"Have I told you about the 'love triangle?'" asked the professor, a smug and confident smile on his face. "Well, it goes like this. If God is love, and love does not envy, how can God be a jealous God?" Many an intimidated Christian had been struck down by this bit of shallow logic, I could tell. It's a worn out argument, though, and one that badly needs to be put to rest.
It is only in our superficial western culture, and only in the confines of the english language that we have equated jealousy of someone with jealousy over someone. These vastly different human emotions are addressed repeatedly in the Bible--one as a vice and the other as an attribute of God Himself. Cain's jealousy of Abel is possibly the first example, and we are all familiar with its deadly and destructive outcome. Covetousness, a type of envy, is clearly identified as a sin in the 10 commandments. My professor correctly quoted the familiar "love chapter," 1 Corinthians 13, in saying that love does not envy. What he failed to note, however, is that the fierce, holy jealousy of God is a different animal altogether.
My sinful jealousy is directed at the person who has something I want. The object of sinful jealousy is the person we are not loving. The object of God's jealousy, on the other hand, is His beloved. It is a protective instinct, a consuming desire to defend, provide for, and secure the happiness of His people. His jealousy is what drives Him to pursue us when we wander after cheap and cruel idols, and it is what drove Him to the cross to battle for our souls once for all. God has nothing to be jealous of; the false gods which led the Israelites astray were nothing but blocks of wood and stone, and the idols which enslave my heart today are either inanimate objects or actual people--people for whom He is also jealous and for whom He died. That said, it is clear that the object of God's jealousy cannot be His competition, but rather His people.
Paul's point in 1 Corinthians 13 is that I cannot both love and envy my neighbor. However, I would also submit that I cannot truly love my neighbor unless I am jealous for him/her. Having a Godly jealousy means wanting what God wants for my neighbor. Paul says to the same Corinthian disciples, "I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." Having a Godly jealousy for my brother and sister in Christ means joining them in the battle for their hearts and minds, standing guard with them over their affections toward Christ, defending the purity of their love for the Bridegroom. It means dressing modestly so as to protect my brother's visual purity. It means being willing to exhort my sister when I see her being deceived or led astray. It means loving the Body of Christ enough to defend her when she is defenseless, and to warn her when her devotion to Christ is being compromised.
The Church has surrendered her weapons of divine jealousy all too easily--especially in marriage. Today, jealousy over one's mate is condemned as selfish and domineering. As a direct result, faithlessness has become the new style--as popular as scrapbooking and as accepted as a peanut allergy. Society, Christians included, is riddled with pretend romances, quiet affairs which are kept, stroked and giggled over like a purse-sized chihuahua--until the chihuahua becomes the elephant in the middle of the room, and it's sitting between you and the door.
Let's not get caught in my professor's "love triangle," Christian. Let's love each other earnestly, enough to step outside the comfortable realm of blessings and compliments and into the dangerous territory of a wartime mentality. We are hunted by an enemy who doesn't sleep, and our divine, God-given jealousy over one another is given to us as a protection against this enemy. I've got your back--please dare to watch out for me too, and let me know when I've wandered too far outside the camp.
Man of God, even as I wait for you I find myself jealous over you. "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD." (Song of Solomon 8:6)
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