Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Galatians

[Rogue One]

What does it mean to 'reap exactly what you sow'?

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm confused?

[jimwalton]

Job 4.8: "Those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." If you make trouble, you'll get trouble. If you're a rotten person, you'll get a lot of rotten in return.

Proverbs 11.8: "The one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward." Generally speaking (in proverbial terms), the good guy will live a good life.

Proverbs 22.8: "Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity." If you're unfair to people, you're going to be treated roughly in return.

Hosea 10.12: "Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love." Generally speaking (in proverbial terms), if you do what's right, people will respect you.

In Galatians 6.7, where Paul writes, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows," he means...

1. "Don't be deceived." God knows everything. Don't think you can trick Him. Your punishments and rewards will be perfectly fair. There are always consequences, and God will bring them to bear perfectly.
2. "God cannot be mocked." God won’t be fooled by your religious pretense or your good works (the point of Galatians). He won’t be deceived by the masks you wear or the hypocrisy that fools others. No matter how religious you are, or how good, the standards of righteous are based on Christ, not you. You are justified by faith, not by works. Despite your sincerity, if you are sincerely wrong God will hold you accountable. “Mocked” isn’t like standing in front of him going, “Your shirt is stupid” kind of mockery, but mocked in the sense of scorn. People full of their own pride (v. 4), who insist on doing things their own way rather than God's way (living by the law to get into heaven by good works) are scorning God’s word and the Gospel of Christ. It's the typical sense of sin as being autonomous from God and acting as an independent agent instead of living by the Spirit. In that sense it's scorning God, mocking his word.
3. "A man reaps what he sows." Believer and unbeliever alike will be judged fairly. We are ultimately responsible to God. God's reward or judgment is the inevitable fairness that men will receive exactly what they deserve to receive, no more and no less.

Paul then explains it in Gal. 6.8: "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

And then again in Gal. 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."

[Rogue One]

> Paul then explains it in Gal. 6.8: "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

If we have a sinful nature how can we not reap it? What's all this Spirit business about? Sounds a bit new agey doesn't it?

[jimwalton]

The intent of the passage is that our behaviors will often yield somewhat predictable and appropriate results: if you're a jerk, people won't like you. If you're a violent person, people will be violent in return. If you're a nice guy, people will generally treat you well. In the context, Paul is talking about how we treat each other (v. 9-10 bring this out, but it's part of the whole passage from 1-10). He's not really making a comment about our sin nature.

But, since you asked, as far as our sin nature is concerned, no one is punished (reaps) anything because of our sin nature. What we are judged for is how we act (2 Cor. 5.10; Rev. 20.13). We are judged for our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors, not for our inborn nature. We all have the inborn sin nature, but what we are accountable for is how we act on it and what we do with it. Jesus's parables would also speak to this: you are accountable for what you do with what you were given.

> What's all this Spirit business about?

Throughout the whole book, Paul has been talking about what it means to live in the Spirit instead of by our natural desires, propensities, attitudes, and seeing what we can get away with and still be "Christian." I think the theme of the whole book is "Living in the Spirit." So when he's talking about sowing "to peace the Spirit," he's building on what he has said earlier. Life in the Spirit is...

* Living by grace, not by a set of rules. Freedom, not slavery to lists. (1.6; 2.4, 16-21; 3.1-5, 10-14ff.; et al.)
* Living to please God, not people (1.10)
* Gal. 5.5: The way we live comes from the inside of us out, not from outside of us in. The Spirit is in us to give us everything we need for godliness. 2 Pet. 1.3. It’s written on our hearts (2 Cor. 3.3). See, this is the freedom. It doesn’t come from a book, but from a relationship with a living Power inside of us, guiding us (Jn. 16.13), convicting us (Jn. 16.8-11).
* Not indulging the sinful nature, which is contrary to the Spirit (5.16-21).
* Behave with characteristics that show we live above life (5.22-23).
* We live by the Spirit (the divine presence inside of us), not by a set of rules. And we keep step with the Spirit (5.25). Since living by the Spirit is subjective, and since we are not given a list of “how to live by the Spirit,” or even how to find the Spirit, it becomes an issue of daily focus, prayer, and devotion to learn how to find the Spirit, hear him, live by Him, and keep in step with him. We can never let our guard down, because (1) we are always under spiritual attack, (2) our sin nature never stops rearing its ugly head to mislead us, to draw us back to the orientation of self, and to deceive us into thinking we are walking with the Spirit when we are just doing what we want to do, and (3) the Spirit is very difficult to find and follow.

Just because the New Age Movement kidnapped spiritual language doesn't mean we as Christians should abandon it. Pursuing the Spirit, finding his voice, listening well, and living by His guidance are what we are called to do.

[Rogue One]

> Pursuing the Spirit, finding his voice, listening well, and living by His guidance are what we are called to do.

So God basically renews us from the inside out?

Sounds like good news. Especially as it seems the burden put upon us is light and God is the one who does the bulk of the work in us! Phew

Thanks.

I will meditate on that.

[jimwalton]

> So God basically renews us from the inside out?

Yes, yes, YES! Absolutely. It's the process of sanctification. The process of sanctification is a joint project between God and us, but not in equal shares. God does the sanctifying; ours is to live in the Spirit, by faith, with obedience. Phil. 1.6 is all about God’s part, but Phil. 1.6 is not the only text about sanctification, or our place in God’s salvific work. God’s is the sovereign initiative, God is the sanctifier (the only qualified purveyor of holiness), and God is the sustainer who makes it possible for us to endure. But endure we must, as repeated over and over again in the book of Hebrews, as well as Rev. 2-3, and others. As Robertson says, “God began it, and God will consummate it, but not without the believer's cooperation and partnership.”

There are many factors at work—spiritual, circumstantial, and personal—that are part of our spiritual growth, temptations, progress and regress. While we can read more, study more, serve more, worship more fervently, sanctification is the work of God, though I would say that He responds with favor to our acts of faith and obedience. At the same time, we know that an increase in our pursuit of God sometimes means an increase in suffering, persecution, and spiritual attack. All in all, I still think that I cannot control the growth of my own sanctification. It's the work of God in me from the inside out in conjunction with my response to him, and it's not a smooth path.

Often the path of progressive sanctification is trial by fire. We contribute by responding in a godly way, but the process of sanctification in us is God's. It's in that sense we can truly say, "In all things God works for the good of those who love him."

I don't see sanctification as a predictable input/output situation, where if I do X, Y, and Z, then I will be sanctified, or even that I can guarantee spiritual growth. The wind blows where it blows (Jn. 3), and there are no straight lines or predictable input/output situations. While spiritual disciplines can contribute to spiritual growth and spiritual formation, the only guarantee in this scenario is that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion."

[Rogue One]

Right , what if I'm scared that I will make mistakes?

God seems.pretty angry at people in the old testament. Has He changed or what?

I dont want.to be.turned into a pillar of salt.

Is God like cool with me now and will help me or am I supposed to figure stuff out? I still feel like I have to please Him or something?

[jimwalton]

> Right , what if I'm scared that I will make mistakes?

That's where God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness come in. Jesus died for your sins, and He's got you covered. Your mistakes are absorbed into the Cross, and they have been separated from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103.12). Paul says that we've been justified, and that our sins will no longer be held against us (Rom. 8.1).

> God seems.pretty angry at people in the old testament. Has He changed or what?


No, He hasn't changed. He's always ready to judge people who perpetually rebel against Him, and to forgive anyone who turns to Him.

> I dont want.to be.turned into a pillar of salt.

Funny. Lot's wife wasn't turned into a pillar of salt as we're taught in Sunday School. She went back and got caught in the destruction (Lk. 17.28-32). She just couldn't pull away from the life she had there. She didn't just glance over her shoulder—she went back, and died for her decision. Hers wasn't just a mistake—she turned and went back to Sodom.

> Is God like cool with me now and will help me or am I supposed to figure stuff out?

Both. God is working in you (Phil. 2.13), but you are also working out your own salvation (Phil. 2.12). It's a partnership of love. He will help change you on the inside: learning strength, wisdom, patience, His will and His ways, and His heart. You have to partner with Him to make the changes: stop indulging the sin in you, turn away from things that tempt you, work on learning to think differently, etc.

> I still feel like I have to please Him or something?

Yes you do. But I WANT to please the one I love.