Zeal vs. Passion

Zeal is a powerful thing.

Passion is more powerful.

What’s the difference? This is not to be a replacement for a dictionary by any means, but this is my opinion.

This verse sums it all up in my opinion:

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Romans 10:2 KJV

NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE.

Zeal is something attributed to those people that have not heard from God. It is doing something that you know you should, because you have heard it of your fellow man.

This is why Fundamentalist Muslims can blow themselves up… because they are zealous. Likewise, zealous Jews today follow after the law, but it is not according to knowledge, it is what they know is right.

Can I tell you of a situation where Israel, while wandering through the wilderness, was being morally compromised by Midianitish prostitutes?

And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Numbers 25:5-8 KJV

The Bible specifically calls this “zealous”.

Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
Numbers 25:12-13 KJV

Why was this demonstrating the zeal of Phinehas? Because he learned from Moses, and he did what was required. This is not a wrong action by any means; this was a great thing that he did because he staved off the plague that Israel was experiencing. However he did it upon learning from Moses.

Zeal can be ignorant, and misdirected, because it’s learned from your fellow man. Zeal can also be violent. Zealous Muslim fanatics will learn from their Imam what should be done, and will do it with great fervor. Saul persecuted Christians with great zeal, because he learned from Pharisees and the High Priests what should be done.

Passion is from God. Passion is knowing what is right because you have gone straight to the source. Passion is zeal “with knowledge”. When Saul (“destroyer”) traded his name for Paul (“worker”), he traded in his zeal, learned from the Religious leaders, in for Passion, learned from God.

Whereas they seem to be synonyms, and a dictionary or thesaurus would seem to prove this correct, I cannot agree completely with this. Passion even comes from a root word that means “to suffer”, as in the “passion” of Jesus Christ. Passion can mean to be martyred, while zeal often does the martyring. Paul martyred many Christians, but when he became one, he became a living sacrifice, until he was finally killed. Passion.

I want to be passionate about God and his works. I want to know him. Not just know what he says.