SOWING AND REAPING, planting and harvesting, are
procedures well-known to most of mankind, so they are a fruitful source of
figures to describe the course of spiritual affairs. Most of us use them
to illustrate only one point: whatsoever anyone sows, that shall he reap
(Gal.6:7). It is a fact that every plant produces that which springs from
its seed and nothing else. Not from thorns are grapes culled, nor from
star-thistles, figs (Matt.7:16). And you cannot harvest wheat if you plant
barley. But there are divine operations which do not accord with natural
processes. In resurrection, for instance, it is sown in corruption, in
dishonor, infirmity, a soulish body, but it is roused in incorruption, in
glory, in power, a spiritual body, God is not limited by the laws of
nature.
God has ordained that this natural law should be
reversed in His service. Paul, who sowed spiritual seed in his hearers,
had a right to expect a harvest of fleshly or material things (1
Cor.9:11). All who sow the spirit have this right, even if they do not use
it, and notwithstanding it is contrary to the laws of nature. Those who
are announcing the evangel sow no seed for the sustenance of their flesh,
nevertheless they may live of the evangel. Paul did not take advantage of
this so that he might make the evangel without expense. He was
constrained, no doubt, by the grace which pervades the evangel, and
imitated God in making it utterly free and undeserved. It may seem strange
at first sight, but here we have a harvest entirely different than the
seed, and much inferior to it in quality and value.
"Sowing and reaping" is popularly used in the so-called
"gospel" in order to frighten sinners into repentance. But to me it seems
not only unscriptural but unfortunate. Men are turned inward to
themselves, where there is no good news to be found. It is generally
insisted that those who do evil will have a bad harvest. But we are
surrounded on all sides with men who sow corruption and reap incorruptible
gold. This law is by no means enforced at all times in this life in a
general sense. The wicked prosper and the saints suffer. The evangel is
not concerned with the works of men, but with the attitude of God. It
heralds His conciliation, it proclaims that God is not reckoning their
offenses to men (2 Cor.5:19). But it gives no guarantee that they will not
reap what they have already sown in this life.
It is the saints that the apostle warned that
"whatsoever a man may be sowing, that shall he be reaping also" (Gal.6:7).
The Galatians were going back to circumcision and the law and the flesh,
when they should have been taken up with the spirit. The long and
sorrowful history of the chosen nation should have taught them what the
law and the flesh can accomplish. The law only condemns. The flesh only
corrupts. He gives two lists, one the works of the flesh, the other those
of the spirit. The former is a catalogue of crimes; the latter a list of
virtues (Gal.5:19-26). This is the context of the popular passage on
sowing and reaping. Those who use it in the evangel imply that it is
abrogated for such as believe the gospel. On the contrary, this experience
only begins after one becomes reconciled to God.
The figure is expanded as follows: he who is sowing for
his own flesh, from the flesh shall be reaping corruption, yet he who is
sowing for the spirit, from the spirit shall be reaping life eonian
(Gal.6:8). Nothing is said of the seed sown. Our attention is
concentrated on the soil in which it is planted. The question is, shall
we plant our seed in flesh or spirit. It is the quality of the soil on
which all depends. We might reason that the harvest of corruption from the
flesh must come from corrupt deeds. But that is not the point. The
important fact is that the flesh is mortal, corrupting, and can not
produce a plant or a harvest. It has no vital elements on which the seed
can grow, so it rots in the ground. On the contrary, the spirit is vital
with life and energy, and this it imparts to the seed, which, by continual
reproduction, lives for the eons.
It is sad to see so much good seed sown into the flesh
today. The churches themselves cater more to the flesh than the spirit.
With their magnificent buildings and colored windows, their great organs
and professional singing, their institutional plant and work, modern
churches are sowing their billions of money into the flesh. Their
buildings will burn or decay, their singers will die and their catering
and calisthenics will perish. And even the seed sown into the spirits of
their congregations, how little of it is vitalized by God's spirit! How
little remains for life eonian! Alas! this is true, in some degree, of all
His saints. The measure depends upon their estimate of the flesh. The end
of all this is corruption. But those who sow into the spirit, they shall
reap, not much in this life, perhaps, but an abundant harvest in the life
to come.
I have had some experience along this line. I planted a
hillside with the best of seed, but the soil was of such a nature that
hardly anything came up. The seed rotted rather than sprouted. Other seed
I sowed on soil washed down from a nearby canyon, which made a vigorous
growth in a few weeks. All soils are not the same. Not many are rich in
all the minerals and vital elements needed by the human body, hence they
cannot impart these to the plants and fruits and seeds on which we depend
for sustenance and life. When these are further processed and prepared and
packaged for the public, many more of the vital elements are destroyed.
Hence, even if we overeat, we may not be properly nourished. This is one
of the curses of our way of life. No one would plant a crop in soil like
the law, in which the seeds would rot in the ground. Yet, in religious
spheres, the flesh and the law are the favorite fields for cultivation,
even though they yield nothing but corruption.
We should remember that sowing and reaping are not the
ideal for life on the earth. The animals do not need to perform this
labor. Adam, in Eden, did not sow or reap, so far as we are told. I have,
no doubt that, when the eons are past, this will no longer be necessary.
In the spiritual sphere we should be beyond it already. Even our Lord's
disciples were encouraged to look to their heavenly Father, and not to
worry about such things. This, of course, looked forward to the kingdom,
when the weather will be regulated for their benefit. Today governments
have an elaborate system which seeks to foretell climatic conditions, but
can do nothing about it. They, however, will have a government which can
control the weather, which is so important a part in producing a crop.
Today there is no help of this kind. The saint has no guarantee that he
will get any crop at all, though it be from the best of soil, but he has
the higher assurance that even such an evil is cooperating for his
welfare.
Other aspects of sowing and reaping are also used as
contrasts with the spiritual sphere. Usually the one who sows, reaps also.
But our Lord pointed out that His disciples were to reap the toil of
others. The prophets sowed and did not reap. John the Baptist saw little
fruit from his ministry. Our Lord sowed, but looked to the conclusion of
the eon for the harvest (Matt.13:39). Yet there was a harvest already
ripe, and our Lord commissioned His disciples to reap it (John 4:37,38).
In keeping with the two accounts, Matthew's harvest will be national, that
in John's account was individual.
How thankful we should be that God is not bound by
natural laws! Otherwise, what would our harvest be? Have we not sown
mostly in the flesh? What measure of life can come from a dying, decaying,
degenerating organism? All we can logically expect is corruption and
death. What a mercy it would be if we were rejuvenated with the life and
health that some men enjoy in their prime! It would be far beyond our
deserts to be restored to the adamic condition in Eden. But, being under
grace, not under law, the only measure of the height of our exaltation is
the depth of our degradation. In resurrection we reap incorruption from
corruption, glory from dishonor, power from infirmity, a spiritual from a
soulish body. That is the best crop that was ever raised! Spirit can
vivify the worst of soils!
In bringing the evangel, let us point the sinner away
from himself and his deeds to God and what He has done in Christ. There is
no good news to be told about man in the flesh. It is all bad. There is no
power in such a message. But an exultant presentation of God's love as
displayed in the gift of His beloved Son, and His sacrifice for sin on
Golgotha, so that He is now on friendly terms with every man, no matter
what kind of a crop he has sown, or what evil he may be reaping on
account of it, that message has power and will be used by God for His
own glory and the blessing of men.
One of the main defects in the evangelical preaching of
today is the contradictory presentation of an angry God vs. a loving
Saviour. Evangelists have nothing clear to say about God's attitude toward
men while still in unbelief. It is as if God will not make the first
move, but expects the sinner to do this. He holds over him the rod of His
wrath in order to frighten him into faith. It is a miracle that anyone
responds. Unless God changes His attitude as a result of the sinner's
"repentance," He would still be on the point of casting him into hell
fire.
The idea that God changes His attitude toward the
sinner when he believes has led to many unscriptural and harmful
practices. Earnest prayer is made to God to change, instead of beseeching
the sinner to be conciliated, this places the Deity into an entirely false
position, and is a hindrance to the evangel rather than a help. It
entirely denies the very essence of the good news, which is that God has
been conciliated by the death of His Son. His attitude does not need to
be altered by the petition of the sinner or his friends.
The "gospel" is not concerned with reaping what we have
sown. It is the power of God, so that we reap what we have not sown. It
is only in the walk of the saints that the figure has any application
today, and the question is principally one of the soil, whether we sow in
the flesh or spirit, the flesh in the believer is no better than in the
unbeliever. It cannot impart life to anything. All it can do is
contaminate and corrupt and discourage those whose spirit is wanting to do
well. But we should not be despondent in ideal doing, for in due season we
shall be reaping, if we do not faint (Gal.6:9). Let us look forward to
that day when those who have sown with weeping will reap with jubilation
(Psa.126:5).
