Bible Verses About Religious Zeal

that I took advantage of you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him; Titus didn’t take advantage of you, did he? Didn’t we live by the same Spirit and show you the same path?

Perhaps you think that all this time we have been defending ourselves before you. No, we have been speaking in the sight of God, as those united with the Messiah should; and, my dear friends, it is all for your upbuilding.

For I am afraid of coming and finding you not the way I want you to be, and also of not being found the way you want me to be. I am afraid of finding quarreling and jealousy, anger and rivalry, slander and gossip, arrogance and disorder.

I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me in your presence, and that I will be grieved over many of those who sinned in the past and have not repented of the impurity, fornication and debauchery that they have engaged in.

But I hope you will realize that we are not failures.

And we pray to God that you will do nothing wrong. We are not concerned with our appearing successful, but with your doing what is right, even if we appear to be failures.

For we cannot act against the truth, only for it.

So we rejoice whenever we are weak and you are strong; indeed, what we pray for is that you become perfect.

Now does that sound as if I were trying to win human approval? No! I want God’s approval! Or that I’m trying to cater to people? If I were still doing that, I would not be a servant of the Messiah.

For you have heard about my former way of life in [traditional] Judaism — how I did my best to persecute God’s Messianic Community and destroy it;

and how, since I was more of a zealot for the traditions handed down by my forefathers than most Jews my age, I advanced in [traditional] Judaism more rapidly than they did.

But when God, who picked me out before I was born and called me by his grace, chose

to reveal his Son to me, so that I might announce him to the Gentiles, I did not consult anyone;

I went up in obedience to a revelation, and I explained to them the Good News as I proclaim it among the Gentiles — but privately, to the acknowledged leaders. I did this out of concern that my current or previous work might have been in vain.

You stupid Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? Before your very eyes Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed as having been put to death as a criminal!

I fear for you that my work among you has been wasted!

True, these teachers are zealous for you, but their motives are not good. They want to separate you from us so that you will become zealous for them.

To be zealous is good, provided always that the cause is good. Indeed, whether I am present with you or not,

my dear children, I am suffering the pains of giving birth to you all over again — and this will go on until the Messiah takes shape in you.

And as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were the case, my preaching about the execution-stake would cause no offense whatever.

So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest.

Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor, because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body.

Be angry, but don’t sin — don’t let the sun go down before you have dealt with the cause of your anger;

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.

Therefore, pay careful attention to how you conduct your life — live wisely, not unwisely.