Envy is a difficult sin for us to address in the modern era because in many cases we have sought to make it into a virtue. Jesus told about the workers hired at different times of the day to make a spiritual point directed at envy(Matt. 20:1-16); we take the side of the workers who labored through the day, and would tend to see this as the basis of a class-action lawsuit. But Scripture is plain for all that. “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones” (Prov. 14:30).
Pride, which we will be considering next, is the king of sins. But if this is the case, then envy has to be considered the prince. What is envy? The word refers to a malicious regard to the advantages seen to be enjoyed by others. While simple coveteousness would be content to duplicate the blessing, envy has a destructive side—if I can’t have it, then no one should. Covetousness wants to have something valuable. Envy wants the other person to not have it.
We can see the course of envy in an attempted fratricide. What motivated the fathers of Israel to treat Joseph in the way they did? Stephen answers the question clearly for us. “And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him” (Acts 7:9).
Envy was the driving force behind the persecution of the apostles. “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things wich were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming” (Acts 13:45). “But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people” (Acts 17:5).
No Christian can be a friend to envy, for it was envy that murdered Jesus. The worst crime in the history of the human race was perpetrated because of envy. “For he [Pilate] knew that for envy they had delivered him” (Matt. 27:18).
None of this should be surprising. The Scriptures teach us directly that envy is a formidable sin. “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but the fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” (Prov. 27:3-4). Who can stand before envy? Indeed, it is a powerful force, and when it comes, it comes in the form of an onslaught. James tells us that this sin is the source of many conflicts within the church. “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts . . . Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace” (Jas. 4:1-3,5-6). Envy cannot be construed in a way that makes any sense. Moreover, James is not telling us that this is some kind of rare or exotic sin, like having a foot fetish or something. The spirit in us (because we are fallen humans) lusts toward envy. Unless we make adequate scriptural preparation to guard against this sin (which is part of the “more grace” promised here), we will find ourselves in endless conflicts, biting and devouring one another. I have seen numerous conflicts arise within the church, and almost all the time the gnawing envy that is driving the conflict is most transparent. On those rare occasions when it is not visible, we should simply take James’ word for it.
Interestingly, the envious pay attention to more than just the godly. There are times when the godly are tempted to envy the wicked. “Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous” (Prov. 3:29-32). The Bible says: “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off” (Prov. 23:17-18). When in conflict with the envious, it is perilously easy to become envious. One of the reasons for this is that the wicked are not constrained by truth, evidence, reason, fair-play, or any other encumbrances. They can bite ears and gouge at eyes ad libitum. And the godly can feel something like “why do I have to fight fair?” But the Lord speaks to the situation plainly. Do not envy sinners in your heart. All their gains are illusory, or temporary.
Envy comes to nothing; many men have envied, and have done so for many centuries. And where are they and their malicious wants now? “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun” (Ecc. 9:5-6). The envious heart is just more worm fodder.
However our modern age tricks out envy with noble sounding phrases like “social justice,” or “whistle-blowing,” or “courage,” the sin remains just plain wrong. The Scriptures list envy together with a host of other evils; like all sins, it keeps bad company. And just going to church does not make the evil disappear. The apostle Paul had to deal with fellow ministers who were preaching Christ in a way calculated to get Paul in deeper affliction (Phil. 1:15-16). Envy? In ordained ministers of the gospel in the first century church? While apostles were still alive and ministering among them? Impossi . . .
No, James says. The spirit in us tends toward envy, and the physical presence of Moses, or Jesus, or the apostles has never made it go away. In fact, the more God blesses a ministry, the more envious people are motivated to supplant, or inherit, or compete, or destroy. This is where divergent and inflammatory teaching comes from. “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself” (1 Tim. 6:3-5). Notice the connection between envy here, and “strife, railings, evil (and conspiratorial) surmisings.” From such withdraw thyself. This is the biblical basis for the Internet adage, “Don’t feed the trolls.”
Although envy is active and destructive within the Church, and unfortunately on Christian web sites, when we are outside of Christ, the brakes go completely out. What is it like to live outside the covenant of grace? “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Tit. 3:3). And of course, we see the same thing elsewhere (Rom. 1:28-29).
But we must never forget Christ, who came to save us from our sins, including this one. In this fallen creation, we are given to envy. But God, James says, gives more grace (Jas. 4:5-6). Where and how is this grace given? We should not look primarily at what we must turn away from. Rather, we turn to Christ, the one who restores and edifies us. The opposite of envy (zeal to destroy and wreck) is a zeal to build, to edify. We do this by clinging to Christ our Head (Eph. 4:15-16). As we cling to the Head, we are knit together, and destructive impulses of envy are thwarted.