We are sowing unto the Spirit when we walk according to the Spirit, setting our mind on the spirit. We also are freed from the law of sin and of death, spontaneously fulfilling the requirement of the law and bringing forth fruit of the Spirit. “He who sows unto his own flesh will reap corruption of the flesh, but he who sows unto the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life” (6:8). When the believers sow unto the Spirit, they reap of the Spirit in their living.
In Galatians 6:8 the Greek word translated “unto” has the meaning “with a view to,” implying that a certain matter is our aim. To sow unto our flesh is to have our own flesh as the aim. To sow unto the Spirit is to sow for the accomplishment of the Spirit’s aim, that is, to have the Spirit as our aim. Hence, the Spirit should not only be our life and walk but also the aim of our living. Whatever we do must be done with a view toward this aim. We should have the Spirit as our unique and eternal aim. In God’s New Testament economy, God, as the Spirit, has given Himself to us; now we should sow unto the Spirit, taking the Spirit as our aim.
Sowing is the sum total of our Christian life. Whatever we do or say is a sowing, either unto the flesh or unto the Spirit. Therefore, it is very important to realize that the Christian life is a life of sowing unto the Spirit.
All our sowing reaps either corruption of the flesh or eternal life of the Spirit; hence, Paul warns us to take care of our sowing. He says, “He who sows unto his own flesh will reap corruption of the flesh” (v. 8). To sow unto our flesh is to sow with the desire and purpose of our flesh in view, to fulfill the coveting of the flesh with the result of corruption. Sowing unto the flesh always produces a harvest of corruption.
In the second half of verse 8 Paul continues, “He who sows unto the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life.” To sow unto the Spirit is to sow with the desire and aim of the Spirit in view, to accomplish what the Spirit desires with the result of eternal life. Eternal life belongs to the Spirit and is the Spirit Himself. If we sow unto the Spirit, we will reap eternal life of the Spirit. To sow unto the Spirit always produces a harvest of eternal life.
The believers also enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity by walking by faith, not by appearance, or sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Appearance denotes that which is seen. The believers regulate their living by faith, not by sight, as testified in Hebrews 11. Second Corinthians 4:18 also says, “We do not regard the things which are seen but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Fallen mankind lives by the things which are seen, but those who enjoy the divine dispensing walk by faith.
The believers enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the divine transformation by living to the Lord. To live to the Lord implies that the believers are the Lord’s possession; based on this fact, they need to live the kind of life He lived, a crucified life. Such a life always puts our outer man to death, terminating our natural man and active being. Hence, to live to the Lord is to no longer live to the self; on the contrary, having been constrained by the love of Christ, who died for us, we live to Him in His resurrection. This proves that we are the Lord’s, that Christ is our Lord, who died to purchase us to Himself.
If we live to the Lord, spontaneously we will walk according to and by the Spirit; that is, our daily walk and living will be according to the Spirit. This means that our walk must be a living regulated by the Holy Spirit in our spirit; that is, the Holy Spirit within our spirit regulates our actions. There are two kinds of walk by the Spirit. The first takes the Spirit as the essence of our living, implying our habitual daily actions. The second takes the Spirit as the path of our way so that we may accomplish God’s purpose, thus reaching the aim of our life on earth; this walk is more regulated than the first.
To walk according to the Spirit is to walk according to the mingled spirit, the believers’ spirit mingled with the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, that is, our spirit regenerated and indwelt by the divine Spirit. This requires us to set our mind constantly on the mingled spirit and to walk according to the mingled spirit; this kind of walk is the highest kind of walk. Thus, we are freed from the law of sin and of death and enjoy the highest law of the Spirit of life in Christ. Spontaneously, we will fulfill the righteous requirement of the law, having a moral standard that far surpasses the demands of the Mosaic law. As the issue of walking by the Spirit, the believers also do not satisfy the lust of the flesh but bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.
Furthermore, we also sow unto the Spirit, taking the Spirit as our aim and reaping of the Spirit in our living. We do not sow unto the flesh to reap corruption of the flesh; rather, we reap eternal life of the Spirit. Fallen mankind lives by sight, but the believers, as those enjoying the divine dispensing, live by faith.