Envy
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” (Gal 5:25-26) (If envy is wanting something another person has, jealousy is wanting to destroy a relationship from which one feels excluded. Cf. Gen 37:11-35. )
Background
Recently, I was having a little chat with Donna, who commented on the fact that I always tell others that she has the gift of sleeping, unlike me. Whilst sound sleep is a true gift from God that I don’t enjoy, (Ps 127:2) it is something to be desired rather than envied (James 1:17). Through pray on this matter the Spirit of God has chastised me (Heb 12:5-11) for being envious of this grace in my wife’s life. Subsequently, I received permission from her to write an article on the subject. According to research of 35 countries on “the seven deadly sins”, Aussies are specialists in envy, and as such oblivious to it in their personal lives. (Topping each of the sin categories were South Korea (lust), the US (gluttony), Mexico (greed), Iceland (sloth and pride), South Africa (wrath) and Australia (envy). Biblically, envy is a great destroyer of well-being both personally and relationally, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” (Prov 14:30), “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:16). The root of this sin is both more ancient and more profound than any of us wants to imagine!
Satanic Envy
In his famed epic poem, Paradise Lost, John Milton speculated that
Satan’s envy is a central motivation for his rebellion against the Creator, all of which, Milton asserts, stemmed from his resentment of the Son‘s pre-eminence in the celestial hierarchy. The devi’s envy is a form of “injured merit,” a feeling that his own status should be higher, and it becomes the core of his self-righteous opposition to God. No doubt the devil feels justifiably angry at all things divine, but Milton’s hypothesis is excessively rationalistic and mistaken. In his heretical Arianism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism) the great poet ignored that the Son is “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev 13:8), and it is nonsensical to suppose that a being of any intelligence could be envious of such a slaughtered Son! The cross essentially expels all such corruptions. Nevertheless, Milton is correct to asset that something of the power of evil was projected by Satan onto Eve and Edam in Eden.
Original Envy
““You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”” (Gen 3:4). When Satan tempted Eve to become more like God, he offered her the impossible. Impossible, simply because to desire such a desire would be ungodly (Luke 22:15). God is the perfect being who cannot desire to be like any other, less perfect, being. To think, or attempt anything otherwise, was to attempt the impossible, therefore Adam and Eve could only “lose the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) in which they were created. Therefore, in such loss – they came to share the Satanic depravity (John 8:44 etc.) Not only is all sin irrational, but it traps us in a universal sense of inferiority from which all finite/unrighteous attempts to escape are futile. As always, Jesus Christ is our only hope.
Where is Jesus
“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”” (Luke 3:21-22) This launching of the Son on the way to death-resurrection-exaltation is the fullest manifestation of the favour of the Father’s Spirit. The “vicarious humanity of Christ” (https://www.tftorrance.org/journal/s2/participatio-2013-s2-05-DWT-102-115.pdf) includes us all in God’s overwhelming favour in the Son. Therefore envy, especially in believers, deeply grieves the life of the Holy Spirit. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Eph 4:30)
Envy and the Cross
“For he (Pilate) knew that it was out of envy (zēlou) that they (chief priests) had delivered him (Jesus) up.” (Matt 27:18; Mark 15:10) Envy motivated the Jewish leaders to use the Romans to kill God’s Son because they saw a great power in him they could never match. Even though Jesus repeatedly pointed to his Father, they could not believe him as they were under the powerful spell of the devil (John 8). This theme of wilful persecution of saintliness is continued throughout Acts. “But when the Jews saw the multitudes (following the apostles), they were filled with envy (zēlou); and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.” (Acts 13:45; 17:5). What the Jews could/would not believe was that in Christ every Christian person has been inserted into the immeasurable favour of the Father. An unmerited favour commonly called “grace”.
The Power of The Inner Ring
C. S. Lewis powerfully taught that able people, of whatever sought, are generally enslaved by a need to be “on the Inside” (https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/inner-ring). To “be on the inside” is viewed to be someone in a favoured club. Christians are not exempt from this insidious dynamic. How is it possible for believers to be envious of the world? The “world”, say of fashion, appearances, lifestyle, wealth, fame, academic excellence etc. etc. “It is madness for a Christian to be envious. In Christ we have all received infinitely great blessings.” So remarks the radical, controversial opposed miracle working priest St. John of Kronstadt. It was obvious, that despite his eccentricities, the favour of Father, Son and Holy Spirit was on John.
Conclusion
Let me conclude with one of my favourite Psalm portions. “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. 23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps 73:22-26) Excluding the first part of the passage, this is surely a wonderful messianic psalm that applies to the life of every Christian person. If you would be free from envy, turn in the power of the all-gracious Spirit away from beholding yourself and others and turn to Jesus as the supreme centre of your vision.