1 John 4:8
God is love.
1 Corinthians 13:4
Love is not jealous.
Exodus 20:5
"I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God."
See contrary-ness!
Nya!
2007-01-16 14:40:58 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The two words for "jealous" that you reference are different words in the original texts. It just so happens that English doesn't isn't sufficient to accurately translate those words, so they're both translated as "jealous."
In Corinthians, the original Hebrew word is "zeloo" which means "to be envious."
In Exodus, the original word is "qanna'" which translate as God not allowing any rival to Himself.
When you look at these things on the surface, they can seem to be at odds, but if you take time to dig below the surface, you learn that there are nuances of meaning that go deeper.
The whole point is this: Jesus loves you, and wants to make you free from the endless pain of living in a fallen, difficult world. When you learn about Him, you see that there is another way to live... one that is so much more fulfilling and wonderful. It's not "drinking the koolaid." It's getting a glimpse of a much broader landscape of life than the day-to-day existence. I would love to talk with you more about it.
By the way, I'm not a pastor, a priest or a preacher or anything like that. I'm just a normal person that makes big mistakes sometimes and often do the wrong thing. But God really is love, and He forgives me and never, ever abandons me. Do you have any idea what it's like to have someone in your life that never leaves you no matter how bad you (continually) blow it? It's amazing. It's just a whole different way to live.
Hope you found this helpful.
2007-01-16 14:52:18 · answer #1 · answered by Peter B 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is interesting, because on another message board, there is a Christian who argued with me that love = jealousy. When I pointed out 1 Corinthians 13, he just flat-out ignored it and insisted that love can be jealous. He has no choice, because God says that he is a jealous God, but Christians believe he is a loving God, and so the only thing they can do is to rationalize that love and jealousy are synonymous. Otherwise, they would be forced to admit that God contradicts himself in the Bible.
2007-01-16 22:51:24 · answer #2 · answered by Antique Silver Buttons 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Exodus 20:4&5
You shall not make yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the haeavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.
1Corinth. 13:4-6 (talking about God's love in us)
Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited; it is not rude and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takesno account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong). It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
1John 4:8&9
He who does not love has not become acquainted with God, for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest where we are concerned; in that God sent His son, the only begotten or unique Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
2007-01-16 22:59:10 · answer #3 · answered by heavnbound 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Are you serious? Ok, I'll try to be clear on this. God wants a true relationship with us, His creation...we are not to worship any idols or gods....It means we are to put NO OTHER GODS before Him. He is also love...he loves us with an everlasting love. The 1 Corinthians verse is referring to petty human jealousy...that's a SIN. God is JEALOUS of our affection....he wants to be first in our lives...see the difference? No contradictions here....NEXT
2007-01-16 23:03:04 · answer #4 · answered by 4 Shades of Blue 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, in three of the translations I examined (KJV, Lit.Transl. and ASV) the word used in I Cor. 13:4 is envy, jealous. The Greek translation of this word is:
zeÌlooÌ
dzay-lo'-o
To have warmth of feeling for or against: - affect, covet (earnestly), (have) desire, (move with) envy, be jealous over, (be) zealous (-ly affect).
God is jealous towards His people. He is love, but His main attribute in holiness. He will not stand by and let His people be enticed away to worship or serve false gods.
No contradiction here, nice try.
2007-01-16 22:56:14 · answer #5 · answered by BrotherMichael 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One needs to understand something about God before you can say it is a contradiction. Both OT and NT agree that God is love, and that love is not jealous. BUT, the question is, what is the jealousy and loved talked about in all of these...
In hebrew, there is only one word for love, AHAVA, which is a broad interpretation as our english word "love" is (it encompasses all aspects)
in the greek, there are primarily three words used:
agapê (love, charity) and words derived from it
philia (friendship, love) and words derived from it
storgê (natural affection), but this is only used in the negative (i.e., the lacking of natural affection)
the common translation is that this love is agape. now, the big point of almost all of christianity is that ALL agape love is not able to be generated in humans. We cannot produce agape. whether you are a believer or not, God, who IS agape, is going to work through you to show his love to others. God IS Agape.
in exodus, we are seeing the nature of Hashem, that is to say, God. God IS jealous, jealous for us, but God's love shown THROUGH us is not jealous or self seeking.
read those passages in the amplified bible and it sheds a little light on this idea.
but then again, that's just my way of seeing it.
(I suppose this begs the question "is god being self serving by being jealous for us", but that gets into discussions that you aren't really going to care about unless you ARE a christian. Frankly, you might not even like this answer, or think it's a cop out, but it's just the way I see things, and it makes loads of sense to me.)
2007-01-16 22:45:34 · answer #6 · answered by Justin M 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You are right. So, let 's put them in order:
Love is not jealous, but God is, and He wants your love, because He loves you. John 3:16.
More answers at Bibleinfo.com
2007-01-16 22:45:58 · answer #7 · answered by oh nedla 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When the Bible talks about "jealous" it does not carry the meaning of envy - "jealous God" means 'zeal or zealous'. Is the same when the Bible talks about "Be ye perfect for I am perfect." It did not meant man perfection, but refers to 'holiness'. The Bible really states that the carnal mind cannot understand spiritual things. You proved that verse.
2007-01-16 22:50:57 · answer #8 · answered by charmaine f 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ten Commandments !
Number 4
"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."
"for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,"
I see where it admits to being JEALOUS.
Wait now. before you spaz out.
"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,"
The dude is a sociopath too. Kills lots of people.
Into Spanking at a minimum.
2007-01-16 22:57:03 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Listen Kitty, God is PURR-fect. yer barking up the wrong tree. You don't understand scripture and only want to argue. If you ever really DO want to get to know the real character of GOD, maybe then we can talk for real.
2007-01-16 22:45:33 · answer #10 · answered by lookn2cjc 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋