Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 4:17
They zealously affect you, [but] not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
17, 18. In contrast to the simplicity of his own teaching, St Paul exposes the party spirit by which the false teachers were actuated.
They zealously affect you ] The sentence is abrupt, no persons being named; though St Paul evidently had in his mind those alluded to ch. Gal 1:7. The expression ‘zealously affect’ is not very intelligible to the ordinary reader. The verb, which is rendered ‘affect’ in this same verse, is used frequently in N. T. with reference to both persons and things. Originally it meant to feel or shew zeal, jealousy or envy. From this sense the transition was easy to that of ‘desire earnestly’, ‘pay court to’, ‘seek to win or win over’. The word is used in a good and a bad sense by St Paul, e.g. 1Co 12:31 where it is rendered ‘covet’, i.e. desire, and 1Co 13:4 ‘Love envieth not’. Here the meaning is ‘They seek to win you over to their own party’. Error must be maintained and propagated by proselytising and partisanship.
The whole passage may be paraphrased ‘They seek to gain you to their own party, but not with right motives, nay, they would exclude you from my influence, in the hope of your reciprocating their desire for your adhesion. But let me remind you that a desire of this kind is only to be approved when the motives are pure and the object good. Under such conditions it is always good. Such were the conditions under which I sought to win you to Christ when I was present with you; such is still the case now that we are separated’. This leads up to the tender yet sad remonstrance which follows. In support of this view of the connexion and train of thought we may compare St Paul’s words, 2Co 11:2 “I am jealous over you (I would fain win you, not from party spirit or for personal ends, but) with a Godly jealousy (or longing desire)”. True love is always jealous.
they would exclude you ] Some copies read ‘us’ for ‘you’. The sense is the same. There seems to be an allusion to some attempt on the part of the Judaizers to induce the Galatian converts formally to renounce their allegiance to St Paul.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They zealously affect you – See 1Co 12:31 (Greek); 1Co 14:39. The word used here ( Zeloo), means to be zealous toward, that is, for or against any person or thing; usually, in a good sense, to be eager for. Here it means, that the false teachers made a show of zeal toward the Galatians, or professed affection for them in order to gain them as their followers. They were full of ardor, and professed an extraordinary concern for their welfare – as people always do who are demagogues, or who seek to gain proselytes. The object of the apostle in this is, probably, to say, that it was not wholly owing to themselves that they had become alienated from the doctrines which he had taught. Great pains had been taken to do it; and there had been a show of zeal which would be likely to endanger any person.
But not well – Not with good motives, or with good designs.
Yea, they would exclude you – Margin, Us. A few printed editions of the New Testament have hemas, us, instead of humas, you – Mill. The word exclude here probably means, that they endeavored to exclude the Galatians from the love and affection of Paul. They would shut them out from that, in order that they might secure them for their own purposes. If the reading in the margin, however, should be retained, the sense would be clearer. They wish to exclude us, that is, me, the apostle, in order that they may have you wholly to themselves. If they can once get rid of your attachment to me, then they will have no difficulty in securing you for themselves. This reading, says Rosenmuller, is found in many of the best codices, and versions, and fathers. It is adopted by Doddridge, Locke, and others. The main idea is clear: Paul stood in the way of their designs. The Galatians were truly attached to him, and it was necessary, in order to accomplish their ends, to withdraw their affections from him. When false teachers have designs on a people, they begin by alienating their confidence and affections from their pastors and teachers. They can hope for no success until this is done; and hence, the efforts of errorists, and of infidels, and of scorners, is to undermine the confidence of a people in the ministry, and when this is done there is little difficulty in drawing them over to their own purposes.
That ye might affect them – The same word as in the former part of the verse, that ye might zealously affect them – that is, that ye might show ardent attachment to them. Their first work is to manifest special interest for your welfare; their second, to alienate you from him who had first preached the gospel to you; their object, not your salvation, or your real good, but to secure your zealous love for themselves.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 4:17
They zealously affect you, but not well.
False zeal
Paul suggests–
I. That things which are good in their kind may be done for wrong ends.
1. In preaching,
(1) some do it for envy and strife;
(2) some to gain personal or pecuniary ends.
2. In embracing the gospel, some do it, not for its own sake, but for
(1) honour;
(2) profit.
3. This must teach us not only to do good, but to do it well. For which end–
(1) We must set before us the will of God as our main motive.
(2) The outward action must be conformable to the inward motion.
II. That nature can counterfeit grace. Thus men feign–
1. The experiences and life of religion.
2. The activities of religion. How hard to detect the hypocrite, and yet how easy to become one.
III. The envy and ambition of the deceivers. Paul must be excluded from the love of the Galatians that they alone may be loved. Thus Joshua (Num 11:29); Johns disciples (Joh 3:30); our Lords disciples (Luk 9:49).
IV. The divisions between pastors and people created by the false teachers. (W. Perkins.)
The spirit of religious faction
I. Its prominent characteristic. Clever imitation of religious zeal.
1. In its apparent motives What other end could they have in making the sacrifices their work involved.
2. In the deep interest it seems to take in its objects.
3. In the undoubted earnestness with which its work is done.
II. Its method of operation.
1. To create a schism between pastor and people. Pauls apostleship was denied; his character traduced; his motives impugned.
2. To create a schism between one Church and another. The Judaizers sought to divorce the Galatians from the fellowship of Gentile Churches which were based on liberty.
2. To create a schism between the believer and his Lord. How often is this effected, not precisely in this way, but by the passions engendered by religious strife.
III. Its object.
1. To gain personal ascendancy.
2. To secure the deference and zeal of the Galatians.
Schism
To separate from the Church in some one or few essential articles while you pretend to hold Christ the Head is heresy; to separate from it in spirit, by refusing holiness and not loving such as are holy, is ungodliness; to differ from it by any error of judgment or life is sin; to magnify any one church or party, so as to deny due love and communion to the rest, is schism. To limit all the Church to your party, and deny all or any of the rest to be Christians, and parts of the Universal Church, is schism by a dangerous breach of charity, and the principal schism that you should avoid. It is schism also to condemn unjustly any particular Church as no Church, and it is schism to withdraw your bodily communion from a Church that you were bound to hold that communion with; and it is schism to make divisions or parties in a Church, though you divide not from that Church. (R. Baxter.)
Zeal
I. Consider the nature of zeal in general. Zeal is a strong and ardent affection of the heart towards some distant and desirable object. It is not a simple, but complicated, emotion, which admits of different degrees of ardour and sensibility, accordingly as its object appears more or less agreeable, more or less distant, or more or less important. Zeal always supposes a fixed and steady attention to the object upon which it terminates. A slight and cursory view of any agreeable objects never excites in our breast the least degree of zeal to make them our own. But it is a law of our nature that a close and continued attention to any desirable object should draw all the affections of the heart towards it, and, of consequence, should produce the emotion of zeal Whatever agreeable subject seizes and absorbs the mind will naturally enkindle the fire of zeal. Zeal is one of the first and strongest emotions which we discover in children. The reason is, the smallest trifles are sufficient to fill their minds and engross their whole attention. And when greater trifles fill greater minds they produce the same effect. Even philosophers and politicians often suffer the most vain and imaginary schemes to take the entire possession of their thoughts, and to fill their minds with a flame of zeal, which is astonishing to all who have never paid the same attention to the same ideal or trifling subjects. But whatever be the object of zeal, it always appears to the person who feels this lively emotion to be a matter highly interesting, either on its own account, or on account of its supposed connection with some valuable end.
II. Distinguish false zeal from true. There is a zeal which forms a beautiful moral character. A strong and ardent desire to promote the public good justly commands universal approbation and esteem. This the apostle observes in the verse immediately succeeding the text. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. It is the goodness of its ultimate object which renders zeal virtuous and amiable. When it ultimately seeks the promotion of a good cause, it is according to knowledge, it is agreeable to the dictates of reason and conscience, it is of a godly sort, and it resembles the zeal of the Lord of Hosts. But false zeal has a diametrically opposite object, and ultimately seeks a selfish end.
III. How false zeal will dispose men to act. It is a powerful stimulus to action, and will dispose all men to act in the same manner, unless restrained by soma different passion, or by some insurmountable obstacle.
1. It will dispose them to combine together in carrying on their destructive designs. This false fervour, like electrical fire, will easily and instantaneously spread from breast to breast among those who are ardently engaged in the same cause.
2. False zeal will hurry men on to act without regarding or even consulting the sober dictates of their own reason. It will not suffer them to make a proper use of that noble faculty which God has implanted in their breasts to direct them in all their private and public conduct. Zealots who do not give a reason to themselves for their own opinions and conduct are still more averse to giving a reason to others.
3. While men are under the influence of false zeal they are prone to act, not only without consulting their own reason but without hearkening to the reason of others. They are inclined to shut their ears against the most plain and conclusive arguments which can be offered to their cool and candid consideration.
4. Those whom a false zeal has united together in a bad cause are extremely fond of increasing their strength by bringing over as many as possible to their views and feelings. A false zeal is no less a proselyting than an infatuating spirit. Those who are deceived, as are all who are actuated by a blind zeal, have a strong inclination to deceive others. The Scribes and Pharisees, whom our Saviour calls blind leaders of the blind, would compass sea and land to make proselytes to their own errors and delusions. But zealots are no less artful than indefatigable in their efforts to attach others to their persons and pursuits.
6. It is the nature of false zeal to embolden and stimulate men to acts of violence and cruelty in effecting their sinister and selfish purposes. A bear robbed of her whelps is not more fierce and cruel than those who are zealously engaged to accomplish a base and cruel design Their fiery zeal sears their consciences and hardens their hearts, which prepares them to sacrifice without remorse either friends or foes, who stand in their way and oppose their views.
It only remains to make a proper application of-this subject.
1. What has been said upon the nature and effects of false zeal may help us to determine who are under its governing influence at the present day.
2. It appears from the description which has been given of false zeal that these who feel it and act under its influence are altogether criminal.
3. False zeal is the most dangerous, as well as the most criminal, passion that can possibly reign in the human heart. It has been the primary source of innumerable murders, massacres, persecutions, conspiracies, revolutions, wars, and desolations among the nations of the earth. A single spark of false zeal may spread from the breast of one popular influential character through a whole nation, and involve them in the heaviest calamities. Of this we have a late and memorable instance. About a half-a-century ago the malignant heart of Voltaire swelled with impetuous zeal to crush Christianity and all its votaries. From him the flame spread among his learned friends; from these it spread among the French philosophers and nobility; and from these it spread among a vast number of secret societies in France, in Germany, and in several other parts of Europe. In this rapid progress it employed a thousand pens and ten thousand tongues to plead its cause and proselytize millions to atheistical and sceptical infidelity. Strengthened and encouraged by their numbers, these zealots pointed their virulence against the throne as well as the altar, which spread anarchy and destruction through France, and involved a great part of Europe, Egypt, and Syria in all the terrors and miseries of a long and cruel war. Such have been the genuine fruits of false zeal in our own day; and such we have reason to believe it will continue to produce wherever it rages without restraint. Let us therefore endeavour to undeceive those who are deceived, and in this way effectually check the further spread of false zeal.
4. In the next place, it is our immediate duty to cherish in ourselves and others the spirit of true zeal in opposition to false. Our cause is the best in which we can possibly be engaged. The defence of our religion and government calls for our most zealous exertions. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Unchristian zeal
A false zeal in religion is always, in some respect or other, a misdirected zeal, or a zeal not according to knowledge; a zeal seeking some false end, or, while proposing to itself a good end, seeking its promotion in some unauthorized way. Jehu had a good zeal, which he called zeal for the Lord of Hosts. His fault was not that he was too zealous, but that his zeal was really directed to his own advancement. The Jews, in the days of Christ, had zeal for God, but it was so misdirected as to fire them with a frenzy to destroy the Son of God, and extinguish the Light of the world. There are countless forms of false zeal now at work, but, in all cases, they sin, not by excess, but by misdirection. Some are flaming with a zeal to spread some of the corruptions of Christianity, and to carry men away from its great and cardinal truths. Some are equally zealous to build up a sect or a party on other foundations than those which God has laid in Zion; and that which taints their zeal is the purpose to which they employ it, and not any excessive fervour of their zeal itself. (Bonar.)
True and false zeal
Let us take heed we do not sometimes call that zeal for God and His gospel which is nothing else but our own tempestuous and stormy passion. True zeal is a sweet, heavenly, and gentle flame, which makes us active for God, but always within the sphere of love it never calls for fire from heaven to consume those that differ a little from us in their apprehensions. It is like that kind of lightning (which philosophers speak of) that melts the sword within, but singeth not the scabbard; it strives to save the soul, but hurteth not the body. (Cudworth.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. They zealously affect you, but not well] It is difficult for common readers to understand the meaning of these words: perhaps it would be better to translate , these false teachers endeavour to conciliate your esteem, but not in honest or true principles; they work themselves into your good graces; they wish you to place all your affection upon themselves.
They would exclude you] They wish to shut you out from the affection of your apostle, that you might affect them, , that you might love them alone, hear them alone, abide by their directions only, and totally abandon him who called you into the grace of the Gospel of Christ. Some MSS. read , us, instead of , you; they wish to shut us entirely out from among you, that you may receive and believe them alone. The sense is nearly the same but the former appears to be the more authentic reading.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They; the false teachers, that have perverted you as to the faith of the gospel.
Zealously affect you; pretend a great warmth of affection for you.
But not well; but in this they do not well, nor for a good end.
They would exclude you from our good opinion and affection.
That ye might affect them; that they might have all your love and respect; and so, by the ruin of our reputation with you, they might build up their own reputation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Theyyour flatterers: incontrast to Paul himself, who tells them the truth.
zealouslyzeal inproselytism was characteristic especially of the Jews, and so ofJudaizers (Gal 1:14; Mat 23:15;Rom 10:2).
affect youthat is,court you (2Co 11:2).
not wellnot in a goodway, or for a good end. Neither the cause of their zealouscourting of you, nor the manner, is what it ought to be.
they would exclude you“Theywish to shut you out” from the kingdom of God (that is, theywish to persuade you that as uncircumcised Gentiles, you are shut outfrom it), “that ye may zealously court them,” thatis, become circumcised, as zealous followers of themselves. ALFORDexplains it, that their wish was to shut out the Galatians from thegeneral community, and attract them as a separate clique to their ownparty. So the English word “exclusive,” is used.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They zealously affect you,…. Or “are jealous of you”; meaning the false apostles, whose names, in contempt, he mentions not, being unworthy to be taken notice of, and their names to be transmitted to posterity. These were jealous of them, not with a godly jealousy, as the apostle was, lest their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity of the Gospel; but they were jealous, lest they should love the apostle more than they, and therefore represented him in a very bad light, and expressed great love and kindness for them themselves:
but not well; their zeal and affection were not hearty, and sincere, and without dissimulation, but were all feigned, were only in word and in tongue, not in deed, and in truth: this zealous affection neither proceeded from right principles, nor with right views; they sought themselves, and their own carnal worldly interest, their own pleasure and profit, and not the good and welfare of the souls of these Galatians:
yea, they would exclude you; that is, either from the apostle, from bearing any love unto, and having any respect for him. What they were wishing and seeking for was to draw off the minds and affections of these persons from him; or they were desirous of removing them from the Gospel of Christ unto another Gospel, and did all they could to hinder them from obeying the truth; and particularly were for shutting them out of their Christian liberty, and bringing them under the bondage of the law; yea, were for separating them from the churches, that they might set up themselves at the head of them. Some copies read “us”, instead of “you”; and then the meaning is, that they were desirous of excluding the apostle from their company, and from having any share in their affections, which makes little alteration in the sense: and others, instead of “exclude”, read “include”; and which is confirmed by the Syriac version, which renders the word , “but they would include you”; that is, either they would include, or imprison you under the law, and the bondage of it; or they would monopolize you, and engross all your love to themselves; and which is also the sense of the Arabic version:
that you might affect them; love them, show respect to them, be on their side, follow their directions, imbibe their doctrines, and give up yourselves wholly to their care, and be at their call and command.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Affectionate Remonstrance. | A. D. 56. |
17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
The apostle is still carrying on the same design as in the foregoing verses, which was, to convince the Galatians of their sin and folly in departing from the truth of the gospel: having just before been expostulating with them about the change of their behaviour towards him who endeavoured to establish them in it, he here gives them the character of those false teachers who made it their business to draw them away from it, which if they would attend to, they might soon see how little reason they had to hearken to them: whatever opinion they might have of them, he tells them they were designing men, who were aiming to set up themselves, and who, under their specious pretences, were more consulting their own interest than theirs: “They zealously affect you,” says he; “they show a mighty respect for you, and pretend a great deal of affection to you, but not well; they do it not with any good design, they are not sincere and upright in it, for they would exclude you, that you might affect them. That which they are chiefly aiming at is to engage your affections to them; and, in order to this, they are doing all they can to draw off your affections from me and from the truth, that so they may engross you to themselves.” This, he assures them, was their design, and therefore they must needs be very unwise in hearkening to them. Note, 1. There may appear to be a great deal of zeal where yet there is but little truth and sincerity. 2. It is the usual way of seducers to insinuate themselves into people’s affections, and by that means to draw them into their opinions. 3. Whatever pretences such may make, they have usually more regard to their own interest than that of others, and will not stick at ruining the reputation of others, if by that means they can raise their own. On this occasion the apostle gives us that excellent rule which we have, v. 18, It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. What our translation renders in a good man, and so consider the apostle as pointing to himself; this sense, they think, is favoured both by the preceding context and also by the words immediately following, and not only when I am present with you, which may be as if he had said, “Time was when you were zealously affected towards me; you once took me for a good man, and have now no reason to think otherwise of me; surely then it would become you to show the same regard to me, now that I am absent from you, which you did when I was present with you.” But, if we adhere to our own translation, the apostle here furnishes us with a very good rule to direct and regulate us in the exercise of our zeal: there are two things which to this purpose he more especially recommends to us:– (1.) That it be exercised only upon that which is good; for zeal is then only good when it is in a good thing: those who are zealously affected to that which is evil will thereby only to do so much the more hurt. And, (2.) That herein it be constant and steady: it is good to be zealous always in a good thing; not for a time only, or now and then, like the heat of an ague-fit, but, like the natural heat of the body, constant. Happy would it be for the church of Christ if this rule were better observed among Christians!
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
They zealously seek you ( ). is an old and a good word from (zeal, jealousy), but one can pay court with good motives or evil. So here in contrast with Paul’s plain speech the Judaizers bring their fawning flattery.
To shut you out ( ). From Christ as he will show (5:4).
That ye may seek them ( ). Probably present active indicative with as in (1Co 4:6) and (1Jo 5:20). The contraction – would be –, not – (Robertson, Grammar, p. 325).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
They zealously affect you (zhlousin uJmav). They are zealously paying you court in order to win you over to their side. Affect, in this sense, is obsolete. It is from affectare, to strive after, earnestly desire. So Shaks. Tam. of Shr. 1 1 40 :
“In brief, sir, study what you most affect.” Ben Johnson, Alchem. 3 2 :
“Pray him aloud to name what dish he affects.” As a noun, desire. So Chaucer, Troil. and Cress. 3 1391 : “As Crassus dide for his affectis wronge” (his wrong desires). Comp. 1Co 12:31; 1Co 14:1.
Not well [ ] . Not in an honorable way.
Nay [] . So far from dealing honorably.
They would exclude you [ ] . From other teachers who do not belong to their party – those of anti – Judaising views who formed the sounder part of the church.
That ye might affect them [ ] . So that in your isolation from others, you might be led to seek affiliation with them.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “They zealously affect you,” (zelousin humas) “They are zealous of you all;” The real enemies of the Galatians were those who came to frustrate them from following Jesus Christ and would have them entangled in the ceremonies of Moses Law and in heathen rituals again, Rom 10:2; Mat 23:13; Mat 23:15.
2) “But not well,” (ou kallos, alla) “but not well,” or it is “not well,” or in no good way or purpose; they court you to mislead you, 2Co 11:13-15.
3) “Yea, they would exclude you,” (ekkleisai humas thelousin) “They wish (strongly) to exclude you all,” or exclude us from influencing you all and exclude them from association with other churches and companions who hold to the Word of truth, Joh 9:22; Joh 9:28; Joh 9:35-38.
4) “That ye might affect them,” (hina autos zeloute) “In order that ye may be zealous them,” of their party, their schismatic teachings regarding the keeping of the ceremonies of the Law. They had the Scribes and Pharisees as their forbears, whose attitude to build their party our Lord exposed, Mat 5:20; Mat 23:5-7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. They are jealous of you. He comes at length to the false apostles, and does more by silence to make them odious, than if he had given their names; for we usually abstain from naming those whose very names produce in us dislike and aversion. He mentions the immoderate ambition of those men, and warns the Galatians not to be led astray by their appearance of zeal. The comparison is borrowed from honorable love, as contrasted with those professions of regard which arise from unhallowed desires. Jealousy, on the part of the false apostles, ought not to impose upon them; for it proceeded not from right zeal, but from an improper desire of obtaining reputation, — a desire most unlike that holy jealousy of which Paul speaks to the Corinthians.
“
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2Co 11:2.)
To expose still more fully their base arts, he corrects his language. Yea, they would exclude you (69) They not only endeavor to gain your affections, but, as they cannot obtain possession of you by any other means, they endeavor to kindle strife between us. When you have been thrown as it were destitute, they expect that you will yield yourselves up to them; for they perceive that, so long as there shall be maintained between us a religious harmony, they can have no influence. This stratagem is frequently resorted to by all the ministers of Satan. By producing in the people a dislike of their pastor, they hope afterwards to draw them to themselves; and, having disposed of the rival, to obtain quiet possession. A careful and judicious examination of their conduct will discover that in this way they always begin.
(69) ́̓Εστι γὰρ καὶ ζὢλος ἀγαθὸς ὅταν τις οὕτω ζηλοῖ ὥστε μιμήσασθαι τὴν ἀρετήν· ἔστι καὶ ζὢλος προνηρὸς ὤστε ἐκβάλλειν τὢς ἀρετὢς τὸν κατορθοῦντα· ὅ δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ νῦν ἐπιχειροῦσι, τὢς μὲν τελείας γνώσεως ἐκβάλλειν θέλοντες, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἠκρωτηριασμένην ὑμᾶς δὲ τοὺς νῦν ὑψηλοτέρους αὐτῶν ὄντας, ἐν τάξει καταστήσωσι μαθητῶν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδήλωσεν εἰτὼν ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλοῦτε
“
There is a good zeal, when one emulates in such a manner as to imitate virtue; and there is a bad zeal, which ‘drives away’ from virtue one who is acting right. And this is what they are now attempting to do, when they wish to ‘drive away’ from perfect knowledge, and to lead them to that which is mutilated and spurious, for no other reason than that they may occupy the ranks of teachers, and that you, who are higher than themselves, may be placed by them in the rank of scholars; for this is what he meant by saying, ‘that ye may emulate them.’” — Chrysostom.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) They zealously affect you.Zealously affect is a single word in the Greek, and means to show zeal towards, to court, to curry favour with, to canvass eagerly, so as to win over to their side. The subject of this verse is the Judaising teachers.
They would exclude you.They desire to separate you from the rest of the Gentile churches, and to make a sect by itself, in which they themselves may bear rule. All the other Gentile churches had accepted the freer teaching of St. Paul; the Judaising party wished to make of Galatia an isolated centre of Judaism. They did this with personal motives, not welli.e., from honest and honourable motivesbut with a view to secure their own ascendancy.
That ye might affect them.The same word as zealously affect above and in the next verse. They expect to have all this zeal on their part returned to them in kind. With them it is the proselytizing zeal of the faction leader; from you they expect the deferential zeal of devoted followers.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(17-20) All this eagerness to court your favour springs from an interested motive: they wish to make a sect of you, in which they shall be masters and courted in their turn. Not but that it is a good thing for teachers and taughtyou and Ito seek favour with each other, so long as it is done disinterestedly, and that, too, when I am absent as well as when I am present. My heart yearns towards you. I cannot forget that you owe your life, as Christians, to me. Now, once more, it seems as if all that long travail has to be gone over again. You must be re-fashioned in the likeness of Christ, as the infant is fashioned in the form of man. Would that I could be with you and speak in a different tone, for how to deal with you I do not know.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. They The unnamed propagators of Judaism in the Galatian Church.
Affect you Court you, flatter you, zealously cultivate you.
But not well Not honourably for them, not beneficially to you. I am your enemy, for-sooth, for telling truth; they your friends, by telling untruth.
Exclude you Shut you off from Christ, his Church, and me, to themselves alone.
Ye might affect Court, be zealous partisans for them. St. Paul holds the cross of Christ as the true centre, from which these separatists wished to form a clique of followers.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘They seek you zealously, but not in a good way. No, they desire to shut you out that you may look to them. But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you.’
The Judaisers have indeed come with great zeal seeking to press their teachings. Perhaps they had made a great show of fasting and observance of the Sabbath, and had prayed openly on street corners. But their aim was not good. They have suggested that because they are Jews they are superior to the Galatians, that they have something extra which the Galatians do not have. They want them to feel shut out and thus look to them for introduction to a similar superior state. They want to take the Galatians into bondage to the Law. But all that they are really doing is to take them away from Christ.
Or alternatively they want them to be shut out from the blessings of the Gospel and from those who enjoy them, so that they may look to them for everything. They are self-seeking, while professing the opposite. They are wanting disciples for themselves not considering the good of those they speak to. There are many such today.
Well, let them recognise that being zealously sought can be a good thing. But zeal is not enough. It is all right men seeming dedicated, but it is only good if the purpose for their seeking them is good. The Galatians should want to be sought by those who bring the true Gospel, which had brought such blessing to them, even when Paul is not there with them, and not just by anyone who is enthusiastic for a cause. So just as he had zealously sought them with the best of all possible things, the Gospel, they should ensure that any whom they allow to zealously seek them at any time, also do so with the same Gospel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gal 4:17. They would exclude you. Some copies and several expositors read us, which certainly appears more natural and easy; and, is there is no doubt but that the Apostle refers here to the endeavours used by the false teachers to alienate their affections from him, it may induce us to prefer this reading:which is put by the translators of our bible in the margin.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gal 4:17 . The self-seeking conduct of the Judaizing teachers (Gal 1:7 ), so entirely opposed to the . The fact that they are not named is quite in keeping with the emotion and irritation of the moment; “nam solemus suppresso nomine de iis loqui, quos nominare piget ac taedet,” Calvin.
] that is, they exert themselves urgently to win you over to their side; they pay their court to you zealously. So, correctly, Erasmus, Castalio, Er. Schmid, Michaelis, and others, including Flatt, Winer, Usteri, Schott, Fritzsche, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Ewald, Wieseler, and Hofmann. For the contrast to the behaviour of the apostle harmonizes well with this sense; which is also accordant with linguistic usage, since with the accusative means to be zealous about a person or thing , and obtains in each case the more precise definition of its import from the context; Dem. 1402. 20. 500. 2; Pro 24:1 ; Wis 1:12 ; 1Co 12:31 ; and see Wetstein. Next to this interpretation comes that of Calvin, Beza, and others, including Rckert (comp. Vulgate: aemulantur ): they are jealous of you (2Co 11:2 ; Sir 9:1 ). Taking it so, it would not be necessary to conceive of Paul and his opponents under the figure of wooers of the bride (the bridegroom being Christ; see on 2Co 11:2 ), of which nothing is suggested by the context; but it may be urged against this explanation, that is not appropriate in the same sense. This remark also applies to the interpretation of Koppe and Reithmayr, following Ambrose, Jerome, and Theodoret: “ they envy you (Act 7:9 ), are full of an envious jealousy of your freedom;” and to that of Chrysostom and Theophylact: they vie with you (comp. Borger); , , (Theophylact). The factitive explanation: they make you to be zealous (Matthias), is opposed to linguistic usage, which only sanctions , and not the simple verb, in this sense.
] not in a morally fair, honourable way , as would have been the case, if it had been done for your real good.
] To exclude ; [199] they desire to debar you; in this lies the wickedness of their . The question which arises here, and cannot be set aside (as Hofmann thinks): Exclude from what? is answered by the emphatic which follows, namely, from other teachers , who do not belong to their clique. [200] These “other teachers” are naturally those of anti-Judaizing views, and consequently Paul himself and his followers; but the hypothesis that Paul only is referred to (“a me meique communione,” Winer; so also Luther, Calvin, Grotius, Bengel, Kypke, Michaelis, Rckert, Olshausen, Reiche, and others) is the less feasible, as the very idea of in itself most naturally points to a plurality, to an association. Since the which follows applies to the false teachers as teachers , we must not conceive the exclusion (with Borger and Flatt) as from the whole body of Christians , nor (with Schott) as from all Christians thinking differently; comp. Hilgenfeld: “from the Pauline church-union .” It is arbitrarily taken by Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Theophylact, as exclusion from the state of true knowledge; by Erasmus and Cornelius a Lapide, from Christian freedom; by Luther (1519), a Christo et fiducia ejus ; by Matthies, from the kingdom of truth (comp. Ewald: from genuine Christianity ); by Wieseler and Reithmayr, from the kingdom of heaven; by Matthias, from salvation by faith . All Interpretations of This nature would have needed some more precise definition. Koppe falls into a peculiar error: “a consuetudine et familiaritate sua arcere vos volunt” (Gal 2:12 ).
] As is used here with the present indicative , it cannot mean in order that; [201] but must be the particle of place, ubi (Valckenaer, ad Herod , ix. 27: . . .). This ubi may, however, mean either: in which position of things ye are zealous for them (my former explanation), as in 1Co 4:6 (see on that passage, and Ellendt, Lex. Soph . I. p. 839); or, in its purely local sense: “they wish to debar you there, where you are zealous for them ,” namely, in the Judaistic circle , in which it is they themselves who are zealously courted by you, whose favour you have to seek, etc. The latter view, as the simplest, is to be preferred. On the usual explanation of as a particle of design , recourse is had to the assumption of an abnormal construction of degenerate Greek (Winer, Olshausen, Hilgenfeld, Wieseler, Hofmann, Reithmayr, and others); or of a mistake on the part of the author or of the transcriber (Schott); or, with Fritzsche, to the reading (which only 113 and 219** have). But all these makeshifts are quite as arbitrary as the assumption of a faulty formation of mood (Rckert, Matthies). The interpretation of as ubi is based not on an “exaggerated philological precision,” [202] but on a linguistic necessity, to which the customary interpretation, yielding certainly a sense appropriate enough in itself, must give way, because the latter absolutely requires the subjunctive mood.
[199] Syr. translates includere , and consequently read . This would mean: they desire to include you in their circle, so that ye should not get free from them and come to associate with other teachers. Thus, in point of fact, the same sense would result as in the case of , only regarded from a different point of view. Fritzsche’s reference of . to the legis Mos. carcerem is not suggested by the context. The reading is altogether so weakly attested, that it can only be looked upon as an ancient error of transcription.
[200] The wish expressed by Erasmus in his Annott.: “Utinam hodie nulli sint apud Christianos in quos competat haec Pauli querimonia!” is still but too applicable to the present day.
[201] is not the Attic future (Jatho). See Winer, p. 72 [E. T. 88]; Buttmann, p. 33. In Thuc. ii. 8. 3, and iii. 58. 4, and are presents; see Krger in loc .
[202] As Hilgenfeld thinks, who appeals in favour of , ut , with the indicative to Clem. Hom . xi. 16: . This is certainly not “philological precision,” but inattention to linguistic fact; for in this Clementine passage the quite customary , ut , is used with the indicative of the preterite , “quod tum fit, quando ponitur aliquid, quod erat futurum, si aliud quid factum esset, sed jam non est factum,” Klotz, ad Devar . p. 630 f.; Herm. ad Viger . p. 850 f.; Khner, II. 778. With regard to the respective passages from Barnabas and Ignatius, in support of with the present indicative, see on 1Co 4:6 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
Ver. 17. They zealously affect you ] Depereunt vos; as jealous woers they would have you whole to themselves without a co-rival, and are related.
They would exclude us ] As standing in their way. This is the guise of all sectaries and seducers, they denigrate the true teachers that they may be the only men.
That you might affect them ] Our Antinomians call upon their hearers to mark, it may be they shall hear that which they have not heard before, when the thing is either false, or if true, no more than ordinarily is taught by others.
” Quid dignum tanto ferat hic promissor hiatu? “
Her. de Art. Poet.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 .] ‘My telling you the truth may have made me seem your enemy: but I warn you that these men who court you so zealously (see ref. 2 Cor., and cf. Plut. vii. 762, cited by Fritz. . , ) have no honourable purpose in so doing: it is only in order to get you away from the community as a separate clique, that you may court them.’ Thus the verse seems to fit best into the context. As regards particular words, must bear the meaning of exclusion from a larger and attraction to a smaller, viz. their own, party. (Our very word ‘exclusive’ conveys the same idea.) I have therefore not adopted Mey.’s rendering, ‘ from all other teachers ,’ nor that of Luther (1538), Calv., Grot., Beng., Rck., Olsh., Winer, al., ‘ from me and my communion ,’ nor that of Chrys., c., Thl., , nor that of Erasm., Corn.-a-lap., ‘ from Christian freedom .’
The mood of has been disputed: and it must remain uncertain here, as in 1Co 4:6 , where see note. Here as there Meyer would give the meaning of ‘ in which case :’ but it is surely far better where the sentence so plainly requires of the purpose, to suppose some peculiar usage or solcism in formation of the subjunctive on the part of the Apostle.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 4:17-18 . The substantive (probably derived from , burn ) denotes some kind of passionate desire. Whether it was of good or evil tendency depended on the nature of its object and the spirit in which it was pursued: for the same term was used to designate zeal for God or for some noble object, personal passion, or an exclusive spirit of selfish jealousy. The verb partakes of the same neutral quality. Its figurative meaning is here borrowed from the efforts of a lover to win favour. The Pharisaic party affected ( i.e. , courted) the Galatians in a selfish spirit, being minded to shut them out of their rightful inheritance in Christ, that they might reduce them to dependence on their own Law. Paul also courted them, not for his own glory, but that he might join them to Christ, and he was glad that they should be courted at all times, even by others in his absence, if it was done in a right spirit. They affect you (he writes, i.e. , court you) not honourably, but are minded to shut you out that you may affect them. But it is good for you to be affected at all times and not only when I am present with you . . As there are no other instances of being followed by an indicative present in Pauline language, it is probable that this and in 1Co 4:6 are really forms of the subjunctive, though is the contracted form in general use.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
zealously affect. Greek. zelov, to be zealous, either for good or for bad.
would = wish to. App-102.,
exclude. Greek. ekkleiv, See Rom 3:27.
affect. Greek. zelov, as above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] My telling you the truth may have made me seem your enemy: but I warn you that these men who court you so zealously (see ref. 2 Cor., and cf. Plut. vii. 762, cited by Fritz. . , ) have no honourable purpose in so doing: it is only in order to get you away from the community as a separate clique, that you may court them. Thus the verse seems to fit best into the context. As regards particular words, must bear the meaning of exclusion from a larger and attraction to a smaller, viz. their own, party. (Our very word exclusive conveys the same idea.) I have therefore not adopted Mey.s rendering, from all other teachers,-nor that of Luther (1538), Calv., Grot., Beng., Rck., Olsh., Winer, al., from me and my communion,-nor that of Chrys., c., Thl., ,-nor that of Erasm., Corn.-a-lap., from Christian freedom.
The mood of has been disputed: and it must remain uncertain here, as in 1Co 4:6, where see note. Here as there Meyer would give the meaning of in which case: but it is surely far better where the sentence so plainly requires of the purpose, to suppose some peculiar usage or solcism in formation of the subjunctive on the part of the Apostle.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 4:17. , they zealously affect) They zealously solicit [cajole] you. He does not name his rivals.- , not well) not [being] in Christ, although they seem to do what is good [well]. The antithesis is, , in a good thing, Gal 4:18. Neithe the cause in their case, he says, nor the manner is good.- ) exclude you from us, from me. They think, that we shall be excluded from you; but they would not exclude us from you, but you from us: , I am disposed to think, is not used in the sense, in which the Latins say that chickens are hatched (excludi, thrust forth from the shell).
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 4:17
Gal 4:17
They zealously seek you in no good way;-These Judaizers who turned them to Moses and turned their feelings against Paul, aroused their zeal, but not in a proper direction nor from a proper motive.
nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them.-They would lead them away from Christ that they might serve their selfish ends. Paul denounces unsparingly those who sought to subvert the faith of Christians. (2Co 11:414). [If the Judaizing teachers could persuade those who had been taught that faith and obedience to the gospel alone were necessary to salvation, that circumcision and submission to the law of Moses were also essential, the effect would invariably be just what Paul describes. They must turn to their new teachers for that assurance of salvation, which, they would suppose, the gospel as preached by Paul could not supply.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
zealously: Gal 6:12, Gal 6:13, Mat 23:15, Rom 10:2, Rom 16:18, 1Co 11:2, 2Co 11:3, 2Co 11:13-15, Phi 2:21, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 2:18
exclude you: or, exclude us, 1Co 4:8, 1Co 4:18
Reciprocal: Jos 22:12 – the whole 2Sa 21:2 – in his zeal Act 22:3 – was 2Co 11:2 – jealous Gal 1:7 – but Gal 5:10 – but Tit 1:10 – specially
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Chapter Gal 4:17-31
Aware by what means this alienation of feeling had been produced, he now reverts to those by whose seductive arts and errors it had been occasioned-
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Verse 17. They means the Judaizers who have been referred to so many times. Zealously affect is from ZELOO, which Thayer defines, “to desire one earnestly, to strive after, busy one’s self about him,” and he explains it to mean, “to seek to draw over to one’s side.” Paul says the Judaizers were greatly concerned about the Galatians, but not for their good. Exclude is from EKKLEIO, and Thayer’s definition here is, “to shut out,” and he explains it as follows: “From intercourse with me and with teachers cooperating with me.” That ye might affect them. The Judaizers hoped that by getting in between the Galatians and Paul, they would turn their attention toward them (the Judaizers), and be zealously affected, or be concerned to be attached to them instead of to Paul.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 4:17. Warning against the errorists on account of their selfish exclusiveness and party spirit.
They court you, the Judaizers (Gal 1:7; Gal 5:10) pay you every attention and are very busy to win you over to their party and their creed, but not well, in no good, honest way, not from unselfish love to you; nay, they desire to exclude you, or to shut you out from me and virtually from Christ Himself, by insisting on ceremonial observances as necessary to salvation; that ye may court them, they wish selfishly to monopolize your esteem and affection. Zeal is no test of sound doctrine, but sound doctrine must prove the zeal. Zeal without knowledge is like a sword in the hands of a madman.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
They, that is, the false apostles, pretend great love to you, and a zealous affection for you; but not well, not upon honest and just grounds. There is often an ill cause, which is to be condemned and avoided; zeal is a mixed affection of love and anger working into a fervency of mind, in defending what we believe to be true and good, and in opposing what we judge to be false and bad; they zealously affect you, but not will. Nothing is more common, and consequently more dangerous, than for heretical teachers to pretend great zeal for the glory of God, and great love and affection to the people of God, whilst they are about to persuade them to embrace their pernicious errors and damnable heresies. He adds, Yea, they would exclude you, that you might affect them: Exclude you, that is, from the liberties and privileges of the gospel, say some; from depending upon me, or any faithful pastor, say others; they would ingratiate themselves, that they may ingross you, and you may affect them only. The old practice has ever been amongst seducers, first to alienate the people’s minds from their own teachers, and next get themselves looked upon as alone, and only worthy to have themselves looked upon as alone, and only worthy to have room in the people’s hearts and affections; They would exclude you from us, and us from you, only that you might affect them.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Gal 4:17-18. They zealously affect you The Judaizing teachers who are come among you express an extraordinary regard for you; but not well Their zeal is not according to knowledge, neither have they a single eye to Gods glory, and your spiritual advantage. Yea, they would exclude you From me and from the blessings of the gospel; that ye might effect Might love and esteem them. Or, as some read this clause, they would exclude us, that is, me, your spiritual father, and my fellow-labourers in the gospel, from your affection, that ye may love them ardently, as the only faithful teachers of the gospel. But it is good , comely, honourable, and commendable; to be zealously affected always in a good thing In what is really worthy of our zeal: for as the beauty and excellence of zeal is to be estimated not by the degree of it, considered in itself, but by the object to which it is directed; so too the warmth of your affection toward an object truly worthy of it, should be, at all times, equally maintained; and the same fervent zeal which you have formerly expressed, ought to be manifested by you, not only when I am present with you, but in my absence also, if you really think me to deserve your regards, and have indeed received the truth in the love of it. It may be proper to observe, that the original expression may refer either to a good person or a good thing, and may be understood of their continuing zealous in their affection, either to himself, or to the truth which he preached; but as he had been speaking of himself in the foregoing verses, he likewise seems to have still in view the warmth of their affection to him when he was present with them; though he expresses it in a graceful way, with such a latitude as may include their zeal for his doctrine as well as for his person. Doddridge.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 17
They; the false teachers.–Zealously affect you; pretend to be ardently interested in your welfare.–Exclude you; separate you; that is, from me.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
They zealously affect you, [but] not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18 But [it is] good to be zealously affected always in [a] good [thing], and not only when I am present with you.
He tells them that the Judaizers are zealous, but they are zealously affecting them in a negative way – they have taken the joy of salvation from them and saddled them with many observances.
yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. The Judaizers were not stupid; they were separating themselves from the Galatians so that the Galatians would not affect them or their belief system.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
4:17 They zealously affect you, {q} [but] not well; yea, they would exclude you, {r} that ye might affect them.
(q) For they are jealous over you for their own benefit.
(r) That they may transfer all your love from me to themselves.