Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians Timothy Titus and Philemon John Calvin (continued)
John Calvin which arise from unhallowed desires. Jealousy, on the part of the false apostles, ought not to impose upon them; for it proceeded not from right zeal, but from an improper desire of obtaining reputation, --- a desire most unlike that holy jealousy of which Paul speaks to the Corinthians.
I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.'' (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3.)
To expose still more fully their base arts, he corrects his language. Yea, they would exclude you 82 They not only endeavor to gain your affections, but, as they cannot obtain possession of you by any other means, they endeavor to kindle strife between us. When you have been thrown as it were destitute, they expect that you will yield yourselves up to them; for they perceive that, so long as there shall be maintained between us a religious harmony, they can have no influence. This stratagem is frequently resorted to by all the ministers of Satan. By producing in the people a dislike of their pastor, they hope afterwards to draw them to themselves; and, having disposed of the rival, to obtain quiet possession. A careful and judicious examination of their conduct will discover that in this way they always begin.
18. But it is good to be the object of jealousy. It is hard to say whether this refers to himself or to the Galatians. Good ministers are exhorted to cherish holy jealousy in watching over the churches,
they may present them as a chaste virgin to Christ.'' (2 Corinthians 11:2.)
If it refers to Paul, the meaning will be: ``I confess that I also am jealous of you, but with a totally different design: and I do so as much when I am absent as when I am present, because I do not seek my own advantage.'' But I am rather inclined to view it as referring to the Galatians, though in this case it will admit of more than one interpretation. It may mean: ``They indeed attempt to withdraw your affections from me, that, when you are thrown destitute, you may go over to them; but do you, who loved me while I was present, continue to cherish the same regard for me when I am absent.'' But a more correct explanation is suggested by the opposite senses which the word {ζηλοῦσθαι} bears. As, in the former verse, he had used the word jealous in a bad sense, denoting an improper way of accomplishing an object, so here he uses it in a
82{́̓Εστι} {γὰρ} {καὶ} {ζὢλος} {ἀγαθὸς} {ὅταν} {τις} {οὕτω} {ζηλοῖ} {ὥστε} {μιμήσασθαι} {τὴν} {ἀρετήν}· {ἔστι} {καὶ} {ζὢλος} {προνηρὸς} {ὤστε} {ἐκβάλλειν} {τὢς} {ἀρετὢς} {τὸν} {κατορθοῦντα}· {ὅ} {δὴ} {καὶ} {αὐτοὶ} {νῦν} {ἐπιχειροῦσι}, {τὢς} {μὲν} {τελείας} {γνώσεως} {ἐκβάλλειν} {θέλοντες}, {εἰς} {δὲ} {τὴν} {ἠκρωτηριασμένην} {ὑμᾶς} {δὲ} {τοὺς} {νῦν} {ὑψηλοτέρους} {αὐτῶν} {ὄντας}, {ἐν} {τάξει} {καταστήσωσι} {μαθητῶν}· {τοῦτο} {γὰρ} {ἐδήλωσεν} {εἰτὼν} {ἵνα} {αὐτοὺς} {ζηλοῦτε} ``There is a good zeal, when one emulates in such a manner as to imitate virtue; and there is a bad zeal, which `drives away' from virtue one who is acting right. And this is what they are now attempting to do, when they wish to `drive away' from perfect knowledge, and to lead them to that which is mutilated and spurious, for no other reason than that they may occupy the ranks of teachers, and that you, who are higher than themselves, may be placed by them in the rank of scholars; for this is what he meant by saying, `that ye may emulate them.' '' --- Chrysostom.