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Sunday, February 28, 2010

God's jealousy, in the New Testament

James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (ESV)

When verse 5 recently struck me, I guess for the first time (although I have read it several times in the past) it struck hard. The Holy Spirit (which is apparently the spirit referred to) is jealous? I checked some other versions of the Bible:

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? (KJV)

5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
Text note: Or that God jealously longs for the spirit that he made to live in us; or that the Spirit he caused to live in us longs jealously (NIV)

The answer seems to be that the Spirit can be jealous, indeed.


Thanks for reading.

2 comments:

i am Grateful... Kerry i am. said...

What a powerful thought.

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks, Kerry.

I thought that I had acknowledged your comment within a few hours of its posting, but either I didn't, or the response got lost in cyberspace somewhere.

Thanks again.