02.18. ESSAY NO. 18

ESSAY NO. 18

Paul teaches that a perpetual struggle between the flesh and the spirit takes place within Christians. The stubborn flesh, though ideally crucified &$ a hopeless law-breaker, wages in practical life a lingering battle. It insists that Christian liberty grants it indulgences, incompatible with spiritual living. In our studies of Paul’s rebuttal, we are now to hear his answer to the clamor of flesh that it has right to money that belongs to the Spirit. What Christians do with their money is pivotal. They must not be covetous and illiberal.

Sowing and Reaping A passage to Galatia and one to Corinth, two of Paul’s great Scriptures on a Christian’s use of money, both teach the correspondence between sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:6-10 stresses the truth that the harvest must agree with the seed sown in kind; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 the supplementary truth that the harvest will be pro­portional to the seed sown in quantity. "He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully . . . -And he that supplieth seed for the sower and bread for food (in nature), shall supply and multiply your seed for sow­ing (in religion), and increase the fruit of your right­eousness: ye being enriched unto all liberality." This scripture teaches that God’s work done in God’s way, shall never lack God’s supplies; that one who really desires to give shall never be denied the privilege and blessing of giving. What an opportunity! Why be stingy? Is it reasonable to trust the seed, the soil, and the sun, yet not trust the word of their faithful Maker and Governor? As if to guard against a misunderstanding of "each man shall bear his own burden" that would lead to illiberality, Paul follows it with: "But let him that is taught in the word, communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for what a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life." Although this passage deals primarily with material support for teachers, it also has a much broader scope. In view of "the works of the flesh," which he has just enumer­ated, Paul means to tell the Galatians that "the flesh" is a dangerous enemy so resourceful and irreconcilable that it must not be pampered, but rather be turned over to the executioner for crucifixion; that to allow it to spend money on its own pleasure that should be used in spreading the gospel is to reap corruption; that only after it is curbed can they sow to the Spirit and reap life eternal; that eternal-life is contingent upon continuance in well-doing, preferably to Chris­tians, though others are not excluded.

Sowing and reaping is truly a solemn matter. In the field of destiny, nations and individuals reap as they sow. The condition of the world today shows that God is not mocked. The world has sown to the flesh, and is now reaping the inevitable destruction and desolation. As for men, the present determines eternity. According to God’s wise and inviolable decree, flesh is flesh, and can never evolve into spirit. Grapes are not to be gath­ered from thorns. The flesh, anywhere, is a marvelously deceitful and diligent architect of misery and ruin. Now as ever, the flesh in the church is its weakness and frustration. The Galatians are not the last Chris­tians to begin in the Spirit, only to be bewitched into finishing in the flesh. The flesh is unbelievably adept in simulating the Spirit. Many things that seem to many Christians to be of the Spirit are of the flesh, and must therefore reap corruption. "God is not mocked."

Concerning this subject, we need to be on our guard against materialism and determinism. The superlative good news of all time is that the personal God of providence proposes to intervene between sowing and reaping that the harvest of flesh need not come to the full. God’s offer of pardon and repair constitute Chris­tianity. God, the Maker of the law of sowing and reaping, arrests its operation in this world, and prom­ises more than completely to correct all injury man has suffered, by giving him a spiritual body at the resurrection. All this is but God lawfully exercising his sovereign liberty in grace. "He hath not dealt with us after our sins" (Psalms 103:10). Did Joseph’s brothers reap all they sowed? Christ did not say to the thief dying at his side, "You have sown tares, now reap tares." Paul’s "if" in "if we faint not" gives light. If the Galatians ceased sowing to the Spirit, the harvest would fail. Likewise, if men cease sowing to the flesh, corruption is arrested in time, and life wholly spiritual is reaped in eternity. But even sins forgiven leave scars that remain until death.

Double Crucifixion In the close of his letter to the Galatians, Paul draws a sharp contrast between himself and the Judaizers. He offers as proof of his strong, unselfish, personal attachment the fact that he, apparently with excep­tional procedure and discomfort, writes them in his own handwriting (Galatians 6:11). Contrariwise, the selfish, insincere Judaizers have no personal interest in them whatsoever. By having Gentile Christians circumcised, they cannot only escape the bitter, unrelenting perse­cution of orthodox Jews, but also build themselves up as able, skillful founders and leaders of a new Jewish sect. They have no intention of burdening their party with the whole, wearisome law; the crux, circumcision, will suffice. Paul’s blunt, unreserved expose of these time-serving politicians and hypocrites with their re­ligion, based, as are all religions except pure Christian­ity, on law, flesh, and human merit, surely is enough to cause leaders of the church today to probe their souls for the inspiration of their leadership and activ­ities.

"They desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified to me, and I to the world." In this incisive language, Paul gives his interpretation of Christianity. The cross was to Paul, Christ’s invitation, "Come, die with me." The glory of the crucified, risen Lord blinded Paul to the world physically three days, and spiritually forever. Accord­ing to the flesh, it was the end of Paul; he attended his own funeral! To him it was a choice between the church and the world—one or the other, not both. "I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ" (Php 3:8). The cross speaks of death and separation, without compromise, It divides mankind into the spiritual church and the fleshly world.