Hot Enough to Boil

In 2 Corinthians 11, our chapter for today, Paul expresses a sentiment that we may not think is noble: jealousy. But he calls it “a divine jealousy.” Does hanging a spiritual disclaimer on it make it OK? We often do that with things, don’t we? “The Lord told me this…” or “The Holy Spirit prompted me to do that…” I’m afraid God gets blamed for things that are really our own doing. But there is such a thing as divine jealousy. God describes himself as jealous in the Old Testament. In the Ten Commandments, he instructed the people, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image… You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God” (Exodus 20.4-5). So possessive is God toward his people, that he gave himself the name “Jealous” in Exodus 34.14.

So perhaps Paul was using the phrase “divine jealousy” legitimately. But what did he mean when he said he was jealous? According to Webster, it meant he was “intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness; hostile toward a rival; or vigilant in guarding a possession.” Biblical jealousy is having a passion in “embracing, pursuing, or defending anything.” The root of the Greek word means literally “hot enough to boil.”

Do I feel hot enough to boil about anything? Am I passionate about the things Christ is passionate about? Do I care for the souls of the lost as Christ does? Do I have a zeal for reclaiming the lost for him? And what about in the church? When a brother or sister goes astray, am I angry or am I heartbroken? Do I find it comforting or disquieting that God is hot enough to boil over me?

Divine jealousy. Do you feel it?