Envy Vs. Jealousy

[cmaD2006]

What is the difference between envy and jealousy? I've tried looking on the web for a clear and definite answer but it is mostly mud.

If you can put some supporting information (catechism, Bible passages, other sources) that would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance.

[Myles Domini]

[quote name='cmariadiaz' post='1422597' date='Nov 20 2007, 02:42 AM']What is the difference between envy and jealousy? I've tried looking on the web for a clear and definite answer but it is mostly mud.

If you can put some supporting information (catechism, Bible passages, other sources) that would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance.[/quote]

I am assuming that you're writing this because Sacred Scripture uses the word 'jealous' of God (is that correct?) if that is the case I'd like to draw your attention to this quote:

[quote]If the Old Testament was to be understood in its "true", "absolute" meaning, it was imperative that the time should be accomplished and that Christ should come. For he alone could "break the mysterious silence, provide the clue to the riddles of the prophets"; he alone could open the book sealed with seven seals. He alone, the one cornerstone, could join the two arms of the arch of history, as he was, too, the junction if the two peoples. For a Christian to understand the Bible means to understand it in the light of the Gospel. "No one can understand the Old Testament without the teaching of the New, since the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament is nothing else than the New."[b]--Henri de Lubac, Catholicism, pp 177-178[/b][/quote]

This does not mean that we should ignore the Old Testament, of course. However, what we have to understand is that God finds man in history and like a seriously injured crash victim God needed to get man through his rehabilitation before He could present Him with the fullness of truth which He did when the Word became flesh. Before men were ready for spiritual meat they had to take spiritual milk and thus God accomodated to their weaknesses even then however men often misinterpreted God's intentions e.g. compare and contrast the reality of the Messiah to the percieved notions of Messiah current in the world when Christ came into it. Many things only become apparent to us in the light of Christ and that counts for God's nature too.

For instance there are passages in the Old Testament that may imply mutability on God's part which are countered/corrected by New Testament verses that state that God is the same today and always. A lot, particularly about God's nature, is only understandable when we see that nature in action in the world in the life and deeds of Our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you read parts of the Old Testament that describe God in a way that seems alien do not fear. God had to work with what He had and it was only when His children grew older that they could understand that God punishes not for His own sake but for ours because He loves us as His legitimate children as we read in Hebrews.

Furthermore when we speak about God all of our language is in some way deficient since it cannot ever accurately describe God as St Thomas Aquinas explains [url="http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1013.htm"]here[/url] but can at best convey an analogous predication based upon the fact that all the goods of the world were created by God and thus convey something about Him e.g. God is good cos He created goodness but not in the way we know goodness since the created goods we know are simply imperfect reflections of God's nature when defracted over creation by the creative act itself similarly to how white light is placed over a prism. What in God exists undifferentiated as God's very [i]Being[/i] is by creation split into lots of seperate things which manifest different elements of God's act of being imperfectly in a manner which can only ever hint at what God really is. Hence when we use any term of God try to keep in mind that we're just trying to use the familiar to capture what it is God is really like. In the case of jealousy I'd think metaphor was being used.

Envy and Jealousy are indeed different. As [url="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/envy/#1.2"]this[/url] extract from the Standford Encylopedia of Philosophy explains. In jealousy the real locus of concern is the beloved whilst in envy this is not so. So when God is described as jealous its not because He does not like the idea of human beings worshipping idols because it in some way will detract from His glory but because He desires that all humanity be His. God loves men and isn't willing to share, hence the mention of God being jealous occurs in conjunction with God's prohibition of idolatry.

[quote]For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name;
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.[b]--Isiah 54:5[/b][/quote]

God gives Himself to man as part of a covenant relationship. Its not an exchange of goods but an exchange of persons (cf 'Swear to God' by Scott Hahn, for example). God's love is like the love of a man for his wife indeed the love of a man for his wife should be modelled upon that love which God manifested for humanity in Christ Jesus as we read in Ephesians 5. The Church is the bride of Christ taken from his pierced side as Eve was taken from the rib of Adam (cf CCCC 158) and He loves her accordingly. For God worshipping idols as is prohibited by the first commandment is like sleeping around and so describing God as jealous probably captures best in human tongue how God would respond to such a thing. Indeed, St Paul the same St Paul who writes love is not jealous in 1 Cor 13 writes in 2 Cor 11:

[quote]I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. [b]--2 Cor 11;2-3[/b][/quote]

We must forgive St Paul because he was not a scholastic who could carefully distinguished between envy and jealousy in his letters like a theologian would in a treatise. However, the point is made clear. When St Paul talks about a 'divine jealousy' what is meant by this is explicated by the use of marital imagery. 'Jealousy' when it is applied to God is an attempt to use human imagery and tap into the human understanding of how hurtful betrayal in a marriage can be to illustrate the Divine displeasure at the violation of His covenant with His Church. God is not jealous per se but His response to idol worship in any forms, which is the religious equivalent of adultery, is something analgous to the feelings of a man who knows his wife is cheating on Him.

I hope that helped some?