The churches in Galatia were falling prey to false teachers who had infiltrated their ranks with a corrupt gospel. These teachers promoted the necessity of circumcision and other works of the law in order to be saved. Their teaching stood in direct opposition to the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatians in an effort to expose the fallacy of their teaching and to strengthen the believers’ faith in the true gospel.
These false teachers had craftily sought to drive a wedge between the Galatians and Paul, in both his ministry and his message. Paul writes, “They [the false teachers] zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you [from Paul], that ye might affect them” (Galatians 4:17). The words “zealously affect” mean to “make much over” someone or something, to praise or commend them greatly. These false teachers were making much over the Galatians to gain their favor and have them turn away from Paul. Their motivation for making much over these believers was selfish.
Yet to make much over someone or something for the right reason is proper. “But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing” (Galatians 4:18). It is right to be praised and commended for doing right things and, consequently, to be encouraged and exhorted to continue doing such things. Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth that genuine, God-honoring love “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (I Corinthians 13:6). To rejoice in the truth is to seek and to praise every manifestation and expression of truth.
Truth is made manifest not just by the spoken word but, also, by our actions and attitudes. Jesus Christ prayed the Father, “Sanctify them [believers] through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Through our obedience to the word of God, we are conformed to the image of Christ and this glorifies God. Christ-likeness is praiseworthy and commended to all believers because this pleases the Father. As a result, our very lives reflect the truth of God.
This conformity to Christ is not only that which we seek in ourselves, but also that which we promote in the lives of others. It is with this goal in mind that we “make much over” others. We commend them for their faithfulness to Christ and promote adherence to his word as the means of greater conformity to his likeness. Paul’s prayer for the Philippians captures this concept. “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are be Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).
We more often than not fail to praise others when the opportunity arises and, more importantly, fail to praise the evidence of God’s grace in their lives for the things that are truly worthy.
From the Chaplain 