A Church Torn by Jealousy

The church of God living as a stranger in Rome, to the church of God living as a stranger in Corinth — to those called and made holy by the will of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you from Almighty God through Jesus Christ. [a]

Because of the sudden and repeated disasters that have come on us, dear friends, we think we have been slow to turn our attention to the matters you asked us about — and above all to that foul and unholy faction, a thing alien and strange to those God has chosen, which a few reckless and self-willed people have fanned into such madness that your name, dignified and famous and deserving of everyone’s love, has been badly blasphemed. For who has ever stayed with you and not found your faith proven — a faith complete in every virtue, and firm? Who has not admired your self-controlled and considerate devotion to God in Christ? Who has not announced everywhere the magnificence of your hospitality? Who has not called your knowledge blessed, so full and so sure? You did everything without favoritism and walked by the laws of God. You submitted to your leaders and gave the honor due to the elders among you. You directed the young to think moderate and dignified thoughts. You instructed the women to carry out everything with a blameless, dignified, and pure conscience, and to love their own husbands as they should; and you taught them to stay within the rule of submission, to manage the household with dignity, and to be entirely sensible.

All of you were humble-minded and never boastful, submitting rather than demanding submission, gladder to give than to receive. Content with the provisions Christ gives for the road, and attending carefully to his words, you had taken them deep inside you, and his sufferings were in front of your eyes. So a deep and rich peace was given to all of you, and an appetite for doing good that nothing could satisfy, and a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit came on every one of you. Full of holy purpose, with genuine eagerness and a devout confidence, you stretched out your hands to Almighty God, begging him to be merciful if you had sinned without meaning to. Day and night you struggled on behalf of the whole brotherhood, so that the full number of his chosen ones might be saved, with mercy and with conscience. You were sincere and innocent and held nothing against one another. Every faction and every split disgusted you. You grieved over your neighbors’ failures; you counted their shortcomings your own. You never regretted a single act of kindness, but were ready for every good work. Fitted out with a way of life virtuous through and through and worthy of reverence, you did everything in the fear of God. The Lord’s orders and rulings were written across the breadth of your heart. [e]

Every kind of glory and room to grow was given to you, and then what is written came true: “He ate and drank and grew wide and grew fat — and kicked, the beloved one.” Out of this came jealousy and envy, strife and faction, persecution and disorder, war and captivity. So the dishonored rose up against the honored, the obscure against the respected, the foolish against the wise, the young against their elders. This is why righteousness and peace are far away from you: because each man has abandoned the fear of God, has gone dim-sighted in his faith in him, and will not walk by the laws of his commands or live as a citizen in the way that fits Christ. Instead each one walks after the cravings of his own evil heart, having taken up an unjust and ungodly jealousy — the very thing through which death came into the world. [i]

This is how it is written: “And it happened after some days that Cain brought a sacrifice to God from the fruits of the earth, and Abel too brought some of the firstborn of his sheep and of their fat. And God looked with favor on Abel and on his gifts, but he paid no attention to Cain and his sacrifices. And Cain was deeply grieved, and his face fell. And God said to Cain, ‘Why have you become so downcast, and why has your face fallen? If you offer rightly but do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be still. His turning is toward you, and you will rule over him.’ And Cain said to Abel his brother, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And it happened, while they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” [m]

You see, brothers, that jealousy and envy brought about a brother’s murder. Because of jealousy our father Jacob ran from the face of Esau his brother. Jealousy made Joseph be hunted to the point of death and go down into slavery. Jealousy forced Moses to run from the face of Pharaoh king of Egypt, when he heard this from one of his own people: “Who made you a judge or an arbitrator over us? Do you mean to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” Because of jealousy Aaron and Miriam camped outside the camp. Jealousy brought Dathan and Abiram down alive into Hades, because they raised a faction against God’s servant Moses. Because of jealousy David had envy directed at him not only by foreigners; he was hunted down even by Saul king of Israel.

But let us leave the examples out of the distant past and come to the champions nearest our own time. Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most upright pillars were hunted down and fought to the death. Let us set the good apostles before our eyes. Peter, through unjust jealousy, endured not one hardship or two but many, and when he had borne his witness in that way he went to the place of glory that was owed him. Through jealousy and strife Paul pointed the way to the prize of endurance. Seven times he wore chains; he was driven into exile; he was stoned; he became a herald in the east and in the west, and he received the noble renown his faith had earned. He taught righteousness to the whole world, came to the western limit, bore his witness before the rulers, and so was released from the world and taken up into the holy place — the greatest pattern of endurance there is. [o]

To these men, who lived their lives in holiness, a great crowd of the chosen was added. Through jealousy they suffered many outrages and tortures and became the finest example among us. Through jealousy women were hunted down — Danaids and Dircae — and after suffering terrible and unholy cruelties they finished the sure course of faith, and though they were weak in body they received a noble prize. Jealousy has torn wives away from their husbands and overturned what was said by our father Adam: “This at last is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh.” Jealousy and strife have thrown down great cities and torn up great nations by the roots. [r]

Dear friends, we write all this not only to warn you but to remind ourselves. We are in the same arena, and the same contest lies ahead of us. So let us drop the empty and pointless worries and come to the glorious and honorable standard of what has been handed down to us. Let us see what is good and pleasing and acceptable in the sight of the one who made us. Let us look hard at the blood of Christ and understand how precious it is to his Father: poured out for our salvation, it brought the grace of repentance to the whole world. Let us go through all the generations and learn that in generation after generation the Master has given a place for repentance to those willing to turn back to him. Noah preached repentance, and those who obeyed were saved. Jonah announced destruction to the people of Nineveh; but they repented of their sins, begged God and won him over, and were rescued — strangers to God though they were. [s]

Those who serve the grace of God spoke about repentance through the Holy Spirit; and the Master of all things himself spoke about repentance with an oath: “As I live, says the Lord, I do not want the death of the sinner so much as his repentance.” And he added a kind ruling of his own: “Repent, house of Israel, of your lawlessness. Say to the sons of my people: even if your sins reach from the earth to heaven, and even if they are redder than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, if you turn back to me with your whole heart and say ‘Father,’ I will listen to you as to a holy people.” And in another place he says this: “Wash and be clean. Take the evil out of your souls, away from my eyes. Stop your wickedness; learn to do good. Seek out justice; rescue the man who is wronged; give judgment for the orphan and see that the widow gets her rights. Then come, and let us argue it out, says the Lord. Even if your sins are like crimson, I will make them white as snow; and if they are like scarlet, I will make them white as wool. If you are willing and listen to me, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you refuse and will not listen to me, a sword will devour you — for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.” So then, wanting all his beloved to have a share in repentance, he settled the matter by his almighty will. [u]

So let us obey his magnificent and glorious will. Let us come as beggars for his mercy and his kindness, fall down before him, and turn back to his compassion, leaving behind the pointless labor and the strife and the jealousy that leads to death. Let us fix our eyes on those who served his magnificent glory perfectly. Take Enoch: he was found righteous in obedience and was carried away, and no death of his was ever found. Noah was found faithful, and through his service he preached a new birth to the world, and through him the Master brought safely through the living creatures that went into the ark in harmony. [w]

Abraham, who was called “the friend,” was found faithful when he became obedient to the words of God. In obedience he went out from his own land and from his family and from his father’s house, so that by leaving behind a small country and a weak family and a little house he might inherit the promises of God. For God says to him, “Go out from your land and from your family and from your father’s house, into the land I will show you. And I will make you into a great nation, and bless you, and make your name great, and you will be blessed. And I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, and in you all the tribes of the earth will be blessed.” And again, when he separated from Lot, God said to him, “Lift up your eyes and look out from the place where you are now — north and south, east and west; for all the land you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. And I will make your offspring like the sand of the earth. If anyone can count the sand of the earth, then your offspring too will be counted.” And again it says: God brought Abraham outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them. That is how your offspring will be.” And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Because of his faith and his hospitality a son was given to him in his old age, and in obedience he offered him as a sacrifice to God on the mountain God showed him. [y]

Because of hospitality and godliness Lot was rescued out of Sodom, when the whole surrounding country was judged by fire and sulfur. In this the Master made it plain that he does not abandon those who hope in him, but hands over to punishment and torment those who lean the other way. For when Lot’s wife went out with him, being of a different mind and not in harmony with him, she was set up as a sign of exactly that: she became a pillar of salt, and remains one to this day. It happened so that everyone would know that people who are double-minded and doubt the power of God come under judgment and become a warning sign to every generation after them. [aa]

Because of faith and hospitality Rahab the prostitute was saved. When Joshua son of Nun sent spies into Jericho, the king of the land found out that they had come to spy out his country, and he sent men to seize them, so that once they were caught they could be put to death. But Rahab, who showed hospitality, took them in and hid them in the upstairs room under the stalks of flax. When the king’s men arrived and stood there and said, “The men who came in to you are spies of our land. Bring them out — the king orders it,” she answered, “The men you are looking for did come in to me, but they left at once and are on the road,” and she pointed them the opposite way. Then she said to the men, “I know for certain that the Lord God is handing this land over to you, because the fear and dread of you have fallen on the people living here. So when you take it, bring me and my father’s household through it alive.” And they said to her, “It will be exactly as you have said to us. So as soon as you know we are coming, gather all your people under your roof, and they will be brought through alive; but everyone found outside the house will die.” And they went on to give her a sign: she was to hang something scarlet from her house. By this they made it plain that redemption would come through the blood of the Lord to everyone who believes and hopes in God. You see, dear friends, that it was not only faith but prophecy that was at work in this woman. [ab]

So let us be humble-minded, brothers, and put away all bragging and conceit and stupidity and fits of temper. Let us do what is written — for the Holy Spirit says, “Let the wise man not boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches; but let the one who boasts boast in the Lord, seeking him out and doing justice and righteousness” — and above all let us remember the words of the Lord Jesus, which he spoke when he was teaching consideration and patience. This is what he said: “Show mercy, so that you may be shown mercy. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you do, so it will be done to you. As you give, so it will be given to you. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you show kindness, so kindness will be shown to you. With the measure you use to measure, you will be measured.” Let us brace ourselves on this command and these instructions, so that we walk in obedience to his holy words, humble-minded. For the holy word says, “Whom will I look on, if not the man who is gentle and quiet and trembles at my sayings?” [ae]

So it is right and holy, men and brothers, for us to become obedient to God rather than to follow people who in arrogance and disorder have made themselves ringleaders of a disgusting jealousy. We will take no ordinary harm — we will run a great risk — if we recklessly hand ourselves over to the will of men who shoot off into strife and factions and would tear us away from what is good. Let us be kind to one another, in keeping with the tenderness and sweetness of the one who made us. For it is written: “The kind will be the ones who live in the land, and the innocent will be left on it; but those who break the law will be wiped off it.” And again it says: “I saw an ungodly man raised sky-high and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon. Then I passed by, and there — he was gone; and I looked hard for his place and could not find it. Guard innocence and keep your eye on what is straight, for there is something left behind for the man of peace.” [ag]

So let us attach ourselves to those who keep the peace with godliness, and not to those who want peace out of hypocrisy. For somewhere it says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.” And again: “They bless with their mouth, but in their heart they were cursing.” And again it says: “They loved him with their mouth and lied to him with their tongue; their heart was not straight with him, and they were not faithful to his covenant.” And so: “Let the deceitful lips be struck dumb — the lips that speak lawlessness against the righteous man.” And again: “May the Lord destroy every deceitful lip, and the boastful tongue of those who said, ‘We will make our tongue great; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’” “Because of the misery of the poor and the groaning of the needy I will rise up now,” says the Lord. “I will set him in safety; I will speak out openly on his behalf.” [ai]