Living by Faith - Galatians

Communicating

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Living by Faith

Lesson: 18-19

Genre: Talk

Track: 18

Dictation Name: Tape 09B

Location/Venue:

Year: ?

Let us worship God. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth; seeing we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, we come unto Thee mindful of all Thy blessings and the certainty of Thy government. We thank Thee that as we face a troubled and an evil generation that we have the knowledge that we have been called to be kings, priests, and prophets in Jesus Christ; that we have a calling to exercise dominion and to rule, and that all things are in due time to be put under Christ’s feet. Give us grace therefore as we face this world to know that it is judged, that it shall be remade, and that Jesus Christ governs even in these troubled times. Grant oh Lord that we move in terms of Thy purpose, and become more than conquerors through Christ our king. In His name we pray, amen.

Our scripture is from Galatians 6:6-10, our subject: Communicating. Galatians 6:6-10.

“6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8 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.

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

As we have already seen, Paul’s language is an important fact in itself. Paul used words in their most telling meaning. For example, to cite a usage which is important in terms of this passage, in 1 Timothy 5:17 Paul says that Elders or Presbyters or Bishops who rule well must be accounted worthy of double honor. Now the word in Greek which is translated as honor means value, price paid, and salary; so that Paul is saying that all who labor worthily in the ministry of the word are worthy of double honor. Other passages make it clear that all those who are in a teaching ministry of any kind are to be so honored; double pay. This of course militates very much against the grain of our Manichean era, where like the Manicheans we feel that to be spiritual you must divorce yourself from everything material and practical. One of the things that I find constantly is that people will call me up and expect me to go across country to speak, and even to volunteer my services, and when it comes to being paid: “Well, it’s for the Lord’s work.” I’m supposed to sacrifice, as though what I am doing is not the Lord’s work. That is so routine that it is almost invariable.

Well, all of this is relevant to what Paul is saying here, because he says: “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.”

Now the word ‘communicate’, ‘koinoneo’ means ‘to give a share too.’ Honor and communicate thus mean to reward financially; to reward financially those who teach us. They are thus very different from the meanings we have given to these words, we have spiritualized them away. Without the proper financial reward in any area of life, communication and honor break down. Try working for somebody who does not pay you, or pays you poorly, and see how long there is a communication between you, or any honor of his position.

Paul’s meaning includes both the meaning we have, honor and communication, and financial pay, and this is grounded on a respect for God’s law. Paul is emphatic on this more than once, as for example in 1 Corinthians 9:9-11, where he writes: “For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?”

Paul says this case law of the Bible that the ox is worthy of some reward from the grain he treads out, applies to people essentially, it is case law. It means that the laborer is worthy of his hire. So he says: ‘I’ve sown spiritual things wherever I have gone. What’s so remarkable about my reaping some material things? I am entitled to them.’ So Paul is emphatic again and again on this point, and our day is guilty of downplaying this, as though a man should sacrifice and work for next to nothing, if it is some spiritual cause.

Paul strikes against this emphatically. The law he cites in this passage I just read is Deuteronomy 25:4. In 1 Timothy 5:18 he cites it again. Related laws are Leviticus 19:13 and Deuteronomy 24:14. Paul does not recognize the modern distinction between for-profit and non-profit work. The simple fact of God’s law is that if we derive benefits from someone’s work, we own him honor, communication, material reward. Those who are taught must provide monetary reward or respect to those who teach them. It is a part of the modern romantic movement that sacrifice is best, and artists and ministers, and anyone that works in any noble cause should starve. Martin Luther spotted this attitude as far back as 1535 when commenting on verses 6-7 he spoke sharply against all who believe that pastors or priests should be half starved, that they should be continually sacrificing, and that they were not holy men unless they were drastically underpaid. He said those who believed that underpaying was best were ungodly. Poor pay, in other words, is bad communication. In our time, tragically, the word communication is associated with talk, and that is all; as though talk is the sum total of communication. That is why we have a communication gap in our time, we don’t render to men what is their due, and then we wonder why there is poor communication between the classes, and between individuals.

The popular slogan of a few years ago which was the summation of a belief that, here was the answer to everything, was this: “let’s rap together.” And rap sessions were set up in churches, on campus, in business, everywhere, as though this consisted of communication, and all they had to do was have a rap session and things would be solved. But this is rubbish. The Greek word ‘Koinonea’ which is at the root of the word here translated as communication, has a root meaning common, having something in common. Communion pushes the idea to its limits. Paul uses it always in the religious sense of fellowship with God in Christ through the atonement, as in 1 Corinthians 10:16. It is spiritual communication because it is in the Holy Spirit who is the creator and the governor of creation.

Now Paul, having said that those who teach deserve good communication, goes on to say: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Paul says God judges all false, all evil communication; that is all false or poor pay. God is not mocked. The word ‘mocked’ again is an interesting word, it means turning up your nose with disdain at something. You don’t turn up your nose with disdain at God’s law, he is saying. When God says the laborer is worthy of his hire, and they that labor worthily in the teaching ministry are worthy of double honor, God says anyone who turns up his nose at this is mocking me, and they will be judged. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shal he also reap. If our payments to God’s ministers and to anyone is dishonoring to them, if it represents our effort to get the most for the least, we shall be judged by God. We reap what we sow; a bad payment from God for bad payments to men.

Almost two centuries ago, John Brown in his commentary noted and I quote: “The language seems also to intimate that the connection between character and conduct in this world, and condition in a future world is not accidental or arbitrary, but is just as much in the natural order of things and the moral government of God as the connection between the quantity and quality of what is sown and what is reaped is in the physical government of God. To suppose that sin will not lead to punishment is as absurd to suppose that tares will not produce tares; to suppose that sin can end in happiness is as absurd to suppose that tares will produce wheat. To suppose that happiness can be obtained without holiness is just as absurd as to expect an abundant harvest of precious grain when nothing has been sowed at all, or nothing but useless and noxious weeds.”

In other words, when Paul says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Paul is saying that men make their own hell, and God can tell them that when they go to hell, that they have made their own hell.

Now, it is a sad fact that when you go into the premillennial community, even so able a commentator as Kenneth S. West spent part of a page arguing against the financial implications of the word ‘Koinoneo’. He saw them, but he said Paul couldn’t have meant what the word means, because it would have been unspiritual, and the Pharisees in Galatia could then have accused him of thinking about a monetary reward. Now first of all, Paul never took it although he declared he had the right to claim it. He did demand it when he went through to collect for the poor, he required them to give liberally; he supported himself. But Paul asserted his right to be paid properly, and he never flinched from saying anything. It tells us a great deal about Kenneth West and the kind of churchianity he represented then it does about Paul; in fact he assumes that Paul was not plain spoken, that he didn’t want to say something that might be misunderstood.

Niggardliness according to Lightfoot is what Paul was striking at. A niggardly treatment of those who teach us, who instruct us, and who are a blessing to us. And this apparently was a besetting sin of the Galatian churches, there are many Galatians and many Galatian churches with us still. As Robert McIntosh a few generations ago said in commenting on this verse also, and I quote: “The natural law of God’s universe stands. Those who propose to make the gospel of grace an excuse for laxity, think they can laugh in their sleeves at the creator. But, to quote the Scottish proverb: “You’ve got to get up ‘arly if you want to take in God.” No sowing without reaping, and no reaping without sowing, one kind or the other, to flesh or to spirit. Patience only is needed in continuing to sow to the spirit, and to do well.”

Paul’s language here with reference to sowing and reaping is the same as in 2 Corinthians 9:6, where Paul speaks of the church collections for the poor in Judea. This was the collection he required of all the Gentile churches.

Paul then in verse 8 emphasizes the full scope of his meaning “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.”

We work either to gratify our fallen human nature in which case we reap corruption and ruin, or we work to obey the spirit of God and His law word, in which case we gain a reward from God. Hence in verse 9: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

Paul emphasizes the full scope of his meaning in verse 8, in verse 9 and 10. To do good to all men, especially unto them which are of the household of faith. We are never to be weary in well doing, because there is a reward from the Lord.

Now the meaning of these verses is tied very closely to the meaning of verses 6-7, communicating, paying. Paul doesn’t wax spiritual and separate the spiritual and the material, they are always together in him. So, he is talking all the way through this passage about the faithful financial recompense to all good teachers, and how God blesses those who do so; they are then sowing to the Spirit.

Now this is no new meaning, go back into the early church and they saw that it meant exactly this, in fact centuries ago Saint John Chrysostom in writing on Galatians and this particular passage said and I quote: “Lest anyone should suppose that their teachers were to be cared for and supported, but that others might be neglected, he makes his discourse general and opens the door of this charitable zeal to all; nay, he carries it to such a height as to command us to show mercy both to Jews and Greeks, in the proper gradation indeed, but still to show mercy. And what is this gradation? It consists in bestowing greater care upon the faithful.”

In other words, it means two things; we pay everybody, not in terms of what we feel we can get away with, but in terms of what their work merits, and second as J.S Howson summed it up: “Our business is to do all the good we can to all using every opportunity.” Moreover, John Brown noted very aptly, quoting again: “The Saints reaping is suspended on his fainting not, that is his reward is suspended on his constant continuance in well-doing.”

Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. What Paul is saying is that what God requires of us is not a temporary enthusiasm, or being hyped up to a zeal for a time that then flags. It is not the kind of thing that so many churches have aimed at over the years, with revival meetings for their congregation to stir them up briefly, while they settle back again into stagnation. God’s calling requires more than a passing enthusiasm, it requires patience, stamina, more patience, and then more patience and more work, and more work, and more patience still. Be not weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. These are Paul’s words to every one of us. Let us pray.

Lord, Thy word is truth, and Thy word tells us how to honor and to communicate. Thy word commands us to be not weary in well doing. Lord be merciful for us for our failings in these spheres. Make us strong in Thy word by Thy Spirit, that we may give honor to whom honor is due, communicate with all men, especially unto them which are of the household of faith, and to reap because we have not fainted. Bless us to this purpose in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now?

[Otto Scott] It brings up the question that wage scales in the modern world are totally unjust and whimsical, and without any consideration for ethics.

[Rushdoony] Exactly, that has been the failure of humanistic economics, it has divorced itself from ethics, it has said that the marketplace is the totalitarian dictator of all things, so that libertarians will insist that prostitution itself is to be justified in terms of the free market. The free market becomes the god of the Libertarians which is to determine all things, and therefore it leads to a highly immoral position.

[Otto Scott] I read in the Sunday Telegraph of London that a woman who was convicted of shoplifting was told to report the income she received minus the expenses involved, and then pay taxes on her proceeds.

[Rushdoony] Yes, I saw that item too. Yes. Well, when our economics and our civil government are conducted on an unethical premise, when they are literally incarnations of Nietzsche’s idea of being beyond good and evil, we couldn’t expect anything else. Because what Nietzsche called for was a world that was beyond good and evil. Of course he was no great innovator except in the phraseology, because that world had already begun with Adam Smith- and there was a great deal of good in Adam Smith- and with Hegel, and with others as well. And by Nietzsche’s time these things were becoming realities, and in our day we act horrified if anyone suggest that there should be any moral concern in law making or in civil government, or in economics.

Any other questions or comments?

[Audience Member] Would you like to comment on Pat Robinsons successful primary in Michigan?

[Rushdoony] Well, without being in favor of Pat Robertson’s candidacy I was very pleased, because we have been told by the media of late that the whole of the religious right is fading and it is passé; now that bit of self deception has received a shock, so I would say that it is good news, even though I don’t care for his candidacy I think he is doing a superb job with the 700 club and that is where he should stay, he can have a more powerful influence there. But I do like to see the humanists get it in the neck.

Any other questions or comments?

Well, if not let us bow our heads in prayer. Our Lord and our God, we thank Thee for Thy word and for its plain speaking. We thank Thee that Thy word speaks to our condition, to every condition, and gives us the answers of Thy righteousness and Thy kingdom. Make us every more faithful and ever joyful in Thy word, Thy Spirit, and Thy kingdom. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you... [tape ends]