Faith Is the Victory, Part Seven Envy

Envy is a pest that attacks the vitals of saving faith. It is said that the courts in the United States have difficulty in defining pornography. But we know what pornography is when we see it. In the same way, it is difficult to define jealousy and envy. But we all know what they are, for we do envy and we become jealous frequently.

One of the characters in Dr. Seuss’s books is the Grinch, a creature who cannot bear the sight of anyone enjoying himself without becoming so mad that it bites itself. A jealous and envious person feels “displeasure and ill-will at the superiority of (another person) in happiness, success, reputation, or the possession of [anything desirable]” (J. A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner, eds., Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991], 523). I would say a jealous person is unhappy at the success of another, so he bites himself. But jealousy is mainly passive. An envious person is active. He hates the person who is more successful than he is, so he bites that person! A jealous person bites himself, but an envious person bites the other.

As Christians, we are not sinless. In Romans 7:17-18 Paul says: “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.” It is good to be aware that sin still dwells in Christians, and, thus, even Christians are not without jealousy and envy. Unless we care for the gardens of our hearts by walking in the Spirit and obeying God’s word, we can manifest these works of the flesh at any moment, just as an untended garden brings forth weeds.

Jealousy

First, then, let us examine jealousy. Jealousy has positive as well as negative meanings. The Greek word is zêlos, which means “burning, boiling hot, getting red in the face.” It refers to intense emotion.

-When Jealousy Is Good

This word is used of God and man in a good sense. It refers to intense earnestness and eagerness to do something. In Exodus 20:5 this word is used in reference to our God: “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. . . .” God is completely committed to deal with those who hate him.

We find several illustrations of jealousy used in this good sense. In Numbers 25 the priest Phinehas was described as being zealous for the glory of God when he killed the arrogant Israelite, Zimri, and the wicked Midianite woman, Cozbi, with a spear. Although they were leaders, this arrogant couple despised God’s law and fornicated in his presence. So Phinehas thrust his spear through them, causing God’s anger to stop. And we are told that God was pleased with Phinehas for his zeal. Because Phinehas did not seek his own glory, but the glory of God, God blessed him by making a covenant of peace with him.

As God’s people, we are also to be zealous for the glory of God. Thus, we should oppose all evil philosophies and wicked lifestyles. John 2:17 describes Jesus, like Phinehas, acting zealously for the glory of God by making a whip and driving out all the merchants and their wares from the temple. Seeing this, his disciples remembered what is written in Psalm 69:9: “The zeal of your house will consume me.”

A Christian who is not zealous for the Lord is like a dead fish that can only float downstream. We must be alive! To the church of Laodicea, the resurrected Christ said, “Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.”

In 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 14:1, 12, and 39 we are exhorted to zealously desire spiritual gifts. Earnestly desire! God is not going to give us spiritual gifts when we do not seek them. God has gifts for his people, but he is not going to give them to those who have no interest in them. We must desire them earnestly, eagerly, and intensely, with singleness of heart. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” (italics added).

Paul tells Titus that Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, zealous to do what is good” (Titus 2:14, author’s translation).

So God is jealous in the positive sense, and his people are to be jealous for the glory of God. We can also be jealous, positively, when we emulate good people. That is what I do. When I see a successful person, I put myself under him and learn from him. Any wise person will do the same. We are not jealous of the person, but we are jealous in the good sense of emulating him. So a student may say, “I want to be like that successful student in my class because he is disciplined and works hard. He gets the best grades and is respectful of teachers. I am not jealous of him in the wrong way, but in the right way. I want to be like him.” We are to be imitators of God and of successful people.

-When Jealousy Is Bad

But jealousy can also have a negative sense. A jealous person will say, “I don’t like that person having such an advantage over me. It pains me to see him. He is always number one.”

Pastors can be jealous too. They can be jealous of a pastor who preaches a better sermon, who lives a disciplined life, whose children are obedient and believing. They may say, “I don’t like him. The very sight of him makes me so miserable that I bite myself. In fact, my body is full of bite marks!” Such people will always be unhappy, because there are always people better than them.

People can be jealous of the neighbor who is better-educated, better-looking, makes more money, lives in a better neighborhood, has a larger house, drives a newer, nicer car, and is able to run twenty-five miles daily for exercise! But such jealousy is not a fruit of the Spirit. If we persist in such sinful jealousy, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. It causes us to spiritually wilt and self-destruct.

Envy

What about envy? The Greek word is phthonos. Although this word appears several times in the New Testament, we could not find a definition of it in Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Scholars have difficulty in defining envy; but, like jealousy, envy is native to every sinner. It is not something foreign; it resides in us.

But unlike zêlos, the word phthonos is never used positively. Envy is always devilish and evil. Envy is a grudging spirit that cannot bear to hear of someone else’s achievements and prosperity. Philosopher Socrates stated, “The envious are pained by their friends’ success.”

The Greek root of this word means “to waste away.” The envious person self-destructs. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” In his commentary, Professor Waltke says envy is like bone cancer. Envy causes our spirit and body to waste away.

The Latin word for envy is invideo or invider, meaning “to look with ill-will at someone.” Romans 1:29 tells us that envy is the fruit of a depraved and twisted mind. It is the nature of an unregenerate person. Galatians 5:21 says envy is the work of the flesh, not the fruit of the Spirit, and 1 Corinthians 3:3 says it is a sign of worldliness. Show me an envious person, and I will show you a worldly person who loves to conform to the world in everything while showing no interest in the kingdom of God.

In Romans 13:13 Paul says envy is a work of darkness. Our Lord’s brother James says it is the work of the devil himself (James 3:14-15). In Matthew 7:22-23 Jesus says that envy comes out of an evil heart and makes a man unclean. It is the pus that oozes from an infected wound.

What are the companions of envy? Where there is envy, there will also be hatred, malice, slander, murder, and so on. Malice and envy are within, but slander is the outward manifestation of this inward rottenness.

Jealousy may be passive, but envy is active. So while a jealous person bites himself at the success of another, an envious man bites and devours the successful man. He speaks evil of a good man with the intent of killing him by killing his reputation.

The envious man writes letters, talks on the telephone, sends emails, and uses the Internet, all to destroy the reputation of a good man or good woman. The envious woman would love to take a razor blade and cut and disfigure, if possible, the face of the more beautiful woman in her class. The envious woman will steal the boyfriend of the girl she envies. The envious man would like to set ablaze the more expensive home of the neighbor, if possible. The envious person will try to destroy the better marriage of the neighbor by evil speech, or gossip and try to get the other person fired from her better job.

So envy is active-active in the destruction of the more successful. Jealousy says, “I want to have what the other has.” But envy says, “I want to deprive the other of what he has, and what I don’t have.” Then envy goes further, saying, “I want to kill this other person who is better than myself-if not physically, at least by destroying his or her reputation.” Envy is of the devil.

Envious people are full of selfish ambition. They always put others down and put themselves forward. The envious rejoices in the bad news of others and grieves over the good news. It is the exact opposite of the biblical command given to us in 1 Corinthians 12:26. And in moral theology, envy is a deadly sin. We are told such people will never inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:20-21).

Envious people are always unhappy. It is difficult for them to smile and laugh with sincerity. Envy is the absence of love, for Paul tells us, “Love . . . does not envy” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Where there is envy, there is no Holy Spirit.

Because envy still dwells in the hearts of Christians, we can deduce that envy is in the church. Thus, we must be aware of envy and its self- and other-destructive power. Envy is a cancer of the spirit and body that causes the envious person to waste away. The Bible, therefore, exhorts us to rid ourselves of all jealousy and envy (1 Peter 2:1), that we may enjoy spiritual and physical health.

Biblical Examples of Envy

Finally, I want to give you some biblical examples of this destructive envy.

1. Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4:3-7 we read, “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” Cain was angry because he was envious of his own brother, “and his face was downcast.” Envious people never smile or are happy. “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you. But you must master it.'” This is the will of God. But Cain refused to listen to the sound counsel of God himself, and we know what happened.Listen to the commentary of John in 1 John 3:12-13: “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.” Cain was envious that God accepted his brother’s sacrifice but not his. He was angry and refused to pay heed to God’s counsel to do right. Envy is active. Envy kills, so he killed his brother. (PGM) Modern Cains try to kill their spiritual brothers, not physically, but by destroying their reputation.
2. Joseph. Genesis 37:4 tells us, “When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” Verse 8 says: “His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.” And verse 11 says: “His brothers were jealous of him . . . .”This is sibling envy. Oh, let us not have it in our homes! The brothers of Joseph hated him for his spirituality and upright moral stance. They hated him because it was God’s plan that he be the ruler. They were ready to kill him for that, but they could not, also because of God’s plan. So they stripped him of his long robe, threw him into a pit, and sold him as a slave. That is what envy does.
3. Moses and Korah. Korah and company envied Moses. They hated God’s order. So Korah championed democracy and became a bitter opponent of Moses and Aaron. He would have killed them, if he could. But God killed Korah and his company. And in Psalm 106:16-17 we see something not found in Numbers 16: “In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram.” Brothers and sisters, envy in the church is deadly.
4. Saul and David. The classic example of envy is found in 1 Samuel 18. Saul would not be subject to the Lord and obey God. Because he became an apostate, God rejected him as king and took the Holy Spirit from him. Then an evil spirit came upon Saul, and he became incapable of delivering Israel from the Philistine Goliath. Meanwhile, the young David, in the mighty strength of the Spirit of the Lord, utterly defeated the Philistines and saved Israel. So the young women of Israel celebrated this great victory God had given, not through Saul nor Abner, but through David. They sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.”These words galled Saul, who became angry and envious of David. He knew David was more popular and would soon be king. Then the evil spirit inspired Saul to kill David, so he tried twice to nail him to the wall with his spear. Envy is active. Envy kills.

   What happened to Saul? God and his prophet forsook him. He was left alone. That is what happens to envious people: they finally are alone to stew in their self-pity. Saul turned to witchcraft for guidance. And eventually this envious man was killed by God, along with his three sons.

5. Two prostitutes and Solomon. Recall the story of two prostitutes who came to the wise King Solomon. These women had given birth to sons, three days apart, but one mother accidentally killed her son. So during the night, she took the dead one and exchanged it for the living son of the other mother. Both women came to wise Solomon to settle the dispute, and he ordered the live baby to be cut in two.First Kings 3 reveals the heart of an envious woman: “The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, ‘Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!’ But the other said, ‘Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!'” (verse 26) That is the nature of envy. It kills.
6. The Jewish people. Why did the Jewish people hand Jesus Christ over to Pilate to be crucified? In Matthew 27:18 we read: “[Pilate] knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him” (italics added). Jesus was the Holy One, the Son of God. He was holiness incarnate; there was no sin in him. He went about doing good: healing the sick, cleansing lepers, casting out demons, raising the dead, and teaching the truth of the kingdom of God. Multitudes followed him everywhere, and the authorities-the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Herodians, and the priests-grew envious of him. They could not bear the fact that Jesus was a holy man, superior to them. So they handed Jesus over to Pilate to be killed. The real reason for our fights and divisions is envy.
7. Paul and the Jewish people. What happened to Jesus also happened to Paul. When Paul was preaching on a Sabbath in Pisidian Antioch, the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. Acts 13:45 says, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively.” Where there is envy, there is slander. These Jews could not stand the fact that so many people came to hear Paul. And look at verse 49: “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region.” What did Paul do wrong? He merely preached the gospel, as the Lord had commissioned him to do.

The same thing happened in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5). The jealous and envious Jews hounded Paul all his converted life. They tried to kill him several times, but they could not until God’s time came and Paul was beheaded. Envy is active. Envy kills.

Leaders are especially the targets of envious people. Envious people hate a good elder or a good pastor, who will not dilute the gospel; who will not beg and plead for money; who will not be bought and sold; who will not peddle the word of God.

Envious people are like bitter roots. Such people spring up and cause trouble to the community and defile many. They will not rest until they kill. If they cannot kill as Cain killed Abel, they will do the next worst thing and try to kill the other’s reputation. They will speak abusively. They will resort to slander. They hate a pastor or an elder who lives a holy life, who preaches, not psychology or culture, but Christ in all his glory. They hate to see a pastor who has no history of fornication or adultery. They hate a pastor whose children walk in the path of righteousness. They will say, “If only he would be like everybody else! We all are sinners. We all fornicate. We all stumble. If only he had stumbled in his walk, then he would not preach the Bible with all unction and courage.”

The envious want to kill good pastors, good elders, and good people of God. Envy is active. Envy kills.

Conclusion

What, then, is the conclusion of it all?

1. Envy is not a fruit of the Spirit. It is a work of the flesh. It is of the devil. So Peter says, “Rid yourselves of all malice and envy.” That tells us that Christ has given us the freedom to rid ourselves of all this evil. Otherwise, it is a nonsensical statement. Rid yourselves now of the rotting garbage! Throw it out! Envy is cancer of the bones. Envy causes us to waste away spiritually and physically.But if you are not a Christian, you cannot do this. So what should you do? Cry out to Christ to save you and give you a new heart and a willing spirit. He will free you from the dominion of sin.
2. Acknowledge your envy. Own it and confess: “I am unhappy when other people succeed. I want to deprive the other of his success and advantage. I desire to kill him by slander.”
3. Repent of this sin. Turn away from it by the help of the Spirit of the living God.
4. There is no need for us to envy another. We are possessed by Jesus, and we possess him. Christ is our sufficiency. He gives us bread, that we will never become hungry, and he gives us water, that we need never thirst. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing.” The sufficiency that comes to us from Christ is the solution. We do not have to be envious of anyone.
5. Pray for that person you envied, that God may bless him more abundantly. If you start doing that, you have been delivered. And when he is blessed more abundantly, you will benefit.
6. Praise sincerely that person, both in his presence and to others.
7. Ask those who are superior to you to teach you how to improve yourself. Become their disciple. Suppose someone plays better golf than you, even though you have been playing golf for thirty years. Don’t envy the man, but go to him and say, “You know, I have been playing this game for thirty years. But you are doing such an excellent job; can you show me how to do it better?” That person will be thrilled to teach you.

Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you. Deliver us from envy. It is not the fruit of the Spirit; it is terrible. It is rot on our spirit. It is cancer of the bones. It causes us to waste away. It causes us to go into our caves and sulk. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Help us to pay heed to the word we have heard. Help us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that we may bear the fruit of the Spirit. Help us to love and not envy others. Amen.