Galatians Study Part Thirteen: 4:17-20
NLT: “Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them. 18 If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.
“19 Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. 20 I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you.”
NASB: “They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. 18 But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”
The NIV puts verse 17, “Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them.” Paul knew about being zealous. In the first chapter of his letter he shared that he was advancing in Judaism faster than other Jews of his age and was very zealous for their traditions. But too often zealousness takes a path away from God and focuses on people and groups and their way of doing things. Jesus exposed what following man-made traditions could do when he chastised the Pharisees saying, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3)
Traditions can cause people to set aside how God wants us to live and even worship God in vain. (Remember what Paul said earlier in his letter to the Galatians.) Consider Mark 7:6-9 (NASB). “And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ 8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” 9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.” Verse nine is pretty strong.
The false brothers sought to win over the Galatian believers, but it wasn’t for something good. They wanted people to follow them. In this, I am reminded of something Jesus said about the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” (NASB) Oftentimes those who preach performance based religion are zealous in their cause and they seek to create a following. This is part of what separates Christian groups when we parade ourselves as denominations or followers of an individual. The focus is not on following Jesus, but on following the belief system and those who teach it.
Consider how jealousy becomes a problem when people wish to gather converts unto themselves. The Pharisees were jealous of how the people responded to Jesus. After Jesus died, the Jews were jealous of the Christians because people were listening to them. The Bible teaches that those who are jealous are fleshly (1 Corinthians 3:3) and that love is not jealous (1 Corinthians 13:4). James 3:16 tells us, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.” The people Paul was warning the Galatians about were jealous of the freedom they saw and wanted to turn them into slaves. They were zealous in a bad way, wanting to alienate them from Paul and other Christians, so that the Galatians would be zealous for them.
Think about how this is seen in performance based churches. Does it not create division? Does it not cause people to be zealous, but in a bad way? Does it not cause people to want to create a following for themselves? Look at how many become more concerned with what the pastor thinks than what God thinks. Look at the infighting that can happen between members of a same Christian group. People are not walking in love, but are displaying the works of the flesh. They are zealous, but not for good.
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