According to the Bible, is envy a blameworthy emotion?
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Note that I'm not asking whether envy is bad. It's common sense that envy is bad and that it's also bad to make others feel envy. What I'm asking is whether experiencing envy is blameworthy.
**That Envy Is Blameworthy:**
* It made the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:17, Deuteronomy 5:21)
* Paul lists love as not being capable of envy (1 Corinthians 13:4)
**That Envy is Not Blameworthy:**
* Unlike the adulterer (Proverbs 6:32) or the liar (Proverbs 19:5, 19:9), King Solomon does not judge the envious in the Book of Proverbs. He just observes that it feels terrible. (Proverbs 14:30)
* In the Book of James, the author says that "You covet, and have not: you kill, and envy, and can not obtain. You contend and war, and you have not" (James 4:2a). Notice that he says that the reason the reader envies is not because he's ungrateful or because he overlooks the good gifts he already has (which is worldly wisdom). He says that the envious reader has a genuine lack in objective reality.
Asked by BetterOffAlone
(603 rep)
Oct 30, 2023, 09:56 PM
Last activity: Nov 1, 2023, 02:13 PM
Last activity: Nov 1, 2023, 02:13 PM