The Messenger, September 1, 2011
The Jealous God

By REV. BILLY L. MCGARITY
Special to The Messenger
“The jealous God — doesn’t it sound offensive?”
Thus Dr. Packer opens chapter 17 of his classic work, “Knowing God.” Offensive? Oprah Winfrey thought so. In one of her past broadcasts she told the story of how she was sitting in church one Sunday morning, hearing the minister proclaim God as omniscient and omnipotent. Then she heard him say, “The Lord thy God is a jealous God!”
Oprah responded in this way: “And you know I was caught up in the rapture of that moment — until he said jealous — and something struck me. I think I was about 27 or 28. I am thinking, ‘God is all, God is omnipresent, and God is also jealous? God is jealous of me?’ And something about that did not feel right to me in my spirit, because I believe that God is love and that God is in all things. And so that is when the search for something more than doctrine started to stir within me.”
Before we stand in judgment of Oprah, let us make a concession: Christian person, do we not also have the tendency to construct a god according to our feelings, rather than accepting God as He has revealed himself in His inerrant and infallible Word?
In order to gain understanding concerning the topic of God’s jealousy, let us consider two opposing statements. First, it is not all about us. Second, it is all about us.
First, it is not all about us. Notice Oprah’s question, “God is jealous of me?” This is just like we human beings, to think that God would be jealous of us and fail to consider that God may be jealous for His own glory. Consider the prophet Ezekiel’s words to Israel, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came” (36:22). God will not allow His name, that is, His holy nature as revealed by His attributes, to be profaned. God is jealous for His own being and glory.
Second, it is all about us. Confusing? Oprah’s misunderstanding lies in her distortion of the minister’s biblical statement. The minister was not lowering God to the place of being jealous of an individual, but rather, jealous for an individual or group of particular people. If the former were true, Oprah is quite correct in her thinking: a god that would be jealous of a human being would be no god at all.
However, a God that could desire and love people enough to be jealous for them tells us something quite remarkable and wonderful concerning the Creator of this universe. We might be able to understand this on a human-relation level. A husband that is jealous of his wife is detestable; however, a husband that is jealous for his wife is very commendable.
Misunderstandings such as Oprah’s may be clarified in the various ways “jealous” is defined. The first two aspects of the definition incorporate envy and suspicion; the second two, overseeing and loyalty. God has referred to Himself in Scripture as jealous in relation to His holiness, loving oversight and loyalty to His people, but never envious or suspicious of them.
Although God is jealous in relation to His inherent glory and holiness, understanding God as jealous cannot be separated from His relationship to His covenant people. The church is God’s creation. Through loving redemptive actions, stretching back into eternity, the Trinity entered into a Covenant of Redemption, prior to the fall, whereby God would actively redeem a people, His beloved possession. The Father planned redemption, the Son accomplished redemption, and the Holy Spirit applies redemption.
“For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). God’s jealousy for His name and His people sent Jesus to die on the cross. The reality of God’s jealousy should move a Christian to loyal commitment and praise. Unlike Oprah, the Christian responds to such glorious truth with doxology.
Soli Deo Gloria!
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Editor’s note: The Rev. Billy L. McGarity serves as pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) on the square in Troy.