The Christian and the World, part 1
1 John 2:15


1. Preliminary Linguistics! 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

a. What Does John mean by “world?”

(1) The Greek word is kosmos, but that word means different things in different contexts—certainly we are not being told to NOT love the same world that God loved enough to send His Son to die for!.
(2) Sometimes kosmos refers to God’s creation—Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
(3) Sometimes kosmos refers to humanity in general, or to all the people in the world—John 3:16

(4) Sometimes kosmos refers to the nations of mankind—Mark 16:15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,

(5) Sometimes kosmos refers to the lost

(6) Sometimes kosmos refers to the lost world system that is against God and hates God—this is obviously the meaning here.

John 7:7 ""The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."

John 8:23 "And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world."

John 12:31 ""Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

John 14:30 ""I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me."

John 15:18-19 ""If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

John 16:11 ""of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."

James 4:4 "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."


Ø “…by the world, understand everything connected with the present life apart from the kingdom of God and the hope of eternal life. So he includes in it corruptions of every kind and the abyss of all evils. In the world are pleasures, delights, and all those allurements by which man is captivated so as to withdraw himself from God….” John Calvin

Ø The World and the Devil—he is the ruler of this evil system
Ø The World and God—The world hates God and everything He stands for.
Ø The World and the Christian—the World hates us, we are not of the world, but we must live in the world!

b. Second word—love

(1) The word is agape, present active indicative.
(2) This is not talking about affection, nor even about some level of real care. This is talking about the kind of love that should be reserved for God, for the Faith, for the Word, and for people.
(3) This is the self-sacrificing love of God, love which is a choice, not an emotion; love which includes the idea of commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion.
(4) And the verb tense indicates continuous action—a habit of life, not an occasional occurrence. It is talking about an habitual and intentional thing.

2. What we are not to love—1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world….”

a. Don’t love the world

(1) Do not give habitual and intentional commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion or selfless love to the evil world system, nor any part of it!
(2) God deserves habitual and intentional commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion, and selfless love è not your hobby, your sport, your company, your buddies, or any other part of the world system.
(3) Your family deserves habitual intentional commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion, and selfless love è not your hobby, your sport, your company, your buddies, or any other part of the world system.
(4) God’s Word deserves habitual intentional commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion, and selfless love è not your hobby, your sport, your company, your buddies, or any other part of the world system.
(5) Your Church deserves habitual, intentional, commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion, and selfless love è not your hobby, your sport, your company, your buddies, or any other part of the world system.
(6) Remember James—don’t be a friend to the world system, don’t go along to get along, don’t be a closet Christian, don’t be a silent partner of God!
(7) What John is saying is “check your priorities!”

b. Don’t love the things in the world—ah, the subtle danger is here.

(1) Again, same meaning.
(2) Do you give habitual, intentional, commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion, and selfless love è to the gaining, retaining, or improving of your possessions? James 4:1-3 "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures."
(3) Is it wrong to have anything, is that what I am saying?
(4) Is it wrong to be a good steward of what God has given you?
(5) NO—but it is a serious thing, and a barometer of spiritual condition, if your things own you instead of the other way around!
(6) The rich young ruler rejected the good news because of love of the world! Mat 19:22 "But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."
(7) Demas became a traitor to the Gospel because he loved this world—2 Tim 4:10 "for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica..."

3. What if you love the world? “…If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him…”

a. Here is another one of those pesky tests that John puts in his letter!

b. The construction is what is called a “third class condition.”

(1) What that means in plain English is that when a Greek sentence is constructed as this one is, when the condition is fulfilled, the result is highly probable.
(2) This is a simple “if then.”

(a) If you put your hand on a hot stove, you will get burned.
(b) If you jump off a ten story building, you will die.

c. What is the condition that must be fulfilled for the result to be insured? “…If anyone loves the world…”

(1) If anyone—this exempts no one
(2) loves—has an habitual, intentional, commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion, and selfless love for
(3) the world—the evil world system or the things it can give…

d. What is the insured result? “…the love of the Father is not in him…”

(1) The noun form of agape here—
(2) If you have, for the world or its things, an habitual, intentional, commitment, sacrifice, dedication, devotion, and selfless love…
(3) Then you don’t love God.

Mat 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
James 4:4 "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

4. A contrast between what is and what will be—1 John 2:16-17 "For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

a. What is 1 John 2:16-17 "For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. "

(1) This just gives more proof of John’s use of “world” here as the evil world system that is under the dominion of Satan

(2) John’s summary of all that the world has to offer—

(a) The lust of the flesh—what the sin nature of man desires, what the humanness of man longs after—whatever that is
(b) The lust of the eyes—what we desire because we see it
(c) The Pride of life—the arrogance and boastfulness over what we have and what we are in the world.

(3) Some have seen in this parallels to the Garden of Eden and the Wilderness temptation of Christ.

(a) Gen 3:6 "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."

(i) Food for the flesh
(ii) Pleasant to the eyes
(iii) Pride of the false promise of wisdom


(b) Christ’s temptations
(i) Bread (for the flesh)
(ii) The kingdoms of the world (for the eyes)
(iii) Show who you are (pride)

(4) These things do NOT come from God.

(a) Sometimes the excuse is used that “God made these things…”
(b) But anything that God made can be perverted to an improper use—

b. What will be—1 John 2:17 " And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

(1) The world’s passing, “and the lust of it…”

(a) First, we all die.

(i) A human being’s ability to even enjoy friendship with the pleasures of sin for a season is limited to their life span.
(ii) Furthermore, even while alive, as a person gets older, their ability to enjoy the pleasures of sin fades
(iii) Yet, even before that, the pleasures of sin do not really satisfy—they are an illusion, a ghost men and women chase and can never really get a hold on.

(b) Secondly, this evil world system is passing away—Christ has come, the devil has been defeated on the Cross, and it is only a matter of time before Christ returns—Mat 16:26-27 ""For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

(2) The evidence of salvation—“…he who does the will of God abides forever…”

(a) Language

(i) “does” is a present active participle
(ii) it speaks of habitual lifestyle
(iii) “abides” is a present active verb—abides continually

(b) We are not saved by works, but real salvation works!

(c) Eph 2:8-10!
(d) In Mat 7:21 a similiar language construction—Mat 7:21-23 ""Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"