Free from Envy

In yesterday’s study, we considered the challenge Christians face to resist the natural urge to strike out at those who injure or affront them. We saw that Paul calls us to endure ill treatment and even to respond to it with kindness, in imitation of Christ. In today’s passage, the apostle exhorts us not only to resist ill feelings against those who mistreat us but against those who have things we do not presently enjoy. In short, as loving people, we are not to be envious of others.

What is envy? We rarely hear sermons or other teachings on this vice today. But Jonathan Edwards addressed it in his magnum opus treatment of 1 Corinthians 13, Charity and Its Fruits. Envy, he wrote, is “a spirit of dissatisfaction and opposition to the prosperity and happiness of others.” Our calling as Christians is to “rejoice with those who rejoice” (Rom. 12:15a), to actually take joy when others experience some blessing, even though we may not participate in it. We should truly enjoy the prosperity of others and be happy when they receive benefits from life. But the thought of such an attitude is alien to most of us. Much more often, we are overcome by dissatisfaction when another person experiences some joy, whether it be a privilege, an acquisition such as a new home or car, or an advancement in status of some sort. Comparing our own situation to that of the happy person, we come away displeased, for we see ourselves as equally (or even more) deserving of the joy that has passed us by. And then, subtly but surely, our dissatisfaction with our situation turns to ill will against the one of whom we are envious. Now envy is in full bloom in our hearts, causing us to desire not just to have the joy of the other person for ourselves but to see the loss of that joy by the person who received it.

The Bible’s “preventive medicine” for envy is contentment. Paul declared in Philippians 4:11 that he had acquired this prescription: “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” He went on to say that he knew “how to be abased”—that is, to be in a state of deprivation compared to others—and “how to abound”—that is, to be in a state of fullness and richness compared to others. No matter whether those around him had more or less than he, Paul was content with what God chose to give to him. Therefore, he was not envious with what God gave them.