Tool Beta
Is It Actually in the Bible?
Phrases people quote as Scripture. The real verse, or the honest answer that there is not one.
"They zealously affect you" (Galatians 4:17) sounds like Paul is saying the false teachers are emotionally influencing the Galatians.
'Affect' in Galatians 4:17 means to court or curry favor with someone, not to emotionally influence them.
Galatians 4:17, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul warns the Galatians about false teachers: "They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them." The underlying Greek word means "to seek eagerly," "to court," or "to canvass for someone's favor": Paul's point is that these teachers are working hard to win the Galatians over to their side, with bad motives, so that the Galatians will in turn become devoted followers of them instead.
Modern "affect" almost always means "to have an effect on" or "to influence" (or, as a noun in psychology, an emotional state). That's a different action entirely: Paul isn't describing influence happening to the Galatians, he's describing an aggressive campaign to win their loyalty.
