The "Deadly Trilemma"

[coelacanth]

I am interested to find out what people here make of this:


1 John 4:8 - The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.


1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant


Exodus 20:5 - " You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

[Edit]
These three passages say, God is love, love is not jealous, God is jealous. How do you resolve this? Just curious…

 

[Biblereader]

He's both. Just like you and I can be loving, and jealous

I can drag out my Greek English dictionary, and concordance, and look up the
specifics, but, has your girlfriend or boyfriend ever asked you,
how can you love me, and be jealous at the same time?
You'd probably laugh at them, for wondering such an obvious thing.

 

[nmwings]

It is simple. He loves us all, by giving us FREE WILL. He has told us up front what the result of our actions will be. If you love Him you will obey His Commandments and He will bless you. If you despise Him you will not obey His Commandments and He will curse You. See Lev 26 and Deut 28.
It is up to us to decide which way we will go.

 

[coelacanth]

Those still skirt the issue that the bible says "love is not jealous". You are describing people who love and are jealous, but isn't God supposed to be perfect in his love?

 

[follower of Christ]

I am interested to find out what people here make of this:


1 John 4:8 - The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.


1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant


Exodus 20:5 - " You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

[Edit]
These three passages say, God is love, love is not jealous, God is jealous. How do you resolve this? Just curious…

I think I brought this up elsewhere as a joke about there being some passages that have to be harmonized to understand and DO appear to be 'contradictions' when taken at face value.
I'd like to see what the responses are

.

 

[kevkelsar]

Perhaps the words translated as "jealous" are different in the original language and have different meanings. What I mean is God being jealous may not mean the same thing as what we usually understand it means when we say someone is jealous.

Other languages have different words that are translated into English as one word, yet the meanings are very subtle, yet significant. For example, in Spanish there are two verbs that are translated as "to know": "conocer" and "saber." "Saber" means to know a fact, it's solid knowledge. However, "conocer" means to know someone, be familiar with someone/something. For this reason the scripture where we are taught that eternal life is to "know" God does not mean to know all the facts about God. In Spanish, the word "conocer" is used, so to know God means to become familiar with Him, have a personal relationship with Him.

 

[coelacanth]

A Greek friend of mine assured me that the Koine Greek portion of it is the same meaning as in the English translation. As for the Old Testament, it would have to be multiple times that the word doesn't properly translate; it calls God jealous on several occassions.

 

[follower of Christ]

A Greek friend of mine assured me that the Koine Greek portion of it is the same meaning as in the English translation. As for the Old Testament, it would have to be multiple times that the word doesn't properly translate; it calls God jealous on several occassions.

Is there a difference between a selfish, self interested 'jealousy' and a 'jealousy' that simply wants fellowship with another ?

.

 

[Sinthesis]

A Greek friend of mine assured me that the Koine Greek portion of it is the same meaning as in the English translation. As for the Old Testament, it would have to be multiple times that the word doesn't properly translate; it calls God jealous on several occassions.

Is there a difference between a selfish, self interested 'jealousy' and a 'jealousy' that simply wants fellowship with another ?
.

I don't know how easy this will be to follow , but the solution to this trilemma is in the fact that the jealousy we should not have towards other men is not the same as the jealousy God correctly has towards false gods.

First John 4:8 is speaking of brotherly love among mankind; and that God, through the work of Jesus(both fully God and fully man), exemplifies this love for fellow man.

• God is Love

First Corinthians 13:4 is part of an explanation that to love one another in fellowship requires that you not be jealous of that "other fellow".

• Love is not Jealous (of an other who is an ontological equal) i.e. among men

However, there are no "other fellow" god's, meaning God can not be jealous in the same way.

• God is Jealous (of an other who is an ontological equal) is FALSE because God has no ontological equal

So the truth must actually be:

• God is not Jealous (of an other who is an ontological equal) because God has no ontological equal

Leading us to see that both:

• Love is not Jealous (of an other who is an ontological equal)
  [list:1i5gc6ny][list:1i5gc6ny]and

[/list:u:1i5gc6ny]
God is not Jealous (of an other who is an ontological equal)[/list:u:1i5gc6ny]
Which would not conflict with First John 4:8 where we learned that God is Love.

How then IS God jealous? In Exodus 20:5 God is proclaiming that because He is unique, there is no "other" that can take His place. God is correct to jealously guard the truth of His unique status.

• God is Jealous (of an other who is an ontological UNequal) i.e. false gods

Therefore, those who rebelliously look elsewhere for that which only God can provide will suffer dire and long lasting consequences. On the national level, as it is described in Exodus, the punishing effects of a idolatrous society can linger throughout several generations.

:drool

 

[LaCrum]

Those still skirt the issue that the bible says "love is not jealous". You are describing people who love and are jealous, but isn't God supposed to be perfect in his love?

Jealous in the Old and New Testament in that sense refers to "coveting" or being envious (wanting what someone else has that isn't yours to have ie your neighbor's shiny new Porsche) which is one of the Ten Commandements.

God's jealous for us, but not in a way that is not coveting or envious because he's jealous for things that rightly belong to him.

In the same way we can be jealous without sinning. If a woman is flirting with my husband I can be jealous because it's something God has declared belongs to me. On the other hand, something would be wrong if someone did not get jealous over such a thing, we would accuse them of not caring for their significant other.