The words “jealous” and “jealousy” are used to talk about a very strong emotion. A person who is jealous may have a strong desire to protect what they have or to protect something. For example, a man may become jealous if his wife commits adultery with another man (see: Numbers 5:29-30).
A person who is jealous may have a strong desire to have what someone else has. They may be angry because something good happened to someone else instead of to them (see: Genesis 37:11; Acts 5:17). This kind of jealousy is similar to greed or envy. This kind of jealousy is a sin and can cause people to fight with one another (see: Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:19-21).
The Bible describes God as a “jealous God” (see: Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; 32:16). That is, God does not want his people worshiping false gods. God wants his people to worship only him. The kind of jealousy that God has is not a sin.
God also wants to make the Jews jealous by blessing the Gentiles (see: Romans 10:19; 11:11; Romans 11:14). That is, if the Jews become jealous because the Gentiles are being blessed, then the Jews may repent so that God will bless them too.
Paul said he had a “godly jealousy” for the Christians in Corinth (see: 2 Corinthians 11:2). That is, he wanted to protect the Christians from false teachers.
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