject God’s mercy so we can enjoy sin’s season of pleasure? In the Bible, we see some examples. Moses traded the Promised Land for an outburst of anger (Num. 20:7-13). David traded his reputation for a night of passion (2Sa 11:1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6ff). Ananias and Sapphira traded life for some extra money (Acts 5:1-11). It's wise to flee when tempted— A fool is one who'd stay; For those who toy with evil Soon learn it doesn't pay. —DJD In the heat of temptation, don't lose your cool Galatians 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Wuest Let us not slacken our exertions by reason of the weariness that comes with prolonged effort in habitually doing that which is good. For in a season which in its character is appropriate, we shall reap if we do not become enfeebled through exhaustion and faint. (Eerdmans Publishing) Phillips -Let us not grow tired of doing good, for, unless we throw in our hand, the ultimate harvest is assured. Amplified - And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint. NET Galatians 6:9 So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. GNT Galatians 6:9 τὸ δὲ καλὸν ποιοῦντες μὴ ἐγκακῶμεν, καιρῷ γὰρ ἰδίῳ θερίσομεν μὴ ἐκλυόμενοι. NLT Galatians 6:9 So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. KJV Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. ESV Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. ASV Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. CSB Galatians 6:9 So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up. NIV Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. NKJ Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. NRS Galatians 6:9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. YLT Galatians 6:9 and in the doing good we may not be faint-hearted, for at the proper time we shall reap -- not desponding; NAB Galatians 6:9 Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. NJB Galatians 6:9 And let us never slacken in doing good; for if we do not give up, we shall have our harvest in due time. GWN Galatians 6:9 We can't allow ourselves to get tired of living the right way. Certainly, each of us will receive everlasting life at the proper time, if we don't give up. BBE Galatians 6:9 And let us not get tired of well-doing; for at the right time we will get in the grain, if we do not give way to weariness. Let us not lose heart: Mal 1:13 1Co 15:58 2Th 3:13 Heb 12:3 in doing good: Ro 2:7 1Pe 2:15 3:17 4:19 for in due time we will reap: Lev 26:4 De 11:14 Ps 104:27 145:15 Jas 5:7 if we do not grow weary: Isa 40:30,31 Zep 3:16 *marg: Mt 24:13 Lu 18:1 2Co 4:1,16 Eph 3:13 Heb 3:6,14 10:35-39 Heb 12:3,5 Rev 2:3,7,10,11,17,26-29 3:5,6,12,13 3:21,22 Galatians 6:9 Weariness in Well Doing - Great Texts of the Bible Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Click here for much more in depth discussion of Galatians 6:9 - there is some repetition of that material on this page PERSEVERE IN DOING GOOD Let us not lose heart in doing good - How can one persevere in doing good? There is only one way and that is by continually relying on the Spirit, not on self. Allow the Spirit to produce good in and through your life. Lose heart (1573) (ekkakeo [equivalent to egkakeo, enkakeo] from ek = out of or intensifies meaning + kakós = bad) means to strictly speaking means to act or behave badly in some circumstance. Ekkakeo was used of the farmer who was tempted to slacken his exertions because he had become so weary as a result of his prolonged effort. Ekkakeo means to lose one’s motivation in continuing a particular activity. Ekkakeo means to be fainthearted or to faint or despond in view of trial or difficulty and it is always used with the negative particle. It means to lose one's motivation to accomplish some valid goal and so to become discouraged and give up. Ekkakeo conveys the idea of becoming exhausted and giving up and thus is the opposite of being “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1Co 15:58+). Good deeds are God deeds, deeds prepared by, initiated by and empowered by the Spirit of Christ, Who lives in us. As such these "supernaturally" energized deeds are designed to glorify our Father (Mt 5:16+). Good (2570) (kalos) describes that which is inherently excellent or intrinsically good, providing some special or superior benefit with a basic meaning healthy, sound or fit. Kalos is intrinsically good with emphasis on that which is beautiful (Lk 21:5+), handsome, excellent, surpassing, precious, commendable, admirable. In classic Greek kalos was originally used to describe that which outwardly beautiful. We're always sowing seeds in life By everything we do and say, So let's make sure the fruit we reap Comes from the good we do each day. —Hess For in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary - Due time - The appointed season. The proper season. The due season. Proper time. Fruit is reaped in a season that follows the sowing, but it is ultimately the time of God's appointment which "is neither to be hastened nor delayed by the act of any of His creatures." (Vine) This encouraging word about a "payday someday" brings to mind John Wesley's exhortation to "Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." Time (season, opportunity,) (2540)(kairos) means a point of time or period of time, time, period, frequently with the implication of being especially fit for something and without emphasis on precise chronology. It means a moment or period as especially appropriate the right, proper, favorable time (at the right time). A season. A point of time. A moment. An opportunity. Something that lasts for a season and so is transient, temporary or enduring only for a specific period of time. Related Resources: Redeem the Time Redeem the Time (blog) Ephesians 5:16 Commentary Grow weary (1590)(ekluo from ek = out or intensifier + luo = to loose) means literally to loosen out and to to untie, to dissolve, to release, to set free. To be unstrung as a bow string that has become unstrung and so weakened (and unusable for its intended purpose!) To be loosened or relaxed, like the limbs of the weary. Ekluo was used to describe reapers who had been overcome by heat and toil.
Gálatas 6
Wuest - Kosmos refers to an ordered system. Here it is the ordered system of which Satan is the head, his fallen angels and demons are his emissaries, and the unsaved of the human race are his subjects, together with those purposes, pursuits, pleasures, practices, and places where God is not wanted. Much in this world-system is religious, cultured, refined, and intellectual. But it is anti-God and anti-Christ...The Germans have a word for kosmos (world of men who are living alienated and apart from God) the zeitgeist or spirit of the age. This masquerade costume which saints sometimes put on, hides the Lord Jesus living in the heart of the Christian, and is an opaque covering through which the Holy Spirit cannot radiate the beauty of the Lord Jesus. The world says to that kind of a saint, “The modernism of your appearance nullifies the fundamentalism of your doctrine.” (Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse) THE CROSS AND OVERCOMING (from Standard Bearer, March, 1976) The world that crucified my Lord makes overtures to me And offers pleasures and rewards if I will faithless be. But when in Jesus’ death I died The world to me was crucified. The world that crowned my Lord with thorns would crown me with success If I would walk with one who scorns the crown of righteousness. But I will never cast away the crown I hope for “in that day.” The world that set my Lord at naught would bid me make a name By selling what His life-blood bought for wealth and ease and fame. But I of these desire no part; My name is written on His heart. The world that pierced His hands and feet and smote my Saviour’s side, Would tempt me with some vain conceit to pander to my pride. But all earth’s vanities are dross To those who glory in the Cross. Has been crucified (4717) (stauroo from stauros = cross, in turn from histemi = to stand) means literally to nail or fasten to a cross and so to crucify -- literal death by nailing to and hanging from a cross (a stake). I to the world - Dead to me and I to it! Paul in a sense saw the world as if it were nailed to a cross and consequently he considered the world as good as dead and he as good as dead to the world. You can take all the world but let me have the Cross of Christ...Just give me Jesus... In the morning when I rise, Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. Give me Jesus. (Play this song - one of my all time favorites) Galatians 6:15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Amplified - For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in Christ Jesus, the Messiah].
Gálatas 6:7
Wuest: Stop leading yourselves astray. God is not being outwitted and evaded. For whatever a man is in the habit of sowing, this also will he reap; (Eerdmans Publishing) Young's Literal: Be not led astray; God is not mocked; for what a man may sow -- that also he shall reap DO NOT BE DECEIVED, GOD IS NOT MOCKED; FOR WHATEVER A MAN SOWS, THIS HE WILL ALSO REAP: Me planasthe, (2PPPM) theos ou mukterizetai; (3SPPI) o gar ean speire (3SPAI) anthropos, touto kai therisei; (3SFAI): not: Ga 6:3 Job 15:31 Jer 37:9 Ob 1:3 Lk 21:8 1Co 3:18 6:9 15:33 Eph 5:6 2Th 2:3 Jas 1:22,26 1Jn 1:8 3:7 God : Job 13:8,9 Jude 1:18 for: Job 4:8 Pr 1:31 6:14,19 11:18 Ho 8:7 10:12 Lk 16:25 Ro 2:6, 7, 8, 9, 10 2Co 9:6 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Payday Someday! Robert Louis Stevenson said it this way… “Sooner or later in life, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.” Lloyd Ogilvie writes that… The Interpreter’s Bible refers to this section as Paul’s call for Christians to engage in “the agriculture of the Spirit.” That is a colorful and suggestive thought which aptly describes what Paul is talking about. The law of the harvest is relevant to our spiritual development and describes our destiny. A well-known Baptist preacher, R. G. Lee, had a famous sermon he preached hundreds of times, all over America, “Payday Someday.” (Read sermon) The title alone is gripping and captures the truth. (The Preacher's Commentary) THE CONTEXT After speaking of walking by the Spirit (Ga 5:16-note, Ga 5:17-note, Ga 5:18-note) and describing what that looks like (Ga 5:19-note, Ga 5:20-note, Ga 5:21-note, Ga 5:22-note, Ga 5:23-note) Paul then turns to the ministry of restoration (Gal 6:1ff)… Gal 6:1+ ("+" sign = commentary notes) Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2+ Bear (present imperative = command to make this your continual practice) one another's burdens (Study the "one anothers" - most positive, some negative), and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3+ For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4+ But each one must examine (dokimazo in the present imperative = command calling for continual "testing" to prove the worth of our works in this area) his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting (kauchema - Ga 5:26 Paul warned against becoming boastful) in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 5+ For each one will bear his own load. 6+ The one who is taught the word (logos - Scripture in general, Gospel in particular) is to share (present imperative) all good things with the one who teaches him. Comment: Share (koinoneo [word study]) is placed first in the Greek text for emphasis and in the present imperative is not a suggestion but a command to make this our continual practice. As John
Gálatas 6:7
Wuest notes that mukterizo "when used rhetorically, referred to the betrayal of covert ill-will and contempt by cynical gestures in spite of fair words. It implies an outward avowal of respect neutralized by an indirect expression of contempt. The thought which Paul wishes to press home to the Galatians is that it is vain to think that one can outwit God by reaping a harvest different from that which a person has sown. The figure of sowing and reaping used for conduct and its results is a frequent one. In the Greek classics we have, “For he that is furnished the seed, is responsible for what grows.” (Wuest Word Studies - Eerdman Publishing Company Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3 - used by permission) Eadie comments that mukterizo in the context of Gal 6:7 signifies that "God is not mocked, either in reality or with impunity (Ellicott); there is no such thing as mocking God. Wieseler takes the verb in the middle, “God will not suffer Himself to be mocked”—non sinit sibi irrideri. The expression is a strong one, taken from that organ of the face by which we express careless contempt. Men may be imposed on by a show of virtue on the part of one who all the while scorns their weakness, but God cannot be so mocked. (Commentary on the Greek text of the epistle of Galatians - Online) TDNTA records that mukterizo (myterizo) literally means “to suffer from nose-bleeding,” takes on the sense “to turn up one’s nose.” It is thus a common term for scorn in the Septuagint (LXX), e.g., scorn of enemies in 2Ki 19:21, of the slothful in Pr 12:8, of pagan gods in 1Ki 18:27. It is a sin when directed against God’s messengers (2Chr. 36:16) or chastisements (Pr 1:30) or against parents (Pr 15:5). The only NT instance is in Gal 6:7, where it is a term for the mocking of God by a life that will not accept the lordship of the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:25). The reference is not to verbal scoffing but to despising God by a whole way of life. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans or Wordsearch) Gal 6:7 is the only NT use of mukterizo but there are 14 occurrences in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX) -- 1Kgs 18:27; 2Kgs 19:21; 2Chr 36:16; Ps 79:7; Pr 1:30 (spurned); Pr 11:12; 12:8; 15:5, 20; 23:9 (despise); Job 22:19; Is 37:22; Je 20:7; Ezek 8:17. Proverbs 1:30 "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned (Hebrew = naats = treat with contempt, revile, scorn, reject; Lxx = mukterizo) all my reproof. 1Kings 18:27 It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened." 2Kings 19:21 (Isaiah speaking to King Hezekiah after the latter had prayed to God) "This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him (Sennacherib who had threatened Hezekiah, eg 2Ki 18:34): 'She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem! (parallel passage = Isa 37:22) 2Chronicles 36:16 but they (Judah and Jerusalem) continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy (Judah's intractable rebellion and rejection of Jehovah reaped Babylonian captivity). Jeremiah 20:7 (Jeremiah speaking, downcast because no one listens to his prophetic warnings) O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me. Charles Eade (1814–1884) is apparently responsible for the first version of the famous quote… Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny. Here is the "amplified" version by Samuel Smiles… Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny. IT ALL BEGINS WITH A THOUGHT! I think Samuel Smiles' addition ("Sow a thought, and you reap an act") is vitally important to consider, for indeed the law of sowing and reaping (whether the harvest is good or bad) is set in motion by our thought life! Little wonder that in Philippians 4:8-note Paul commands (present imperative) the believers at Philippi to continually pursue "righteous reckoning" ("dwell on" = logizomai [word study])! How is your thought life? What do you think about? Are you in the Word of truth daily so that God's truth might be in you, renewing your mind (2Co 4:16, Ep 4:23-note, Col 3:10-note), setting you free (Jn 8:31, 32, 36), washing you clean from the polluting thoughts and images of our morally decaying society, transforming your mind into conformity with the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16, Ro 12:2-note)? If not, do not be surprised when thoughts come into your mind (cp Ep 6:16-note) that reap an evil act and may even "bloom" into an evil habit! Set a guard continually at the doorway of your heart (Pr 4:23-note). May our daily "obsession" be for the Savior's disposition, His thoughts and His outlook, as we cry out, even in desperation,… Lord of every thought and action, Lord to send and Lord to stay; Lord in speaking, writing, giving, Lord in all things to obey; Lord of all there is of me, Now and evermore to be. Amen --E. H Swinstead Or consider prayerfully singing Kate Wilkinson's beautifully poignant old hymn May the Mind of Christ, My Savior (play)… May the mind of Christ, my Savior, Live in me from day to day, By His love and power controlling All I do and say. May the Word of God dwell richly (Col3:16-n) In my heart from hour to hour, So that all may see I triumph Only through His power. May the peace of God my Father Rule my life in everything, (Col3:15-n) That I may be calm to comfort Sick and sorrowing. May the love of Jesus fill me (Ep5:18-n) As the waters fill the sea; Him exalting, self abasing, (Jn3:30-n) This is victory. May I run the race before me, (2Ti4:7-n) Strong and brave to face the foe, Looking only unto Jesus (He12:2-n) As I onward go. May His beauty rest upon me, As I seek the lost to win, And may they forget the channel, Seeing only Him. For (gar = Term of explanation) is "confirmative" (Eadie) Whatever (whatsoever - KJV) - This is one of God's "promises" that we may or may not like, depending on how we are walking with the Lord. God's law of reaping and sowing is universal and applies to all men, at all times and in all places without impartiality and without exception. Believers are just as subject to this law as unbelievers. There are no exclusions. If you sow little lies, you will reap big lies and all the trouble that accompanies those lies! When you sow evil, you reap evil. Don't fall for the lie that "it's just a little sin" or "it's only a small compromise of my integrity"! What you do today will inevitably impact what you are tomorrow! Do not be deceived, for God is not mocked. Tony Evans observes that… It’s amazing how many people want to plant unrighteousness, but expect God’s blessing. They want to plant bad, but they want to harvest good. They want to sow seeds of wrong, but gather a harvest of right. But that’s not how God’s system works. There’s something you need to know about sowing. Once you sow whatever you sow, it will grow naturally. The consequences of your sowing are set. You don’t have to do anything extraordinary for growth to occur. What you have sown will push up through the ground someday. It’s built into the process. I hope you see the seriousness of this in relation to something as vital as our love for Christ. (Returning to your first love: Putting God back in first place. Chicago: Moody Press_ J R Miller (The Seeds We Are Scattering) has a sobering thought worth seriously pondering… We are not done with life—when we die! We shall meet our acts and words and influences again. "Do not be deceived! God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows—he will also reap!" Galatians 6:7. He shall reap the same that he sows—and he himself shall be the reaper! We go on carelessly, never dreaming that we shall see our seeds again, or have anything more to do with them. Then some day we come upon an ugly plant growing somewhere; and when we ask, "What is this vile plant?" The answer comes, "I am one of your plants. You dropped the seed which grew into me!" We must beware what we do. We shall have to eat the fruit—that grows from our sowing and planting! There are many phases of this truth. Jesus said, "With what measure you mete—it shall be measured to you again." A man who is cruel—reaps cruelty. A man who is merciful—finds mercy. David unsheathed the sword in wrong against a subject—and the sword departed not from his house forever. He dishonored the happy home of another—and his own home was dishonored. Paul was a persecutor—and persecution followed him until it smote him to death. The seed that we sow in others, sooner or later comes back again to our own bosom. What we sow—that we reap! We cannot sin against others, hurting them only—and receiving no hurt to ourselves. We are not merely sowers of seed in other lives; but while we are scattering the seed in the field of our neighbor, we are sowing also in our own field. There are two harvests. He who corrupts another life—makes his own life more corrupt than before. The tempter may cause the fall and ruin of another soul—but the evil in himself has become more evil in his doing so. Every good thing we do, strengthens the good that is in us; and every wrong thing makes the wrong in us more dominant. John Angell James writing on Galatians 6:7 comments… How clear and how impressive are such statements, that our life is a seed-time for eternity; that all our conduct is the seed sown, and that the harvest will be according to the seed we sow—in kind, quality, and quantity. (John Angell James - excerpt from his interesting sermon - Different Degrees of Glory) Man (anthropos) is used in a generic sense to refer to both men and women. SUPERNATURAL CAUSE and EFFECT Actions have consequences. To illustrate God's inviolable moral and ethical laws Paul draws from the well-known law of horticulture that the planting of a specific seed will reproduce its own kind and only its own kind. If we plant wheat, we will harvest wheat, not potatoes! It follows that one determines the nature of his or her spiritual harvest by the quality (and quantity) of the seed sown. Our present life is the "seed time" presaging our eternal harvest, the quality of which depends on present sowing. Evil actions often contain the "seeds" of own punishment and destruction within them, even as a seed contains the elements that subsequently bring forth the fruit. In light of the truth of the consequences related to our sowing, Pastor Tony Evans gives us some excellent advice… WHEN it comes to living your life, think agriculturally, not industrially. When it comes to living your life, think like a farmer, not like a technocrat. When it comes to your life, think gardens, not microwaves. (Evans, T. Tony Evans' book of illustrations: Stories, quotes, and anecdotes from more than 30 years of preaching and public speaking. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers) Rob Salvato says the law of reaping and sowing is immutable irregardless of whether we believe it or not. He goes on to say that "Its like the guy who denied the law of gravity - just didn't believe it applied to him and so he decided to prove it. He climbed to the top of a twenty-story building and dove off. His last words were heard as he sailed past a guy on the third floor, "Hey, nothing's happened yet!" Paul says God is not mocked!" (Sermon) Max Anders (Holman New Testament Commentary) reminds us that… Each of us by our thoughts, attitudes, and actions is constantly planting for a future reaping. Time may pass before the crop ripens, but the harvest is inevitable. Consider the harvest! Sows (4687) (speiro from spao = draw out, pull) literally means to scatter (seed) and the opposite of reaping or gathering. In classical Greek usage speirō can mean “to sow” or “plant” seed, “to sow” ideas, “to scatter” or “disperse” things or people, and even “to beget” Speiro is used figuratively to describe the sowing of the "seed" of the Word of God, the Gospel (="the word of the kingdom" - Mt13:19, cp Mk 4:14 15, 16, 18), "the ideas and precepts that have been implanted like seed in their hearts, ie, received in their hearts (Mk 4:18)." (Thayer). Jesus used speiro repeatedly in His parables (Mt 13:3, 18, 24, 31) Friberg summarizes the meanings of speiro - (1) literally, of seed sow, scatter (Mt 6.26)....(2) metaphorically; (a) as telling the Word of God, spread the gospel as divine seed (Mk 4.14); (b) of the natural human body as destined for resurrection (1 Cor 15.42-44); (c) as acting in ways that will bring multiplied consequences of good or evil (Gal 6.8) (Analytical Lexicon) Complete Biblical Library - In the New Testament speirō appears some 50 times, in two main categories of meaning. Half of these occur in the two parables about sowing in Matthew 13 (and parallels in Mark 4 and Luke 8). In the parables the seed of plants was sown, representing—in the interpretation—the Word as “seed.” In Matthew 6:26; 25:24,26; Luke 19:21,22; and 1 Corinthians 15:36,37 speirō also refers to the sowing of the seed of plants. The other uses of speirō are more or less metaphoric. All of them, directly or implicitly, involve correspondence between sowing and reaping. In John 4:36,37 an aphorism about sowing and reaping was applied by Jesus to the sowing and reaping of a spiritual harvest. In 1 Corinthians 9:11 Paul presented his preaching/ teaching of the Word of God as a sowing of spiritual things. In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 he presented resurrection truth in these terms. The burial of the body is, by analogy, like the planting of seed; it must decay before it brings forth new, incorruptible life. In 2 Corinthians 9:6,10 Paul used the law of sowing and reaping as a thinly veiled analogy for liberal giving. In Galatians 6:7,8 he used that same law as an analogy for “sowing” to the Spirit (rather than the flesh) and reaping eternal reward. Sowing to/for the flesh is “practicing such things as are included among the works of the flesh,” while sowing to/ for the Spirit is “to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit” as in Galatians 5:19-23 (Bruce, New International Greek Testament Commentary, Galatians, p.265). Finally, in James 3:18 those who make peace are represented as sowing that which will yield the fruit of righteousness as reward. Speiro - 52x in 41v- Mt 6:26; 13:3f, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 31, 37, 39; 25:24, 26; Mk 4:3, 4, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 31, 32; Lk 8:5; 12:24; 19:21, 22; Jn 4:36, 37; 1Co 9:11; 15:36, 37, 42, 43, 44; 2Co 9:6, 10; Gal 6:7, 8; Jas 3:18. Speirō appears more than 50 times in the Septuagint - Gen. 1:11; Gen. 1:12; Gen. 1:29; Gen. 26:12; Gen. 47:19; Gen. 47:23; Exod. 23:10; Exod. 23:16; Exod. 32:20; Lev. 11:37; Lev. 25:3; Lev. 25:4; Lev. 25:11; Lev. 25:20; Lev. 25:22; Lev. 26:16; Num. 16:37; Num. 20:5; Deut. 11:10; Deut. 21:4; Deut. 22:9; Deut. 29:23; Jdg. 6:3; Jdg. 9:45; Job 4:8; Job 31:8; Ps. 107:37; Ps. 126:5; Prov. 11:21; Prov. 11:24; Prov. 22:8; Eccl. 11:4; Eccl. 11:6; Isa. 5:10; Isa. 17:11; Isa. 19:7; Isa. 28:25; Isa. 32:20; Isa. 37:30; Isa. 40:24; Isa. 55:10; Jer. 4:3; Jer. 12:13; Jer. 30:17; Jer. 31:27; Jer. 35:7; Ezek. 36:9; Hos. 2:23; Hos. 8:7; Hos. 10:12; Mic. 6:15; Nah. 1:14; Hag. 1:6; Zech. 10:9 Most uses are for sowing the seed of plants,(Genesis 47:23; Exodus 23:10; etc). It is also used metaphorically, as to “sow” righteousness in Pr 11:21 In Prs 11:24 where generous persons are (literally) “they who sow (or disperse) their own things”. In Hosea 2:23 Israel was “sown” in Canaan; in Zech 10:9 Israel was “sown/scattered” among the nations. Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Matthew 13:3 And He spoke many things to them in parables (a long analogy, often cast in the form of a story, common form of teaching in Judaism = 45x in the Septuagint -LXX), saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Matthew 13:18 "Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 "When anyone hears the word (logos) of the kingdom (~the Gospel) and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away (harpazo = the very verb used for the "rapture" in 1Th 4:17-see note) what has been sown in his heart (kardia). This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy (Mt 13:21 where "falls away" = skandalizo ~ "scandalized" - see skandalon)… Mt 13:22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry (merimna) of the world and the deceitfulness (apate) of wealth choke (strangle or suffocate completely - present tense = continually) the word, and it becomes unfruitful (akarpos). 23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit (karpophoreo) and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Matthew 13:24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field… (Mt 13:25, 26) Mt 13:27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'… (Mt 13:28, 29, 30) Matthew 13:31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. (Mt 13:32) Matthew 13:37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man… (Mt 13:38) Mt 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. Matthew 25:24 "And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 26 But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Mark 4:3 "Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up… Mk 4:14 "The sower sows the word. 15 "These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.16 In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy… (Mk 4:17) Mk 4:18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word… (Mk 4:19) Mk 4:20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." Mark 4:31 "It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE." Luke 8:5 "The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. Luke 12:24 "Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! Luke 19:21 for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' 22 "He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? John 4:36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.37 "For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.' 1 Corinthians 9:11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 1 Corinthians 15:36 You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; 37 and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else… (1Co 15:38, 39, 40, 41) 1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 2 Corinthians 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully… (2Co 9:7, 8, 9) 2Co 9:10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; John Angell James: A sparing liberality shall be attended with a sparing reward, and a bounteous liberality shall be attended with a bounteous reward. Look! as the harvest answers the measure of seed that is sown—just so, that he who sows but little reaps but little, and he who sows much reaps much—just so, saints' reaping at last will be answerable to their sowing here. All men's charities shall at last be rewarded proportionable to the several degrees of it. He who gives a pound shall have a greater reward than he who gives a penny (Ed: I would add the caveat that a better measure is the proportion of one's total wealth that is given - e.g. see the "widow's mite" Lk 21:1, 2, 3, 4). He who sows thousands shall reap more than he who sows hundreds. He shall have the most plentiful crop in heaven, who has sowed most seed here on earth, etc. They shall have interest upon interest in heaven, who sow much on this side heaven. (The Crown and Glory of Christianity) Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. James 3:18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Sowing, usually accomplished by broadcasting seed, could precede or follow plowing. Fields or individual plants were fertilized with dung (Je 9:22; Lk 13:8), and the rain and sun brought different crops to maturity at different times. Following the winter rains and the ‘latter’ rains of March-April, barley was ready to be harvested in April and May, and wheat matured three or four weeks later. Grain was pulled up by the roots or cut with flint-bladed or iron sickles (Dt 16:9). Every farmer exercises simple faith in the law of the harvest for without faith he would not even sow seed. The farmer knows if he sows in the spring, he will harvest in the summer. He also knows that if he sows sparingly, he will reap sparingly. On the other hand, if he sows abundantly, he knows he will reap abundantly. This (touto) he will also reap -
Gálatas 6:8
Wuest: because the one who sows with a view to his own evil nature, from his evil nature as a source shall reap corruption. But the one who sows with a view to the Spirit, from the Spirit as a source shall reap life eternal. Young's Literal: because he who is sowing to his own flesh, of the flesh shall reap corruption; and he who is sowing to the Spirit, of the Spirit shall reap life age-during; FOR THE ONE WHO SOWS TO HIS OWN FLESH WILL FROM THE FLESH REAP CORRUPTION: hoti o speiron (PAPMSN) eis ten sarka heautou ek tes sarkos therisei (3SFAI) phthoran: Sows to his: Ro 6:13 8:13 13:14 Jas 3:18 Reap: Pr 22:8 Jer 12:13 Ho 10:13 2Pe 2:12,19 Rev 22:11 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries EVERY THOUGHT, WORD, DEED SOWS EITHER TO THE FLESH or THE SPIRIT! For (hoti) ("confirmatory" = Eadie) - Paul now explains why God absolutely cannot be mocked (despite men thinking they can in fact mock Him!) by elaborating on the two different endpoints (corruption… eternal life) based on the character of the "seed" one chooses to sow. In other words, he is in a sense illustrating the principle that a man shall reap what he sows by contrasting sowing to the flesh versus sowing to the Spirit. Billy Graham… Life is a glorious opportunity, if it is used to condition us for eternity. If we fail in this, though we succeed in everything else, our life will have been a failure. However, the interpretation of Galatians 6:8 is not as clear as you might surmise or you may have been taught. The most "popular" interpretation seems to be #1 but there are some excellent expositors of Scripture who hold interpretation #2. (1) Some commentators feel that the descriptions of sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit describe genuine believers. Clearly, genuine believers can still "sow to the flesh" because they still possess the fallen flesh (see more detailed discussion below). The result of sowing "evil seed" is corruption which is interpreted by these commentators as a loss of rewards and/or a curtailment of growth in holiness (sanctification). (2) Other commentators (e.g., Charles Haddon Spurgeon, John Piper, Kenneth Wuest, John Eadie, Charles Simeon, et al - see below) interpret the sowing to flesh that reaps corruption as a reference to an unregenerate person whose end is corruption. C H Spurgeon for example writes… All who commit any of the sins in this long black catalogue are sowing to the flesh, and not to the Spirit, and when a man sows to the flesh what will the harvest be? “He shall of the flesh reap corruption,” — putridity, rottenness, death! The sin that the sinner thought was sweet as honey turns bitter as gall to him. There are many men and women, in this world, who have lived in sin till it has become its own punishment; and if it is not so in this world, it will be so in the world to come. What a dreadful thing sin is when it comes to the full! If there were no fire that shall never be quenched, and no worm that shall never die, you need not want any worse hell than that of wicked men by themselves, with nobody to control them, no public opinion to hold then in check; you need not even turn the devil in with them, just leave them to themselves, with no restraint upon their wickedness, and I can hardly imagine that hell itself can be worse than those sinners would soon become. Ah, my friend, if you go on living in sin (Ed: See following notes regarding the verb tense for "sows" in Gal 6:8), you will wake up, one day, surrounded by the fruition of your own guilt in all its awful enormity. On every hand, the harvest of your sowing to the flesh will stare you in the face, and God will place in your hand a sharp sickle, and will say to you, “Reap here! Reap there!” You will say, “I cannot do it;” but you sowed it, so you must reap it. What terrible misery there will be for you there; yet it will only be your own sin in its ripeness, your own transgression fully developed; and that awful harvesting will be infinitely more than you will be able to bear. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” The man who gripped the widow’s throat, the other day, and took away her few sticks of furniture, will look upon her tearful face to all eternity! The man who led a fellow-creature to sin will see her pale sorrow-stricken face before him for ever and over; he may try to escape from it; but he will not be able to do so. Does that description fit anyone here, and does he complain that I am very personal in my remarks? That is what I am and what I mean to be, in the hope that he may repent of his great transgressions, and looking to Jesus upon the cross, may receive forgiveness of his sins ere it is too late. John Brown notes that… Passage… is considered by many interpreters as having a particular reference to the disposal of pecuniary substance. They understand that the apostle is saying, he who expends his money in gratifying the flesh shall have a poor return--he shall purchase to himself nothing but ruin; but he who lays it out in accordance with the views and desires of a spiritual mind, that man shall be richly compensated in the treasures of eternity. This is no doubt a truth, but we do not apprehend that the words of the apostle so much embody that truth as the more general one (Ed: as emphasized in these notes) (An exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians) To help us accurately interpret Galatians 6:8, let us keep in mind several specific observations that are undeniable… (1) The verb sows in both uses in Gal 6:8 (to the flesh… to the Spirit) is in the present tense. The present tense generally describes continuous activity, habitual behavior and thus often reflects one's general lifestyle or the general direction of their life (their thoughts, their acts). The present tense speaks of direction not perfection. (2) Paul says nothing specific about rewards or loss of rewards for the Christian in Galatians 6:8. One might argue that a reference to rewards at the judgment Seat is implicit, but it is not specifically stated and thus it is a suppositional statement which is always tenuous when seeking the most accurate interpretation. (3) The reaping of corruption stands in direct opposition to the reaping of eternal life. (4) In the NAS, the phrase "eternal life" is found 41x in 41v - Mt 19:16, 29; 25:46; Mk 10:17, 30; Lk 10:25; 18:18, 30; Jn 3:15, 3:16, 36; 4:14; 5:24, 39; 6:27, 40, 47, 54, 68; 10:28; 12:50; 17:2, 3; Acts 13:46, 48; Ro 2:7; 5:21; 6:22, 23; Gal 6:8; 1Ti1:16; 6:12; Titus 1:2; 3:7; 1Jn 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11, 13, 20; Jude 1:21. The majority, if not all, of these uses refer to salvation. Paul uses the phrase "eternal life" eight other times in his letters and in each use the context indicates he is referring to salvation. This identical phrase is found once in the OT, in the Septuagint translation of Daniel 12:2 where it also speaks of salvation. (5) Flesh and Spirit are in opposition here as they are in Galatians 5 (Gal 5:16-note, Gal 5:17-note) where the "fruit" (literally "deeds") of the flesh is directly contrasted with the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:19-23). (6) In Gal 5:21-note Paul warns that the person who continually practices ("practice" = present tense) the deeds of the flesh (compare "sows to the flesh") will not inherit the kingdom of God (synonym for salvation, "eternal life"). Even if one favors the interpretation that sowing to the flesh as a general lifestyle depicts a non-believer whose life ends in corruption, this law of sowing and reaping clearly has a specific application for believers, because as Warren
Gálatas 6:8
Wuest adds that "The word to in the expressions, “to the flesh” and “to the Spirit,” is from (the Greek preposition) eis, which latter is not used here in its local use, for instance where seed is dropped into the ground, but in the sense of “with a view to.” Sowing with a view to the evil nature refers to the act of a person choosing those courses of conduct that will gratify the cravings of the totally depraved nature. In this context, these words refer to the Galatians who in following the teachings of the Judaizers, catered to the desires of the evil nature. All false systems of religion are so adjusted that they appeal to the fallen nature of man ("the flesh"), satisfying his religious instinct for worship, while at the same time allowing him to go on in his sin. The teachings of the Judaizers catered to the fallen natures of the Galatians in that they made no demand for the necessity of regeneration nor for faith in an atoning sacrifice that paid for sin. In addition to that, their teachings stressed a salvation-by-works religion, which glorifies man, not God, and which allows him to go on in his sin while seeking to buy the favor of God by his so-called good works. This could only lead, Paul says, to corruption in their lives. Vine notes that "own" "is inserted apparently in order to suggest that the selfishness of such sowing is its plain condemnation, for whatever has oneself for its object is, on that account alone, alien to Christ who “pleased not Himself,” Ro 15:3. Sows (4687) (speiro from spao = draw out, pull) literally means to scatter (seed) and the opposite of reaping or gathering. Speiro is used figuratively to describe the sowing of the "seed" of the Word of God, the Gospel (="the word of the kingdom" - Mt13:19, cp Mk 4:14 15, 16, 18), "the ideas and precepts that have been implanted like seed in their hearts, ie, received in their hearts (Mk 4:18)." (Thayer). Jesus used speiro repeatedly in His parables (Mt 13:3, 18, 24, 31) As noted earlier, Paul uses the present tense for speiro, which could be paraphrased "the one who continuously, as the habitual practice of their life sows to the flesh." Flesh (4561) (sarx [word study]) is used 147 times in the NT. A simple definition of sarx is difficult because sarx has many nuances (some Greek lexicons list up to 11 definitions!). The diligent disciple must carefully observe the context of each use of sarx in order to accurately discern which nuance is intended. The range of meaning extends from the physical flesh (both human and animal), to the human body, to the entire person, and even to all humankind! In the present context, Paul uses flesh in its moral/ethical or spiritual sense which is typified by an outlook orientated toward self, a propensity/predilection to commit sin, an active adversity/opposition to God and a relentless pursuit of one's own ends in self-sufficient, independence from God. In this ethical sense sarx is portrayed as a dominating power that sets a person’s course in opposition to God (Ro 7:5, 18, 25; 8:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13; 13:14; Gal 5:13, 16, 17, 19, 24; 6:8; Eph 2:3; Col 2:18, 23) which brings with it inevitable spiritual death or separation from God (Ro 8:6, Ro 8:13; Col 2:13). Flesh is the ugly complex of human sinful desires that includes the ungodly motives, affections, principles, purposes, words, and actions that sin generates through our bodies. Sarx as used in this manner denotes the entire fallen human being—not just the sinful body but the entire being, including the soul and mind, as affected by sin. To live according to the flesh is to be ruled and controlled by that evil complex. Because of Christ’s saving work on our behalf, the sinful flesh no longer reigns over the regenerate man or women. Nevertheless, every born again believer needs to understand that there is still a remnant of fallen flesh within our physical bodies of flesh. The distinction is that now in contrast to unregenerate men, believers possess the power of the Spirit to say "yes" to God and "no" to the flesh, whereas before our identification with Christ (as described in Ro 6:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-see notes Ro 6:1-3; 4-5; 6-7; 8-10; 11), we had no choice but to obey the demands of the flesh. The upshot as Paul teaches in Gal 5:17-note is that "the flesh (present tense = continually) sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are (antikeimai = present tense = continually) in opposition to one another". The unbeliever can live only in the flesh, while the believer can now walk by the power of the Spirit (Gal 5:16-note). However, believers can fall back into the trap of living according to the Spirit, but this is not their general practice. Because of Christ’s saving work on our behalf, the sinful flesh no longer reigns over us, to debilitate us and drag us back into the pit of depravity into which we were all born. Paul repeatedly encourages believers to overcome the deeds of the flesh in the only way possible - by living in the power of the Spirit (cp Gal 5:16-note, Gal 5:18-note, Gal 5:25-note) John Piper defines the fallen flesh as… the old ego that is self-reliant and does not delight to yield to any authority or depend on any mercy. Flesh craves the sensation of self-generated power and loves the praise of men… in its conservative form it produces legalism -- keeping rules by its own power for its own glory… (in its more liberal form) produces grossly immoral attitudes and acts (Gal 5:19ff-note) The flesh is the proud and unsubmissive root of depravity in every human heart which exalts itself subtly through proud, self-reliant morality, or flaunts itself blatantly through self-assertive, authority-despising immorality. (Walk by the Spirit!) Flesh is opposed to God and godliness. Being isolated from mere substance, it may be defined as a fallen nature, a disposition to sin. Flesh manifests self, and in that evaluation of it, the body may be indirectly included, but without any contributing import. The Apostle spoke of himself thus (Ro 7:18-note). The usual expression of the flesh is through the body, but evil tendencies are not always referred to under the term flesh. There are evil desires of the mind (Ep 2:3-note), and there is a “filthiness” of the “spirit” (2Co 7:1-note). Some “works of the flesh,” such as “hatred” are wholly unrelated to the body. There is that which is called “fleshly wisdom” (2Co 1:12)-the wisdom of men as opposed to the wisdom of God-, and a “fleshly mind” (Col 2:18-note) which characterizes Gnosticism. The term flesh, being ethical in character, is similar to such expressions as “the old man,” “the body of sin” (Ro 6:6-note), “the body of flesh” (Ro 7:24-note), “law in my members” (Ro 7:23-note), “members which are upon the earth” (Col 3:5-note). Furnish says that… The flesh thus seeks to exercise control over man’s life, and while it is not a power outside of and over against man in the same way as sin and death, it threatens always to become the quisling tyrant, holding man in bondage to the demonic forces of the world. Since this quisling power itself provides death its opportunity, it is no less God’s enemy, “hostile” to him (Ro 8:6, 7-note) and to his Spirit (Gal 6:8). (Furnish, Theology and Ethics in Paul, 117) Thus the term flesh, ethically refers to that part of man which, because of the fall, is opposed to God and to holiness. It is a fallen nature which, though expressing itself through the deeds of the body, is, nevertheless, to be identified as that which is immaterial and related to the material only as all that is immaterial is resident in, and expressed through, the material. Even the pagan world understood the principle of sowing and reaping, Aristotle writing… And thou didst sow shamefully and didst reap miserably [kakoos]. [Rhet." iii. 3, 4] How Does a Believer Sow to His Own Flesh? Remember that non-believers have no choice - everything they do is sowing to the flesh, for flesh inherited from Adam (Ro 5:12-note) is all they possess. Only those in Christ have a choice of sowing either to the flesh or Spirit. Note also that there is no "middle grown", no "neutral zone" so to speak (cp Jesus' teaching on the principle of "masters" in Mt 6:24-note, see also Josh 24:15, 1Sa 7:3, 1Ki 18:21, Gal 1:10, 2Ti 4:10-note, Jas 4:4-note, 1Jn 2:15-note, 1Jn 2:16-note, 1Jn 2:17-note) John Stott explains that Every time we allow our mind to harbor a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fancy, wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh. Every time we linger in bad company whose insidious influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up and praying, every time we read pornographic literature, every time we take a risk that strains our self-control we are sowing, sowing, sowing, to the flesh (Stott, J. R. W. The message of Galatians: Only one way. Leicester, England; Downer's Grove, Ill., U.S.A.: Inter-Varsity Press or The Bible Speaks Today New Testament) Bob Deffinbaugh observes that… Sowing to “the flesh” is investing in that which is physical, mortal, and thus passing, rather than eternal. It is the proverbial “going around only once,” “gusto grabbing” of every age. Since this world, along with our earthy bodies, is to be done away with, why are we investing in that which corrupts? Sowing to the flesh is like buying truckloads of potatoes and putting them in a bank vault, hoping to prosper from them in ten years time. Paul’s reminder that we reap what we sow is a solemn word of warning to those who think that they can be blessed spiritually while living in and to the flesh. What we do in this life has consequences, both for the present and for eternity. To think that we can expect God to bless that which is of the flesh is an insult and an offense to God (Ed: And a vain attempt to "mock" Him). How can we possibly expect a righteous and holy God to bless unrighteousness? (Sowing and Reaping) John Brown expounds on what sowing to the flesh looks like in the unregenerate… The man who is entirely occupied with the sensible and present things, though he should not be what is ordinarily termed immoral--nay, the man who is strictly honest, and honourable, and punctiliously religious, so far as external morality and religion go,--who yet does not look at "things unseen and eternal," (2Co 4:18) that man, too, sows in the flesh. And both of these classes of cultivators of this field which the Lord has cursed, shall reap the same kind of harvest. Both shall "reap corruption." "To reap corruption" is a phrase which, had we met with it by itself, we should have said naturally signifies to obtain, as the result of our exertions, that which is corruptible and perishable. In this light it is strikingly true of the man who sows in the flesh. Let him be as successful as his heart can desire in the attainment of the pleasures, honours, and wealth of the world, what has he got? Nothing but corruption. Short-lived, transitory, perishing are the leading characters of all things natural and earthly. But when we notice that "corruption" is contrasted with "life everlasting," and we compare the passage before us with the passage in the Epistle to the Romans 8:13, with which it is obviously parallel. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live," we cannot doubt that "corruption" is here equivalent to death or misery--the second death, everlasting misery. 'The man who cultivates the field of the flesh shall find his labours end in his own ruin; a carnal life, whether spent in the grossest pollutions of open and unrestrained profanity, or in the strictest observances of a merely worldly religion and morality, must end in the destruction of the soul.'… That very corrupted nature which the one has indulged will be the source of his misery--the various carnal dispositions which he has cherished shall be, as it were, the fiends which shall torment him forever. Lust, avarice, ambition, reigning with unabated, perhaps increased force in the soul, while no means of gratifying them in any degree are afforded, must make the irreclaimably wicked inconceivably miserable in their final state… it surely deserves notice that, in very many passages of Scripture, the misery of the irreclaimably impenitent is represented as the native, necessary, result of their own conduct. (An exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians) From (ek) - Literally out of. As Butler (Analytical Bible Expositor) says… Sow wild oats and you will reap wild oats. Sow good seed and you will reap good fruit. Reap (2325) (therizo from théros = summer, harvest time ~ time of harvests) conveys the picture of cutting ripe grain and gathering the bundles together. To reap, to harvest, harvest, reaping. The immutable law of sowing and reaping dictates that we can be assured that we will reap what we sow, but we can never know exactly how much we reap until the time of the harvest. Therizo - 21x in 17v in the NT. Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Comment: Context is "Why you need not worry (see study of fascinating Greek word = merimna)." Why should we not worry from Mt 6:26 (cp Lk 12:24)? What are we to God? How do you treat those (people, things) in your life who are "valuable"? Matthew 25:24 "And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed… (Mt 25:25) Mt 25:26 "But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Luke 12:24 "Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! Luke 19:21 for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' Lk 19:22 "He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? John 4:36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 "For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.' 38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor." 1 Corinthians 9:11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 2 Corinthians 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. James 5:4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Revelation 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." Rev 14:16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. Therizo - 24x in 23v in the Septuagint (LXX). -Lev 23:10, 22; Ruth 2:3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 14 (= "reapers" in Ruth); 1Sa 6:13; 8:12; 13:21; 2Kgs 4:18; Ps 126:5 (speaks of spiritual "reaping"- for more see note); Ps 129:7; Pr 22:8 (speaks of spiritual "reaping" which results from sowing the seed of unrighteousness or injustice - for more see note) ; Ec 11:4; Job 4:8 (see note); Job 5:26; 8:12; 24:6; Jer 9:22; 12:13 Ecclesiastes 11:4 He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. Comment: This proverb criticizes those who are overly cautious. The farmer who waits for the most opportune moment to plant when there is no wind to blow away the seed, and to reap when there is no rain to ruin a ripe harvest, will never do anything but sit around waiting for the right moment. (NETBible Ecclesiastes 114) Jeremiah 12:13 "They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns, They have strained themselves to no profit. But be ashamed of your harvest Because of the fierce anger of the LORD." Comment: This passage describes the Babylonian armies living off the land, utilizing all that was of value and destroying what they did not consume. Strictly speaking, the thought is not what a man sows that shall he reap, but what a man sows he shall not reap, that the harvest shall fail and all the labor expended shall be lost. Nevertheless, in a sense this lack of harvest (which was consumed and destroyed by the enemy) is the "fruit" of Judah's sinful sowing of the seeds of idolatry and apostasy which reaped the righteous anger of Jehovah which was manifest by His allowing the enemy to destroy Judah. Beware, dear reader, lest you reap the righteous indignation of Jehovah in your life - make the daily, conscious choice to sow seeds of righteousness, not rebellion! God's ways have not changed. He will allow the "enemy" to wreak havoc and destruction on "your land" (it could be financial disaster, it could be in the area of your health, fathers it could be a dire consequence suffered by one of your children, etc, etc.) But praise God, it is never too late to repent and return to the LORD! cp Hos 6:1, Jer 3:22, Lam 3:40, 41, Acts 3:19, 20. We may reap the consequences of our rebellion, but God is gracious and kind and merciful to those who seek Him in brokenness and humility - Isa 55:7, Lam 3:32, 33. Will reap corruption - Cause and effect. Corruption is the rotten fruit which is harvested!
Gálatas 6:8
Wuest - Sowing with a view to the evil nature refers to the act of a person choosing those courses of conduct that will gratify the cravings of the totally depraved nature. In this context, these words refer to the Galatians who in following the teachings of the Judaizers, catered to the desires of the evil nature. All false systems of religion are so adjusted that they appeal to the fallen nature of man, satisfying his religious instinct for worship, while at the same time allowing him to go on in his sin. The teachings of the Judaizers catered to the fallen natures of the Galatians in that they made no demand for the necessity of regeneration nor for faith in an atoning sacrifice that paid for sin. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans) Dobson, Feinberg, et al - For he that soweth to his flesh. The one who is constantly (Greek present tense) sowing with a view to the promotion of his own corrupt, sinful nature; that nature which is opposed to God and unrenewed by the Holy Spirit. Shall of the flesh reap corruption. Physical, moral, and spiritual rottenness and ruin. (Dobson, E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible Commentary: Nelson) Earl Radmacher - It is a vain attempt to “mock” God for a Christian to think that if he sows to his flesh he can escape the harvest of destruction and judgment that comes upon those who participate in sin (Gal 5:19–21; Hos. 8:7). Corruption is a term used for a field in which the produce is too rotten to harvest (Heb. 6:8). Some interpret corruption to imply eternal destruction, either through losing salvation or through never having been truly saved at all. Others understand a tragic loss of rewards for the carnal believer (1 Cor. 3:12–15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:12). (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. The Nelson Study Bible: NKJV. Nashville: Thomas Nelson) Albert Barnes… From the flesh, or as that which indulgence in fleshly appetites properly produces. Punishment, under the Divine government, is commonly in the line of offences. The punishment of licentiousness and intemperance in this life is commonly loathsome and offensive disease; and, when long indulged, the sensualist becomes haggard, and bloated, and corrupted, and sinks into the grave. Such, also, is often the punishment of luxurious living, of a pampered appetite, of gluttony, as well as of intemperate drinking. But if the punishment does not follow in this life, it will be sure to overtake the sensualist in the world to come. There he shall reap ruin final and everlasting. Corruption. (1.) By disease. (2.) In the grave--the home to which the sensualist rapidly travels. (3.) In the world of woe. There all shall be corrupt. His virtue, even the semblance of virtue, shall all be gone. His understanding, will, fancy--his whole soul--shall be debased and corrupt. No virtue will linger and live on the plains of ruin, but all shah be depravity and woe. Everything in hell is debased and. corrupt; and the whole harvest of sensuality, in this world and the world to come, is degradation and defilement. R A
Gálatas 6:8
Wuest says zoe speaks of "the life which God gives to the believing sinner, a vital, animating, spiritual, ethical dynamic which transforms his inner being and as a result, his behavior." J R Miller writes that… The final harvest that comes from our sowing—is in our own character. It is not only a reward to be put into our hand in heaven, which is promised—something which is to be given to us. The reward will be in us! It will consist in likeness to Christ… The truest reward for a godly life—is godliness wrought into the character! The truest retribution for a wicked life—is to be left to sin forever—in the ways the sinner has chosen and learned in this world!… "It is appointed unto men once to die—and after that to face judgment!" Hebrews 9:27 (The Seeds We Are Scattering) Edwards commenting on "eternal life" in the sense of a "reward" writes… Eternal life is used here as a special quality of life which comes as a reward for faithful service. While the term "eternal life. frequently is used in reference to the free gift of eternal life (HEAVEN, John 3:16), there are times it is also used in the sense of reward (1Ti 6:19, Gal 6:8, etc.). In the coming kingdom, there will also be a colossal reversal of fortunes. Many who are prominent now will find themselves surpassed by faithful servants who turned their back on the glitter of this age to pursue the things of eternity. Realizing these great promises, there is no good reason why we shouldn't give ourselves unreservedly to the cause of advancing Christ's kingdom. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. (The Letter of Mark) Moody's Today in the Word… Paul exhorts us to live always with a view toward pleasing the Spirit because if we do, one day we will reap an eternal harvest. In other words, Paul is calling us to orient our lives around the coming of Jesus and the day when He will reward His people for their faithfulness. Eternity will commence, and at that point it will matter whether or not we have lived by the power of the sinful nature or by the power of the Spirit (Gal 6:8). (MBI - Today in the Word) Eternal life - Speaks of both the present possession and the future hope (absolute certainty of future good) of all believers. As noted earlier in this discussion, eternal life is a phrase repeatedly used in the NT (and once in the Septuagint - Da 12:2) as a synonym for salvation and the new life that regeneration brings to everyone who by grace places their faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hoeber In Gal 5:21 Paul speaks of inheriting “the kingdom of God,” here of reaping “eternal life.” The first focuses on the realm (sphere, context) that will be inherited (as Israel inherited the promised land); the second focuses on the blessed life that will be enjoyed in that realm. (Concordia self-study Bible. "Lutheran edition of the NIV study Bible") See John Piper's discussion of "Eternal Life" in the comments on Galatians 6:9-10. John Eadie comments on "but he who is sowing to the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap life eternal.” … As in Gal 5:16, etc., the Spirit is not the higher or renewed part of man's own nature… but the Spirit of God; and there is no heautou (own) with it as with sarka (his own flesh). Sowing to the Spirit produces “eternal life” as its harvest. Mt. 19:16, 17, 25:46; Mk 10:17, 30; Lk 10:25, 18:18; Jn 3:15, 16, 5:24, etc. Aionios is an epithet of quantity, not of quality. Compare its use with doxa, 2Co 4:17, 2Ti 2:10, 1Pe 5:10; with soteria, Heb. 5:9; with paraklesis, 2Th 2:16; with kleronomiaa, Heb. 9:15. The future verb (shall… reap) refers to the harvest at the end of the world, though indeed it is enjoyed even now. Jn 3:36, 5:24, 6:47. The clause is virtually the same in meaning with to "mind set on the Spirit", Ro 8:6, 13. The zoen aionion (eternal life) has reference specially to blessedness in the future world, as the fruit of present grace and holiness, and as the object of hope. Ro 2:7, 5:21, 6:22; 1Ti 1:16; Titus 1:2, 3:7. The life created by the Spirit, and sustained through believing oneness with Christ, can have neither pause nor end. It is immortal from its living union with Him who “only hath immortality.” The continued and wilful indulgence of our unrenewed nature becomes its own penalty, as it does not realize the end of its being, and unfitting itself for blessedness, sinks and darkens into ruin; but the work of the Spirit of God, fostered within us and consciously elevated into predominant and regulative influence, ripens surely into blessedness. The process in both cases is a certain one—therisie (will reap)—as certain as that between sowing and reaping; and the identity of the harvest with the seed sown is emphatically marked—ek tes sarkos… ek tou pneumatos. (to the flesh… to the Spirit). The apostle now encourages to the second kind of sowing in Gal 6:9f (“But in well-doing") (Galatians 6 Commentary Online) A W Tozer writes that… The way to deal with a law of God is to work along with it. By faith and obedience we can put every divine law to work for us. And the law of sowing and reaping may be brought to our service and made to toil for our everlasting good. So kind is God and so thoughtful of His creatures. “He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” There it is, and we have but to submit to it to gain from it an everlasting reward. Deeds done in the Spirit, in obedience to Christ and with the purpose of bringing honor to the Triune God, are seeds of endless blessedness. The first gift of life is not by works, but by faith in the work of a sufficient Redeemer; but after the miracle of the new birth has been accomplished, the Christian to a large extent carries his future in his hands. If he denies himself and takes up his cross in meek obedience, his deeds will become seeds of life and everlasting glory. He may forget his deeds of love or think them small and useless, but God is not unmindful. He never forgets. The sweet harvest of a life well lived will be there to meet the sower after the toil is ended and the heat of the day is past. (Tozer, A. W. The Next Chapter After the Last. Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread) J C Ryle soberly reminds us… Our state in the unseen world of eternity depends entirely on what we are in time. The life that we live upon earth is short at the very best, and soon gone. "We spend our days as a tale that is told." (Ps 90:9.) "What is our life? It is a vapor—so soon passes it away, and we are gone." (Jas 4:14) The life that is before us when we leave this world is an endless eternity, a sea without a bottom, and an ocean without a shore. "One day in Your sight," eternal God, "is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2Pe 3:8-note) ETERNITY HINGES UPON TIME In that world time shall be no more. But short as our life is here, and endless as it will be hereafter, it is a tremendous thought that eternity hinges upon time. Our lot after death depends, humanly speaking, on what we are while we are alive. It is written, "God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger." Ro 2:6-note, Ro 2:7, 8-note We ought never to forget that we are all, while we live, in a state of probation. We are constantly sowing seeds which will spring up and bear fruit, every day and hour in our lives. There are eternal consequences resulting from all our thoughts and words and actions, of which we take far too little account. "For every idle word that men speak they shall give account in the day of judgment." (Mt 12:36.) Our thoughts are all numbered, our actions are weighed. No wonder that Paul says, "He who sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (Gal 6:8.) In a word, what we sow in life we shall reap after death, and reap to all eternity. There is no greater delusion than the common idea that it is possible to live wickedly, and yet rise again gloriously; to be without religion in this world, and yet to be a saint in the next. When the famous Whitefield revived the doctrine of conversion last century, it is reported that one of his hearers came to him after a sermon and said—"It is all quite true, sir. I hope I shall be converted and born again one day, but not until after I am dead." I fear there are many like him. I fear the false doctrine of the Romish purgatory has many secret friends even within the pale of the Church of England! However carelessly men may go on while they live, they secretly cling to the hope that they shall be found among the saints when they die. They seem to hug the idea that there is some cleansing, purifying effect produced by death, and that, whatever they may be in this life, they shall be found "fit for the inheritance of the saints" in the life to come. But it is all a delusion. Life is the time to serve the Lord, The time to insure the great reward. The Bible teaches plainly, that as we die, whether converted or unconverted, whether believers or unbelievers, whether godly or ungodly, so shall we rise again when the last trumpet sounds. There is no repentance in the grave—there is no conversion after the last breath is drawn. Now is the time to believe on Christ, and to lay hold on eternal life. Now is the time to turn from darkness unto light, and to make our calling and election sure. The night comes when no man can work. As the tree falls, there it will lie. If we leave this world impenitent and unbelieving, we shall rise the same in the resurrection morning, and find it had been "good for us if we had never been born." (Mark 14:21.) I charge every reader of this paper to remember this, and to make a good use of time. Regard it as the stuff of which life is made, and never waste it or throw it away. Your hours and days and weeks and months and years have all something to say to an eternal condition beyond the grave. What you sow in life that now is, you are sure to reap in a life to come. As holy Baxter says, it is "now or never." Whatever we do in religion must be done now. Remember this in your use of all the means of grace, from the least to the greatest. Never be careless about them. They are given to be your helps toward an eternal world, and not one of them ought to be thoughtlessly treated or lightly and irreverently handled. Your daily prayers and Bible-reading, your weekly behavior on the Lord's day, your manner of going through public worship—all, all these things are important. Use them all as one who remembers eternity. Remember it, not least, whenever you are tempted to do evil. When sinners entice you, and say, "It is only a little one,"—when Satan whispers in your heart, "Never mind—where is the mighty harm? Everybody does so,"—then look beyond time to a world unseen, and place in the face of the temptation the thought of eternity. There is a grand saying recorded of the martyred Reformer, Bishop Hooper, when one urged him to recant before he was burned, saying, "Life is sweet and death is bitter." "True," said the good bishop, "quite true! But eternal life is more sweet, and eternal death is more bitter." (Ryle ends with a series of questions, the one most related to our subject at hand being the following). How are you using your TIME? Life is short and very uncertain. You never know what a day may bring forth. Business and pleasure, money-getting and money-spending, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage—all, all will soon be over and done with forever. And you, what are you doing for your immortal soul? Are you wasting time, or turning it to good account? Are you preparing to meet God? (Except from Thoughts on Immortality) Octavius Winslow has the following devotional on Gal 6:7-8… It is a self-evident truth, that there can be no harvest where no seed has been sown. But the fact that there is coming a moral harvest in each individual life- a future reaping of present sowing- is a truth equally demonstrable. The life that now is, is the seed-time of a life that is to come. The future of human destiny derives all its complexion and its form from the present of human character. The spring does not more certainly deepen into summer- nor the summer fade into autumn- nor the autumn pale into winter- nor the winter bloom again into spring, than does our present probation merge into our future destiny, carrying with it its fixed principles, its unchanged habits, and its tremendous account. And what, my dear reader, are you sowing? I wish this question to have all the earnestness and force of a personal appeal. With what seed, again I ask, are you sowing for the future? If you are unconverted, nothing is more true than that you are sowing to the flesh! You may be rigidly moral, deeply intellectual, profoundly learned, exquisitely refined, outwardly religious, generous, and amiable, and yet all the while you are but sowing to the flesh, and not to the Spirit. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and nothing but flesh. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," it is spiritual and divine, heavenly and holy; and, what is more, it is imperishable. No lowly seed of divine truth, or grace, love, or service, sown in this present life of suffering and toil, shall ever be lost. All other things shall perish- the world with its loveliness and love, the "lust, of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," all shall pass away and vanish; but not one seed of grace implanted in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit shall ever perish. The Divine image once restored to the soul shall never more be obliterated. Nothing done by Jesus, or for Jesus- no sin laid down, no cross taken up, no holiness cultivated, no labor wrought, no service done, no cup of cold water given- nothing, the fruit of love to God and of faith in Jesus Christ, shall ever be lost. Oh, who does not earnestly desire that in his heart and life may be sowing the good incorruptible seed, that shall, though long buried and concealed, yield a golden harvest of future joy, bliss, and glory? (Octavius Winslow. Daily Walking with God - April 3) ><>><>><> OT Example of Sowing and Reaping - The Effects of Sin by Theodore Epp 1 Samuel 21:1-10 When he fled to Ahimelech, the priest, David resorted to an untruth. Ahimelech was afraid that David's presence before him was the beginning of trouble, but David sought to quiet the priest's fears by saying, "The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place" (1 Sam. 21:2). This was a sad chapter in David's life, but he was not forsaken. God permitted these tests in order to teach David some very valuable lessons. The Lord was preparing him for the throne where he would have to meet much greater tests. David did not know that his lies would bring trouble to Ahimelech. David was hungry and asked for food. While conversing with the priest, he saw Doeg, chief herdsman for King Saul, near the sanctuary. This man was an Edomite, not an Israelite, who wore a cloak of religion to cover up the true condition of his heart. He was a tool of Saul's, cruel and unscrupulous, and it is likely that David's heart skipped a beat when he saw this wicked man. Had David stayed with Samuel no harm would have come to Ahimelech and his fellow priests; but David's presence among them, of which they were entirely innocent, proved to be their death warrant (1Sa 22:9-18). One person's sin can sometimes have far-reaching effects on others. (Gal 6:8) ><>><>><> Galatians 6:8 Spiritual Sowing - Devotional by C H Spurgeon -- Sowing looks like a losing business, for we put good corn into the ground never to see it anymore. Sowing to the Spirit seems a very fanciful, dreamy business; for we deny ourselves and apparently get nothing for it. Yet if we sow to the Spirit by studying to live unto God, seeking to obey the will of God, and laying ourselves out to promote His honor, we shall not sow in vain. Life shall be our reward, even everlasting life. This we enjoy here as we enter into the knowledge of God, communion with God, and enjoyment of God. This life flows on like an ever-deepening, ever-widening river till it bears us to the ocean of infinite felicity, where the life of God is ours forever and ever. Let us not this day sow to our flesh, for the harvest will be corruption, since flesh always tends that way; but with holy self-conquest let us live for the highest, purest, and most spiritual ends, seeking to honor our most holy LORD by obeying His most gracious Spirit. What a harvest will that be when we reap life everlasting! What sheaves of endless bliss will be reaped! What a festival will that harvest be! LORD, make us such reapers, for thy Son's sake. (See also Torrey's Topic "The Reward of the Saints") ><>><>><> Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Pr 14:34 Harry Ironside had this devotional thought: When nations or communities of lesser size turn from the paths of integrity and self-restraint to those of wickedness and careless self-indulgence, they are in the way of inevitable ruin. It was not the barbarians that destroyed the Roman Empire in the fourth century of our era. It was the immorality and drunkenness of its citizens. Israel could never be vanquished by foes from the outside. It was always the enemies within that caused defeat and brought ruin and desolation. The nation or community that trains its youth to walk in righteousness and shun licentiousness, drunkenness, and other vicious types of behavior will become and remain strong and powerful. Where it is otherwise, its weakness will soon become evident. It is as true of whole groups as of individuals, that whatsoever they sow will surely be reaped (Galatians 6:7). (Ironside, H. A.. The Continual Burnt Offering: Daily meditations on the Word of God) ><>><>><> Now—Or Later- The principle that we reap what we sow is taught and illustrated throughout the Bible. The effects of our choices may be in the here and now, or they may be experienced in the hereafter, when we stand before God. From the perspective of eternity, it is far better to reap the consequences of sin now in this lifetime. That’s because there is still time for repentance and restoration. In Judges 1, we learn that the Canaanite king Adoni-Bezek was among the more fortunate in this respect. In keeping with the cruelty of his day, he had cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 captured kings. But then the tables were turned. The Israelites captured Adoni-Bezek and cut off his big toes and thumbs. The wicked scoundrel, though, had enough sense to admit that God was causing him to reap what he had sown (v.7). We are not told whether he truly repented, but we can consider him fortunate to have had the opportunity to do so. THINKING IT OVER What is society reaping today? What am I personally reaping? What do I need to stop sowing? Start sowing? Present choices determine future rewards. Which Way Am I Growing? - Some folks grow old gracefully, while others become grouchy and ill-tempered. It’s important to know which way we’re growing, because we’re all growing older. People don’t get irritable and short-tempered merely because they’re getting older. Aging doesn’t have to make us hypercritical and cranky. No, it’s more likely that we’ve become what we’ve been becoming all along. Paul wrote: “He who sows to his flesh will … reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will … reap everlasting life” (Gal. 6:8). Those who pander to self-interest and think only of themselves are sowing seeds that will produce a harvest of misery in themselves and in others. On the other hand, those who love God and care for others are sowing seeds that, in time, will yield a harvest of joy. C. S. Lewis put it this way: Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. We can choose to submit our wills to God each day, asking Him to give us strength to live for Him and for others. As He works in us, we will grow in grace and in kindness. Surer than autumn’s harvests Are harvests of thought and deed; Like those that our hands have planted, The yield will be like the seed. —Harris The seeds we sow today determine the kind of fruit we’ll reap tomorrow. ><>><>><> We Reap What We Sow - Many of us are deeply troubled by the injustices we see in life. Unscrupulous, dishonest, God-denying people are often the ones who prosper the most. But you can be sure of this: “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). This principle is illustrated in The Gray and Adams Commentary. “The Emperor Charlemagne wanted to have a magnificent bell cast for the church he had built. An artist named Tancho was employed by the church to make it. He was furnished, at his own request, with a great quantity of copper, and a hundred pounds of silver for the purpose. He kept the silver for his own personal use, however, and substituted in its place a quantity of highly purified tin. When the work was completed, he presented the bell to the Emperor, who had it suspended in the church tower. The people, however, were unable to ring it. So Tancho himself was called in to help. But he pulled so hard that its tongue fell down and killed him.” That bell maker’s death reminds me of the words of Psalm 7:16, “His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.” We're always sowing seeds in life In everything we do and say, And we will surely reap the fruit Of what we're planting every day. —Hess ><>><>><> The Pathetic Pelican - Pelicans, with their huge beaks, are strange-looking birds. But I saw one that was especially weird. Its beak was crisscrossed, as if someone had pulled the upper and lower parts in opposite directions. He was a pathetic sight! Remembering that pelicans zoom headfirst from a considerable height into schools of fish to obtain their meals, I wondered if this particular bird had seen such a tempting catch that he dove into water that was too shallow for him and hit bottom. I don’t know if this is what happened, but it made me think about the consequences and sometimes permanent effects of bad choices. Many people today carry with them the scars of sin. Although it is true that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), physical and emotional problems often remain. Those who live a reckless and unrestrained life may bear the marks of their destructive lifestyle to their dying day, even though in later years they are marvelously saved. The bounty of God’s matchless grace Is greater than our vilest deeds, Yet from the evil that we sow There may remain a crop of weeds. —DJD One reason for doing the right thing today is tomorrow. ><>><>><> Connected Actions— by My son Steve was running the best cross-country races of his life. Just a high-school freshman, he earned a spot on the varsity team. That’s when Steve decided he wanted to go even faster—but not on foot. So he spent a Saturday racing a dirt-track motorcycle. All went well until he misjudged a jump and ended up with his leg under a Yamaha. Nothing was broken, but having a banged-up calf muscle took a toll on his cross-country season. His times got worse, and he missed making the varsity team for the state finals. Steve learned an important lesson: All of our actions are connected. Each action affects other areas of our lives. Sometimes we try to keep parts of our lives separate from our faith in Christ. One example is thinking that watching immorality on TV does not affect our walk with God. But the Bible says, “He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow” (Proverbs 22:8), and “He who sows to his flesh will … reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will … reap everlasting life” (Galatians 6:8). Surer than autumn's harvests Are harvests of thought and deed; Like those that our hearts have planted, The yield will be like the seed. —Harris The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow. ><>><>><> Poor Trade-Offs— Life is full of trade-offs. Today’s poor choices are a down payment on tomorrow’s problems. It’s all a part of living with the law of God that says we reap what we sow (Gal 6:7). That was true of a 30-year-old Mississippi resident. A conviction for felony drunk driving resulted in his getting a 15-year prison sentence. The judge then suspended 14 years of the sentence if the man would honor the terms of a 1-year house arrest. The trade-off was simple: Stay home and out of trouble for 1 year instead of going to prison for 15. But the man didn’t like being cooped up, so he went fishing—driving with a suspended license to get there. He was arrested and the judge threw him in prison. The fishing trip cost him many years of freedom. What bad trade-offs do we make? Do we reject God’s mercy so we can enjoy sin’s season of pleasure? In the Bible, we see some examples. Moses traded the Promised Land for an outburst of anger (Num. 20:7-13). David traded his reputation for a night of passion (2Sa 11:1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6ff). Ananias and Sapphira traded life for some extra money (Acts 5:1-11). It's wise to flee when tempted— A fool is one who'd stay; For those who toy with evil Soon learn it doesn't pay. —DJD In the heat of temptation, don't lose your cool The Devil’s Boomerangs (Hot Cakes Off the Griddle) Billy Sunday's famous sermon… “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (Ecclesiastes 11:9) “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7) You can always get the truth out of the Bible. Of course you can always find truth elsewhere, but never from so clear a source. Nothing was ever printed more true than “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap.” God will not coerce and attempt to force any man to be a Christian. When he dies, however, he will be judged for his sins. He must face the day of judgment. Do as you please. Lie, steal, booze-fight, prostitute. God won’t stop you. Do as you please until the undertaker comes and puts you in a coffin and then the Lord will have his say. Lives of pleasure shall have an end, the wicked shall not live half their days. If I sat in the pew and you were up here preaching there are four questions I would ask that you answer satisfactorily before you could win me. First: Are you kindly disposed to me? Second: Do you want to help me? Third: Do you know what you are talking about? Fourth: Do you practice what you preach? No man can say I am not kindly disposed to him. I do want to help every man and woman. I have read and studied and everything I preach comes from the Bible. What I say this afternoon is based on indisputable facts. I have no ambition except to alleviate the misery and suffering that comes through sin. I’ll not pump you full of hot air, and what I preach I’ll practice. If I didn’t practice what I preach I’d leave this platform and never try to speak to an audience again. If sin wasn’t so deceitful it would not be so attractive. The devil doesn’t let a man stop to think what he is doing, that in every added indulgence in a drink he grows weaker. Some people think that to be a Christian means to be a weakling sort of a sissified individual. When I played baseball and was serving the devil, I circled the bases in fourteen seconds from a standing point, and I believe I can do it now. No man has ever beaten that. Han Lobert and some of the rest may have equaled it, but none has ever beaten it. I used to be handy with my dukes, too, before I became a Christian, and I can go so fast now for five rounds you can’t see me for dust. When I was with the Chicago Y.M.C.A. I did the saloon route for a time handing out invitations to men’s meetings in Farwell Hall. One day I met a young man I had known in Iowa. He was half drunk and a broken-down, drunken bum came along. I told my friend that if he persisted in drinking he would become as the bum. He laughed and said he would never be a drunkard. One year later he was down and out, his job gone and his home wrecked. No man ever started out with the intention of becoming a drunkard. Line up all the drunkards on earth and ask them and they will all tell you they never intended to be drunkards. They all started as moderate drinkers. Christianity is capital and capital is character. Your character is what you do business with and there’s a big difference between character and reputation. Reputation is what people think about you, and character is what God, your wife and the angels know about you. For a man to preach and practice the gospel of Jesus Christ makes him trustworthy. There was a time when people wouldn’t trust me to hold a yellow dog fifteen minutes. Many men live only for money. They care for nothing else, but I believe they are in the minority. You cannot measure a man’s success by the rattle of the cash register. All some men have is money. Subtract $50,000, booze and women from some men and you will have nothing left. I haven’t a word to say against the rich man who got his wealth honestly and is trying to do good with it. The Bible doesn’t have a thing in it against a man because he’s rich. Look at Solomon. He was worth about $6,000,000,000, according to our standard of gold and silver. Yet he was a godly man. But there’s a lot of good-for-nothing lobsters who think they are called by God to go up and down the country harping for a limitation of wealth and cussing and damning the rich man for every dollar he has, while they sit around and cuss and damn and never work. If you want to use your genius and ability to get all you can and use the surplus over your own needs for the good of humanity, I hope you all will be millionaires. If you want to get all you can, and can all you get, I hope you’ll all go to the poorhouse. When Commodore Vanderbilt, who was worth $200,000,000, died, he called in a minister and asked him to sing for him that old song Vanderbilt’s mother used to sing in Moravia, “Come ye sinners, poor and needy!” Worth $200,000,000 and yet poor and needy when he came to his death. The next day one man told another Vanderbilt was dead. “How much did he leave?” asked the second man. He left it all. He could not take one cent with him. But don’t stop for anything I say. Go on piling up money until you have a pile as big as the tabernacle. When you die you can’t take it with you, and if you could it would melt or burn up. Just remember, however, that it will not be long before you and I go to the beyond. Another thing I want to talk about this afternoon is the immorality of the country. Sixty thousand girls were ruined last year by the white slave traffic. But I don’t believe any woman was ever ruined but that some brute of a man didn’t take the initiative. If what I hear about you young bucks is true, when you come back home from trips, no decent girl ought to speak to you, allow you in their homes or even to look at you. And I understand some of you old married rakes are at it, too. I think the lowest, vilest, most damnable buffoon and triple extract of infamy and degeneracy in the world is the one who will plight his troth and marry, and leave his wife at home to go out with a prostitute. I wouldn’t wipe my feet, I wouldn’t spit or blow my nose on society that makes a distinction between the man who sidesteps and the woman who goes wrong. The crying need of the age is a single standard for the sexes. It makes no difference to God whether one wears a plug hat or a hairpin. When a man wants to marry, does he select a girl from the red light district? No. He goes to some decent, virtuous girl and asks her to accept his whisky-soaked, sin-blackened, diseased carcass. A man visited a house of prostitution and found his sister there. He murdered her, although she had as good a right there as he had. Talk about your buccaneers of the Spanish main, or the heartless men who sat at the feet of Jesus Christ as he hanged on the cross, and gambled for the coat on his back; I’d rather trust my daughter with them than some of the smooth rascals in society. They go around with their trousers rolled up, and their only aim is to lead the next girl they can astray. Then they go back to a lot of young bucks like themselves and laugh at her. I say they are interlopers in decent society. There must be a hell. If there isn’t where would these low-down scoundrels who force motherhood upon a woman and then haven’t the manhood to accept fatherhood go? There couldn’t be a better argument for hell. And a lot of you young bucks walk around with a pistol in your hip pockets, and if it would explode it would blow your brains out. I believe that any man low-down enough to deliberately ruin a young girl and sell her into a life of shame should be shot on the spot. Shooting is too good for him. What is wrong for the woman is wrong for the man and any other code is rotten. If a man has the right to sit around telling smutty stories a woman has the same right. The man adulterer is no better than the woman adulteress. There are many young men so vile that the only good use that could be made of them is to dip their heads in buckets of soapsuds and use them for mops. Perhaps you have no idea of the extent to which the black plague has grown in this country. Much more than half the young men of this country are or have been afflicted with venereal disease. Eighty per cent of the abdominal operations performed on women are caused by disease contracted from their husbands. Most cases of blindness in infants is caused by disease in their fathers. I know this is plain talking, but what is needed in this country are men not afraid to talk plainly to men. There are men hobbling diseased around Omaha who say, “Oh, I don’t go to hear Billy. He is too vulgar for me.” Rot. Plain speaking is always vulgar to the rascal and old fool who is afraid to hear the truth. There are 500,000 prostitutes in this country. Besides them, there are 1,500,000 who are not classed as prostitutes, being kept on the side. Every year 100,000 prostitutes die, directly or indirectly, from the diseases peculiar to their trade. Think of it! Eighty per cent of the cases of total blindness in the world are a result of venereal diseases. Perhaps the person himself or his parents were not afflicted, but their ancestors were some time or other. The cause of the downfall of Greece and Rome was the degradation of woman’s honor and no attempt by men to curb their beastly desires. And the virtue of womanhood is the rampart wall of American civilization. Some men say they drink because it makes them cool in summer and warm in winter. Then why is it the booze-fighter dies from sunstroke or freezes to death quicker than the man who doesn’t drink? That’s easy. The alcohol drives the blood to the surface, where it warms or freezes quicker. You drink because there is alcohol in it, and if the alcohol was taken out you might as well drink water. Some of you let 1,000 gallons of beer slop drain through you to get the value of one and three-quarter pounds of beefsteak. If you want to make swill barrels out of your stomachs, go ahead. One of the first indications of a crushed strawberry stomach is a crushed strawberry nose. Some of the diseases from drinking are locomotor ataxia, stammering, jaundice, Bright’s disease. I defy any man this side of hell to show me any scintilla of benefit that ever come from hitting the booze. It is strange the drinking man thinks I am his enemy when I am only trying to protect him from the things he is rushing into. By my voice, my vote and by all my power I am trying to add twenty years to his life, pull the pillow out of the window and put in a pane of glass, and to feed and clothe his wife and babies the way they should, and put carpet on his floor. I can pass the saloon in my strength and not have a desire to take a drink, but there are many who cannot, and I don’t see how men can do anything but drown the dirty rotten business in hell. Drive it back into hell, where it ought to be, men. I have seen more drunken men since I came to Omaha, more drunken men in the tabernacle than I have seen in any other city in seven years. Whisky is rarely pure. Less than 15 per cent of the whisky sold in this country is unadulterated. That’s the chief reason it makes men commit crime. If you want to know what whisky does to you, drop the white of an egg into a glass when you go home, cover it with whisky and let it stand for a time. The white of the egg will harden. That is what whisky does to your nerves. It affects them the same way and you reel and mutter, because your nerves are whisky-soaked. If I could show you men today the inside of a drunkard’s stomach, hold his liver or kidneys up to your view, that would be all you would want to make you quit hitting the booze. Alcohol poisons the system, prevents the liver and kidneys doing their work and eventually sends a man tottering and reeling to a drunkard’s grave or to an insane asylum. Men may look healthy but if they drink they are not. Something is wrong with their heart, liver or kidneys. If you don’t believe me ask your physician. I have been drinking your Omaha water for three weeks and I do not believe that anywhere in the country have I drank better, clearer, more refreshing water. I asked where your water came from and they told me from the old muddy Missouri. I could hardly believe that water could be made so pure by filtering. But just in that way do the liver and kidneys filter your blood and when you fill your system with alcohol you stop the filtering process. For 1,900 years alcohol has ruined its millions, sent men to drunkard’s graves, impoverished families, wrecked homes and filled our institutions. How much longer are we going to stand it? Because of my fight against this rotten business, I have suffered attacks from newspapers and from the dirty gang that howls at every man who dares interfere with their illicit profits. I have been lied about, vilified, insulted, defamed in Omaha since coming, but let me tell you, men of Omaha, any little, rotten, stinking two-by-four sneaking editor of a vile, unspeakable sheet can revile me and talk about me until he is black in the face and I will not give up my fight against that dirty, godforsaken, rotten business as long as I live. I’ll reach further down and higher up than any man you ever heard of to save you, your wife and babies from the fangs of that beast and I am not going to be turned back or dismayed by the opposition of a pack of curs. The spawn of hell barks at my heels from one end of the land to the other. The open saloon is the hotbed of political corruption and the breeding place of criminals, and nest of anarchy, and the incubator of poverty, misery, squalor, want, dishonesty and all that is vile. I’ve been through blood and fire for Jesus Christ, and when some of the preachers stop preaching about the New Jerusalem and start preaching against the whisky crowd and the red-light district in these cities something is going to happen. You Methodists can talk about infant baptism, and the Presbyterians can howl about perseverance and half waters close over me you’ll say and the Baptists can howl about water and half of your members go where you can’t get a drop. When I leave old Omaha you can take me down to the Missouri River, tie a millstone around my neck and drop me off the bridge. And when the waters close over me you’ll say “There goes a man who wasn’t afraid to preach the truth.” You say you can’t prohibit men drinking. If Jesus Christ lived in Omaha men would booze-fight, men would sidestep. But when you say you can’t enforce the laws you lie. You can enforce the laws against booze as much as against anything else if you have honest, decent officials to do it. There is not a law in the United States which prohibits. There is a law against murder, but does it prohibit? No. Would you advocate a repeal of all the laws because they do not prohibit? No. You wouldn’t let a man murder any one he wanted to by paying a license of $1,000; or for $500 ruin any girl over 16 years of age; or for $250 seduce young girls; or for $200 license him to crack any safe; or for $50 license him to burn buildings. That’s what you do with the whisky gang. As many of you know I was a member of the old White Sox ball club, the best club that ever stepped on a diamond. We could beat any other nine men that ever donned a uniform. I was converted in Chicago and forsook the old crowd. The other boys saw me go to Jesus one night in Chicago, but none followed. Listen! Mike Kelley was sold to Boston for $10,000. Mike got half of the purchase price. He came up to me and showed me a check for $5,000. John L. Sullivan, the champion fighter, went around with a subscription paper and the boys raised more than $12,000 to buy Mike a house. They gave Mike a deed to the house and they had $1,500 left and gave him a certificate of deposit for that. His salary for playing with Boston was $5,000 a year. At the end of that season Mike had spent the $5,000 purchase price and the $5,000 he received as a salary and the $1,500 they gave him and had a mortgage on his house. And when he died down in Allentown, Pa., they went around with a subscription paper to get money enough to put him in the ground. Mike sat there on the corner with me twenty-nine years ago when I said, “I bid you good-by.” Williamson was the shortstop, a fellow weighing 215 pounds, and a more active man you never saw. When Spaulding took the two clubs around the world, I was the second man asked to sign a contract. I was sliding to second base one day — I always slid head first — and I hit a stone and cut a ligament loose in my knee. I got a doctor and had my leg fixed up, and he said to me: “William, if you don’t go on that trip I will give you a good leg.” obeyed, and I have as good a leg today as I ever had. They offered to wait for me at Honolulu and at Australia. Spaulding said: “Meet us in England, and play with us through England, Scotland and Wales.” I didn’t go. Ed Williamson went with them, and while they were on the ship crossing the English channel a storm arose, and the captain thought the ship would go down. Ed dropped to his knees and prayed and said: “God, bring this ship safe into harbor and I promise to quit drinking and be a Christian.” God abated the storm and the ship went into the harbor safely. They came back to the United States and Ed came back to Chicago and started a saloon in Dearborn Street. I would go through there giving tickets for the Y. M. C. A. meetings and would talk with him, and he would cry like a baby. I would go down and pray for him, and would talk with him. When he died and they put him on the table and cut him open and took out his liver, it was as big as a candy bucket. Ed Williamson sat there on the street corner with me twenty-nine years ago, when I said, “I bid you good-by.” Frank Flint, our old catcher, who caught for nineteen years, drew $3,500 a year on an average. He caught before they had chest protectors and masks and gloves. He caught barehanded. Every bone in the ball of his hand was broken; you never saw a hand like Frank had. Every bone in his face was broken and his nose and cheek bones, and the shoulder and ribs, had all been broken. Frank was discharged from the Chicago club because he would drink, and nobody else wanted him. He used to hang around the saloon all the time. Many a time I have found poor old Frank asleep on a beer table. I turned my pockets wrongside out and dumped every cent I had on the table and said: “Frank, you can always look to me for half of what I have. I haven’t as much now as I had when I was playing ball.” Then I was drawing $5,000 and $7,000 a year, and was offered $1,000 a month if I would play ball. But I stuck to my job at $85 a month. His wife left him, and one day he staggered out of a saloon and was seized with a paroxysm of coughing. His wife happened to meet him and the old love for him returned. She called a carriage and summoned two policemen, and they carried Frank to her boarding house. She summoned five physicians, the best that money could get. They felt his pulse, counted, and then told her he couldn’t last very long. She leaned over and whispered: “Frank, the doctors say it won’t be very long now.” Frank looked up and said: “Send for Bill.” I hurried over to the house, and as I stood beside his bed he reached up his left hand and put it around my neck and drew me down to him. He said: “Bill, there is nothing that gives me so much comfort as to have you come down on an occasion like this. I can see the crowd hissing when I strike out and they need a run, and I can hear them cheer when I catch a foul tip, or throw a fellow out on the base. But it don’t do any good, now, when I come to a time like this.” Frank coughed and his life went out. The umpire had leaned over him and said: “You’re out.” Frank Flint sat on the street corner with me twenty-nine years ago, when I said, “Boys, I am through.” Men of Omaha, did they win the game of life or did I?
Gálatas 6:9
Wuest: Let us not slacken our exertions by reason of the weariness that comes with prolonged effort in habitually doing that which is good. For in a season which in its character is appropriate, we shall reap if we do not become enfeebled through exhaustion and faint. Young's Literal: and in the doing good we may not be faint-hearted, for at the proper time we shall reap -- not desponding LET US NOT LOSE HEART IN DOING GOOD, FOR IN DUE TIME WE WILL REAP IF WE DO NOT GROW WEARY: to de kalon poiountes (PAPMPN) me egkakomen, (1PPAS) kairo gar idio therisomen (1PFAI) me ekluomenoi. (PPPMPN): us: Mal 1:13 1Co 15:58 2Th 3:13 Heb 12:3 good: Ro 2:7 1Pe 2:15 3:17 4:19 for: Lev 26:4 Dt 11:14 Ps 104:27 145:15 Jas 5:7 if: Isa 40:30,31 Zeph 3:16 Mt 24:13 Lk 18:1 2Co 4:1,16 Eph 3:13 Heb 3:6,14 10:35, 36, 37, 38, 39 He 12:3,5 Rev 2:3,7,10,11,17,26, 27 28, 29 3:5,6,12,13 3:21,22 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries IT'S TOO SOON TO QUIT! Paul warns against becoming weary in well-doing ("sowing to the Spirit") and enforces his warning with a very powerful motive. Our present "business" as believers is to "do good." (Cf Jesus' charge in Lk 19:13KJV and His warning in Jn 9:4). Many translations begin this sentence with an "and" but Vine draws our attention to the fact that the Greek word (de) which some versions translate as "and" can also be translated "but". Vine then comments that the contrast word "but" suggests… a happy alternative to the selfishness which is “sowing to the flesh,” and presenting in concrete form the idea underlying the metaphor of “sowing to the Spirit.” Let us - Introduces an exhortation/encouragement the readers needed to hear and by way of application an encouraging word all believers need to hear. (See study of parakaleo for insights on the ministry of encouragement - something we all need… continually!) Let us not lose heart - Clearly this indicates losing heart is a real possibility in all believers (note pronoun "us" = Paul includes himself in this "vulnerable" group). The verb lose heart is in the present tense which speaks of continuing action ("don't let losing heart be your continual response" is the idea). John Brown adds that… Owing to the number, the difficulty, and the never-terminating, never-remitting obligations of these duties, even genuine Christians are in danger of "becoming weary of well-doing." They become backward to undertake them and languid (drooping or flagging from as if from exhaustion) in performing them. They multiply and magnify obstacles. They are ingenious in devising excuses. They leave them half done and are strongly tempted to abandon them altogether. It ought not to be so. It would not be were Christians what they should be--what they might be. The great cause of weariness in well-doing is a deficiency in faith (Ed: I would add and a reliance of self - we need to jettison self reliance and instead continually rely on the enabling power of the indwelling Spirit, see Gal 3:3), and a corresponding undue influence of present and sensible things (cp 1Jn 2:17-note). To the man who has, through the faith of Christ, overcome the world (1Jn 5:4,5), none of the commandments of God are grievous (1Jn 5:3KJV). On the contrary, "In keeping them he finds a great reward." (Ps 19:11-note) But whenever a Christian walks by sight, and not by faith (2Co 5:7-note), he becomes weak as another man, every duty is a burden (Ed: Could this have anything to do with the high rate of pastor burnout [and turnover - average pastor stay per church is 3 years!] or the saints dropout from church and/or rotating from church to church?!) It is when in the exercise of faith he realizes to himself the unseen realities of religion and eternity (2Co 4:18-note), that he "renews his strength (When? When we wait upon Him!), mounts up on wings as an eagle, runs and does not weary, walks and does not faint." (Is 40:31-note). Against this spiritual languor, which makes the discharge of duty tiresome, and strongly tempts to its utter abandonment, the apostle here warns the Galatian Christians, "Be not weary in well-doing." (An exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians) What is a good work? Is it not a good word (Pr 25:11, 15:23, Ep 4:29-note)? Words of encouragement are never out of season (cp He 3:13-note, He 10:24, 25-note)-- Luke records that after Paul and Barnabas (son of consolation, rest or encouragement) had proclaimed the gospel and saw many conversions, they went about… strengthening the souls of the disciples (The most frequent name for believers in Acts - Interesting in light of verses like Mk 8:), encouraging (see study of parakaleo) them to continue in the faith (cp "not lose heart"), and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22) Comment: It is interesting that our English word "encourage" derives from a word for heart (Latin = cor = heart) and conveys the sense of "with heart" and so to "hearten" (to give heart to) and then to give confidence of success, to embolden, to incite to action. What's one of the best "antidotes" for a "tired heart condition", one that's ready to give up? To "give heart" -- To encourage! THOUGHT - Look for opportunities today to "give heart" to someone whose heart is growing weary in well doing! You may be "just the medicine" the Great Physician has providentially prescribed for their "tired heart"! Don't miss the opportunity! I called a young college pastor this week to have lunch just to "catch up" (he is one of the men I have been discipling) while we are taking a break in the summer. Little did I know that he was experiencing great anxiety because of pressure from the church leadership, which was being brought to bear on him because he was becoming "too excited" about the power of the Word of God to change the lives of some of the young men in his college class. We had a great meal of "homestyle" cooking, but we had an even better "meal" as we opened our Bibles and for two hours looked at what God said about what he was experiencing. I came away full physically but far more spiritually satiated. The next morning I opened my email and read "Thanks again brother, your encouragement was greatly needed. We serve such an amazing God!" He was growing weary of well doing and I was not aware of it, but God was. Glory to God (Ps 115:1) Who is the Spirit prompting you to take to lunch, to make a phone call to, to write an email to, to drop a short note of encouragement to, or just to go "hang out" with? Don't miss the "opportunity of a lifetime" to "give them heart"! In light of the afflictions the saints at Thessalonica were experiencing (1Th 1:6-note, 1Th 2:14-note, 2Th 1:4) Paul wrote… But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good (doing what is right, and one of the nuances of meaning to ponder is "creating beauty". Interesting!). (2Th 3:13) As R C H
Gálatas 6:10
Wuest: So then, in like manner, let us be having opportunity, let us be working that which is good to all, but especially to those of the household of the Faith. Young's Literal: therefore, then, as we have opportunity, may we work the good to all, and especially unto those of the household of the faith. SO THEN, WHILE WE HAVE OPPORTUNITY, LET US DO GOOD TO ALL PEOPLE, AND ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO ARE OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE FAITH: opportunity: Ec 9:10 Jn 9:4 12:35 Eph 5:16 Php 4:10 Col 4:5 Titus 2:14 Do good: Ps 37:3,27 Ec 3:12 Mt 5:43 Mk 3:4 Lk 6:35 1Th 5:15 1Ti 6:17,18 Titus 3:8 Heb 13:16 3Jn 1:11 Especially: Mt 10:25 12:50 25:40 Eph 2:19 3:15 Heb 3:6 6:10 1Jn 3:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 1Jn 5:1 3Jn 1:5, 6, 7, 8 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Tempus Fugit Carpe Diem Coram Deo Time Flies Seize the Day Before the Face of God So then (ara oun) - Therefore (term of conclusion) based on the fact that the sowing of good seeds guarantees a good harvest (in due time), we need to take advantage of the time God gives us, availing ourselves of every fleeting opportunity. And as John Stott says "this earthly life is full of such opportunity" and I would add, all we need is the spiritual eyes to see the opportunities! Yes Lord, open our eyes to behold those priceless, passing opportunities, those once in a lifetime moments, which will enable us to bear fruit that lasts forever (cf Jesus' desire for us in Jn 15:16). Amen Billy Graham - Life is a glorious opportunity, if it is used to condition us for eternity. If we fail in this, though we succeed in everything else, our life will have been a failure. (Let us do good to all people - Read about Billy Graham's "missed opportunity" with President John F Kennedy - Billy Graham) Chuck Swindoll put it this way - We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. William Law (1686-1761) offers an interesting, practical insight on opportunity, encouraging believers to "Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both thy hands, as a true opportunity and blessed occasion of dying to self (Mk 8:34), and entering into a fuller fellowship with thy self-denying, suffering Savior (Php 3:10-note). Look at no inward or outward trouble in any other view; reject every other thought about it, and then every kind of trial and distress will become the blessed day of thy prosperity. That state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in and fullest resignation to God." Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) wrote that "When one door closes, another opens (ED: ANOTHER "BELL RINGS!"); but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us." L P Jacks - The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. A B Simpson (1843–1919) - God is preparing his heroes; and when the opportunity comes, he can fit them into their places in a moment, and the world will wonder where they came from. THOUGHT: Have you ever considered that you are a "hero" in God's eyes [when you are in His will, pleasing to Him by His Spirit for His glory] when you seize the opportunity He places before you to do good to another human being, especially believers? Be on the lookout! Be confessed up, repented up, prayed up and filled up with His Spirit, ready to take action for His glory. John Ruskin (1819–1900) - Sojourn in every place as if you meant to spend your life there, never omitting an opportunity of doing a kindness, speaking a true word, or making a friend. An old Arabian proverb says "Four things come not back: the sped arrow, the spoken word, time past, and the neglected opportunity." KINGDOM OPPORTUNITIES Today in the Word (Moody Bible Institute, 1989 - from Bible.org) has this note on "Kingdom Opportunities"... The idea here (of kairos) is not clock time but what one writer calls “kingdom opportunities,” those openings for ministry that often come at inconvenient times; a friend who wants to talk, a child with a problem, the chance to lend a hand to someone in need. Paul is encouraging us to keep our lives uncluttered so that we can respond when the need arises—because kingdom opportunities can get squeezed out of an overly tight schedule. THOUGHT - Are you as convicted as I am? Think back on the past 24 hours - were there some "kingdom opportunities" you saw [or see now in retrospect] and yet on which you deferred because you were "too busy" [too selfish]! Were you so task oriented that you missed the "kingdom task" God gave you the privilege to experience? May His Spirit give us all "kingdom vision"! Amen Opportunity (2540) (kairos [see note for "in due time"] is a time favorable for a purpose. In the context of this passage one could interpret this as referring to this present life which affords the believer the one " season" he or she will have to sow good. If one misses this "season", he will also miss the harvest. Within this "season" there are in turn favorable opportunities in a given day that present themselves and should be recognized and "seized" for once they are passed, they will not return, reminiscent of the secular saying "opportunity only knocks once." We cannot lament about the opportunities we missed today for we can do nothing about them. Today has passed. But we can determine to be alert for the opportunities God gives us tomorrow to do good. Webster says opportunity is the convergence of a favorable juncture of circumstances, but in God's universe the convergence of circumstances is not left to "chance" or "fate" but is under His providential control (see OT example - Ruth just "happened" to be in Boaz's field - Ruth 2:3-note) See discussion Redeem the Time
Gálatas 6:10
Wuest - Ergazomai "emphasizes the process of an action, carrying with this the ideas of continuity and repetition. It means “to labor, to be active, to perform,” with the idea of continued exertion being included." Transitively - To do, to accomplish, to perform, carry out something. To earn by working. Accomplish - to bring about (a result) by effort. Accomplish stresses the successful completion of a process rather than the means of carrying it out. This is the sense of ergazomai in 2Cor 7:10 and James 1:20. Produce - To cause to happen. To bring forth. To bring about. This is the sense of ergazomai in 2Cor 7:10 and James 1:20. The verb poieo refers to the mere doing of something. Ergazomai is an advance upon poieo and means, “to labor, do work” as opposed to inactivity or idleness. In the Septuagint (Lxx) ergazomai is frequently found in phrase describing those who "do wickedness" (iniquity) where the word for wickedness is often anomia which means lawlessness and which 1John 3:4 defines as sin. Ergazomai is often used to describe work in a spiritual sense, implying supernatural work, work that God does, work that God (His Spirit indwelling believers) energizes in and through His children, work that lasts for all eternity! (Jn 5:17, 6:27, 9:4) Of godly sorrow which "works out" or accomplishes repentance (2Cor 7:10). Other spiritual work (1Cor 16:10, Heb 11:33). Ergazomai refers to "spiritual work" by men in a vain attempt to merit favor with God (Ro 4:4-5). In the Septuagint Psalm 74:12 has an encouraging example of ergazomai in the spiritual sense Yet God is my King from of old, Who works (ergazomai) deeds of deliverance (soteria) (KJV = "working salvation") in the midst of the earth.
Gálatas 6:10
Wuest - The word good is preceded by the article. It is not merely what may be good in character as judged by anybody’s standards, but the good spoken of in the context, good which is the product of the work of the Holy Spirit through the (surrendered, yielded) saint. (cf Jn 15:5). Literally this reads "the good thing," which Vine says is "whatever is most likely to have a happy effect in benefiting the persons concerned." Vine elaborates (similar to Eadie's comment below)... This general exhortation is in effect a summing up of the particular responsibilities of the preceding context. It is good to restore the erring, Gal 6:1; to bear the burden of others, Gal 6:2; to share temporal supplies with those who share spiritual supplies with us, Gal 6:6; to sow in the eternal interests of the spirit, Gal 6:8; and to continue unwearyingly in all manner of well-doing, Gal 6:9. John Eadie on let us do good means... the thing which is good in each case, as the case may occur. The good thing may vary according to various wants, for it is to be done “towards all.” The entire paragraph has the idea of doing good underlying it: the restoration of a fallen brother, Gal 6:1; the bearing of one another's burdens, Gal 6:2; communication on the part of the taught to the teacher, Gal 6:3; unwearied well-doing, Gal 6:10; and this verse seems to sum up all these thoughts into one vivid injunction, which not only comprises them all, but enjoins similar social duty in all its complex variety. Whatever its immediate form, whether kindness, or beneficence, or mercy, whether temporal or spiritual in character, it is still good in its nature, and is “the good thing,” adapting itself to each case as it may turn up, in reference to all, generally or more specially. (Galatians 6:10 Commentary) John Brown commenting on let us do good notes that... like well-doing, may either be considered as expressive of benevolent exertion, or of dutiful conduct generally. In the passage before us it has almost universally been interpreted in its restricted sense. It is the Christian's duty to "do good": to endeavour to lessen the amount both of moral and physical evil, of sin and of suffering; to add to the amount both of moral and physical good, of worth and happiness, in our world. To enlighten the ignorant and prejudiced; to rouse to consideration the inconsiderate; to lead the guilty to the blood of atonement, and the depraved to the laver of regeneration; to make the bad good, and the good better; to comfort the disconsolate; to relieve the poor and the miserable, (The preceding paragraph enumerates) many varieties of the general duty of Christian beneficence. In the performance of this duty, the Christian knows no limits except those which are fixed by his power and opportunity of doing good. He is not to be confined by relationship, or neighborhood, or sect, or even religion. The possession of a common nature is claim enough on his good wishes and good offices. Every Christian is as really, though not quite in the same way as the apostle, a " debtor to the Greek and the Barbarian, to the wise and the unwise." Whether a man be "a Jew or a Gentile, bond or free," (cp Col 3:11) learned or illiterate, good or bad, if he labours under evils from which we can relieve him, it is our duty as Christians to do so. But while Christians are bound "to do good to all men" they are peculiarly bound to do good "to those who are of the household of faith." Jerome refers this appellation to Christian ministers, who are, in a peculiar sense, "the domestics" in the family of God; but it is better to refer it to Christians generally—the believing family. The application is admirably expressive. All genuine Christians are bound together by a very powerful and a very tender tie. That tie is the faith of the same truth. It is this which unites them to God, "the Father of whom the whole family in heaven and earth are called;" (Ep 3:14,1 5) to Jesus Christ, the elder brother; and to one another, as children of God and brethren of Christ,—"heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ." (Ro 8:17) They love one another "in the truth, for the truth's sake, which is in them, and will abide with them for ever." Duty corresponds with relation. Christians, therefore, are particularly bound to do good to one another. Every poor and distressed man has a claim on me for pity, and, if I can afford it, for active exertion and pecuniary relief. But a poor Christian has a far stronger claim on my feelings, my labours, and my property. He is my brother, equally interested with myself in the blood and love of the Redeemer. I expect to spend an eternity with him in heaven. He is the representative of my unseen Saviour, and He considers everything done to his poor afflicted brother as done to Himself. For a Christian to be unkind to a Christian, is not only wrong, it is monstrous. The obligation to do good to our fellow-Christians extends both to their external and spiritual necessities. It is an important duty, "if we see a brother or sister naked, or destitute of daily food," (Jas 2:15) to give them those "things which are needful for the body." (Jas 2:16) But it is not a less important duty, when we see a Christian brother or sister laboring under mistake, or in danger of falling into sin, to endeavour to undeceive them, and to warn them of their danger. Spiritual evils are the worst evils, and spiritual blessings are the best blessings ; and we do good to our brethren in the most important way, when we deliver them from these evils, and put them in possession of these blessings. We are to love our brethren as Christ loved us, and do good to them as he does good to us. Seize every opportunity... Christians are to "do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith, as they have opportunity." The idea commonly attached to these words is, that Christians are bound to seize every opportunity of doing good, both to mankind generally, and to their fellow-Christians in particular. This is an important truth, but we doubt if it is exactly the truth which the apostle here expresses. The word "season" (kairos) in Gal 6:9 and the word "opportunity" in Gal 6:10, are the same in the original. That word is the link which connects the two verses. "In due season ye shall reap." While we have the "season" let us do good; as if he had said, 'The season of reaping will come in due time. Now is the season for sowing. While ye have the season, improve it. In a short time the objects of your beneficence will be beyond your reach, or you will be taken from them. The eternal harvest depends on the short seed-time. There is no time to be idle, for "whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." While I have explained the phrase "doing good," in the way in which it is ordinarily understood, as referring directly to benevolent exertion, I am strongly disposed to think that the word is employed by the apostle in its most general sense. Work that which is good in reference to all men, but especially in reference to the household of faith.' It seems to us to refer to the duties of justice as well as mercy. "Render to all their due;" "wrong no man;" and, in reference to your brethren, let your conduct be scrupulously upright and dutiful. We find the apostle warning Christian servants against using improper freedoms with their Christian masters, as if their common privileges as Christians brought them nearer a level in civil society; and using the Christianity of their Masters as a powerful superadded reason why they should be obedient to them. "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour; and they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren ; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit." (1Ti 6:1,2) And we find him representing the Christian character of a person injured by another Christian as a great aggravation of the offence,—"Ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren." (1Co 6:8) This gives unity to the whole paragraph,— "sowing to the Spirit," "well-doing," and "doing good," all of them being terms of nearly equivalent import. The practical improvement to be made of this passage is not far to seek. Let us turn it to the use of serious self-inquiry. Let us ask... Have we never been, are we not now, "weary in well-doing"? Are we "doing good to all, as we have opportunity, especially to the household of faith"? If we press these questions honestly home, deep self-humiliation will be the result. But let us not, however, despair. The more languid we are, the greater is the necessity for earnest prayer and increased exertion. The less good we have done in the past, the more diligent should we be in doing good in the future. The season of doing good will soon close for ever. "What our hand finds to do, let us do it with our might." The season of reward will soon come to those who, " by a patient continuance in well-doing, are seeking for glory, honour, and immortality." " Be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as your labour is not in vain in the Lord." And if the harvest seems long in coming—if the reward seems long delayed—still " faint not." (Ec 9:10) "Cast not away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience"—that is, you must persevere—" that after ye have done the will of God, ye may receive the promise." (Heb 10:36) (An exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians) To all people (pros = toward pantas = all) literally reads "toward all", the word people being added by the translators. The preposition pros expresses direction --- toward, on the side of, in the direction of. It can serve as a marker of closeness of relation or proximity. Vine says the idea is "in your personal and active relations with." Especially (3122)(malista) means mostly, principally, chiefly, particularly (in the present passage) toward (pros) believers. Vine rightly reminds us that... the Christian is debtor to all men to do them good by deed and word, Ro 1:14, both on the ground of the common humanity, the solidarity of the race in virtue of its origin in, and descent from, one ancestor, Adam, Acts 17:26, and because all are alike involved in sin and death in Adam’s transgression, Romans 5:12-21. But in Christ the believer is brought into a new relationship, not indeed with all men, but with those who hold the same faith and share the same salvation, and who own allegiance to the same Lord; to these his obligation is accentuated. He is not, however, to relax his efforts in behalf of all; he is to increase them in behalf of those who belong to Christ. Of the household (3609) (oikeios from oikos = a house or household) are "persons who are related by kinship (this literal sense in 1Ti 5:8) or circumstances and form a closely knit group... with focus on association in common cause or belief." (BDAG). The third use of oikeios is also by Paul writing... So then you (speaking to the Gentiles who have believed in Christ) are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, (Ep 2:19-note) Faith (4102)(pistis) in context refers to all who believe in the Lord Jesus, who trust to Him alone for salvation. Faith in Christ represents a strong and welcome conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, the only One (Acts 4:12) through Whom we obtain eternal redemption and and entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. In short the family of God is a unique relationship based on the fact that we all "have received a faith of the same kind" (2Pe 1:1-note). It is a unique relationship among all earthly relationships for it is one which will endure throughout eternity. Ray Stedman... Observe, the “causes that are of the household of faith” are to be put first in giving, before such secular benevolences as the Red Cross and Community Chest. (Bibliotheca Sacra 108:429 Jan 51. p. 71)
Gálatas 6:14
Wuest: For, as for me, far be it from me to be glorying except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to me the world stands crucified and I to the world. Young's Literal: And for me, let it not be--to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which to me the world hath been crucified, and I to the world. BUT MAY IT NEVER BE THAT I WOULD BOAST: emoi de me genoito (3SAMO) kauchasthai (PMN): Romans 3:4, 5, 6; Philippians 3:3,7,8 Boast - 2Ki 14:9, 10, 11; Job 31:24,25; Ps 49:6; 52:1; Jer 9:23,24; Ezek 28:2; Da 4:30,31; 5:20,21; 1Co 1:29, 30, 31; 3:21; 2Co 11:12; 12:10,11 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Galatians 6:11-14 The Cross of Christ - John MacArthur Galatians 6:11-16 Rejoicing in the Cross - John MacArthur Galatians 6:14-18 Glorying in the Cross - John MacArthur GOD FORBID! The context... Gal 6:12-13 Those (Judaizers = Jews who insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation) who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ (Maxim - The Cross of Christ brings persecution from the unsaved! Gromacki - "If the Judaizers had disavowed the necessity of circumcision, they would have been ostracized by the Jewish communities. They would have been excommunicated from the synagogues, exploited financially, and probably harmed physically. The Judaizers knew that, thus they were afraid to take a stand for justification by faith alone. They were more closely identified with the Pharisees and the priests than they were with the apostles."). For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves (Good definition of a hypocrite!), but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh (Idea = and claim you as their disciples; Barclay "about the way in which you are observing the outward and the human rituals"). And in the verse following Galatians 6:14, Paul goes on to explain... For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation (new = kainos = new in kind or quality, unprecedented, unheard of, new in sense that it brings into the world a new quality of thing which did not exist before). (Galatians 6:15) Comment: What really matters is not external works such as physical circumcision but whether one has truly been changed into new and different person. Beloved, is your life different now that you are in Christ? If not, then you might want to ponder whether you are truly "in Christ" (Cp 2Co 5:17, see also 2Cor 13:5). NLT Study Bible... In contrast with the false teachers (Gal 6:12, 13), Paul’s motivation was to increase, not his own reputation, but God’s glory. Boasting about law-keeping would detract from recognition of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.In the Greco-Roman world, the cross was a senseless scandal to those who did not believe (Gal 5:11; 1Cor 1:23; cp. John 6:53-61), but it is the basis for a Christian’s faith and hope (1Cor 1:17, 18; 15:3; Phil 2:8, 9, 10, 11; Col 1:20, 21, 22; 2:14, 15). (NLT Study Bible) But (de) introduces a sharp contrast (see importance of identifying contrasts) between those who boast in the things which the flesh can accomplish, in context specifically circumcision as a human work necessary to effect one's salvation and the "trophies" who fall prey to this false teaching and undergo circumcision. John Eadie commenting on the phrase "But far be it from me" (see Amplified above) explains that "but as far as regards me (means) in contrast with them and their boasting in the circumcision of their misguided converts. The sarx (flesh) in which the Judaists wished to make a fair show is the representative element of a system directly and wholly opposed to that, of which stauros (Cross) is the central principle and in which the apostle gloried. (Galatians 6 Commentary) May it never be ("God forbid" Gal 6:14KJV, “May it not happen to me”) (me genoito) is the strongest way to express a negative in Greek and is a predominantly Pauline phrase (14/15 uses by Paul - Luke 20:16; Rom 3:4, 6, 31; 6:2, 15; 7:7, 13; 9:14; 11:1, 11; 1 Cor 6:15; Gal 2:17; 3:21; 6:14) John Eadie - The phrase “God forbid” really expresses the strong emotion or revulsion of feeling which interjects these decided words. (Galatians 6 Commentary) As
Gálatas 6:14
Wuest - The name “Jesus” is the English spelling of the Greek Iesous, which is in turn the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word Jehoshua which means “Jehovah saves.”...In the (name "Jesus") we see the deity, incarnation, and substitutionary atonement of our Lord, for the Jehovah of the Old Testament could not save lost sinners unless He paid the price of their sins, thus satisfying His justice, the price being outpoured blood, since the penalty of sin is death. And He could not die unless He became incarnate in human form...in the second (name Christos), the fact that He is the Anointed of God, to Israel, its Messiah. (Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse) Christ (5547) (Christos from chrio = to anoint, rub with oil, consecrate to an office) is the Anointed One, the Messiah, Christos being the Greek equivalent of the transliterated Hebrew word Messiah. In the Gospels the Christ is not a personal name but an official designation for the expected Messiah (see Mt 2:4, Lk 3:15). As by faith the human Jesus was recognized and accepted as the personal Messiah, the definite article ("the") was dropped and the designation "Christ" came to be used as a personal name. The name "Christ" speaks of His Messianic dignity and emphasizes that He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises concerning the coming Messiah. Beloved, let us exult joyfully in one thing, the Cross of Christ, letting this be our single minded focus, our sole passion and joy. Christ crucified is to forevermore be our boast and exultation so that He Alone receives the glory and honor for every good thing in our lives and every bad thing that God turns for good. Such supernatural boasting happens when we appreciate and live in the glorious truth that we have been crucified with Christ on His old rugged cross (Ro 6:6-note). This radical truth transforms our lives (2Co 5:17) that were in the gutter so that they are now directed toward glory, the glory of the cross of Christ. (cp Gal 2:20-note). Next time you catch yourself being tempted to boast, ask yourself "In this boasting, is it ultimately in some way tied to boasting in the almighty Cross?" If not, you might want to check that heart attitude or the words that proceed from that heart attitude (cp Mt 15:18, 19, Mt 12:36 where "careless" = argos = "not working", bearing no fruit type words [see study of words = rhema]) Take a moment to worship (try to keep a dry eye dearly beloved of the Slain Lamb Rev 5:9-note). Play the beautiful song by Michael Card - Boast in the Almighty Cross. Love Crucified Arose Long ago He blessed the earth Born older than the years And in the stall the cross He saw Through the first of many tears A life of homeless wandering Cast out in sorrow's way The Shepherd seeking for the lost His life the price He paid Chorus Love crucified arose The risen One in splendor Jehovah's sole Defender Has won the victory Love crucified arose And the grave became a place of hope For the heart that sin and sorrow broke Is beating once again Throughout Your life You've felt the weight Of what You'd come to give To drink for us that crimson cup So we might really live At last the time love and die The dark appointed day That one forsaken moment when Your Father turned His face away Repeat Chorus THROUGH WHICH THE WORLD HAS BEEN CRUCIFIED TO ME AND I TO THE WORLD: di' ou emoi kosmos estaurotai (3SRPI) kago kosmo: Gal 1:4; 2:20; 5:24; Acts 20:23,24; Ro 6:6; 1Co 15:58; 2Co 5:14, 15, 16; Php 1:20,21; 3:8,9; Col 3:1, 2, 3; 1Jn 2:15, 16, 17; 5:4,5 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Galatians 6:11-14 The Cross of Christ - John MacArthur Galatians 6:11-16 Rejoicing in the Cross - John MacArthur Galatians 6:14-18 Glorying in the Cross - John MacArthur DEAD TO THE GODLESS WORLD Phillips paraphrases it bluntly albeit correctly... the world is a dead thing to me and I am a dead man to the world. Through which (di' ou) - This could just as easily be read as "through Whom", for the Cross was only the cruel instrument for crucifixion of the Christ. This statement serves to explain why Paul was boasting in the Cross. It was because of what the Cross of His Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished in his life (and the life of every believer). Because of the Cross, Paul was transformed from a man ruled by externals and the glory of human achievements (Php 3:3, 4, 5, 6) into a man ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ. He was liberated from domination by the lusts of this fallen world. Christ became his all in all (You are My All in All).
Gálatas 6:14
Wuest - Kosmos refers to an ordered system. Here it is the ordered system of which Satan is the head, his fallen angels and demons are his emissaries, and the unsaved of the human race are his subjects, together with those purposes, pursuits, pleasures, practices, and places where God is not wanted. Much in this world-system is religious, cultured, refined, and intellectual. But it is anti-God and anti-Christ...The Germans have a word for kosmos (world of men who are living alienated and apart from God) the zeitgeist or spirit of the age. This masquerade costume which saints sometimes put on, hides the Lord Jesus living in the heart of the Christian, and is an opaque covering through which the Holy Spirit cannot radiate the beauty of the Lord Jesus. The world says to that kind of a saint, “The modernism of your appearance nullifies the fundamentalism of your doctrine.” (Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse) Marvin Vincent sums up this meaning of kosmos writing that it is "The sum-total of human life in the ordered world, considered apart from, alienated from, and hostile to God, and of the earthly things which seduce from God (Jn 7:7; 15:18; 17:9, 14; 1Cor. 1:20, 21; 2Co 7:10; Jas 4:4. "INTERCRUCIFIXION" Eadie comments that Paul describes an... intercrucifixion—the world has died to him, and he has died to the world. The “world” (kosmos) is the sphere of things in which the sarx (flesh) lives and moves—that in which self and sense delight themselves: opposed to that sphere of things in which the pneuma (spirit) finds its fitting nutriment and exercise, and also to “the new creature” in the following verse (Gal 6:15). The term kosmos (in Gal 6:14) represents wealth, power, pleasure, indulgence, “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life,” (1Jn 2:16) —all that draws humanity after it, which so many seem to crave as their only portion, and in which they seem to find their supreme delight. The world in this sense is opposed to God: “the friendship of this world is enmity with God,” Jas 4:4; 1John 2:15. The apostle had long seen all this hostility and hollowness on the part of the world, and so he had done with it. It was crucified to him; it was a thing done to death for him, and he was done to death so far as regarded it. As Schott pithily puts it, alter pro mortuo habet alterum. Each had been nailed to the cross; each to other was dead. Christ's cross effected this separation. It was the result of neither morbid disappointment, nor of the bitter wail of “vanity of vanities,” nor of a sense of failure in worldly pursuits, nor of the persecutions he had undergone—scourging, imprisonment, hunger, thirst, fastings, and nakedness. By none of these things did he die to the world. But it was by his union with the Crucified One (cp Jn 16:33, 1Jn 5:4, 5): death in Him and with Him was his death to the world, and the death of that world to him. (Galatians 6 Commentary) The more we glory in the mighty cross of Christ, the less the world can lure us with its fading "glory". In the cross of Christ I glory, Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime. John Bowring (1825) Has been crucified (4717) (stauroo from stauros = cross, in turn from histemi = to stand) means literally to nail or fasten to a cross and so to crucify -- literal death by nailing to and hanging from a cross (a stake). Classical Greek and Septuagint Usage - Stauroō is a common verb in Greek literature. The noun form stauros (4567) was used to denote a “cross” as an instrument of torture or crucifixion, and the verb form stauroō was used to mean “to crucify,” (ca. Second Century B.C.). In the Septuagint the noun is found once (Esther 7:9) where it refers to a pale (stake) on which an individual was impaled. That was a common means of torture and execution in the Persian Empire. (Complete Biblical Library) New Testament Usage - In the New Testament the verb is used in both literally and figuratively. Matthew 20:19 employs the term literally to mean “to crucify on a cross” or “to put to death on a cross.” The verb’s occurrence in the other Gospels is translated in the same way. In Galatians 5:24 and 6:14 Paul employed stauroō as a picture of his high standard of personal holiness: “My desire for the things of the world has been crucified,” or “The power of such has been destroyed, put to death” (author’s translations). In 6:14 Paul made an appeal to those who would futilely try to “glory” in the Law, to embrace “the cross of . . . Christ,” as he had done (verse 14), and to glory in the victory of the Cross by means of which the power of the world has been destroyed. (Complete Biblical Library) See the 14 page NIDNTT article on the Cross and Crucify beginning on page 390, - Excerpt - σταυρός G5089 (stauros), stake, cross; σταυρόω G5090 (stauroō), hang upon a cross, crucify; ἀνασταυρόω G416 (anastauroō), crucify; συσταυρόω G5365 (systauroō), crucify with; κρεμάννυμι G3203 (kremannymi), hang. In Galatians Paul uses stauroo in a metaphorical sense to refer to crucifixion of the flesh (as a result of the literal crucifixion) - Galatians 5:24+ Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Friberg says this metaphorical sense of stauroo in Gal 5:24 speaks of "of a believer's renouncing his old sinful way of living to be united to his Lord - crucify, put to death, i.e. be done with. (BORROW Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament) BDAG says that in Gal 5:24 stauroo means "to destroy through connection with the crucifixion of Christ, crucify, a transcendent sense (and in Gal 6:14 refers to) the believer who is inseparably united to the Lord has died on the cross to the kind of life that belongs to this world (BORROW A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament, and other early Christian literature) The perfect tense signifies past completed action (the day my co-crucifixion with Christ became my reality by grace through faith) with present ongoing result or effect (that I continue to be as a dead man to the world's allurements). The perfect tense signifies that the believer's eternal state is that of one crucified with Christ, forever in union with Him (covenant oneness), the One Who is now and forever our life (Col 3:4-note). Zodhiates says that what Paul is saying is that "his regard for his crucified Savior was so great that the world had no more charm for him than the corpse of a crucified malefactor would have had, nor did he take any more delight in worldly things than a person expiring on the cross would do in the objects around him. (Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. AMG) Paul made the cross his boast in that it was his place of "death to self". And in being crucified on the cross with Jesus, Paul at the same time changed his relationship to the world. It was crucified to him, and he was crucified to it. 2Timothy 1:8, 9, 10, 11, 12 are the words of a man to whom the world was crucified; don't you agree? Norman Harrison observes that "God's one way of defeating the world is to crucify it, and with it the "I" to whom the world makes its appeal. As the flesh was crucified jointly with Christ, so likewise the world that works hand in glove with the flesh for my undoing. God's great antithesis is carrying through to care for every point of practical difficulty. I and the world must be separated; so I and the world are set on opposite and opposing sides. If I am on His Side I am not on the world's side. If I am on the world's side, giving my allegiance to the world, I am no longer on His Side; I have denied the cross and the Christ by which and by whom -- both translations are equally permissible -- the separation was effected. I am back on Our Side; there is no middle ground. ("I" CRUCIFIED VERSUS THE WORLD - GALATIANS 6:14-15) Allen (Bethany Bible) has a practical exposition of Galatians 6:14 asking... What did it mean that the world was crucified to him? I believe that it meant he was no longer driven by the world's approval. As far as he was concerned, the world was "crucified" - dead! He didn't care what a dead "thing" said about him. And what's more; not only was the world crucified to him, but he was crucified to the world. What did it mean that he was crucified to the world? It meant that the world still had something of its pull - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life; but it was no longer the driving force of Paul's life. The world would give out its orders to him and try to press him into its mold; but it would fail. It would no more be the guiding principle in his life than it would over a dead man - because he truly was dead; crucified to it through Christ. Jesus said, In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). In what ways was Paul crucified to the world? I can think of three specific ways. First, he was crucified to the world's pull upon him through the lust of the flesh. The world keeps many people prisoner through the pull of the flesh. Its philosophy is, "If it feels good, do it." That, in fact, has become the guiding principle in life for many. but Paul asserted, Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal 5:24, cp Ro 6:8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). Does the world still exercise rule over you through the pull of the flesh? Have you yet been "crucified" to this world by putting to death the deeds of the flesh? Second, Paul was crucified to this world's pull on him through the lust of the eyes. He was willing to suffer the loss of all things on this earth in order to be fully Christ's (cp Php 3:4-note, Php 3:7, 8-note, Php 3:9-note). An attachment to the things of this earth keeps many people prisoner to this world. It's philosophy in this regard, is "He who dies with the most toys wins". Jesus spoke of the foolish man who became prosperous, built up his barns to store his grain, then told his own soul, Take your ease; eat, drink and be merry." But God told him, "'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21). The things of this world did not hold Paul prisoner. He was able to have much or little - to be in poverty or to abound (cp Php 4:11,12-note, Php 4:13-note). It didn't change him. It didn't rule his soul. He could possess the things of this world as God provided them; but they couldn't possess him. He was crucified to the things of this world; and now, his life consisted in Christ and not in them. He wrote, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col 3:1-note, Col 3:2-note, Col 3:3, 4-note). Do the things of this world rule over you? Are the things of this world your "life"? Have you been "crucified" to this world by crucifying "the lust of the eyes"? Third, Paul was crucified to this world's pull through the pride of life. Many are deeply concerned with how others think of them. They are either ruled by the 'fear of man' (Pr 29:25) or they are driven to become feared by men. They longed to be looked up to and respected in the eyes of this world. The "pride of life" expresses itself in the world's motto: "I did it my way". But this didn't have a grip on Paul. He was no longer concerned about what this world thought of him. He embraced and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ wholeheartedly (Ro 1:16-note) - even though the world mocked it, and rejected it, and persecuted him for it. There was a time, during one of his missionary journeys, when he was dragged out of the city (Lystra) he was preaching in, stoned viciously, and left for dead. But then, he immediately got up, and marched back into the very city that had just stoned him (Acts 14:19, 20). On another occasion, he was on his way to preach the gospel in Jerusalem. There were prophets who warned him that imprisonment and trouble awaited him there; and many in the churches were pleading with him not to go. But Paul answered, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord (Acts 21:13). He was not ashamed of the gospel, because he was already "crucified" to the world - and why should a crucified man care what the world says about him? Paul no longer craved respect and honor from this world. He put it this way: The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.' Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (1Cor 1:18, 19, 20). God has made the wisdom of the world all foolish through the cross; and Paul was crucified upon it, with Christ, to the wisdom of this world. Paul lived a crucified life (Gal 2:20-note). He serves as our example. But then, we shouldn't be surprised by this; because Jesus taught this to us long ago when He said, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny (aorist imperative = Do this now!) himself, and take up (aorist imperative = Do this now!) his cross, and follow (present imperative = keep on following) Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:34, 35, 36, 37, 38). [{Editorial Comment: "The first two imperatives are aorist, giving a summary command to be obeyed at once. The “coming after” and the “taking up” are to be obeyed at once and are to be a once-for-all act. That is, these acts are to be looked upon as a permanent attitude and practice of life. The whole life is to be characterized by an habitual coming after and taking up of the cross. After having once for all given over the life to the Lord, the believer must hence-forward count it ever so given over. He is not his own anymore. He belongs to the Lord. He is the Lord’s property. The word “follow” however, is in the present imperative, which commands the doing of an action and its habitual, moment by moment continuance. The first two imperatives give direction to the life. The last speaks of the actual living of that which has been given direction by two once-for-all acts." (Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse) Why does Jesus call us to take up our cross? It's so that we may be crucified upon it to the world (Ed: Wuest "The cross was the instrument of death. Here it speaks of death to self."). And why does He then call us to follow Him with it? It's so that we may then go on to live a crucified life in the midst of this world for His sake. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; would you commit yourself with me, this year, to seek before God to live a crucified life in this world? (Living A Crucified Life, Galatians 6:14) Stauroo - 46x in 42v - Mt 20:19; 23:34; 26:2; 27:22, 23, 26, 31, 35, 38; 28:5; Mark 15:13, 14, 15, 20, 24, 25, 27; 16:6; Luke 23:21, 23, 33; 24:7, 20; John 19:6, 10, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 41; Acts 2:36; 4:10; 1 Cor 1:13, 23; 2:2, 8; 2 Cor 13:4; Gal 3:1; 5:24; 6:14; Rev 11:8 Jesus predicted His own crucifixion... Matthew 20:19 (Lk 24:6, 7) and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up. The cry that will echo throughout eternity is that of the Jews and their leaders to Pilate... Matthew 27:22, 23 (Mark 15:13, 14, Lk 23:21, 23, John 19:6, 15) Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Crucify Him!” And he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they kept shouting all the more, saying, “Crucify Him!” Peter reminded his Jewish audience at Pentecost of the stumbling block of the Cross... Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Paul's primary message was the Cross of Christ... 1Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 1Corinthians 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 2Corinthians 13:4 For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you. LOVE THE WORLD or LOVE THE CROSS World has been crucified to me and I to the world - Dead to me and I to it! Paul in a sense saw the world as if it were nailed to a cross and consequently he considered the world as good as dead and he as good as dead to the world which describes intercrucifixion to use John Eadie's term. You can take all the world but let me have the Cross of Christ...Just give me Jesus... In the morning when I rise, Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. Give me Jesus. (Play this song - one of my all time favorites) Richison - "Paul looks at the world as if he were on the cross and that is the way the world looks at him. Paul looks at the world as though he were dead to his aspirations. The greater the glory of the cross looked to him, the less the world attracted him. When our soul feeds on the cross, it closes down our heart for the world. The more our heart feeds on the world, the less our hearts care about the cross. (Galatians 6:14 - Bible Exposition Commentary) John Piper writing that in the life of the great Puritan John Bunyan (Pilgrim's Progress) - Death to the world was the costly corollary of life to God. The visible world died to Bunyan. He lived on “God that is invisible.” Increasingly this was Bunyan’s passion from the time of his conversion as a young married man to the day of his death when he was sixty years old. (The Hidden Smile of God - Online Book) John