Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 4:17

"They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them." — Galatians 4:17 (ASV)

Paul can appeal, not only to the former attitude of the Galatians or to the contrast between that and their actions in the present (vv.12–16), but also to his own attitude toward them. That attitude was guileless and in marked contrast to that of those who had since been attempting to woo the Galatians into legalism.

Paul notices two things about the actions of the legalizers: their zeal and their motives. Being “zealous” (GK 2420) is not bad in itself. This word can have two meanings: “to envy” and “to be deeply concerned for someone to the point of courting their favor”; both are implied here. Certainly Paul had been zealous with a godly jealousy (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2) for the Galatians as he worked among them, and he encourages them to be zealous in regard to the Gospel. Zeal placed at the service of Christ is a fine characteristic. In the case of the legalizers, however, this zeal was misdirected, for it was a zeal for their own cause and glorification, and it was alienating the Galatians from both Paul and Christ.

There is here an interesting throwback to a previous verse. When Paul says that the Judaizers “want... to alienate you” (lit., “lock you up”), he is probably thinking of the function of the law in “locking” people up under sin (3:23). The locking up was the same action, but the purposes were different. The law served a proper function in locking people up as sinners so that they might find salvation in Christ. The legalizers, however, were trying to lock the Galatians up under law so that they might be separated from Christ and from Paul and serve their teachers. They must take note, for if that happens, the roles will be reversed, and the Galatians will find that they must court the legalizers. Failure to maintain Christian liberty always leads to ecclesiastical as well as other forms of bondage.