Zeal Rightly Directed

Sooner or later, anyone who begins to take the commandments seriously will hear a gentle warning. It usually comes from a friend, and it usually comes with real concern: “Be careful. Trying to keep the law by your own zeal becomes a big problem.”

It is not a foolish thing to say. Most of us have met zealous religious people, and some of them were hard to be around. They were quick to correct, slow to listen, and always a little pleased with themselves. If that is what zeal produces, the warning sounds like wisdom: keep your faith calm, and keep your passion for the commandments on a low flame.

Before we accept the warning, though, we should ask what Scripture says about zeal for the word. And the answer is plain. There is not one verse in the Bible that faults the zeal to live by what God said.

What God Asked For

We begin with the longest psalm in the Bible, which opens with those “who walk in the Torah of the LORD” (Psalm 119:1). A few lines later it says this:

Psalm 119:4 You yourself have commanded (tzivvah צָוָה tsaw-vaw') your precepts to be kept diligently.

“To be kept diligently.” God did not hand over His precepts and tell His people to keep them if they found it comfortable. The word for precepts is piqqud פִּקּוּד pek-ode', a specific charge laid on someone, and God asks that His charges be kept with diligence, with care and with effort.

Many centuries later, Paul wrote a letter to Titus. In it he explains why the Messiah gave Himself up at all:

Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every anomia ἀνομία an-om-ee'-ah(Torah-lessness), and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

The sentence has two halves. He gave Himself “to redeem us from every anomia(Torah-lessness).” As we saw in Chapter 18, anomia means life without God’s Torah. Then comes the goal: “a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” The cross was not meant to calm a people down. It was meant to make a people zealous. Zeal for doing good is not a danger the gospel warns us against; it is one of the very things the gospel was aiming at.

Paul says it again in Romans, and there the word he uses is even warmer:

Romans 12:11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in pneuma πνεῦμα pnyoo'-mah(spirit), serving the Lord;

“Fervent in pneuma(spirit).” The Greek verb behind “fervent” is zeo ζέω dzeh'-o, which means to boil, to be hot. It is the word for water bubbling in a pot. Paul does not tell his readers to stay lukewarm in spirit to be on the safe side. He tells them to boil.

To the Galatians, a church he was worried about, he wrote this:

Galatians 4:18 But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you.

The verb here is zeloo ζηλόω dzay-lo'-o, to burn with zeal. Paul’s concern was not that people were too eager, but what they were eager for. It is good, he says, “always,” to be sought with zeal, as long as it is “in a commendable manner.” That phrase is worth holding on to, because it is the key to this whole chapter.

A Young Man Who Had Kept Them All

If zeal for the commandments were the problem, we would expect Yeshua to say so when He met a man who had plenty of it. And He did meet such a man. The man ran up to Him, knelt, and asked how to inherit eternal life. Yeshua listed the commandments, and the man answered with confidence:

Mark 10:20-21 And he said to Him: "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." Looking at him, Yeshua felt a love for him and said to him: "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me, taking up the cross."

The man had said, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” If there was ever a moment for Yeshua to tell someone that his problem was trying too hard, this was that moment.

Yeshua did not say it. Instead, Mark tells us, “Looking at him, Yeshua felt a love for him.” He loved him. He did not mock the man’s years of careful obedience or call them legalism. He told him there was “one thing” he lacked, and that one thing was not less devotion to the commandments. It was to let go of what he owned, and to come and follow.

The Engine and the Road

Think of a car with a powerful engine, six hundred horsepower. The engine is a fine piece of work, and it is not evil because it is strong. The question is never whether the engine has too much power; the question is where the car is pointed. On a racetrack, all that power is a pleasure to watch. Driven into a crowded market, the same power does terrible harm.

If such a car crashed into a market, no sensible person would say that the engine was to blame and ought to be torn out. The engine would stay, and the driver would be taught to steer.

That is how Scripture treats zeal. It never asks how much zeal a person has. It asks which way that zeal is pointed. And when we look at the places where zeal goes wrong, we find three ways a car can leave the road.

Three Ways to Leave the Road

The first is zeal pointed at building one’s own righteousness. Paul wrote this about his own people:

Romans 10:2-3 For I bear witness to them that they have zeal for God, but not according to epignosis ἐπίγνωσις ep-ig'-no-sis(spiritual, complete knowledge). For not knowing the dikaiosyne δικαιοσύνη dik-ah-yos-oo'-nay(righteousness) of God and seeking to establish their own dikaiosyne(righteousness), they did not submit to the dikaiosyne(righteousness) of God.

Paul does not say that they have too much zeal for God. He bears witness that they have it. The trouble lies in what follows: “not according to epignosis(spiritual, complete knowledge),” and “seeking to establish their own dikaiosyne(righteousness).” The engine was sound, but it was driving them toward a righteousness of their own making.

The second is zeal pointed at other people. Paul knew this one from the inside. Describing his life before he met the Messiah, he wrote:

Philippians 3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the ekklesia ἐκκλησία ek-klay-see'-ah(called-out community); as to the dikaiosyne(righteousness) which is in the nomos νόμος nom'-os(law), found blameless.

“As to zeal, a persecutor of the ekklesia(called-out community).” Paul’s zeal had been aimed at human beings, and it had hurt them. Yeshua drew the same picture in a parable about two men praying in the temple:

Luke 18:11-12 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people — swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a sabbaton σάββατον sab'-bat-on(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23); I pay tithes of all that I get.'

Fasting and tithing are not the problem in this prayer. The problem is the pointing finger: “I am not like other people … or even like this tax collector.” The man’s zeal had become a measuring stick, and he was using it on his neighbor.

The third is zeal that grows out of envy and rivalry. James described it plainly:

James 3:14-17 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your kardia καρδία kar-dee'-ah(heart, soul-domain), do not boast and lie against the aletheia ἀλήθεια al-ay'-thi-a(truth). This sophia σοφία sof-ee'-ah(wisdom) is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, psychike(soul-driven), demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the sophia(wisdom) from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, adiakritos ἀδιάκριτος ad-ee-ak'-ree-tos(impartial, unwavering) and sincere.

“Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.” The Greek word James uses for jealousy, zelos, is the very word translated “zeal” in Romans 10:2 and Philippians 3:6. James is showing what zeal looks like when competition fuels it, and he names its source: “earthly, psychike(soul-driven), demonic.” Then he describes the other kind, the wisdom from above, which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits.”

Keep the Engine

Set the three side by side: self-righteousness, condemnation, and envy. These are what Scripture rebukes. And all three can grow in a person who has no zeal at all, for a lukewarm churchgoer can be proud, critical, and envious. In the same way, all three can be absent in someone who burns with love for God’s commandments.

The cure for misdirected zeal, then, is not less zeal. The cure is direction. God commanded His precepts “to be kept diligently.” The cross was meant to produce a people “zealous for good deeds.” What God asks is that the engine stay, and that the steering wheel be in the right hands, turned toward Him and toward the good of others, gentle and full of mercy.

That brings us to Paul, the man who once wrote of himself, “as to zeal, a persecutor of the ekklesia(called-out community).” Many believe that Paul in the end turned his zeal against the Torah itself, walked away from Judaism, and founded a new religion called Christianity. Paul’s own words tell us what he thought he was doing.