Chuck Larsen

In verses 16 and 17 of Galatians chapter 4, we read about the zeal of the Judaizers that was leading the Galatians away from the cross and back to the law. The Judaizers were quite persuasive because of their zeal for the law. Religious zeal often leads to unspeakable behavior. Division, disputes, rivalries and the like are most often the results of such zeal. Paul himself had a “mad or radical zeal” for the law and persecuted Christians and was guilty of murder. John Calvin wrote, “Paul knew what great danger Christians faced from these groups of people.” Jesus was the victim of religious zeal. Paul was the victim of religious zeal throughout Europe and Asia Minor. The Jews often sought to kill him because of his message of grace. Religious zeal disrespects the rights of others. When Luke describes Paul’s radical religious zeal, he uses a phrase in Acts 8:3 about how Paul went about destroying the church of Jesus. The same phrase is used to “describe the devastation caused by an army or a wild beast tearing its meat.”

But zeal in and of itself isn’t bad! Galatians 4:18 is subject to various interpretations but I prefer the focus that comes from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. It gives us this verse like this, “Now it is always good to be enthusiastic about good—and not just when I am with you.” The Bible teaches us that we should be zealous for “the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 23:17). It says, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.” Paul told Titus (Titus 2:14) that Jesus saved us “…to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” The “good” kind of zeal always works to bring unity as the Spirit works His fruit into our lives. We find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. These are the “good” things that the Spirit produces in our lives. We should be zealous for these things. These are the things that Peter is talking about when he asks his readers to consider, “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?” (1 Peter 3:13).

But Paul makes it clear in this passage as well as in Romans 10:2-3 where he says, “For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth.” The truth of the Gospel is that it produces in us the fruits of the Spirit. Most of the things we want to pound the table over are things that bring hate instead of love. They bring sorrow instead of joy to any discussion. They inspire strife and confusion rather than peace. Over zealousness for my own perspective makes me impatient with opposing ideas. Kindness goes out the window in overzealous debates. There is rarely “goodness” of any kind present at such times. Gentleness is supplanted by aggression and other hurtful approaches. The faithfulness necessary to maintain healthy and happy relationships dissipates in zealous expressions of “my truth.” Finally, self-control is gone! Misplaced zeal never produces the fruits of the Spirit. It always results in harm for those involved.

I think it was one of J. R. R. Tolkien’s hobbits who was speaking about the trolls. They agreed to help the hobbits in their quest. Trolls usually eat hobbits so it was very suspicious and I think it was Bilbo Baggins who said of them, “they will hug us now, only so they can squeeze us later.” This is the point that Paul made concerning the Judaizers in Galatians 4:16-17. It reads, “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out that you may make much of them.” It’s probably not the most politically correct thing to do. Paul confronts the Galatians that they have been sucked in by the smooth promises of the Judaizers. No one likes to be told that they’ve been tricked. It is a common malady of man to blame the person who turns the light on for their being rats in the basement. We make the messenger our enemy. This problem is as old as Solomon. He wrote in Proverbs 27:6, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” But we too often prefer the kisses than the wounds!

If we accept the teachings of a performance based system, it doesn’t matter which one, we are again consigned to obedience to that system. The Judaizers knew full well that if they won on the general issue of a works based religious systems the Galatians would be theirs. If circumcision, for example, was an essential practice to be acceptable to God, you became one with the authority that convinced you. They become a new master, a new task master, to whom you must look to for each behavior of your life. In other words you are slaves again. If you submit yourselves to one requirement, you submit yourselves to them all. If you submit yourselves to one aspect of the law, you submit yourselves to them all.

In verses 17 & 18 zeal is mentioned three times. It’s not unusual for people to fall prey to something simply because of the zeal with which it is presented. Zeal can give permission to many unthinkable practices as the world learned from Nazi Germany. Cult leaders rely heavily on zeal for their message to persuade others to follow. Zeal appeals to us. Jon Courson says that the cults attract us by appealing to our pride. He writes, “Come join us,” they say. “We’re really radical. We pay the price. We bear the Cross. We deal with stuff that only a few can deal with.” And we are prone to say, “I want to be one of the few, one of the chosen, one of the elite group that God will use in these last days. So I’ll submit to stipulations and regulations in order that I can be among the few, the chosen—the spiritual marines!” What’s the price? It’s the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control!

Jews would have spit upon encountering Paul’s diseased person. The Greeks would have rejected him and his message because of his lack of an imposing appearance. But the Galatians had received Paul just as Christ had received them. Everyone in God’s eyes is a sinner. We all are unattractive. We all have the infirmity that disgusts God. Yet in His great love for us, while we were still disgusting, God demonstrated His own love for us by sending the only perfect person, His only begotten Son, to die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins (read disgustingness!). God’s love for all people, He so “loved the world” was such that there was nothing He would have held back to win us back from sin. He made that clear on Calvary. That’s the way of love.

Like God and Jesus, the Galatians had received the small, unimpressive Paul with all his diseases and weaknesses. Even though he was very unimpressive in physical appearance and strength there was an appeal to his message that was undeniable. In the 2nd Century document entitled, “The Acts of Paul and Thecla,” we read of his movement during his Galatians travels enroute to Iconium. In that text we read that Titus had given Onesiphorus a description of Paul so he would recognize him as he came from Lystra to Iconium. The writer then describes Paul as a very unimpressive figure yet he appeared to be “full of Grace” and sometimes “had the countenance of an angel.” This description is interesting because in Galatians 4:14, Paul said that the Galatians had initially received him as “angel of God.” Paul was full of grace, the Judaizers were full of law.

In Galatians 4:15, Paul confronted the Galatians and asked them, “What then has become of your blessedness?” He wants to know what has changed. Their gracious acceptance of him in all his imperfections has now turned into seeing him as a despicable sinner who is not worthy of their fellowship. The legalists had turned their hearts from love to law. Paul wanted them to see that the law rejects and condemns, love accepts and embraces sinners in spite of their despicable nature. Love sacrifices itself for others. That’s what God did. Love motivated God’s sacrifice and love motivated the Galatians sacrifice for Paul in all his infirmities as well. He finishes verse 15 with, “For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.” That was when you experienced God’s grace! Now under law, there is only condemnation and rejection. Which do you want; Law or Grace? I’ll take grace every time! Do you want the way of law or the way of love? I’ll take love every time!

Paul did not preach his message of Grace from a position of strength. Those who preach the necessity of keeping the law always do so from a position of perceived strength. When I first became a believer at age 31 in 1978, we immediately fell under the influence of legalists. They seemed so much more spiritual than the average person and it was compelling to want to live up to their standards. We threw out of TV, Kathy stopped using make-up, I dressed the part, and we adopted the religious language of our group. We denounced other “professing believers” as deceived and diluted because they did not practice the same standards that we did. This gave me strength. I preached from a “better than you” position for several years. Legalists always present their message from a platform of strength.

Paul reminds the Galatians that he preached his message of grace from the bed of sickness, weakness. In Galatians 4:13-14 he writes, “You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.” We don’t know what the sickness was but there is no lack of suggestions by the commentators; bruises and broken bones from his beatings, malaria, some kind of blindness, epileptic seizures, and many others. Most people in the world, Jews included, looked on sicknesses as God’s punishment for sin. Those under the law were outcasts and “unclean” with respect to the religious system, but as Christ ignored the “uncleanness” created by the law in sick people, so too did the Galatians ignore Paul’s sickness and just as Christ received the infirm, they had received him.

The Greek term for “scorn” that Paul uses here literally means “to spit out.” It was customary for religious leaders to spit when affronted by unclean, sick people. It was a way of warding off any contagion as well as an expression of contempt for the sinner who was receiving just punishment from God. Paul also says that they didn’t despise him. I expect that much like today leaders are expected to have an impressive appearance. The tall, handsome ones always get a better hearing than the less attractive ones. According to the Acts of Paul and Thecla, (a text from the 2nd century), Paul is described as, “…small, short, bow-legged, with eyebrows knit together and an upturned nose.” To the Greek way of thinking his appearance would have been repulsive. To the Jew his infirmity made him unclean. To the Gentile his appearance should have cause them to reject him. Jesus accepted the sick; lepers, blind, lame, etc. Jesus loved the deformed (Zacchaeus). Grace receives the weak! Law spits and ridicules. Paul and Jesus love the despicable; even me!

In Galatians 4:12, Paul issues a brief plea to his Galatian converts. He says, “Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.” Paul had become like the Galatian gentiles in order to win them to Christ. He set aside his Jewish religious prejudices against the disgusting gentile practices and actually became like them. He didn’t present himself as better than them, as was the custom of the Jews. That’s still true today. On one of our flights from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv, Kathy sat next to a Hasidic Jew who refused to shake her hand, and made sure there was never any opportunity for their shoulders to touch. Gentiles made Jews unclean! But Paul, cared more about the salvation of the Gentiles than he did about personal defilement – Just like Jesus did in His encounter with the woman of Samaria, with lepers, with various diseases and with dead bodies.

Instead the Galatians were adopting the Jewish customs of superiority with their own kind, and were actually treating Paul and his Gospel as something inferior to the Jewish Law. They actually were cutting themselves off from Paul by rebuilding the same barriers that he had worked so hard to destroy. Paul’s exhortation to become as he is most likely refers to their accepting others as equals, clean, and deserving of love, just as he had. As a former Jew, he had accepted them as clean and as equals in God’s eyes and worthy of His love. He wanted them to keep the love and acceptance of Christ in the forefront.

He goes on to say that the Galatians are not doing him any wrong or harm. This is a difficult phrase and it has been the subject of much debate. There are two possible interpretations. First, it could be Paul’s way of saying that they were only hurting themselves. To turn from the Gospel of Grace to a Gospel of the works of the Law, wouldn’t change his life, but it would certainly ruin theirs. Second, it could be a reference to what the writer of the book of Hebrews has said about “crucifying Christ again.” Turning back to the law actually reduces the value of the death of Christ on the cross to an equal status of the sacrifices offered under the Jewish Laws. It makes Christ just another religion. It’s just another way up the mountain to God. It reduces the Grace of God to another simple performance based religion. Paul wasn’t being injured by them. They weren’t deserting Paul, they were deserting God; “I am astounded that so quickly you are deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).

Paul speaks about turning back from God’s grace in Christ to slavery. We were once slaves to “the elementary principles of the world.” Here’s what Paul says in Galatians 4:8-9, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” The basis of our relationship with God is what He did for us, not what we do for Him. A focus on the latter is what we know as “legalism.”

Paul makes an interesting parenthetical statement in this passage. He changes his thought from our having come to know God to having been known by God. Paul’s understanding of man’s total depravity precludes the idea that any man can come to know God by his own efforts. Job’s age old question always assumes a negative answer: Can man by searching find God? Of course not! It’s not that God doesn’t know everything at all times, it’s that God takes the initiative in salvation – not man! We have free access to the Father through Christ Jesus. Instead of taking advantage of that the Galatians are turning back to “weak and worthless” procedures of self-effort. The only thing that the law, any law, will do for you is point out your failure. In contrast to Christ, the law is powerless to set us free, to make us righteous, and change our roles from slaves to sons.

Richison attacks such a foolish notion as that of the Galatians. He writes, “Man’s efforts of merit are trash; God’s grace is treasure for us. Salvation is all of grace. God finds us; we do not find Him. God extends His grace to us; we offer Him nothing. When we turn back into earning God’s favor and approbation, we turn back the clock spiritually. There is a proclivity to revert to the past. Somehow, someway, we want salvation or the Christian life to depend on us. That is a warm and wonderful feeling not based on the Bible. Many people need to trade in their religion and get the gospel of grace found only in the finished work of Christ on the cross. This is a bitter pill to swallow for those who are impressed with their self-effort.” It’s not about me, or the work I do, about Christ and the work He has done!

As Paul continues his discussion about our being “children” of God rather than slaves, he talks about the beauty of it. It changes so much about us. Here is what he says in Galatians 4:6-7; “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” It changes so many things about us. First off, when we begin the beautiful relationship with God through faith in His Son, it changes the way we pray. One commentator put it this way, “We don’t come groveling to the Almighty. We don’t snivel in self-contempt as beggars who have no right to be there, as wayward derelicts who have to come to the back door for a handout. We come as children of the King, knowing that we are welcome. Abba, Father describes our relationship, a shared love and fellowship in which the Father pours out all His blessings upon His children. And we pray in that knowledge and with the childlike anticipation of receiving all the Father has for us.”

The second thing that changes is our sense of self-worth. We live in a culture in which individuals struggle most with their identity. “Who am I?” is a question that haunts us in the 21st century. I remember studying “reality therapy” founded by William Glasser. He took a very radical position regarding mental health. He said that there wasn’t any such thing as mental illness. The problem is that we don’t experience true love and therefore we can’t love others. It is extremely difficult to feel worthwhile to ourselves and others in our culture. Maxie Dunham wrote. “To know that we are loved and accepted by God frees and empowers us to love ourselves and others and to know that we are worthwhile.” John tells us that we can love others because God first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Finally, when we begin our new relationship with God through faith in His son, Jesus Christ, it changes our ministries. It’s often a burden to care for others when we don’t have the capacity to feel cared for ourselves. With the presence of God’s Spirit we finally come to realize that we’re not operating alone. Again, Dunham puts it this way, “Strength comes directly from God, and indirectly, through the shared strength of the Christian community. This strength can work in rhythm with our weakness as we become vulnerable. In our sonship we are vulnerable to God, open and receptive to the incursion of His Spirit. But, in the confidence of being loved and accepted by God, we can be vulnerable to others, open to the claims of our neighbors responding in sensitivity and care. We do not have to pretend, therefore we can risk failure, rebuff, shame, unappreciative response, and negative reaction. Our self-worth is secured in our sonship and we can continue to minister, whatever the response.”