Augustine of Hippo : To sow in the spirit is to serve righteousness from faith and with love and not to heed the desires of sin, even though they arise from mortal flesh.… When we are under grace, we sow in tears, when desires arise from our animal body, which we resist by not consenting, so that we may reap in joy. We reap when, by the reformation of our body, no vexation or peril of temptation comes to trouble us from any physical source. — EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 61 [1B.6.7-10] Clement of Alexandria : But there is that species of knowledge which is characteristic of the herald, and that which is, as it were, characteristic of a messenger, and it is serviceable in whatever way it operates, both by the hand and tongue. "For he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing." On him who by Divine Providence meets in with it, it confers the very highest advantages,-the beginning of faith, readiness for adopting a right mode of life, the impulse towards the truth, a movement of inquiry, a trace of knowledge; in a word, it gives the means of salvation. And those who have been rightly reared in the words of truth, and received provision for eternal life, wing their way to heaven. — The Stromata Book 1 Clement of Alexandria : "Why call ye me Lord, Lord," He says, "and do not the things which I say?" For "the people that loveth with their lips, but have their heart far away from the Lord," is another people, and trust in another, and have willingly sold themselves to another; but those who perform the commandments of the Lord, in every action "testify," by doing what He wishes, and consistently naming the Lord's name; and "testifying" by deed to Him in whom they trust, that they are those "who have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." "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." — The Stromata Book 4 Jerome : All that we say, do or think is sown in two fields, the fallen nature and the Spirit. If what comes from our hand, mouth and heart is good, it is sown in the Spirit and will produce fruits of eternal life. If it is bad, when harvested from the field of the sin nature it will produce an unsavory crop of corruption for us.… It should be observed that to the one who sows in the flesh is given an additional term, "in his flesh." But the one who sows in the Spirit is said not to sow in his spirit but simply "in the Spirit." For the one who sows good things sows not in his own spirit but in God's, from whom he will also reap eternal life. — EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 3.6.8 Jerome : (Verse 8) For he who sows in his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But he who sows in the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Everything we speak, do, and think is sown in two fields, the flesh and the Spirit. If the things that are spoken, done, and thought are good, sown in the Spirit, they will abound with the fruits of eternal life. But if they are evil, taken from the field of the flesh, they will produce for us a harvest of corruption. Another interpretation: Whoever understands the law carnally also expects carnal rewards, which are corrupted in the present age. But whoever is a spiritual listener, sows in the spirit, and will reap eternal life from the spirit. Let us also note the consistency of the discourse and connect it with the previous statements: the person who is called a seed sower in the spirit, when they begin to reap eternal life, they may cease to be a human. Cassianus, who introduces the supposed flesh of Christ, considers every sexual union between a male and a female to be unclean, and is the most fervent heresiarch of the Encratites. He uses the following argument against us under the pretext of the present testimony: 'If anyone sows in the flesh, they will reap corruption from the flesh; but they sow in the flesh who are joined to a woman; therefore, those who use a wife and sow in her flesh will reap corruption from the flesh.' He will be answered, first, that he did not say that Paul, who sows in the flesh, but in his own flesh. However, no one lies with himself, and sows in his own flesh. Then, in order to observe this which we have noted, in his own flesh, let it be granted to him additionally, that those who eat and drink, and sleep and do something for the refreshment of the body, sow in the flesh according to that, and reap corruption from it. But if he resorts to this, to say that those who, whether they drink, or eat, or sleep, in the name of the Lord nonetheless do everything with reason, do not sow in the flesh but in the spirit; and we will respond similarly to him, that those who also follow God's first commandment, doing things with reason: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. I, 22), sow not in the flesh but in the spirit. Therefore, this syllogism is futile and fallacious, first deceiving the listener with a sophism. However, upon careful examination, it is easily dissolved: For we cannot say that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other holy men who were born from the promise, as well as the precursor of the Lord himself, sprouted from the corrupt seed, because he was born in the flesh. It is also worth noting that the one who sows in the flesh is identified with his own flesh, but the one who sows in the spirit is called simply in the spirit. For whoever sows good things, does not sow something of his own, but sows in the spirit of God, from which eternal life will be reaped. — Commentary on Galatians Oecumenius : "for the one who sows to his own flesh." What, then, does one sow in the flesh? Drunkenness, corruption, gluttony, wastefulness. Such a person, from the flesh, that is, on account of the defective flesh, will receive a punishment there. But "to his own flesh" means through the sins sown in the flesh. "But the one who sows to the Spirit." What does it mean to sow to the Holy Spirit? What else but almsgiving, and self-discipline, and every virtue? "will from the Spirit reap eternal life." For as the seeds of the flesh and of the spirit are different, so also is the harvest. There corruption, here eternal life. — Commentary on Galatians