{"id":239,"date":"2022-08-30T19:26:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T19:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/?p=239"},"modified":"2022-08-30T19:26:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T19:26:28","slug":"the-greatest-of-these-part-2c-love-does-not-envy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"The Greatest of These – Part 2c: \u00a0Love Does Not Envy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I Corinthians 13: 4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After opening his teaching on love with the virtues, patience and kindness, St. Paul takes a turn in his approach. He began by saying, \u201cLove is \u2026 \u201c<\/em>; now, he opens a longer list of love\u2019s traits by saying, \u201cLove is not \u2026. \u201c.<\/em> This type of definition is known as the apophatic method. It attempts to describe what something is by telling what it is not. This method has been used in Christian writings primarily with reference to God. That is, realizing that God , in His essence, is unknowable and beyond human comprehension, He can best be understood by saying what He is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the Apostle continues this teaching with eight apophatic phrases to speak of what love is not \u2013 or does not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A note here:  in our previous post, I felt that you were subjected more to an academic classroom than to a gathering of fellow Christians studying the Word of God. You can let me know if that was the case. So now, I will try not to burden you with too much vocabulary (although we will not be totally successful) and hope to provide food for the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLove does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up\u201d (vs. 4). <\/em>These three phrases reach into our inner being \u2013 generally unseen by those around us until their effects are revealed. In fact, we may not be so aware of their presence ourselves unless we take the time to examine our souls through prayer, reading of Scripture and listening to the counsel of our spiritual guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnvy\u201d is often translated \u201cjealousy\u201d in the scriptures and are frequently interchanged \u2013 depending on the biblical author and the translator. Therefore, there are two concepts expressed here. The one, zelos<\/em><\/strong>, speaks of an inward, burning desire to have the same sort of thing which another person has. It may be an object, wealth, position, prestige, etc. It does not mean trying to take theirs; only to have as much or more of what they have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other, phthonos<\/em><\/strong>, refers to a feeling of displeasure produced by seeing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others. Further, this sense of envy desires to take from another what he has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, jealousy or envy can push one to either keep someone from \u201cgetting ahead of us\u201d or to \u201ckeep him behind us\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dangerous enemy, envy\/jealousy, can best be understood by examining its effects rather than relying on some definition. For the effects, once unleashed, can indeed be  destructive to ourselves and to those around us. Perhaps some familiar examples from the Scriptures will help:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Genesis 4: 1-8 \u2013 Cain\u2019s jealousy of his brother\u2019s approval from the Lord aroused anger within him. In time, that burning erupted and he killed his brother.<\/li>
  2. Genesis 37: 3,4 \u2013 Joseph\u2019s brothers envied the love their father had for him and a hate formed within them. They could no longer even speak peacefully to him. Again, as time passed, their hate emerged and they sold Joseph into slavery to get rid of him forever.<\/li>
  3. Luke 15: 25-30 \u2013 In Jesus\u2019 parable of the Prodigal Son, the older brother became jealous of his brother\u2019s welcome home and forgiveness from their father. He, too, was filled with anger and refused to celebrate with the family. He withdrew from his father because he would not accept his brother\u2019s good fortune.<\/li>
  4. Envy\/Jealousy caused King Herod to murder 14,000 innocent children (Matthew 2: 1-3, 16); caused the apostles to be cast into prison (Acts 5: 17,18); and caused the Jews in Thessalonica to form a mob to kill Paul and Silas (Acts 17: 5).<\/li>
  5. St. James warns his people that envy and selfish ambition will lead to confusion and every evil thing (James 3: 16). Further, he rebukes them when they don\u2019t get what they want, so they fight and war (James 4: 2).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Certainly, these are dreadful consequences in anyone\u2019s life; they surely result in unholy and unhealthy souls, minds and bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But love does not do these things!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s suppose for a few moments that those people we listed were \u201cwalking in love, as Christ has loved us\u201d (Ephesians 5: 2). <\/em>How different the stories would have been!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Cain would have commended Abel and tried to learn from him how he might be more pleasing to God.<\/li>
    2. Joseph\u2019s brothers would have understood their father\u2019s love for his young son and embraced Joseph as well. They may also have seen more clearly that they, too, would be sharing in Jacob\u2019s promises from God (becoming the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel).<\/li>
    3. The older brother would gladly have joined the celebration of his younger brother\u2019s repentance and return home (just as the angels rejoice in heaven over one sinner who repents \u2013 Luke 15:10). He also (thinking clearly) would have realized that, as the first-born son, he would receive a double portion of his father\u2019s inheritance and called to guide his brother in a better way of life.<\/li>
    4. Even if he initially felt threatened, King Herod could have relied on the patience and kindness of love to perceive that this was God\u2019s doing. He would have realized that the new king\u2019s enthronement was yet years away (from a worldly perspective) and, thank God, 14.000 lives would have been saved<\/li>
    5. With love overcoming envy\/jealousy, those who then rejected the Gospel preached by the Apostles would have become believers in Christ and receivers of eternal life.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Of course, this is just an exercise in wishful thinking and a hope in what might have been. But it might also serve to inspire us to \u201ckeep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life\u201d (Jude 21).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u00a0Fr. Andrew<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I Corinthians 13: 4 After opening his teaching on love with the virtues, patience and kindness, St. Paul takes a turn in his approach. He began by saying, \u201cLove is \u2026 \u201c; now, he opens a longer list of love\u2019s traits by saying, \u201cLove is not \u2026. \u201c. This type of definition is known as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240,"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openingtheoldwells.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}