Galatians 6:7-8 7Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8For 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.
Paul now warns the Galatians about being deceived. The false teachers who had come to Galatia were deceiving the churches with a wrong interpretation of the gospel. Righteousness is not about what a person does to follow a law, such as circumcision. What matters is faith expressing itself through love. Paul links being deceived with mocking God. Mocking has the connotation of ridicule or disregard in the form of turning up one’s nose in contempt. It is one of the extremes of pride and arrogance. By attempting to follow one’s own interpretation of the gospel (heresy) or by defining truth in one’s own way (relativism), a person is actually mocking God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Living to please the flesh opens one to such pride and may lead to arrogance. The answer to this is humble submission to the Holy Spirit.
Paul supports this idea and explains it further in two ways. The first is the logical proverb, whatever a person sows or plants, that is what will grow and produce a harvest. A person does not plant beans and harvest corn. The application is given in the second support as Paul compares living the by the flesh and living by the Holy Spirit. If people live in selfishness and pride by following the way of the flesh and seeking to fulfill distorted desires, they will reap corruption. This word can mean deterioration and ruin. It gives the image of something rotting away. The works of the flesh may at first promise happiness and fulfillment, but this is a false promise and lie and will only lead to problems. Eventually, the outcome is judgment, condemnation, and death (Romans 6:23).
The best alternative is to sow to the Spirit. In the Greek, the preposition to (eis) can mean “towards” or “with the goal of.” God’s purpose for us in this life is to be filled with his Spirit and walk with the Spirit in the obedience of faith. If we make this our purpose and how we make our daily decisions, we will reap eternal life. The outcome of listening to the Spirit is eternal life. This is the great promise of the new life in Christ. This phrase encompasses the primary purpose Paul writes this letter. He wants the Galatians to have eternal life. They only way they will experience this is by putting their faith in Christ and not in themselves or any law or regulation. The way of eternal life is through grace. We participate in this grace through faith and by following the way of love, which the Holy Spirit will teach us.
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