Envy

[Vince]

Some time ago, I did a study on Jealousy and Envy. I was surprised to learn that modern psychology defines both terms the way that the King James Version does.

"Jealousy" is not that big of a Biblical problem. It means "I have something and you don't, and I'm afraid that you will take it from me." King Saul was jealous that David would take his throne, but the word is usually used to describe God.

"Envy" means "You have something and I don't, and I feel that it should be mine." Envy gets a lot more space in God's Word than jealousy, and it is described as more serious, both to the person being envied, as well as the person doing the envying.

I'll be doing a brief study on envy over the next few days.

 

[Danus]

I would agree. In fact Envy is one of the seven deadly sins.

 

[Mike]

Envy goes hand-in-hand with "pride". Pride is among with worst of our failures. It is in effect predicating our worth compared to others. If one is "hansom' or "beautiful", people want to be more so than the next person. If we have much wealth, we are not happy unless we have more wealth than the next person.

 

[Vince]

Psalm 106:
16 When they envied Moses in the camp, And Aaron the saint of the LORD,
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, And covered the faction of Abiram.
18 A fire was kindled in their company; The flame burned up the wicked.

God recognizes the power of envy to destroy His work. It is, of course, possible for a person gripped with envy to repent, and God may well have worked in the hearts of these men before He finally destroyed them. But if that doesn't work, God still has a cure: the destruction of the envious.

If you see someone being blessed by God more than you, you can turn to envy. Or you can ask the person for advice on how to obtain God's blessings.

 

[poohbah]

Re: high cost or price of envy

I believe envy is the fire that fuels life.. there are several verses in Scipture regarding envy.. I won't jump to any conclusions about it because it is a fire.. understand it and you might just understand life itself.

Isaiah 26:11 says "Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enimies shall devour them."

that word 'at' means toward instead of envies purpose intent', with

Ezekiel 35:11 says "Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee."

Like fire is a tool, so I believe is envy. We are not to use it with hatred against, but to use it with hatred for..

 

[Vince]

Good to hear from you, mjjbc and Poobah. Indeed, envy is connected with pride, and yes, God really does destroy people because of envy.

 

[Vince]

Genesis 37:11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph had the special love of his father, largely due to being the son of Jacob's deceased favorite wife. Could his brothers have done anything "right" about it? Later, some of them did excel, and were praised by Jacob on his deathbed.

Hatred was the wrong response; serving God diligently was the right response.

 

[Vince]

Ecclesiastes 4:4 Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

A few months ago, a couple who had failed in starting an animal shelter began posting signs attacking the owner of the successful animal shelter where I volunteer. I pointed out to him that this is normal; success produces envy.

If you succeed in Christian service, you will be the target of envy. Period. It's automatic.

 

[poohbah]

James 4:5 says "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lustest to envy?"

The next verse begins with the word 'But' not 'Wherefore' which goes on to explain..

James 4:6 "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."

Only looking at what these verses are saying, and keeping in mind to not take them out of context as:

John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. "Wherefore he saith," in verse 4:6 James refers to scripture in the verse preceding..

so it is scripture that is the person we are speaking

and 4:24 John explains that God is a Spirit.
.."and they that worship him," the person scripture, 4:5 James; "..must worship him in spirit and in truth."

If you succeed in Christian service, you will be the target of envy. Period. It's automatic.

 

[Vince]

"... love does not envy..." 1 Corinthians 13:4

The word "love" is better translated "charity," referring to love in action, but the idea is the same. An envious Christian is lacking in love. And the entire context of 1 Corinthians 13 is that the actions of a person without charity are in vain.

 

[Vince]

Psalm 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

It is inevitable that we will see the wicked doing better than we are. Yet, here in Psalm 37, God gives His reasons why we should not envy them:

2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.

9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.

13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.

20 But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the LORD, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.

38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

 

[poohbah]

True.

 

[glorydaz]

Psalm 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

It is inevitable that we will see the wicked doing better than we are. Yet, here in Psalm 37, God gives His reasons why we should not envy them:

2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.

9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.

13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.

20 But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the LORD, Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.

38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

Good study, Vince. I especially appreciated being reminded of this scripture.

 

[Vince]

Proverbs 14:30 A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones.

Long before scientists discovered the fact, God was telling us that stress harms our health. A person who dwells in envy is hurting himself physically, as well as spiritually and emotionally.

If you yourself are envious of someone else, God's cure is to start serving Him diligently.

 

[Vince]

Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, But who is able to stand before envy?

Some time ago, I did a study of the psychology of envy. People who had gotten promotions would find that an envious co-worker was now their bitter enemy. Try as they would, the successful workers could not win the friendship of the envious workers. The author of the study explained that the envious worker believed that he had been wronged, and as long as the successful worker held his job, there was no cure.

After an unsuccessful revolt among his pastoral staff, the pastor of a mega-church explained in a sermon that he had tried to reason with the disgruntled employees who had not been promoted. But when it didn't work, he had to fire them.

 

[Vince]

Philippians 1:15-16 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill:
The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains;

It's hard to believe that some Christians hated Paul so much that they preached Christ. Since their motive was selfish ambition, it appears that their goal was to build their own influence. Why were they in Christian work in the first place?

A Christian who wants to serve God wants a good thing. He may also be responding to grace, which gives us the desire and ability to do God's work. But then, failing to accept God's grace, he becomes bitter at someone else who has a bigger ministry.

The warning here for the saints is to turn away from envy, seeing how much harm it can do to you.

 

[Vince]

1 Timothy 6:4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,

Who is "he" that this verse is talking about? The previous verses show that Paul is talking about men who urge Christians not to submit to authority. There is a connection between envy and rebellion. People who get passed over for a promotion find themselves under the authority of a colleague, and envy develops. Within churches, envy develops when certain people get prominent roles that others feel that they should have.

Submission to authority produces humility, and humility produces grace. Grace gives us the desire and ability to do God's work. Rebellion against authority produces envy and other sins.

 

[Vince]

Titus 3:3 is talking about non-Christians when it says "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another."

But notice the connection between envy and hatred. The passage goes on to tell us how the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit changed us.

Elsewhere on the internet, there is a Christian hatesite dedicated to tearing down successful preachers and pastors. Some of their accusations are true, and there is rejoicing up and down the site every time that a man of God falls. You, as a Christian, need to remember that God has called you out of that type of conduct.

 

[Vince]

James 3:16 is one of those verses that needs some explaining.

"For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there."
"For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil work."

The King James Version states: "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."

The word translated "envy" is literally "heat," and is used is both a good and bad sense for zeal.
The word translated "self-seeking" refers to intrigues and conflicts.
The Greek word translated "confusion" refers to tumult and disorder.

In other words, when any organization has people fighting and maneuvering to advance themselves. that organization will be filled with conflict and sin. You need to move on.