1 Corinthians 13:4 NASBS
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
The Bible addresses two distinct forms of the emotion known as jealousy. There is human jealousy, and then there is the godly jealousy.
When it declares that love is not jealous, 1 Corinthians 13:4 is referring to human jealousy as the object of its criticism. The emotion known as human jealousy is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as “a feeling of unhappiness and anger because someone has something or someone that you want:”
Let us try to grasp biblically what godly jealousy is in order to comprehend what Paul means when he says that love is not jealous. Paul is saying something quite powerful in 2 Corinthians 11:2 NASB
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
And here is what he means: In ancient times the father of the bride was the one giving His daughter to be betrothed (a commitment to wait until marriage in sexual purity and commitment of heart). The father was the one taking care of the daughter and anxious that everything would go as planned until her wedding day. He would care for all of his daughter’s needs.
Paul here is saying that he had fathered the church and was fully caring for them. He was taking care that they were pure as a bride was expected to be to her husband. That he was providing the church with all knowledge and wisdom so that they would be protected from false teachers and doctrines.
He named this responsibility that he took upon himself to care, provide, prepare, and protect “Godly jealousy,” which is distinct from the jealousy that is found in the world.
When we compare human jealousy to the feeling Paul had toward the church in Corinth, we see that the godly jealousy in Paul’s heart was exactly the opposite feeling to human jealousy. Godly jealousy refers to giving and caring, and the world’s jealousy to taking and controlling.
This is exactly why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:4 AMP that – (love) and is not jealous or envious. Love isn’t based on having but giving; not in possessing but protecting, not in taking but providing;
Worldly jealousy comes from an innate desire to be in charge of others and take their things. This type of jealousy comes from a selfish place. Godly jealousy is a worry for someone’s well-being, a desire to bless them, to care for them and that they would walk in the right path.
Remember: to love is to give, to provide, to protect and to care. To love is not to seek, but to give; to own, but to guard; to take, but to provide. The foundation of love is not acquisition but sacrifice; not possession but protection; not appropriation but assistance. Love is not jealous of envious.
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