The Doctrine of Envy

Written and compiled by Gary Kukis

These studies are designed for believers in Jesus Christ only. If you have exercised faith in Christ, then you are in the right place. If you have not, then you need to heed the words of our Lord, Who said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten [or, uniquely-born] Son, so that every [one] believing [or, trusting] in Him shall not perish, but shall be have eternal life! For God did not send His Son into the world so that He should judge the world, but so that the world shall be saved through Him. The one believing [or, trusting] in Him is not judged, but the one not believing has already been judged, because he has not believed in the Name of the only-begotten [or, uniquely-born] Son of God." (John 3:16–18). "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life! No one comes to the Father except through [or, by means of] Me!" (John 14:6).

Every study of the Word of God ought to be preceded by a naming of your sins to God. This restores you to fellowship with God (1John 1:8–10). If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9). If there are people around, you would name these sins silently. If there is no one around, then it does not matter if you name them silently or whether you speak aloud.

This doctrine is taken from Proverbs 3 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

Preface:	One of the mental attitude sins often ignored in Christian teaching is envy. This is a sin which is actually encouraged today by those who would move us toward socialism. We are to look to the rich and feel envious, desire their things, and therefore, promote socialism so that we might take these things from them. Such envy is sinful, and there is no good end for those who allow their envy to rule over them unchecked.

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines
The Doctrine of Envy	The Abbreviated Doctrine of Envy	Socialism and Envy

Quotations:

Evander Holyfield: People who make the choice to study, work hard or do whatever they endeavor is to give it the max on themselves to reach to the top level. And you have the people who get envy and jealous, yet are not willing to put that work in, and they want to get the same praise.1

Marilyn Monroe: Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.2

Winston Churchill: Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.3

Harold Coffin quotation from quotesology, accessed July 16, 2015.

Someone else's victory... from apisa.net and
accessed July 16, 2015.

Antisthenes quote is from Quotes Valley, accessed
July 16, 2015.

Theodore Roosevelt: Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.4

Carrie Fisher: Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.5

Shannon L. Alder: Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn't change the heart of others-- it only changes yours.6

Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Envy is the religion of the mediocre. It comforts them, it soothes their worries, and finally it rots their souls, allowing them to justify their meanness and their greed until they believe these to be virtues. Such people are convinced that the doors of heaven will be opened only to poor wretches like themselves who go through life without leaving any trace but their threadbare attempts to belittle others and to exclude - and destroy if possible - those who, by the simple fact of their existence, show up their own poorness of spirit, mind, and guts. Blessed be the one at whom the fools bark, because his soul will never belong to them.7

Benjamin Franklin: To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girlfriends.8

Ambrose Bierce: Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others.9

Charley Reese: It is never wise to seek or wish for another's misfortune. If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang.10

James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. (ESV)

Proverbs 14:30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. (ESV)

Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? (ESV)

The emphasis here is more on personal envy towards that which belongs to others, rather than to jealousy of a wife, husband, girl friend or boy friend. The Hebrew word can be used for both.
Envy is a mental attitude sin which can never be satisfied. There are always those who have a larger house than you do; you will always catch sight of a car nicer and newer than yours (for me, for most of my life, it was pretty much any car on my street ); there is always someone with a better looking wife; better behaving children; a larger television; etc. If you are prone to envy, then you will find those who have more than you and you will resent them for it.
The Doctrine of Envy
1.	The Hebrew verb for envy: qânâ ( ) [pronounced kaw-NAW], which means to be jealous, to be envious. It is found only in the Piel and Hiphil. The verb for jealous is in the Hiphil; therefore it is rendered caused to become jealous, stirred up to jealousy, provoked to jealousy. Strong's #7065 BDB #888.

2.	There is also the feminine noun cognate: qine âh ( ) [pronounced kin-AWH], which means, passion; zeal, jealousy, ardour, envy. Strong's #7068 BDB #888.

3.	The Greek word is phthonos ( ) [pronounced FTHOHN-oss], which means, envy; for envy, i.e. prompted by envy. Thayer definitions only. Strong's #5355.

4.	Envy is a mental attitude sin. Ex. 20:7 Gal. 5:21 1Peter 2:1

5.	Isaac's problem with the Philistines is, many of them envied him because he was so successful. Therefore, they often made life difficult for him. Gen. 26:11–17

6.	Related to Jacob's trouble in his marriages is Rachel's jealousy of her sister Leah, even though Jacob loved Rachel much more (Gen. 30:1–3). Even though you may think, well Jacob had many sons because of this jealousy between sisters; this is God simply taking a bad situation and turning it to good.

7.	There are many narratives in the Bible about people who are envious.

1)	Cain is envious of Abel and his relationship with God, believing God to favor Abel too much. Gen. 4:4–8

2)	Sarai was jealous of Hagar when Hagar gave birth to Abram's son, and these motivated her to commit other sins. Gen. 16:5–6

3)	The Philistines were jealous of Isaac and his blessing (even though they were certainly blessed themselves by being associated with him). Gen. 26:12–35

4)	The sisters Rachel and Leah. Gen. 30:1, 15

5)	Joseph's brothers were jealous of him. Jealousy motivated Joseph's brothers, who eventually trapped him with the intent of selling him into slavery. This was another bad situation which God turned to good. Gen. 37:11, 18–28

6)	Miriam and Aaron were both jealous of Moses, which was their undoing; and why they were not doing what Moses did. Num. 12:1–10

8.	Jealousy motivated those who rebelled against Moses, which envy led to their deaths. Psalm 106:16–18

9.	Envy is anti-God and anti-doctrine. Ex. 20:17 James 4:5

10.	Envy means that you are out of fellowship. 1Cor. 3:3

11.	When you name your sins, you get back into fellowship, and you put sins like envy away. 1Peter 2:1

12.	Pastor-teachers can be envious. Philip. 1:15

13.	Envy is often associated with a number of other mental attitude sins, including hatred, malice, subservience to various lusts, and disobedience. Titus 3:3

14.	Although hard work and being industrious is good, if you are motivated by envy—to keep up with the Jones's, as it were, that is a bad motivation. Eccles. 4:4

15.	Good health is related to having a good mental attitude and not entertaining mental attitude sins like envy. Prov. 14:30

16.	David warns against being envious of those who do wrong. Psalm 37:1

17.	David warns against being envious of those who are violent. Psalm 3:31

18.	Asaph warns against being envious of the arrogant when they might appear to be prosperous. This caused Asaph to stumble in his spiritual life. Psalm 73:3–13

19.	We are warned in Proverbs not to be jealous of those who do evil—they are cursed before God and have no eternal future. Prov. 24:1 –9, 19–20

20.	We are warned not to be jealous of sinners (possibly criminals); and again, this is because they will be cut off from God. Prov. 23:17–18

21.	Being envious of your neighbor is empty and striving after the wind. Eccles. 4:4

22.	Jealousy is used of God as an anthropopathism. Deut. 32:20–22 Psalm 78:58

23.	Jesus was delivered up because of envy. Matt. 27:18 Mark 15:10

24.	Those who have rejected God are filled with envy and other mental attitude sins. Rom. 1:22–31

25.	There will always be rich and there will always be poor. There is no political or economic system which will ever change this. Furthermore, there will always be those who are unjustly poor and those who are unjustly rich. We live in the devil's world.

26.	We do pass reasonable laws to deal with people who steal from others, whether it be a low-level thief or a dishonest stock broker. Such laws should be just, reasonably applied, and they will help the problem, but they will not eliminate inequity in this world. We should never pass laws which are a result of our own envy.

27.	As an aside, envy helps to explain the socialist movement in the United States.

1)	Socialists have a two-pronged approach to sell their ideology:

(1)	Envy towards those who have wealth; and therefore, they are seen as those who are legitimate to plunder.

(2)	False sympathy toward the poor. Whereas few would argue against taking care of the helpless; there is the problem with making it seem as if the rich have somehow plundered the poor, and therefore the poor have a right to the wealth of the rich. Again, this is related to envy. It has nothing to do with social justice (or any other kind of justice); it is related to the seizure of power.

(3)	In reality, those who see socialism as some sort of a cause and are envious of the so-
called 1% will not see their own personal wealth increased if socialism becomes more widespread. It is those who are in power who seize the wealth and seize more power. In socialism, the movement is always toward two classes of people: the political class who rule and control most of the businesses; and the workers, who get to split up whatever is leftover.

(4)	Socialism is all about wanting power; and the ideology of socialism is sold in order to raise up some true believers. Socialists who want power cannot simply seize it; they need those who will help them seize it. So the concept of economic justice is sold; the concept of a fair distribution of wealth is sold—because a revolutionary movement, whether violent or within an existing system of government, must have adherents to help the leaders seize power. They must have true believers, whether they themselves believe in the movement or not.

2)	Our own president, on many occasions, has encouraged people to be envious (I write this in 2015, speaking of President Obama). In every one of his state of the union speeches, and often on his college campus speeches, he calls for more taxation of the wealthy. "They can afford to give just a little bit more." A political leader can always call for the wealthy to give just a little bit more, if those in his periphery are envious of the wealthy.

3)	For the socialist and the liberal, there is often never a tax bracket that is too high. This does not put more money into the hands of the poor; this puts more money and power into the hands of the political class.

4)	If at any time you find yourself thinking, "You know what; those Wall Street types really make too much money and they don't work as hard as my gardener Pedro does. They need to be taxed a little more;" you are either filled with envy or you have simply been brainwashed to think that government is some sort of benevolent institution which collects money from the bad and gives it to the good. However, more taxes is all about money and power; it has nothing to do with Pedro your gardener. If Pedro is not making enough, then you need to pay him more.

28.	In any case, no matter what you do, what political system you impose, no matter what laws you pass, there will always be rich and there will always be poor.

29.	There is a fascinating passage in Philip. 1:15, which I need to study a bit more, that says some proclaim Christ out of envy and rivalry.

30.	1Tim. 6:3–5 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (ESV)

31.	Paul was concerned that some slaves who have believed in Jesus Christ might take advantage of their masters who are brothers in Christ.

32.	Envy is often a part of the unbeliever's life. Titus 3:1–5

33.	The believer needs to set aside sins like envy when moving forward in the Christian life. This moving forward involves taking in more doctrine and rebound (naming one's sins to God). 1Peter 2:1–5
The Pulpit Commentary had a few points on envy, the verses from which are reproduced here. The Pulpit Commentary; 1880-1919; by Joseph S. Exell, Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones, from e-sword, Gen. 26:12.
I did not find this doctrine on any of the Bible sites that I use as reference. I may need to return to this doctrine and do more work on it.
Chapter Outline	Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines

Application: Socialism encourages envy. People desire power and socialism gives rulers absolute power. Socialism in poor countries uses envy and the poverty of people in order to point them in the direction of socialism. However, in the United States, the biggest problem of the poor is, they are obese (unlike the poor anywhere else). So, socialists use pure envy to motivate their people. They point to the 1% who have so much money and so much wealth, and they just really don't need it. Therefore, the government should just come and take it. Those in power want to do that because most of that wealth goes into their own pockets (or into pockets of donors, in a socialist democracy); and as they take wealth from the wealthy, the socialist leaders become more powerful and the wealthy become less powerful. Socialist leaders cannot do this on their own. They must have the jealousy of the people working for them.

Application: Rule of thumb—if the thrust of a political campaign is encouraging mental attitude sins, then you should realize that is a campaign of evil.

This does not mean that there is no place for government in welfare. Some welfare is reasonable for a government to do, and at the local level whenever possible (in a theocracy, the Bible recommends 3.3% in taxes go to the poor. Furthermore, private charities ought to be encouraged by the government, not limited.

Topics	Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines

This is taken from the Doctrine of Envy (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).
The Abbreviated Doctrine of Envy
1.	Envy is a mental attitude sin. Ex. 20:7 Gal. 5:21 1Peter 2:1

2.	Envy is anti-God and anti-doctrine. Ex. 20:17 James 4:5

3.	Those who have rejected God are filled with envy and other mental attitude sins. Rom. 1:22–31

4.	There will always be rich and there will always be poor. There is no political or economic system which will ever change this. Furthermore, there will always be those who are unjustly poor and those who are unjustly rich. We live in the devil's world.

5.	Envy means that you are out of fellowship. 1Cor. 3:3

6.	The believer needs to set aside sins like envy when moving forward in the Christian life. This moving forward involves taking in more doctrine and rebound (naming one's sins to God). 1Peter 2:1–5

7.	Envy is often associated with a number of other mental attitude sins, including hatred, malice, subservience to various lusts, and disobedience. Titus 3:3

8.	Although hard work and being industrious is good, if you are motivated by envy—to keep up with the Jones's, as it were, that is a bad motivation. Eccles. 4:4

9.	Good health is related to having a good mental attitude and not entertaining mental attitude sins like envy. Prov. 14:30

10.	David warns against being envious of those who do wrong and those who are violent. Psalm 3:31 37:1

11.	Asaph warns against being envious of the arrogant when they might appear to be prosperous. This caused Asaph to stumble in his spiritual life. Psalm 73:3–13

12.	We are warned in Proverbs not to be jealous of those who do evil—they are cursed before God and have no eternal future. Prov. 23:17–18 24:1 –9, 19–20

13.	Being envious of your neighbor is empty and striving after the wind. Eccles. 4:4

14.	We do pass reasonable laws to deal with people who steal from others, whether it be a low-level thief or a dishonest stock broker. Such laws should be just, reasonably applied, and they will help the problem, but they will not eliminate inequity in this world. We should never pass laws which are a result of our own envy.

15.	There are many narratives in the Bible about people who are envious.

1)	Cain is envious of Abel and his relationship with God, believing God to favor Abel too much. Gen. 4:4–8

2)	Sarai was jealous of Hagar when Hagar gave birth to Abram's son, and these motivated her to commit other sins. Gen. 16:5–6

3)	Isaac's problem with the Philistines is, many of them envied him because he was so successful. Therefore, they often made life difficult for him, even though they were certainly blessed themselves by being associated with him. Gen. 26:11–35

4)	The sisters Rachel and Leah. Gen. 30:1, 15

5)	Joseph's brothers were jealous of him. Jealousy motivated Joseph's brothers, who eventually trapped him with the intent of selling him into slavery. This was one of the many bad situations which God turned to good. Gen. 37:11, 18–28

6)	Miriam and Aaron were both jealous of Moses, which was their undoing; and why they were not doing what Moses did. Num. 12:1–10

7)	Jealousy motivated those who rebelled against Moses, which envy led to their deaths. Psalm 106:16–18

16.	Jealousy is used of God as an anthropopathism. Deut. 32:20–22 Psalm 78:58

17.	Jesus was delivered up because of envy. Matt. 27:18 Mark 15:10

18.	1Tim. 6:3–5 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (ESV)
Envy is often a part of the unbeliever's life (Titus 3:1–5). This leads us to the following doctrine:
Chapter Outline	Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines

This is taken from the Doctrine of Envy (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).
Socialism and Envy
1.	As an aside, envy helps to explain the socialist movement in the United States.

2.	Socialists have a two-pronged approach to sell their ideology:

1)	Envy towards those who have wealth; and therefore, they are seen as those who are legitimate to plunder.

2)	False sympathy toward the poor. Whereas few would argue against taking care of the helpless; there is the problem with making it seem as if the rich have somehow plundered the poor, and therefore the poor have a right to the wealth of the rich. Again, this is related to envy. It has nothing to do with social justice (or any other kind of justice); it is related to the seizure of power.

3)	In reality, those who see socialism as some sort of a cause and are envious of the so-called 1% will not see their own personal wealth increased if socialism becomes more widespread. It is those who are in power who seize the wealth and seize more power. In socialism, the movement is always toward two classes of people: the political class who rule and control most of the businesses; and the workers, who get to split up whatever is leftover.

4)	Socialism is all about wanting power; and the ideology of socialism is sold in order to raise up some true believers. Socialists who want power cannot simply seize it; they need those who will help them seize it. So the concept of economic justice is sold; the concept of a fair distribution of wealth is sold—because a revolutionary movement, whether violent or within an existing system of government, must have adherents to help the leaders seize power. They must have true believers, whether they themselves believe in the movement or not.

3.	Our own president, on many occasions, has encouraged people to be envious (I write this in 2015, speaking of President Obama). In every one of his state of the union speeches, and often on his college campus speeches, he calls for more taxation of the wealthy. "They can afford to give just a little bit more." A political leader can always call for the wealthy to give just a little bit more, if those in his periphery are envious of the wealthy.

4.	For the socialist and the liberal, there is often never a tax bracket that is too high. This does not put more money into the hands of the poor; this puts more money and power into the hands of the political class.

5.	If at any time you find yourself thinking, "You know what; those Wall Street types really make too much money and they don't work as hard as my gardener Pedro does. They need to be taxed a little more;" you are either filled with envy or you have simply been brainwashed to think that government is some sort of benevolent institution which collects money from the bad and gives it to the good. However, more taxes is all about money and power; it has nothing to do with Pedro your gardener. If Pedro is not making enough, then you need to pay him more.

6.	No matter what you do, what political system you impose, no matter what laws you pass, there will always be rich and there will always be poor.
Application: Socialism encourages envy. People desire power and socialism gives rulers absolute power. Socialism in poor countries uses envy and the poverty of people in order to point them in the direction of socialism. However, in the United States, the biggest problem of the poor is, they are obese (unlike the poor anywhere else). So, socialists use pure envy to motivate their people. They point to the 1% who have so much money and so much wealth, and they just really don't need it. Therefore, the government should just come and take it. Those in power want to do that because most of that wealth goes into their own pockets (or into pockets of donors, in a socialist democracy); and as they take wealth from the wealthy, the socialist leaders become more powerful and the wealthy become less powerful. Socialist leaders cannot do this on their own. They must have the jealousy of the people working for them.
Application: Rule of thumb—if the thrust of a political campaign is encouraging mental attitude sins (like envy of the rich), then you should realize that is a campaign of evil—no matter how attractive the candidates may seem.
This does not mean that there is no place for government in welfare. Some welfare is reasonable for a government to do, and at the local level whenever possible (in a theocracy, the Bible recommends 3.3% in taxes go to the poor. Furthermore, private charities ought to be encouraged by the government, not limited.

Top of Page	Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines
Kukis Homepage	Doctrines