Continuing on with the application of grace-living as opposed to law-living, the natural question arises: What is our motivation for living right if there is no system of law to live by? Does grace mean we can do anything we want? Just to make it absolutely clear, we are no longer judged by law, it is no longer our master—that kind of living does not produce righteousness. We are declared righteous by grace through faith in Christ. But, certain cause and effect principles are still operable. Just as gravity still works, so also the principle in these two verses still works.

Being made righteous does not mean we can cleverly find a way around living the kind of life God wants for us, or that we can pull the grace trump card to justify our self-centered lifestyle choices. Such behavior carries its own consequences. Both the person justified by grace and the person still under the law may step off a cliff and they both will suffer when they hit the bottom.  So also, being a justified believer does not suspend the consequences of self-serving behavior. We reap what we sow.

There are two ways in which this can be taken. A person’s actions prove or disprove his words. Calling oneself a Christian, faking one’s behavior to look the Christian part, will not fool God. Such living only feeds the flesh and in the end will produce a worthless life devoid of spiritual blessing, that is, it will be shown ultimately to be rotten to the core, corrupt.  “God is not mocked.”

On the other hand, this can be taken as a genuine Christian who though being truly justified, lives a self-centered life, believing that how he lives doesn’t affect his justification. He will reap a worthless life, receive no rewards, but, as Paul says elsewhere, “will be saved, yet so as by fire.” (1 Cor 3:15).

It is noteworthy that this teaching follows on the heels of giving to those who serve in the teaching of the Word. That would be sowing with our material wealth to the Spirit in the sense of propagating the teaching of God’s Word, as opposed to spending our money on self-pleasures. The reaping of eternal life does not refer to justification, but reaping in the sense of enjoyment of that future life even now. Many Christians do not truly experience the blessings of walking in the Spirit, missing the abundance and joy of Christ.