"But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy."
Jealousy is a terrible sin and one that is destructive to the house of God ... the Body of Christ. The Sadducees were watching the church grow and were filled with a desire to have the same thing for themselves. They didn't want was best for those being saved (rescued from hell!), or for Christ. They wanted the power and the leadership of the masses. Note what God's Word has to say about jealousy:
Romans 13:13
Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
1 Corinthians 3:3
for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
Galatians 5:20
(Listing out the works of the flesh): idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
James 3:14
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
God hates Jealousy. When Aaron and Miriam were jealous of Moses' leadership, God struck Miriam with leprosy. When the Korah tried to usurp Moses' leadership God caused the earth to open up and swallow them alive. Jealousy (envy) deteriorates the Body of Christ like a cancer. The leaders of the day had already put Jesus to death as a result of their jealousy of His influence over the people. The same is not true of how they were jealous of Peter and the disciples and doing the same thing. Notice in the Galatians passage above the jealousy is in the same category as sorcery, idolatry and outbursts of anger. Those three sins are more outward in their manifestations. Jealousy is that secret sin of the heart when we want something that you are not intended to have. Let's pray that God removes the spirit of jealousy from us. The same word, Jealousy, is used in a good way in God's Word, as well, however. We can be jealous for God (have a hot burning for Him and what He is doing in the lives of others). Note Paul's words to the Corinthians, below:
2 Corinthians 11:2
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.
It is possible to have a hot boiling (the actual definition of Jealousy) in your heart for God and for what He wants to accomplish. Jealousy is one of those "members" of the body that Paul talks about in Romans 6:12-14. We are to "yield our members" as instruments of righteousness. We are to assure that our "members" (in this case the member, jealousy) is working for God, not for the flesh. We do that by submitting the "member" in prayer to God and asking Him to control that member. Satan and the flesh like to take our "members" captive and subvert them to act against us. We must constantly be on our guard, unlike the Sadducees in the above text in Acts, to assure that we are jealous for God and not against God and His people. The flesh can easily turn the member, jealousy, into a force in our lives for destruction rather than praise.
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