Articles
Zeal without Knowledge
Zeal Without Knowledge
“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.” - Romans 10:2-3
Paul in this passage accurately describes what happens with much of the religious community today even though he is describing the situation that the Jews found themselves in. They had tremendous amounts of zeal for God, but the zeal itself did not get them anywhere because it was not coupled with knowledge.
Without knowledge of God’s way of righteousness, they could not submit to it. In their zeal they established their own righteousness, which by nature was different and contrary to God’s righteousness. Zeal, in this case, was useless. Zeal could not lead them to God. The Jews’ zeal did not save them.
Today, many people in the religious world have tons of zeal for God which is evident by all that they do in His name. The problem is this; without having accurate knowledge, is their zeal getting them anywhere? Can they submit to God’s righteousness and be saved with zeal and not knowledge? This is not advocating for us to have knowledge and not zeal but for us to make sure that we have both. Paul goes on to say, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”
