Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Do works play any part in the acquiring of eternal salvation. Does Galatians 6:6-10 say this? Well, you’ve tuned in to Grace in Focus. We come to you five times per week and we’re glad you’re with us today. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society located in North Texas. We have a website, it is faithalone.org. We also have a free online seminary, Grace Evangelical Seminary. You can get information at that website. We invite you to apply to study with us and if you do, you’ll be ready to join us at the beginning of next semester. So visit our website, faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s discussion, here is Bob Wilkin, along with Sam Marr. 

SAM: All right, Bob, we have a question from one of our seminary students. A really good question from Anne. She says kindly explain to me the real meaning of Galatians 6:7-10, which looks like a works-based salvation. 

BOB: Okay, we could probably start in verse 6 because 6 through 10 is kind of, you know, a whole context. Could you read those verses and then we’ll walk through and explain it, but she’s, Anne’s asking a great question. 

SAM: Starting in verse 6, “Let him who has taught the words share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows that he will also reap for he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, if we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” 

BOB: Okay, so if you’re reading along in your Bibles and if you’re driving, don’t pull your Bible out. But if you’re at home and you can look notice how verses 6 and 10 are more or less parallel. “Let him who has taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.” This is basically the idea that if you’re in a church and you have a pastor and you have elders, then you are to provide for their support, you’re to share good things with them. 

And verse 10 is similar. In verse 10 he says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those of the household of faith.” So our priority is going to be fellow believers. I love the way Paul puts it here, the household of faith. And within that, you know, it’s going to be our immediate family and especially those who teach us the word. 

But then we’re also to do good to all. And so that would include unbelievers as well. But in 7, 8 and 9, basically what Paul is talking about here is the sowing and reaping principle. You get this all through the Old Testament, you get it all through the Gospels, you get it all through the epistles. You get it in the book of Revelation. And that is, what we sow in this life, we reap in this life. And what we sow in this life, we’re going to reap in the life to come. That’s true for the unbeliever and it’s true for the believer. Now here he’s talking about believers. 

And you have to understand the book of Galatians to know what he’s talking about when he talks about sowing. How does he put it—according to the flesh? He who sows to the flesh? 

SAM: To his flesh. 

BOB: And then he who sows to his Spirit? In the book of Galatians, sowing to the flesh or the flesh does not refer to someone in rebellion against God. This isn’t a person who’s like the prodigal son wasting all his inheritance on ungodly living. Instead, this is a legalist. This is a person influenced by the Judaizers of Galatians 1:6-9. Look at Galatians 5:4 that you’ve fallen from grace if you’re seeking to be justified by law. 

So the person who’s walking according to the flesh is one who’s trying to be justified by law. And what it’s saying is that person is going to reap loss or destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will reap everlasting life. 

The reason Anne’s question is so good is because it doesn’t talk about everlasting life as a present possession, right? This is a possible future possession. John 3:16, it’s present. “For God so loves the world, He gave his only begotten son, whoever believes in Him will not perish, but”, present tense, “has everlasting life.” Same thing. John 6:47, “He who believes in Me”, present tense, “has everlasting life.” John 5:24, “has everlasting life.” 

So what is it with this future reaping of eternal life? There are about, I’m not sure how many passages that talk about eternal life as a possible future reward. I can think of about five. One of them is Matthew 19:29, where Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all and he would have treasure in heaven. And Peter says, we’ve done that. We’ve left everything. We’ve given up everything and followed You. What do we get? And he said in this life, you’re getting 10,000 times as much and in the life to come, you’re going to inherit everlasting life. Well, that’s a fullness of everlasting life. 

You have something similar in 1 Timothy 6 where Paul tells Timothy to “lay hold on eternal life.” Well, Timothy already had eternal life, but he’s to lay hold on the future, the possible future of it. And later on in Galatians 6, he tells the rich to store up a good foundation for eternal life. And here in this passage, Galatians 6:8, I think the point is clear that if we sow to the Spirit, we will reap a full experience of eternal life. And by the way, I think this is parallel to Galatians 5:19-21, that “those who sow to the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God.” And inheriting the kingdom of God isn’t getting in, it’s ruling and reigning in the life to come. And so when you come over here to Galatians 6:8, the person who sows to the flesh is not going to rule and reign, but the person who sows to the Spirit will. 

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BOB: And even at the Great White Throne Judgment, books are opened and they’re evaluated according to their deeds, Revelation 20, verses 12 and 13, and they’re going to receive degrees of torment in the lake of fire depending on what they did. We will receive degrees of fullness of life and fullness of joy depending on what we did. 

SAM: So I have a question for you. I’ve been sitting here thinking, I don’t know how you can read verse 8 and I’m not being facetious. I’m genuinely, if I was like a lordship salvation person, how would I read this and understand how much do I need to sow to reap everlasting life? If doing a good work is sowing to the Spirit, do I only have to do one good work to receive one everlasting life? 

BOB: Great question. And by the way, don’t a lot of people in lordship salvation or Arminianism say that I’m saved now. And if I persevere, I’ll keep it. Or if I may be saved now and if I persevere, I’ll prove I have it. But what this is saying is, you don’t have this yet. You can’t have it yet. Notice what verse 9 says.  Good point. Let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season, we shall reap what? 

SAM: If we do not lose heart. 

BOB: Yeah. So what happens if we lose heart? Then we don’t reap. 

SAM: We don’t reap. 

BOB: Yeah. And by the way, that fits a whole lot of other passages. That’s why I’m glad you brought this up. 2 Timothy 2:12. “If we endure, we will reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will deny us.” Verse 8 isn’t saying if I sow to the Spirit for 10 minutes, I’m going to reap everlasting life. 

SAM: 10 minutes of everlasting life. 

BOB: Yeah, 10 minutes, what I get. Yeah. No. What it means is if I sow to the Spirit to the end of my life or the Rapture, whatever death or the Rapture, whatever comes first, then I am going to reap everlasting life. I can’t grow weary, verse 9. Because if I lose heart, then I’m not going to rule and reign. 

That fits lots of other passages. Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 24:45-51. He talked about this servant that was doing well, feeding his fellow servants. He was just doing great. He was ready to be made ruler over all the Lord had. And then he said, my Lord delays his coming and he began to drink with the drunkards and beat his fellow servants. And the Lord rebuked him and he didn’t get to rule and reign. 

And that parable illustrates the same principle—we’ve got to endure to the end. So many people in Christianity confuse perseverance for reward and perseverance for eternal life. This is perseverance for eternal life, but not just having it, it’s having it fully. We already have everlasting life. And we know we have everlasting life because of verses like John 3:16. 

SAM: Yeah. And this is also coming at the end of the book of Galatians, which we don’t have enough time to go over the whole book. But the whole idea of verse 9 says, let us not go weary while doing good. So this book teaches us that doing good does not earn you a place in heaven. It doesn’t earn you everlasting life. He makes it very clear—the law, which essentially is do good, do right by God, follow, you know, the commandments of God. That is not what grants everlasting life. It’s belief in Jesus Christ for it. 

So why would Paul then end this letter with, keep doing good and then you might earn your way into heaven or you might earn your everlasting life? It’s completely—

BOB: It would contradict everything.

SAM: to the entire book. So clearly this has to be talking about what are we doing good for? And I think you’re right. This is the everlasting life in the sense of a reward to come, not, you know, I don’t even have it yet. 

BOB: Yeah. By the way, Hodges calls this a full-orbed experience of eternal life. And that’s what he says in his discussion of this. By the way, could you read Galatians 2:15 and 16? Because it says exactly what you just said. 

SAM: “We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Said it like two or three times in just those two verses. 

BOB: Over and over. It’s not by works of law. It’s by faith in Christ. Anne implies it with her question. It seems to contradict earlier in the book. It seems to contradict the gospel of John. Whenever you see a seeming contradiction, you realize you’re looking at it wrong. 

I used an illustration once. I said, let’s say a quarterback falls back to throw a pass and his name is John Smith. And he throws the pass way down field and 80 yards later John Smith catches it for a touchdown. What would you conclude? Either John Smith can run like the wind or there’s two people on the roster with the exact same name and one’s the quarterback and one’s a wide receiver. Well, in this case, when you see everlasting life, that’s not something we have now, you know this is talking about something different than the present experience of it. 

So, Anne great question. Glad you’re in the seminary. Hope you’re enjoying it. And all of you, I would hope that you would consider taking classes in our seminary because it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn and our donors make it possible for you to go at no expense as long as you maintain a B average. 

Well, thanks so much, and let’s remember, Sam, to keep grace in focus. 

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Thank you, friend, for joining us all this week. Now we wish you a pleasant weekend. Maybe have some time to relax, have some fun. Don’t forsake the assembly. Come back and join us next time and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.