Envy

A sensation of uneasiness and disquiet, arising from the advantages which others are supposed to possess above us, accompanied with malignity towards those who possess them. "This, " says a good writer, "is universally admitted to be one of the blackest passions in the human heart. No one, indeed, is to be condemned for defending his rights, and showing displeasure against a malicious enemy; but to conceive ill will at one who has attacked none of our rights, nor done us any injury, solely because he is more prosperous than we are, is a disposition altogether unnatural. Hence the character of an envious man is universally odious. All disclaim it; and they who feel themselves under the influence of this passion, carefully conceal it. The chief grounds of envy may be reduced to three: accomplishments of mind; advantages of birth, rank, and fortune; and superior success in worldly pursuits. To subdue this odious disposition, let us consider its sinful and criminal nature; the mischiefs it occasions to the world; the unhappiness it produces to him who possesses it; the evil causes that nourish it, such as pride and indolence: let us, moreover, bring often into view those religious considerations which regard us as Christians: how unworthy we are in the sight of God, how much the blessings we enjoy are above what we deserve. Let us learn reverence and submission to that divine government which has appointed to every one such a condition as is fittest for him to possess; let us consider how opposite the Christian spirit is to envy; above all, let us offer up our prayers to the Almighty, that he would purify our hearts from a passion which is so base and so criminal."

Not Envying

Rom_13:13; Gal_5:26; 1Pe_2:1.

The Place Where Envy Exists

Jam_3:13-16.

What Envy Does

Job_5:1-2; Pro_14:30.

What Lusts To Envy

Jam_4:5.

Who Has Envy Among Them

1Co_3:3.

Who Not To Envy

Psa_37:1-2; Pro_3:31; Pro_23:17; Pro_24:1-2; Pro_24:19.

ENVY—.The word φθόνος occurs in the Gospels only in the two parallel passages Mat 27:18 and Mar 15:10 in connexion with the trial of Jesus. When the members of the Jewish hierarchy sought the death of Jesus at the hands of Pilate, they attempted to veil their motives under the pretence of loyalty to Caesar. Pilate was too astute a man to credit these professions for a single instant. He perceived (ἐγίνωσκε, Mar 15:10) the underlying feeling to be envy. If the word ἤδει (‘he knew,’ Mat 27:18) is significant, it supports the opinion that Pilate had previously become acquainted with the attitude of the chief priests toward Jesus. The message that Pilate later received from his wife (Mat 27:19) somewhat favours this opinion. In fact it was the business of Pilate to know of the person of Jesus and His relations to the leaders of the Jews, and nothing but the contemptuous indifference of a Gallio would have hindered him from the inquiries necessary for gaining this knowledge.

Perhaps it might seem at first as though the feeling which prompted the priests might more properly be termed jealousy. A comparison of the two feelings, jealousy and envy, readily shows the distinctive character of each: ‘Jealousy is the malign feeling which is often had toward a rival, or possible rival, for the possession of that which we greatly desire, as in love or ambition. Envy is a similar feeling toward one, whether rival or not, who already possesses that which we greatly desire. Jealousy is enmity prompted by fear; envy is enmity prompted by covetousness’ (Century Dictionary, s.v. ‘Envy’). ‘Envy is only a malignant, selfish hunger, casting its evil eye on the elevation or supposed happiness of others’ (Bushnell, ib.). In Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, xxvi., the comparison is less happily stated. Apparently jealousy (ζῆλος) ‘may assume two shapes; either that of a desire to make war upon the good which it beholds in another, and thus to trouble that good, and make it less; or, where it has not vigour and energy enough to attempt the making of it less, there may be at least the wishing of it less. And here is the point of contact which ζῆλος has with φθονος: thus Plato, Menex. 242 A, τρῶτον μὲν ζῆλος, ἁτὸ ζήλου δὲ φθονος: the latter being essentially passive, the former is active and energetic’. This citation from Plato shows that there may be a genetic relation between jealousy and envy, but it does not show that envy is passive. Trench quotes from Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 11, omitting ὁ δἑ τὸν πλησιον [παρασκενάζει] μὴ ἑχειν διὰ τον φθόνον [τἁ ἁγεθα]: ‘One that is moved by envy contrives that his neighbour shall not have the good that he has or seems to have.’ A careful examination of the use of φθονος in classic Greek authors justifies this statement of Aristotle, and reveals that it means the same active malignant feeling as is expressed in modern English by the word ‘envy.’ It was φθονος which moved the gods to prevent men from attaining a great or uninterrupted experience of prosperity. Pindar, the tragic writers, and orators also are found using the word to designate the active impulse to destroy another’s prosperity so far as one has the power to do it.

The Septuagint, according to Hatch’s Concordance, uses φθόνος only in the Apocryphal books. The most noteworthy instance is in Wis 2:24 ‘on account of the envy of the devil, death entered into the world.’

Since envy is an ill-will or malice aroused by the success or good gifts of another, it is the fitting word to designate the motive of the priests who protested their loyalty to Caesar. Envy is not a primary emotion. Other feelings prepare the way for, and may enter into, it. It is the result of a development in the life of selfishness (Jul. Müller, Lehre von der Sünde, i. 233 f. [English translation Christian Doctrine of Sin, i. 171]). In the Gospels this development is not difficult to trace. The deeds and words of Jesus were from the outset attended by suspicion on the part of scribes and Pharisees. His growing popularity aroused their jealousy. When they could charge Him with a compact with Beelzebub (Mat 12:22 ff., Mar 3:20 ff., Luk 11:14 ff.), they had begun to hate Him because of the popular confidence in Him, and especially because this confidence was of a degree and a quality which they never had received, and which they could not hope to receive. This occurrence was an attempt to discredit Him with the people, and it showed that envy had obtained full lodgment in their hearts. From that time onwards it had so large a share in their lives, that when they appeared before Pilate they were so mastered by this feeling to which they had given free rein for months, that they were unable to conceal it. See also artt. Covetousness and Jealousy.

F. B. Denio.

ENVY.—Envy leads to strife, and division, and railing, and hatred, and sometimes to murder. The Bible classes it with these things (Rom 1:29; Rom 13:13, 1Co 3:3, 2Co 12:20, Gal 5:21, 1Ti 6:4, Tit 3:3, Jas 3:14; Jas 3:16). It is the antipode of Christian love. Envy loveth not, and love envieth not (1Co 13:4). Bacon closes his essay on ‘Envy’ with this sentence: ‘Envy is the vilest affection and the most depraved; for which cause it is the proper attribute of the Devil, who is called, The envious man, that soweth tares amongst the wheat by night; as it always cometh to pass, that Envy worketh subtilly and in the dark, and to the prejudice of good things, such as is the wheat.’ Chrysostom said: ‘As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man, to be a living anatomy, a skeleton, to be a lean and pale carcass, quickened with a fiend.’ These are Scriptural estimates. Envy is devilish, and absolutely inconsistent with the highest life. Examples abound in the Bible, such as are suggested by the relations between Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, Joseph and his brothers, Saul and David, Haman and Mordecai, the elder brother and the prodigal son, the Roman evangelists of Php 1:15 and the Apostle Paul, and many others.

D. A. Hayes.

Sadness on account of another’s good, inasmuch as the latter is, or at least is regarded as, lessening one’s own excellence; one of the seven deadly vices.

en´vi (קנאה, kīn’āh; ζῆλος, zḗlos, φθόνος, phthónos): “Envy,” from Latin in, “against,” and video, “to look,” “to look with ill-will,” etc., toward another, is an evil strongly condemned in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is to be distinguished from jealousy. “We are jealous of our own; we are envious of another man’s possessions. Jealousy fears to lose what it has; envy is pained at seeing another have” (Crabb’s English Synonyms). In the Old Testament it is the translation of ḳin’āh from kānā’, “to redden,” “to glow” (Job 5:2, the Revised Version (British and American) “jealousy,” margin “indignation”; in Isa 26:11 the Revised Version (British and American) renders “see thy zeal for the people”; Pro 27:4, etc.); the verb occurs in Gen 26:14, etc.; Num 11:29 the King James Version; Psa 106:16; Pro 3:31, etc.; in the New Testament it is the translation of phthonos, “envy” (Mat 27:18; Rom 1:29; Gal 5:21, “envyings,” etc.); of zēlos, “zeal,” “jealousy,” “envy” (Act 13:45), translated “envying,” the Revised Version (British and American) “jealousy” (Rom 13:13; 1Co 3:3; 2Co 12:20; Jas 3:14, Jas 3:16); the verb phthonéō occurs in Gal 5:26; zēlóō in Act 7:9; Act 17:5, the Revised Version (British and American) “moved with jealousy”; 1Co 13:4, “charity (the Revised Version (British and American) “love”) envieth not.”

The power of envy is stated in Pro 27:4: “Who is able to stand before envy?” (the Revised Version (British and American) “jealousy”); its evil effects are depicted in Job 5:2 (the Revised Version (British and American) “jealousy”), in Pro 14:30 (the Revised Version, margin “jealousy”); it led to the crucifixion of Christ (Mat 27:18; Mar 15:10); it is one of “the works of the flesh” (Gal 5:21; compare Rom 1:29; 1Ti 6:4); Christian believers are earnestly warned against it (Rom 13:13 the King James Version; 1Co 3:3 the King James Version; Gal 5:26; 1Pe 2:1). In Jas 4:5 “envy” is used in a good sense, akin to the jealousy ascribed to God. Where the King James Version has “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy,” the Revised Version (British and American) reads “Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?”; the American Revised Version, margin “The spirit which he made to dwell in us he yearneth for even unto jealous envy”; compare Jer 3:14; Hos 2:19 f; or the English Revised Version, margin “That spirit which he made to dwell in us yearneth (for us) even unto jealous envy.” This last seems to give the sense; compare “Ye adulteresses” (Hos 2:4), the American Revised Version, margin “That is, who break your marriage vow to God.”

Envy is the feeling of mortification or ill-will occasioned by the contemplation of the superior advantages of others.

‘Base envy withers at another’s joy,

And hates that excellence it cannot reach’

(Thomson, Seasons, ‘Spring,’ 283).

In the NT the word is used to translate two Gr. terms, öèüíïò and æῆëïò, the former of which is invariably (with the possible exception of Jam_4:5) taken in malam partem, while the latter is frequently used in a good sense.

(1) Those who are given up to a reprobate mind are ‘full of envy’ (ìåóôïὺò öèüíïõ Rom_1:29), and the character of the word is strikingly indicated by the company it keeps, öèüíïò and öüíïò (‘murder’) going together. Among the works of the flesh are ‘envyings’ (Gal_5:21), such as are occasioned by quarrels about words (1Ti_6:4). Christians can recall the time when they were ‘living in malice and envy’ (Tit_3:3); and even now they need the injunction to ‘put away all envies’ (1Pe_2:1); it ill becomes them to be seen ‘provoking one another, envying one another’ (Gal_5:26). In Rome St. Paul found, with mingled feelings, some men actually preaching Christ from envy, moved to evangelical activity by the strange and sinister inspiration of uneasiness and displeasure at his own success as an apostle (Php_1:15) (see Faction). If the Revised Version of Jam_4:5 is correct, öèïíÝù has its usual evil sense, and this difficult passage means, ‘Do you think that God will implant in us a spirit of envy, the parent of strife and hate?’ But it may be better to translate, either, ‘For even unto jealous envy (‘bis zur Eifersucht’ [von Soden]) he longeth for the spirit which he made to dwell in us,’ or ‘That spirit which he made to dwell in us yearneth for us even unto jealous envy.’ If either of the last two renderings is right, öèüíïò is for once ascribed to God, or to a spirit which proceeds from Him, and the word has no appreciable difference of meaning from the æῆëïò (‘jealousy’) which is so often attributed to Him in the OT (èåὸò æçëùôÞò, Exo_20:5, etc.). He longs for the devotion of His people with an intensity which is often present in, as well as with a purity which is mostly absent from, our human envy. Very different from this passion of holy desire was the öèüíïò of the pagan gods (ôὸ èåῖïí ðᾶí ἐóôé öèïíåñüí, says Solon, Herod. i. 32; cf. iii. 40)-that begrudging of uninterrupted human happiness which Crœsus and Polycrates had so much reason to fear.

(2) In the Revised Version of Act_7:9; Act_13:45; Act_17:5, Rom_13:13, 1Co_3:3, Jam_3:14; Jam_3:16 ‘jealousy’ is substituted for Authorized Version ‘envy,’ in Act_5:17 for ‘indignation,’ and in 2Co_12:20 for ‘emulation.’ In all these instances the word is æῆëïò (vb. æçëüù), used in a bad sense, though in many other cases it has a good meaning and is translated ‘zeal’ (Rom_10:2, 2Co_7:7; 2Co_7:11; 2Co_9:2, Php_3:6). In 2Co_11:2 æÞëῳ èåïῦ means a zeal or jealousy like that which is an attribute of God, most pure in its quality, and making its possessor intensely solicitous for the salvation of men.

In 2Co_9:2 the Revised Version margin suggests ‘emulation of you’ as the translation of ὁ ὑìῶí æῆëïò., William Law, who calls envy ‘the most ungenerous, base, and wicked passion that can enter the heart of man’ (A. Whyte, Characters and Characteristics of William Law4, 1907, p. 77), denies that any real distinction can be drawn between envy and emulation.

‘If this were to be attempted, the fineness of the distinction would show that it is easier to divide them in words than to separate them in action. For emulation, when it is defined in its best manner, is nothing else but a refinement upon envy, or rather the most plausible part of that black and poisonous passion. And though it is easy to separate them in the notion, yet the most acute philosopher, that understands the art of distinguishing ever so well, if he gives himself up to emulation, will certainly find himself deep in envy.’

If this were the case, there would be an end of all generous rivalry and fair competition. But it is contrary to the natural feeling of mankind. Plato says, ‘Let every man contend in the race without envy’ (Jowett2, 1875, v. 75), and St. Paul frequently stimulates his readers with the language of the arena. The distinction between öèüíïò and æῆëïò (in the good sense) is broad and deep. The one is a moral disease-‘rottenness in the bones’ (Pro_14:30), ‘aegritudo suscepta propter alterius res secundas’ (Cicero, Tusc. iv. 8); the other is the health and vigour of a spirit that covets earnestly the best gifts. Nothing but good can come of the strenuous endeavour to equal and even excel the virtues, graces, and high achievements of another. Ben Jonson has the line, ‘This faire aemulation, and no envy is,’ and Dryden ‘a noble emulation heats your breast.’ æῆëïò (from æÝù, ‘boil’) is, in fact, like its Hebrew equivalent ÷ִðְàָä (‘heat,’ ‘ardour’), an ethically neutral energy, which may become either good or bad, according to the quality of the objects to which it is directed and the spirit in which they are pursued. It instigated the patriarchs (æçëþóáíôåò, Act_7:9) to sell their brother into Egypt, and the Judaizers (æçëïῦóéí, Gal_4:17) to seek the perversion of St. Paul’s spiritual children. Love (ἀãÜðç) has no affinity with this base passion (ïὐ æçëïῖ, 1Co_13:4). Love generates a rarer, purer zeal of its own, and ‘it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times’ (êáëὸí äὲ æçëïῦóèáé ἐí êáëῷ ðÜíôïôå, Gal_4:18).

James Strahan.

See JEALOUSY.