Yes, “naturally” our flesh is selfish!
What an understatement!
And Paul emphasizes, here in Galatians 5:20, that one of our lower-natured traits is “emulation.” Except Paul pluralizes the noun in our Text! Many “emulations!”
What are they?
The Greek is “zelos.”
Literally our word (borrowed from that noble tongue) “zeal!”
But here … NOT zeal (fervor, enthusiasm) in doing good, but in doing bad!
Back in Galatians 4:17-18 Paul uses “zelos” three different times! Watch as the Apostle describes those “false teachers” who have infiltrated the Galatians Churches: “They zealously affect (zeloo) you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect (zeloo) them. But it is good to be zealously affected (zeloo) always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.” I have placed in parentheses the verbs at issue, cognates in the “zealos” family. Here “zeal” is used in both a bad sense and a good sense!
Now here is a Greek teacher’s way of expressing what we’ve just read. “These men (the Judaizers) eagerly seek you (zeloo = to entrap you with sweet and flattering words and attention, to win you over to their philosophy), but not honorably (for their purpose is not noble or worthy of consideration). They want to isolate you (from us who oppose them) so that you will seek (zeloo= be zealous after) them. Now it is always pleasant to be eagerly sought after (zeloo) … provided that it is for a good purpose, and not just when I am with you either (fervently seeking after you).” Sounds like Paul is “zealous” (yes even “jealous”) over the spiritual welfare of the Galatians, doesn’t it? Unashamedly so!
And just how zealously (in a good sense, again) did Paul “long” for the welfare/maturity of these Galatians? “My little children, of whom I TRAVAIL IN BIRTH again until Christ be formed in you,” Galatians 4:19! Birth pangs, agony!
But “emulations” in our current context, in this list of the “works of the flesh,” is clearly a wrong headed emotion, a sin, a violation of God’s Will for our lives.
“Zelos” is often variously translated in the following ways, some synonyms: “envies, jealousies, rivalries.” Then when the context is “good,” it’s “zeal, eagerness, fervency, and ardor.”
Here’s a classic definition of “emulation” … scholarly to the core: “an individual’s self-centeredness which strongly resents anything positive another person enjoys, craving that blessing for oneself!” It’s the age old “I-want-what-you’ve-got” syndrome! Something “they” have and “you” do not have! And you are consequently unhappy! Again I say, “jealous.”
Wow!
I do not feel I’ve done a very good job on this word today, “zelos,” explaining it. But at least this much is clear … “emulation” is a feeling, an emotion, a shortcoming, a sin we Believers in Jesus do not want in our lives! We must expel any such yearnings.
And this can only be done through what one old writer calls …“the expulsive Power of God the Holy Spirit!”
Wow!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
My quoting a Greek scholar in the Lesson today is NOT an endorsement of any other Bible! Or of everything Greek scholars may say regarding New Testament words. I merely use that example as a way of illuminating a difficult concept.