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. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. – Gal. 4:17-18, NIV
This scripture right here has been a basket of revelation and wisdom over the last few years. A wise man pointed me to it a long time ago and it has resonated with me many times as I’ve seen this trend at play. Paul was talking about heretics and false teachers who were trying to win over the Galatians to their way of thinking. He warns them that they were simply working to ‘isolate’ them from him so that they have no choice but to pursue them. What a sneaky approach. It is bad enough for the people of God to have to face the ‘wiles of the enemy’ from the outside but it is worse when these types of things happen internally.
It seems as though we face similar challenges in this day and age. We have many competing voices and many who desire to win us over to their way of thinking. A society obsessed with individual causes and missions is bound to have multiple voices competing to have our attention. In so doing, they will connive and invent myths about us and others in order to have their way with those around us. “How wicked”, you may say. Yet Paul does not seem to be speaking to those in the world. He is certainly speaking to the church, as he did in all his letters!
What are we to do? We have an opportunity to pull on the strength of the word of God and let our integrity outlive the shenanigans. I’m a firm believer that the Word has staying power as it has endured the test of time in many ways. I’m reminded of the scripture in Acts where there were discussions about what to do with the “Christians”. Gamaliel, a wise Jewish Pharisee stands up to give an account of similar uprisings that had come up before. In the end, he gives a stern warning: “In the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5:38-39).
In the modern church world, we have diverse life experiences and diverging views of what scripture implies with certain passages. Our interpretation of these scriptures at times separates us into denominations, factions, and church groups. I have found it to be important for me to separate the core tenets of Godliness from the biblical directives that are intended to be interpreted based on context and cultural restrictions. It should never come down to a personal preference or groupthink, causing isolation and division within the body of Christ.
I hope and pray that we would all abandon personal preferences in favor of the basic Kingdom edicts and decrees. Let the Word judge us all and let us judge one another through the lens of scripture but let us avoid creating divisions, isolations, and manipulations in order to group ourselves with like minded people around one or two scriptures in a well of over 30,000 scriptures. It’s interesting that the deeper you dig into scripture the less you’re bothered by people’s daily transgressions and more focused on their eternal fate.
For a deep dive commentary, the link below is a great resource: https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/galatians-4-17.html
Nelson Masinde 