Textus Receptus:
κατα ζηλον διωκων την εκκλησιαν κατα δικαιοσυνην την εν νομω γενομενος αμεμπτος
Kings James:
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Comments:
This verse creates a parallel between "zeal" and "righteousness". Since the law is negative in nature, the highest description of its keeper is necessarily negative as well. He is not "just" or "holy", but "blameless." So it is no surprise that the highest praise for "zeal" is in the negative content of "trying" or "persecuting" the church. Christ not only enfolds all the negative content of the law (through, for instance, conviction of sin) but also the positive content of actual justification and holiness. Life for the Christian is no longer about what he does not do, but what the Spirit does through him--the point of passages like Galatians 5:14-23.
Expanded Paraphrase:
My zeal was so great that I pushed and punished those who stood for anything other my Judaism, especially persecuting Christians wherever I found them meeting together and gathering strength. And when people examined my obedience to the law, they could find no fault with me whatsoever.
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1 comment:
That is interesting. The Christian life is all about what the Holy Spirit does through us. This pretty much cuts the act of pretending or trying to be a nice holy Christian. When the Spirit controls us we will demonstrate his fruits. Even if we try to be holy without the Spirit the whole world will know. Is that another indication of whether or not we have the Spirit, if we are so apart of the world that they call us one of their own?
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