SCRIPTURE Galatians 6:7–9 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  

COMMENTARY Paul wrote to the believers in Galatia that what we will reap [future tense] is based on what we sow to (either to the flesh or to the Holy Spirit) with the two outcomes being either “corruption” (which we know is spiritual death) or “life everlasting” (eternal life).  Corruption (Greek phthora) is “loss of salvation.”   He specifically warns us not to give up, and encourages us that we will reap eternal life if we do not give up (“faint”).  That is another conditional statement: “if we do not give up”. Notice also the contrast here: corruption with eternal life.

But it is critical to understand this choice can only be a choice of believers for the unsaved person does not have the Holy Spirit and does not have the choice to sow to the Holy Spirit.  Notice that in both the English and the Greek two outcomes are contrasted. Corruption is the antithesis of eternal life just as the flesh is the antithesis of the Spirit.

This is yet another conditional statement about the requirement of faithfully enduring and sowing to the Spirit.