#7 The Excellent Way

The Mount Of Beatitudes

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On this mount Jesus said "...love your enemies..." It was a given that we love our brethren. How sad it is that just a few years later Paul was writing about unity and love to a church that was divided.

The reason unity is difficult for some is because they don't have agape for one another. It is just as simple as that. It was very easy for the church at Corinth to find fault. There were so many faults for them to find. And if one did not love then dwelling on the obvious faults of others was easy. Paul knew that so he presented to them "...The Excellent Way..." to unity.

At this point in our study of his discussion of the Way he turns to some negatives about love. And he teaches everyone that love is not characterized by certain attributes. If they exist love does not.

In I Cor. 13:4 he wrote that love "...does not envy..."(NIV) The RSV reads "...love is not jealous..." The Amplified says "...love is never envious nor boils over with jealousy..."

In the Bible there are two basic Greek words for envy. They are phthonos and zelos. Paul refers to zelos in I Cor. 13:4. Each word can be destructive of proper human relations and therefore destroy unity.

W.E. Vine says that phthonos is "the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others..." Spiros Zodhiates says of the word that it is "...always used with an evil meaning..." Vine agrees and adds that the difference between the words is that zelos desires the have the same things as others and phthonos would seek to deprive others of what they have.

Zelos can have a positive sense where phthonos is never used in a positive way according to lexicographers. Zelos can also be like phthonos, negative, and that is the way Paul uses it here.

They both are works of the flesh in this sense. In Gal. 5 Paul lists them both among a motley crew of works that he says will keep one from entering the kingdom of heaven if persisted in. They are called "...the acts of the sinful nature..."(NIV)(Gal. 5:19) The list includes: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy(zelos), fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy(phthonoi), drunkeness, orgies.

Paul lists phthonos in Ro. 1:29-31 along with another catalog of sins that will cause God to turn away from folks if they are persisted in. Interesting that so many Christians practice jealousy and look down their self-righteous noses at other sinners in the list.

Paul even speaks of himself and other Christians in Titus 3:3-5 as having practiced phthonos. "At one time we too were foolishly disobedient, deceived and enslaved to all kinds of passions and pleasures..." "We lived in malice and envy(phthonos), being hated and hating one another..." But something changed all that "...but when the kindness and love of God appeared, he saved us."

Isn't it interesting that in all the various lists of sins Paul lists envy and jealousy as being equally a sin as the others and we don't see it that way?

Peter concurred with Paul. "...rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and slander of every kind.'(I Pet. 2:1)

Zodhiates says of zelos that it can "...make war on the good it sees in another..." Indeed this word is not just an emotional state. It displays itself in the way we treat others.

Stephen illustrated this for us in his speech to the Sanhedrin. He said "Because the patriarchs were jealous(zelosantes) of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt."(Acts 7:9)

The apostles experienced the same effects of ill will from the Jewish leaders of the day. "...the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy."(zelos)(Acts 5:17) "They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail."(Acts 5:18)

On another occasion during one of Paul's successful missionary tours he ran into the same ill will. "When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy(zelou)and talked abusively against what Paul was saying."(Acts 13:45) No wonder Paul encouraged the Christians at Corinth not to be jealous and envious of one another. He knew first hand the harshness and hardness of such folks. And of course later these attitudes would cause his imprisonment and ultimate death.

Paul had earlier written to the Corinthians "You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy(zelos) and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?"(I Cor. 3:3) And a few months later he would write: "...I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be..." "...I fear that there may be..." "...quarreling..." "...jealousy..."(zelos) "...outbursts of anger..." "...factions..." "...slander..." "...gossip..." "...arrogance and disorder..."(II Cor. 12:20)

Isn't it sad that this tendency can cause disunity in the church? God help us to have love for one another and we won't be envious and jealous for love "...does not envy..."