Misguided Jealousy

Is it possible, though, to hold feelings of misplaced or misguided jealousy?  Yes, it is. This was the general case with the Jews in the first century.  They jealously guarded the God-given Law and their traditions.  In their efforts to protect the Law, they formed innumerable detailed regulations and restrictions that became a heavy burden on the people.  (Matthew 23:3) Unable or unwilling to recognize that God had now replaced the Mosaic Law with the reality that it had foreshadowed, their jealousy wrongly moved  them to vent uncontrolled rage at the followers of Jesus Christ.  The apostle Paul, who himself was once jealously loyal to the Law in a misguided sense, pointed  out that people  who were defending the Law had "a zeal [jealousy] for God; but not according to accurate knowledge." -Romans 10:2; Galatians 1:14. 

Even many of the Jews who became Christians had a hard time ridding themselves of this inordinate zeal for the Law. After his third missionary tour, Paul gave a report to the first-century governing body on their conversion of the nations. At that time, thousands of Christian Jews were "all zealous for the Law."  (Acts 21:20) This was years after the governing body had ruled that the Gentile did not have to be circumcised. Issues related to observing the Law had been causing strife in the congregation.  (Acts 15:1, 2, 28, 29; Galatians 4:9, 10; 5:7-12) Lacking full understanding of how Jehovah now dealt with his people, some Jewish Christians insisted on their own viewpoints, criticizing others. -Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1. 

 We, then, must avoid the snare of jealously trying to protect our own cherished ideas or ways that are not solidly based on God's Word.  We do well to accept the fresh light shed on the Word of God through the channel that Jehovah is using today.

Next time: Be Jealous for Jehovah

From the Watchtower magazine, 2002