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Gal_6:8. Ground assigned for the foregoing proposition. “So it is, since in fact the two opposite sorts of ground which receive the seed will also yield two opposite kinds of harvest.” In the words ὃ ἐὰν σπείρῃ ἄνθρ . τοῦτο κ . θερίσει Paul, as was required by the matter which he would figuratively present (evil—good), has conceived two different classes of seed, with two sorts of recipient soil likewise essentially different; one class comprises all the kinds of seed which are sown to a man’s own flesh, the other class includes all those which are sown to the Holy Spirit. He who scatters the former class of seeds, and therefore sows to his own flesh, will from this soil, which he has furnished with the corresponding seed, reap corruption, etc. Therefore we have not here any alteration in the figure, by which Paul leaves the description of the seed, and passes over to that of the soil (Rückert, Hofmann, according to whom it is only this alteration which explains the connection with Gal_6:6), but a proof that the state of the case, in accordance with the two kinds of soil which come into view, will not be other than is said in Gal_6:7. Observe the ὅτι , for the most part neglected by expositors, which is not explanatory, but causative (“quoniam,” Vulgate).
ὁ σπείρων εἰς τ . σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ ] that is, he who is minded and acts so that his own flesh—his sinfully-determined corporeo-psychical nature (comp. Gal_5:16 f.)—is the element conditioning and prompting his thoughts and actions. ἑαυτοῦ is added, because afterwards an objective principle, τὸ πνεῦμα , is opposed to this selfish subjective principle.[256] The idea that εἰς τ . σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ applies to circumcision (Pelagius, Schoettgen; comp. Rückert and also Usteri) is entirely foreign to the context.
φθοράν ] corruption, destruction (Rom_8:21; Col_2:22; 2Pe_2:12; LXX. Psa_102:4; Wis_14:12; Thuc. ii. 47; Plat. Pol. viii. p. 546 A; and frequently), that is, here, in accordance with the contrast of ζωὴ αἰώνιος , the eternal ἀπώλεια .[257] But the suggestion that ΦΘΟΡΆΝ is used in reference to the corruptibility of the flesh (Winer, Schott, Reithmayr, and others; comp. also Chrysostom and Theodoret) cannot be entertained, because the true Christians who die before the παρουσία partake the lot of corruption, and the point of time for the harvest is conceived as not earlier than the nearly approaching ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑ (Gal_6:9), in which either ΦΘΟΡΆ or ΖΩῊ ΑἸΏΝΙΟς will be the result of the judgment. According to de Wette, Paul has chosen this expression in order to denote the perishableness of carnal aims, and at the same time their destructive consequences for the soul. This is arbitrary. The general idea of φθοράν obtains its more precise definition simply from ΖΩῊΝ ΑἸΏΝ . Comp. 1Co_3:17; 2Pe_2:12.
Ὁ ΔῈ ΣΠΕΊΡΩΝ ΕἸς ΤῸ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ] No more than in chap. 5 does ΤῸ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ here mean the higher nature of man (Rückert, Schott, and most expositors; also Ernesti Urspr. d. Sünde, I. p. 60, II. p. 90 f.), but (so also Wieseler and Hofmann) it denotes the Holy Spirit. Jerome aptly remarks, that for this very reason Paul did not again add ἑαυτοῦ (which Ernesti would arbitrarily again supply). The less, therefore, the ground for misapplying the passage in favour of the meritoriousness of good works. The sense, when divested of figure, is: “he who is minded and acts so that the Holy Spirit is the element which determines and prompts him.”
ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος θερίσει κ . τ . λ .] At the ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑ . See also Rom_8:11; Rom_8:15-17; 2Co_5:5; Eph_1:14. ΦΘΟΡΆ and ΖΩῊ ΑἸΏΝΙΟς are conceived as the two kinds of produce which shall have sprung up from the two different sorts of recipient soil.
[256] Luther (1519 and 1524), with strange arbitrariness, holds that Paul desires to obviate the thought “de seminatione masculi in carnem feminae.” But in 1533 he consistently abides by the reference to the attitude towards the teachers, and explains: “qui nihil communicat ministris verbi, sed se solum bene pascit et curat, id quod caro suadet,” etc. Comp. Calovius and others; also Hofmann: he who applies that which he possesses to his own flesh, in order to gratify its desires. We may add that the Encratites made use of our passage (see Jerome) as a ground for rejecting sexual intercourse and marriage; holding that he who takes a wife sows to the flesh, etc.
[257] The same thought is expressed in Rom_8:13 : εἰ κατὰ σάρκα ζῆτε , μέλλετε ἀποθνήσκειν . Comp. ver. 23.