Galatians 4:17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yes, they would exclude you, that you might affect them. To separate from the Church in some one or few essential articles while you pretend to hold Christ the Head is heresy; to separate from it in spirit, by refusing holiness and not loving such as are holy, is ungodliness; to differ from it by any error of judgment or life is sin; to magnify any one church or party, so as to deny due love and communion to the rest, is schism. To limit all the Church to your party, and deny all or any of the rest to be Christians, and parts of the Universal Church, is schism by a dangerous breach of charity, and the principal schism that you should avoid. It is schism also to condemn unjustly any particular Church as no Church, and it is schism to withdraw your bodily communion from a Church that you were bound to hold that communion with; and it is schism to make divisions or parties in a Church, though you divide not from that Church. (R. Baxter.) Parallel Verses KJV: They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.WEB: They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them. |
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