What Does Galatians 4:18 Mean in the King James?

But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

Galatians 4:18 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Zeal is not good because it burns strongly; it becomes good through what it pursues, and it remains good when no one is watching.

THE MEANING

Your zeal has value when it stays directed toward what is good, even when the person who first stirred it is absent. The verse measures it by its object and constancy, not by another person’s presence.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Intensity alone does not prove that a desire is good; zeal takes its character from what it pursues.

THE ROOT

ζηλοῦσθαι

zēlousthai

GROWS FROM

ζηλ-

zēl-

ardor, zeal, or rivalry

“zealously affected” in this verse is zēlousthai. The same Greek root appears just before this, where others zealously court the Galatians for their own ends. The root carries fervor that can serve what is good or become rivalry; its direction matters as much as its intensity.

ALSO GROWS

zēlos: zeal, ardor, or jealousy

ζῆλος

This noun names the same force that can consume someone for what they love or turn them into a rival.

zēlōtēs: a zealous person or partisan

ζηλωτής

This branch shows ardor taking shape in a person, whose cause determines where that zeal leads.

THE PATTERN

Zeal takes its shape from its object: it can consume a person for what is good or court others for self-serving ends.

For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

Psalm 69:9 · KJVZeal for what is cherished becomes so consuming that it shapes the speaker’s whole experience.

They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

Galatians 4:17 · KJVThe same Greek root describes fervor turned toward gaining influence over others.

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:1 · KJVThe same root directs desire toward gifts that serve others, showing zeal shaped by its aim.

THE THREAD

They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

Galatians 4:17 · KJV

“Zealously affect” in both verses comes from the same Greek root. The contrast reveals why the verse qualifies zeal: its intensity is not enough; what it seeks determines whether it serves the good.

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