They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.
Parallel translations
- WEB They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them.
- KJV They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
- BSB Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.
- NASB They eagerly seek you, not in a commendable way, but they want to shut you out so that you will seek them.
- NLT Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The false teachers court the Galatians eagerly, but for selfish ends, to cut them off so they will depend on them. Paul exposes their manipulative motives.
Overview
Paul unmasks the agitators' flattering attention as a self-serving strategy to isolate the Galatians and bind them to themselves. Their zeal is not for the Galatians' good but for their own influence. This warns the church to test the motives behind those who eagerly seek followers, especially when they undermine the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Cor 11:13–15For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
- Rom 16:18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
- 2 Pet 2:3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
- Matt 23:15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
- 1 Cor 4:8You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
- 1 Cor 11:2Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.
- 1 Cor 4:18Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.
- Rom 10:2For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
- Phil 2:21For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
- Gal 6:12–13As many as desire to look good in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
- 2 Pet 2:18For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;
- 2 Cor 11:3But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 4:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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