ABCs of Spiritual Formation: Z is for Zeal
"Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins."
-- Proverbs 19:2
Z is for Zeal
Twenty-six weeks ago, I started this ABC series and today it comes to a close. I pray it has borne fruit in your life as it has in mine. I could go through the alphabet two or three more times but will refrain as I am excited for our next series. But first let’s dive into Zeal.
Zeal can be present at all stages of spiritual formation and is often more visible in younger people. As we will see, however, a mature zeal is part of God's image in us and needs to be cultivated with knowledge. As we grow in Christlikeness, we will need to be careful not to disdain a passionate enthusiasm for God and his ways. We can be tempted by the Siren song of acceptability and being proper and sophisticated and lose the childlikeness required to be in God's kingdom. Let's look at what the bible says.
BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING
The English word zeal and zealous come from the same word transliterated from Greek, and some form of it is used in all New Testament occurrences. A few forms of the basic Hebrew word are used in the Old Testament with one word used for humans and a slight variation used for God. In all instances the word zeal connotes jealousy with the Greek word also carrying the idea of heat, which is fitting as we think of people, we would call zealous.
A basic principle we can use to assess zeal is found in Proverbs and echoed in Romans when Paul is describing the Jews who are against Christ and his people:
Proverbs 19:2
"Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins."
Romans 10:2
"I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge."
Going from this foundation we can mark some examples to help us understand. The first is in Numbers when Phinehas takes up his sword and kills his own people who have rebelled against God worshipping the golden calf while Moses was receiving the 10 Commandments.
Numbers 25:11,13
“Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the Israelites because he was zealous among them with my zeal, so that I did not destroy the Israelites in my zeal... It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood for him and his future descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”
Later we see the flip side when Saul goes against the covenant Joshua had made with the deceptive Gibeonites. Many years afterwards during David’s reign Israel is suffering and five of Saul's descendants must be sacrificed to atone for Saul's sin.
2 Samuel 21:2
"The Gibeonites were not Israelites but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah. So David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them."
Both Phinehas and Saul were zealous, and both killed people in their zeal. Phinehas was zealous for God and saved his people from destruction in his actions. Saul, according to the text, was zealous for his people, not for God, and killed innocent people in his foolishness. (I do recognize that these examples are problematic in our modern western world, but I do not feel a need to apologize for or defend the Bible. If you struggle with these, I encourage you to study it more deeply.)
One theme that runs throughout the Bible is God's commitment to his promises, to accomplishing all that he has declared. This is described as zeal and the idea of God being a jealous God is common as well. These three verses basically repeat each other.
2 Kings 19:31
"For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this."
Isaiah 9:7
"The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this."
Isaiah 37:32
"For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this."
Jesus exhibits this as well as mentioned in John referring to the Psalm 69.
John 2:17
"And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me."
Psalm 69:9
"...because zeal for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."
As we continue in the New Testament, we see the zeal of the Jews unleashed against the followers of the Way of Jesus. Paul the Apostle who was formerly called Saul, named after the first king from the tribe of Benjamin, acts similarly foolish in his zeal for God against God's people as quoted in Acts 22:3,
"He continued, 'I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.'"
Paul understands his people and begs them to see the error of their ways. Most of them do not have ears to hear. As Jesus predicted they think they are serving God with holy zeal in their persecution of Jesus' followers. This highlights our conundrum. Being zealous is easy; being zealous and humble is difficult.
Paul went into more detail in a couple of his epistles.
Galatians 1:14
"I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors."
Philippians 3:6
"...regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless."
His zeal moved him to action. He thought he was doing God's will but was mistaken. By God's grace and kindness, Saul was knocked off his horse and became Paul. We see the same spirit Saul had with many of the Jews who had joined the disciples in Jerusalem while Paul was on his missionary journeys. Note what James tells Paul when he visited Jerusalem in Acts 21:20,
"When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law."
This is an interesting text. Are these the leaders of the circumcision party? Were they the leaders who questioned Peter after he met with Cornelius? Were they convinced? Did they submit to the council's decision in Acts 15? Most likely, they were mixed. How were they able to discern God's ways and channel their zeal appropriately? This seems important for each of us today because having zeal is strongly encouraged in the Bible. Here are a couple of examples where the zeal of believers is praised:
2 Corinthians 7:7
"...and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he received from you. He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more."
2 Corinthians 9:2
"For I know your eagerness, and I boast about you to the Macedonians, “Achaia has been ready since last year,” and your zeal has stirred up most of them."
And let's close out this walk through the Bible with three instances in which we are encouraged, even commanded, to be zealous.
Romans 12:11
"Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord."
2 Corinthians 7:11
"For consider how much diligence this very thing—this grieving as God wills—has produced in you: what a desire to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what deep longing, what zeal, what justice! In every way you showed yourselves to be pure in this matter."
Revelation 3:19
"As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent."
INSIDE OUT
Therefore, we see that zeal is a trait that describes healthy Christ followers, but we must be careful to channel it according to knowledge. With this we must note that zeal is internal and is revealed by external actions. In every situation the zeal referred to in the different Bible stories was only seen because of some action. Phinehas and King Saul killed because of their zeal; the murder was the outward expression of the internal reality. The Corinthians' zeal was shown in their tangible care for Paul. Jesus' cleansing of the temple was attributed to his zeal. This tells us that the way to gauge our zeal is by our actions.
FOR WHAT?
Okay, we are called to be zealous and to show it by our actions, but what are proper objects for our zeal and what does it mean to have zeal according to knowledge and what role does spiritual formation play in this, i.e. how do we become appropriately zealous people?
With those questions I'm stepping into a danger zone because this is not an area of expertise for me. I can ruminate on all kinds of big ideas but getting down to the specifics is where my weaknesses show, but I'm going to be zealous for details here and see what comes of it!
What warrants our jealousy and what is appropriate in a post-resurrection, grace- filled age?
Acts 13:44-45 shows us the fleshly side of this. Paul is preaching in Pisidian Antioch (modern-day Turkey) and gets quite a following. The word translated “jealous” here is the same word translated “zealous” in the other verses. Here it is plain jealousy. They are not considering God’s name. "The following Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what Paul was saying, insulting him." Clearly this is misplaced but what is a correctly placed zeal?
Saying we are to be zealous for God is easy, but what does that look like today. Paul made clear that his early zeal for God was without knowledge and therefore wrong so we can't even say we are zealous for God with confidence? Paul commends the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 7 for their zeal to make things right after he rebuked them. This is right after he praised their zeal for him which I think means their deep desire for his good and to have a good relationship with him. In Romans and Corinthians Paul emphasizes the need for diligence in our zeal. This puts the onus on us to move forward humbly questioning our assumptions. Warning: We are in the most danger when we are sure we are right.
IN THE TENSION AGAIN
But this feels like a paradox and as always, we need to sit in the tension for that is where God is, and I really believe this is where we get to the heart of the matter. This is a sign of maturing in Christlikeness. The call is to be full of zeal, i.e. passionate and heated and ready to act with 100%, while also being diligent and measured and acting according to knowledge. Being full of heat and passion is doable; anyone can cut loose, unleash their fury on whoever gets in the way. We see this in our culture daily. On the other hand, being measured and diligent and well-researched and humble is also doable, although more difficult for most people. Being both is a step into Godly maturity.
This doesn't mean we never act. Jesus, full of zeal and according to knowledge, overturned the tables in the temple courts. I think Paul acted similarly full of zeal and knowledge in Galatians 2:11-13 in rebuking Peter:
"But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy."
Also, in the 2 Corinthians 7 we see it on both sides. Paul full of zeal for the Lord and his people's purity rebuked the Corinthians and then commended them for their zeal to make it right.
We will usually fall on one side or the other in this matter. Some of us probably find it easier to be measured and diligent in dotting our i's and crossing our t's and are hesitant to act rashly. Others of us are all about action; we feel it and strike while the iron is hot. Why are we sitting in meetings when we all know what needs to be done!?!? Both groups claim personality or culture or whatever works to justify their tendency/preference/bent. But God is in the tension and invites us to join him there.
This is why details are so hard for me. I can't tell you exactly how to do this. I don't know your situation and can't claim to know what is right for you where you are, but I know that God does and is with you and loves you and is happy to guide you as you submit to him.
The path will be bumpy. We will mess it up. We will act when we should have paused. We will pause when we should have acted. We will wrongly act to prove we aren't cowardly. We will wrongly wait to prove we aren't rash. We will mess up repeatedly and get it right as well. And God will be there and will be much bigger than our failures. We will learn and grow and gain wisdom. We will need healing from the pain of our errors and sin as well as the errors and sin of others. Then one day we will look up and back and marvel at what God has done and continues to do in and through and around us. We will remember that it is his story.
But through it all I come back to the call to be full of zeal. In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we are reminded that being zealous is vital. In Jesus' rebuke to the Laodiceans, he tells them in 3:15-16, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth." He is looking for anything but lukewarm. We all have dealt with lukewarm, apathetic people. Nothing can be done; they don't care. Of course, we would rather deal with someone who had feelings, any feelings, over the apathetic. But being hot is better. As he says a few verses later in 3:19, "As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent."
May each of us and our communities be wise zealots as we grow in Christlikeness.
“Zeal is fit for wise men, but flourishes chiefly among fools.”
– John Tillotson