Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
The Zealot Versus The Faithful

The Zealot Versus The Faithful

Last updated on: March 1, 2021 at 11:15 am by C. Don Jones

The Zealot Versus The Faithful 2021-03-01T11:15:10-06:00 C. Don Jones

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Voltaire said, the perfect is the enemy of the good. I add, the zealot is the enemy of the faithful. Zealotry is a form of spiritual illness. It is dangerous. Zealots would destroy the faith in order to save it. It does not matter what zealots believe so long as it consumes them completely.

Zealot Origins

The Zealot movement came about during a Roman census in AD 6. Opposing this census, according to Britannica, was understood to be a mark of the true Jewish religious rebel. If a Jewish family took part in the census, they were implying that pagans had the right to rule over the Jewish nation. The Zealots attacked such people along with Roman officials.

Gamaliel is quoted in Acts saying, “Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him scattered.”(5:37b) Zealots cause nothing but suffering. For a time they appear to be liberators. Yet, they simply are not. History indicates they have not changed.

The Zealot Problem

Right after the Soviet Union collapsed, President George H. W. Bush declared a “new world order” was developing. A colleague living then in Alaska told me one of the members of his fundamentalist church decided to move “off the grid” into the wilderness. The reason was “he does not want to live in George Bush’s new world order.” The move turned out to be a near tragedy. My friend said, “I don’t know why he couldn’t have that kind of zeal for Jesus.” In short, that describes the problem.

We fail to note the difference between one who has zeal and the zealot. The zealot party believes themselves to be the only ones to have zeal. In believing so they misunderstand zeal. To be zealous is to be single-minded in pursuit of something. To be zealous is to be fervent. The zealot mistakes controlling the hearts of others for the fervent pursuit of an ideal. “I was violently persecuting the church of god and was trying to destroy it…for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.” (Galatians 1:13b-14) St. Paul allowed his zeal to uphold tradition to make him believe his completeness as a Jew was tied to destroying those who didn’t do as he did.

My friend should have never wished his politically zealous friend to turn that energy into serving Jesus. Paul does not describe himself as doing that. He “proclaimed the faith he once tried to destroy” after having Jesus revealed to him. That revelation was a spiritual healing for him.

Healing the Zealot

People suffering from spiritual illnesses do not recognize the problem. Some Christians believe all spiritual illnesses are demonic possessions and require deliverance. Such an obsession is itself a spiritual illness. So it is difficult to overcome.

Heresy is not so much about erroneous doctrines as it is a desire to divide because of them. One, like St. Paul, has an inordinate desire to harm in the name of truth. The Pastoral Epistles continually use the phrase “sound doctrine.” Many interpreters think this means true doctrines. I may say something that is true. But that does not make my teaching sound. The teaching the church provides is supposed to promote spiritual health. If the desire is to have something other than spiritual health, the desire is heretical.

Zealotry can be overcome. It must first be recognized for what it is.

The minister of my home church thought the Apostle Simon the Zealot meant that a radical right-winger was among Jesus’ followers. If Simon held his political views as one of Jesus’ disciples, one wonders how Levi the tax collector survived. Some bad ideas must be let go of at sometime or other in spiritual growth.

Separation

Simon the Zealot and St Paul are good cases for further analysis. It appears that both needed separation from associations that drove their belief to control others. Neither of them stayed “within the fold” when each discovered a better way. Walking away from the bad is an important step.

Gamaliel’s point in his speech referred to earlier is how the dissolution of the movement brings about a healing. Traditionally, Gamaliel is described as a leader of the Pharisees. It is a group that is regarded as Jesus’ enemies by most modern interpreters. And yet, St. Paul continued to describe himself as one. (Philippians 3:4b) The root of the word Pharisee means separation. There wound up being a variety of them.

Recognizing the problem within one’s self takes place before a person can separate from it, the situations, and the associations involved. An ancient Zealot recognized the need to keep Jewish law and tradition. And mistakenly thought coercion was the means to make observance occur. A reading of the Mosaic law demonstrates coercive measures. But they don’t appear to work very well in the long run.

Experience

Gamaliel appealed to historic experience. Why persecute something that will eventually disappear? Why persecute someone that could really be doing God’s will? The zealous person is placed in a conundrum. We can only look at the present to determine our future actions. What will our actions bring to everyone else? Do we promote fear to bring good? Doesn’t history show us the end results of that?

Biblical Interpretation

Previous Post

February 25, 2021

Christian Victimhood

Next Post

March 4, 2021 Bitter People

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Addiction Advent Afghanistan Anxiety Ascension Sunday Baptism Barack Obama Biblical Interpretation Bigotry Book Banning BSA Buddhism Choice Christmas Church Discipline Community Conscience Conspiracy theories COVID-19 Culture Wars death cults deconstruction Devotional Divine Judgment Donald Trump Earth Day Election Day empathy Environmentalism Evangelism Exploitation of the Poor Faith False Claims fascism Fear Forgiveness Genocide government Grace Gun Violence Halloween Hate Health Hillbilly Elegy Hindu Holy Communion Holy Week Homelessness Hope Identity Integrity Islam Joe Biden John Hagee Kamala Harris Labor Lent Liberation Theology Lies Love Love as action Neurological disorders Non-Christian Religions Online Worship Original Goodness Pandemic Peace Pentecost Philosophy Preaching Progressive Christianity Racism Redemptive Violence Myth Resentment Saint's Days Satire Sobriety social media Spiritual Self Care Spirituality Technology The Kingdom of God The United Methodist Church Theology Transfigurations Sunday Transgender persons Truth Uncategorized Violence Wesleyan Working Class

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 October 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 February 2018 January 2018 August 2017 May 2017 November 2016 July 2016 June 2016 November 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 January 2015 November 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 June 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 August 2012 July 2012 May 2012 February 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the name of the disciple who doubted Jesus' resurrection?

Select your answer to see how you score.

James John Thomas Peter