The Hottest Jealousy - Part 10

It is sentences like this that make reading John Calvin so worthwhile, and, yes, it is one sentence:

"Therefore, as the purer and chaster the husband is, the more grievously he is offended when he sees his wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who hath betrothes us to himself in truth, declares that he burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of his holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts, and sespecially when the worship of his Deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition; since, in this way, we not only violate our plighted troth, but defile the nuptial couch, by giving access to adulterers." The Institutes of Christian Religion, 331.

Evangelicalism loves to attribute the great love of God for His people and the great love people should have for their God; often, especially in more Charismatic and Revivalistic circles, this language is couched in romance and the language of lovers. This is not unbiblical, but it can be reductionistic. God's romance toward His Bride, the church, is to be known and experienced, but the flip-side is, that God is a jealous lover. His love is not the petty love of a boyfriend just showering his girlfriend with nice compliements and constant cuddling, but the faithful love of a husband jealous for the affection of his wife who is often prone toward adultery.

God's love for His Bride should be known and experienced, and sure, say so in romantic terms, but don't take the jealousy out of the romance and strip the holiness from God. In all honesty it starts sounding a bit weird, too much like a pubescent boyfriend and unlike the faithful Husband pictured in radically holy terms in the book of Revelation, whose name is Lamb and Lion, Alpha and Omega.