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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Exodus 32:31, 32

So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves. / Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Numbers 10:29

Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Numbers 11:29

But Moses replied, “Are you jealous on my account? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would place His Spirit on them!”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Deuteronomy 9:18, 19

Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger. / For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Joshua 24:14–16

Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. / But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!” / The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 1 Samuel 17:26

David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 1 Kings 8:42, 43

for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, / then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 1 Kings 22:14

But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 2 Chronicles 6:33

then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Job 6:10

It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 9:19, 20

Rise up, O LORD, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your presence. / Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 40:7–10

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll: / I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” / I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 51:13

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 69:7–9

For I have endured scorn for Your sake, and shame has covered my face. / I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons, / because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 71:17, 18

O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds. / Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 74:10, 18–23

How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever? / Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. / Do not disregard the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of Your enemies that ascends continually.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 94:16

Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 101:8

Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 115:1, 2

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness. / Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Psalm 119:53, 126, 139, 158

Rage has taken hold of me because of the wicked who reject Your law. / It is time for the LORD to act, for they have broken Your law. / My zeal has consumed me because my foes forget Your words.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Proverbs 28:4

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Ecclesiastes 12:9, 10

Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught the people knowledge; he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs. / The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Isaiah 2:3, 5

And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. / Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Isaiah 6:8

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Isaiah 59:17

He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Isaiah 62:1

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep still, until her righteousness shines like a bright light, her salvation like a blazing torch.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Jeremiah 9:1–3

Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people. / If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people. / “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Jeremiah 13:17

But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Jeremiah 17:16

But I have not run away from being Your shepherd; I have not desired the day of despair. You know that the utterance of my lips was spoken in Your presence.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Jeremiah 18:20

Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Jeremiah 20:9

If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Jeremiah 26:12–15

But Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. / So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you. / As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what you think is good and right.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Ezekiel 9:4

“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Ezekiel 44:15

But the Levitical priests, who are descended from Zadok and who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, are to approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Daniel 3:17, 18

If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king. / But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Micah 3:8

As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Micah 7:1, 2

Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave. / The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Habakkuk 1:2–4

How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save? / Why do You make me see iniquity? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict abounds. / Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Matthew 23:37

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Mark 5:19, 20

But Jesus would not allow him. “Go home to your own people,” He said, “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has shown you.” / So the man went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Mark 6:6

And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around from village to village, teaching the people.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Mark 14:29–31

Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I never will.” / “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” / But Peter kept insisting, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You.” And all the others said the same thing.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Mark 16:20

And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Luke 1:15–17

for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. / Many of the sons of Israel he will turn back to the Lord their God. / And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Luke 19:41, 42

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it / and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified John 1:40–42, 45, 46

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s testimony and followed Jesus. / He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ). / Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified John 4:34, 35

Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. / Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Acts 4:2, 8–13, 18–20, 31, 33

greatly disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. / Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! / When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they marveled and took note that these men had been with Jesus.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Acts 5:21, 25, 29–32, 42

At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. / Then someone came in and announced, “Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people!” / But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Acts 6:4, 10

and will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” / but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Acts 8:4, 12, 25, 30, 35, 40

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. / But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. / And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Acts 11:19, 20, 24, 26

Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews. / But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. / Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Acts 18:24–28

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures. / He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. / And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him in and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Romans 1:11

For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Romans 9:1–3

I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. / I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. / For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Romans 10:1

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Romans 15:18–21

I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, / by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. / In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 1 Corinthians 16:10

If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, just as I am.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 2 Corinthians 5:9

So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 2 Corinthians 6:11

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 2 Corinthians 8:1–5, 16–18

Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia. / In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity. / For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 2 Corinthians 12:20, 21

For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. / I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Ephesians 4:25, 26, 32

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another. / “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, / Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Ephesians 6:21

Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know about me and what I am doing.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Philippians 1:12–18

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. / As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. / And most of the brothers, confident in the Lord by my chains, now dare more greatly to speak the word without fear.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Philippians 2:22, 26, 30

But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel. / For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. / because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Philippians 4:3

Yes, and I ask you, my true yokefellow, to help these women who have labored with me for the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Colossians 1:7

You learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Colossians 4:7–11

Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. / I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may encourage your hearts. / With him I am sending Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 1 Thessalonians 1:2–8

We always thank God for all of you, remembering you in our prayers / and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. / Brothers who are beloved by God, we know that He has chosen you,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 1 Thessalonians 3:1, 2

So when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens. / We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 2 Peter 1:12, 13, 15

Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. / I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of my body, / And I will make every effort to ensure that after my departure, you will be able to recall these things at all times.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 2 Peter 2:4, 5

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; / if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified 3 John 1:4–7

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. / Beloved, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, and especially since they are strangers to you. / They have testified to the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Jude 1:3

Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified Revelation 3:19

Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 9:20–29

Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.” / All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” / But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 13:16–52

Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who fear God, listen to me! / The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers. He made them into a great people during their stay in Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of that land. / He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 14:1–28

At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. / But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. / So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who affirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 15:26, 30–36, 41

men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. / So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter. / Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 16:10, 13, 17, 31, 32

As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. / On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find a place of prayer. After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there. / This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 17:2, 3, 16, 17, 22–31

As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, / explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared. / While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 18:4–6, 19, 23

Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike. / And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. / But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 19:8–10, 21

Then Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. / But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. / This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 20:7, 18–27, 31, 33, 34

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight. / When they came to him, he said, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. / For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 21:13

Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 24:14–25

I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, / and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. / In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 26:1–29

Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense: / “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews, / especially since you are acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me patiently.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Acts 28:23–28, 30, 31

So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. / Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. / They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Romans 1:1

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God—

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Romans 9:1–3

I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. / I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. / For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Romans 10:1

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Romans 11:13, 14

I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry / in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul Romans 15:15–32

However, I have written you a bold reminder on some points, because of the grace God has given me / to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. / Therefore I exult in Christ Jesus in my service to God.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul 1 Corinthians 1:17, 23

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. / but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul 1 Corinthians 2:1–4, 6, 7, 13

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. / For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. / I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul 1 Corinthians 3:1, 2, 5–7

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. / I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, / What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul 1 Corinthians 4:1–21

So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. / Now it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. / I care very little, however, if I am judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul 1 Corinthians 9:12, 15–23, 27

If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. / But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast. / I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

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Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul 1 Corinthians 10:33

as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.

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