Love Does Not Envy or Boast

Envy and boasting are almost as American as October baseball. In a world built around white-picket-fence dreams, envy, that simmering resentment for another’s success, and bragging about our achievements fill our neighborhoods more densely than charcoal smoke on the Fourth of July.

We are so very quick to see another’s success and want it for ourselves. But that’s nothing new. Almost two thousand years ago, Paul addressed something similar in a factious, competitive, self-promoting congregation. This pursuit of status shouldn’t exist in the church of the God who is Love.

Because God, like love, does not envy nor boast.

Love does not envy

The basic meaning of the word commonly translated as “envy,” in 1 Cor 13:4 is something like “desire.” James tells us bluntly that such envy is what causes quarrels and fights between believers.

“You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.” (James 4:2, ESV)

At the same time, Stephen finds such jealous-desire in the assault and enslavement of Joseph (Acts 7:9, Genesis 37:11), and Luke identifies the homicidal intent of the Jews with such envy (Acts 17:5).

But sometimes this desire is portrayed favorably — even by Paul in this very epistle (1 Cor 12:31, 14:1, 14:39). The Apostles saw such zeal for God’s glory in the eyes of their Master (John 2:17).

How, then, can we tell the difference? What is Paul denouncing as loveless in this passage?

In James and Acts, this loveless zeal is marked by anger (even murder!) and lashing out at another. And, if we look closely, we can see the sort of selfish-ambition that wanted to be first in the Corinthian church too. They craved worldly recognition of their wisdom and put each other down by exalting themselves as followers of Christ, Apollos, Cephas, or Paul (1 Cor 1:11-12). In other words, you and I can tell when our desire is not Christlike, but envious, when it results in boasting.

Love does not boast

Paul lands a heavy blow on the Corinthians here. He’s already rebuked them for boasting in men (1 Cor 3:21), being puffed up in their divisive side-taking (1 Cor 4:7), and their libertine handling of sin (1 Cor 5:6). He sums it all up as loveless and unchristlike behavior. It simply does not befit a Christian congregation to preach and proclaim their own praises rather than simply Christ and Him crucified! They’ve become obsessed with telling each other how Pauline they are or how much like Apollos their preaching has become.

We do the same when we downplay the contributions of a brother or sister in Christ to exalt our own contributions to the cause of Christ. Have you ever heard something like that? “Well, let them spend time in their bible studies, I’m going to be concerned with reaching the lost.” Spend a little time swapping out “bible studies” and “reaching the lost” with other ministry endeavors, and, like me, you may find yourself looking in the mirror.

Putting them together

In both cases, the fundamental flaw is self-centeredness and an inability to see beyond our own interests (Philippians 2:3-4). It’s ironic, isn’t it, how recovering sinners like us can take even something as others-focused as the gospel and ministry and turn it into a self-exalting competition to see who’s the best?

The best antidote is humility. Picture yourself as a toenail in the body of Christ rather than a right hand or a major organ. Let the narrative in your mind be like Paul’s, who said, “I am the very least of all the apostles,” and “I am the foremost of sinners.” And, lastly, remember the words of our Lord,

“And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, ‘If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.’” (Mark 9:35, ESV)