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.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life–is not from the Father but is from the world.
1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
I used to spend hours every night delivering newspapers to over 400 homes in the city of London Ontario. Yes, I was an adult newspaper “boy” and it was a great job for a young married man to have. It provided sufficient funds to care for my young wife, provided ample time to spend with my beautiful wife, and I was readily available as we waited for our first born to enter the world, for I worked for less than four hours each morning! And in those nightly four hours, walking the streets of London, mindlessly following a path that rarely changed, I began a habit of Bible memorization that has been of tremendous benefit to my own spiritual life. To those reading, I encourage this discipline in your walk with the Master, for He often calls to mind a passage from my memory to provide guidance, encouragement and often correction!
All that to say that this mornings passage was one of the first passages I memorized as a multiple verse challenge.
Early in my faith, I understood that John wrote his epistle to believers in order to encourage them in the agreement they entered into upon initial faith in the Messiah. This agreement was a static, “set in stone” promise of a believers destiny based on an initial faith at a point in time in the past.
Nowadays, I am of the understanding that this salvation we are privileged to enter into is not dependent on a contract of sorts, but on a continuing living faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
For those interested in my findings, I published a series of posts beginning with 1 John – Testing to Know – Introduction. In summary, I am of the opinion John was providing tests for the believer, as the believer seeks to follow the Lord, some tests to check his life against in order to know if he has the Son, which is to have eternal life.
My faith has shifted from depending on a night in February of 1981, when I initially confessed my sin and asked for His salvation. Now, the issue I need to address is my life reflecting the character of Jesus, growing, yet admittedly never attaining the perfection He calls us to. Again, it is not that any believer attains, but that all believers rely on the Son and not on an agreement. We are to trust in the Lord, not an agreement, or covenant, fantastic as it is!
The Lord is full of mercy and plenteous in forgiveness. This re-understanding of salvation magnifies the grace of God towards the one following the Master. Many times I have wandered and His faithful ministry in my life has pulled me back to Him over and over again. The great challenge for the believer is to continue to follow, to be faithful, to continue to believe, to continue to rely on the Savior, to do that which He commands in the midst of trials, temptations disappointments and victories.
As we follow, we slowly, and incrementally become more like Him, which is the point. We are called Christians, for the term actually means little Christs, and was given to us as a derogatory name given by the world to each follower of Christ.
So when we come to our topic verses, this revised understanding presents a challenge that is much more complex than I first thought.
Let me do a real quick study through the verses.
- Love
John refers to love three times in verse 15. All three words are of the root word for agape. When referring to the believers relation to the world, the word agapáō a present active imperative, speaking of a continual, ongoing love for the world. This is the verbal form of “agape love”
When referring to the love of the Father, the word is revised to agápē , the same word only this time in the noun form.
It is somewhat surprising that John used the same word relating to both the world and God. After studying the term agape, I have come to understand it as the word that describes a sacrificial love that is bestowed on something or someone out of the character of the giver and not based on the recipient’s actions or efforts.
After a brief review, this use of agape for the world is quite appropriate, for the world certainly does not deserve our love, and if we bestow this sacrificial love onto the world, the sacrifice of our lives, time and talent is just that – sacrificed to a non – worthy recipient.
- World
John uses this word bunches! Twenty three times in this short 5 chapters. The kicker is that the word “world” has a broad meaning, for even a cursory review of the passages in John reveal this. Consider.
- “World” speaks of the inhabitants of His creation. People.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
- “World” speaks of the creation itself – matter space and time.
John 9:32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
- “World” speaks of the mission field for those who are sent by Jesus.
John 17:18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
- “World” speaks of followers present with Jesus at the time, and as Jesus prepared for death, He was about to depart from them. It is a temporary location!
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
And of course our present verses in 1 John, which speak of something believers are not to love.
Now to think. Might John be speaking of people in our passage? No that makes no sense. When he speaks of the world, is he speaking of creation? This doesn’t fit the logic of the passage. Ok, might he be referring to the mission field in our passage? That is silly, for He has sent us out into it.
I think John 13:1 may bring the some clarity to the discussion, for it speaks of a temporary condition, and John goes on to speak of the believer living forever in verse 17.
All of that is good, and helpful (I hope) but is there something more, something a bit more concrete to this reference to the world in John’s thinking?
The term κόσμος kósmos, translated as world, may also describe an ordered arrangement, an order or government, even a decoration or adornment, an aggregate of goods, pleasures, riches and goods that distract, that appeal, that seduce the believer from God.
In my mind, it speaks of any temptations presented to the believer to pull them away from the Christ, the Son of God. John goes on to describe all that is in the world – fleshly desires, visual desires and a life of pride, as being not from the Father, and by inference, is a competing force in the believers life.
Ok, all that to say the world is temporal, enticing and not of God. How does this relate to the series topic of conditional security? Let’s read John’s summary one more time.
1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Note John uses the word “but”. “But” is a term that speaks of exclusion or of difference. The world is passing away. The desires for / of the world is passing away. These are temporal.
The one doing the will of God lives forever, an statement of eternality. John relates this to obedience, but John is the apostle who continually speaks of faith in his writings.
Here he speaks of ποιέω poiéō, doing. And for those interested in the tense of poiéō? It also is a present active verb, speaking on continuity, continuing, constancy.
My understanding of depending on a contract entered into with God in February of 1981 for my salvation has taken a hit with studies like this. Now no matter how some may consider my findings, the message of the Word is consistent.
Trust God today. Do what He commands today. Look to Jesus for guidance, strength, direction, knowledge, wisdom today.
Look to Jesus for life today!
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