Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 John 2:15
Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
15. Love not the world ] The asyndeton is remarkable. S. John has just stated his premises, his readers’ happiness as Christians. He now abruptly states the practical conclusion, without any introductory ‘therefore’. As was said above on 1Jn 2:2, we must distinguish between the various meanings of the Apostle’s favourite word, ‘world.’ In Joh 3:16 he tells us that ‘God loved the world’, and here he tells us that we must not do so. “S. John is never afraid of an apparent contradiction when it saves his readers from a real contradiction The opposition which is on the surface of his language may be the best way of leading us to the harmony which lies below it” (Maurice). The world which the Father loves is the whole human race. The world which we are not to love is all that is alienated from Him, all that prevents men from loving Him in return. The world which God loves is His creature and His child: the world which we are not to love is His rival. The best safeguard against the selfish love of what is sinful in the world is to remember God’s unselfish love of the world. ‘The world’ here is that from which S. James says the truly religious man keeps himself ‘unspotted’, friendship with which is ‘enmity with God’ (Jas 1:27; Jas 4:4). It is not enough to say that ‘the world’ here means ‘earthly things, so far as they tempt to sin’, or ‘sinful lusts’, or ‘worldly and impious men’. It means all of these together: all that acts as a rival to God; all that is alienated from God and opposed to Him, especially sinful men with their sinful lusts. ‘The world’ and ‘the darkness’ are almost synonymous; to love the one is to love the other (Joh 3:19): to be in the darkness is to be of the world.
neither the things that are in the world ] Or, nor yet the things, &c., i.e. ‘Love not the world; no, nor anything in that sphere.’ Comp. ‘Not to consort with no, nor eat with’ (1Co 5:11). ‘The things in the world’, as is plain from 1Jn 2:16, are not material objects, which can be desired and possessed quite innocently, although they may also be occasions of sin. Rather, they are those elements in the world which are necessarily evil, its lusts and ambitions and jealousies, which stamp it as the kingdom of ‘the ruler of this world’ (Joh 12:31) and not the kingdom of God.
If any man love the world ] Once more, as in 1Jn 2:1, the statement is made quite general by the hypothetical form: everyone who does so is in this case. The Lord had proclaimed the same principle; ‘No man can serve two masters Ye cannot serve God and mammon’ (Mat 6:24). So also S. James; ‘Whosoever would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God’ (1Jn 4:4). Comp. Gal 1:10. Thus we arrive at another pair of those opposites of which S. John is so fond. We have had light and darkness, truth and falsehood, love and hate; we now have love of the Father and love of the world. The world which is coextensive with darkness must exclude the God who is light. By writing ‘the love of the Father’ rather than ‘the love of God’ (which some authorities read here) the Apostle points to the duty of Christians as children of God. ‘The love of the Father’ (a phrase which occurs nowhere else) means man’s love to Him, not His to man: see on 1Jn 2:5. A fragment of Philo declares that ‘it is impossible for love to the world to coexist with love to God’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15 17. The Things to be Avoided; the World and its Ways
Having reminded them solemnly of the blessedness of their condition as members of the Christian family, whether old or young, and having declared that this blessedness of peace, knowledge, and strength is his reason for writing to them, he goes on to exhort them to live in a manner that shall be worthy of this high estate, and to avoid all that is inconsistent with it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Love not the world – The term world seems to be used in the Scriptures in three senses:
- As denoting the physical universe; the world as it appears to the eye; the world considered as the work of God, as a material creation.
(2)The world as applied to the people that reside in it – the world of mankind.
(3)As the dwellers on the earth are by nature without religion, and act under a set of maxims, aims, and principles that have reference only to this life, the term comes to be used with reference to that community; that is, to the objects which they especially seek, and the principles by which they are actuated.
Considered with reference to the first sense of the word, it is not improper to love the world as the work of God, and as illustrating his perfections; for we may suppose that God loves his own works, and it is not wrong that we should find pleasure in their contemplation. Considered with reference to the second sense of the word, it is not wrong to love the people of the world with a love of benevolence, and to have attachment to our kindred and friends who constitute a part of it, though they are not Christians. It is only with reference to the word as used in the third sense that the command here can be understood to be applicable, or that the love of the world is forbidden; with reference to the objects sought, the maxims that prevail, the principles that reign in that community that lives for this world as contradistinguished from the world to come. The meaning is, that we are not to fix our affections on worldly objects – on what the world can furnish – as our portion, with the spirit with which they do who live only for this world, regardless of the life to come. We are not to make this world the object of our chief affection; we are not to be influenced by the maxims and feelings which prevail among those who do. Compare the Rom 12:2 note, and Jam 4:4 note. See also Mat 16:26; Luk 9:25; 1Co 1:20; 1Co 3:19; Gal 4:3; Col 2:8.
Neither the things that are in the world – Referred to in the next verse as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. This explanation shows what John meant by the things that are in the world. He does not say that we are in no sense to love anything that is in the material world; that we are to feel no interest in flowers, and streams, and forests, and fountains; that we are to have no admiration for what God has done as the Creator of all things; that we are to cherish no love for any of the inhabitants of the world, our friends and kindred; or that we are to pursue none of the objects of this life in making provision for our families; but that we are not to love the things which are sought merely to pamper the appetite, to please the eye, or to promote pride in living. These are the objects sought by the people of the world; these are not the objects to be sought by the Christian.
If any man love the world … – If, in this sense, a person loves the world, it shows that he has no true religion; that is, if characteristically he loves the world as his portion, and lives for that; if it is the ruling principle of his life to gain and enjoy that, it shows that his heart has never been renewed, and that he has no part with the children of God. See the Jam 4:4 note; Mat 6:24 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Jn 2:15-17
Love not the world if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him
The world and the Father
We talk of sons going out into the world.
Hitherto they have been dwelling in the house of their father. Day by day they have had experience of his care and government. This going out into the world we speak of as if it were a loss of some of these blessings. It may be a loss of them altogether; the father and the fathers house may be altogether forgotten. The world may seem to us a good world, because it sets us free from the restraints of the family in which we have been brought up. But, on the other hand, all children look forward to this time of going out into the world. Their fathers encourage them to look forward to it; they tell them their discipline in the nursery has been intended to prepare them for the world. Well, St. John is regarding these Ephesians as members of one family in different stages of their growth. Children, young men, fathers, are all treated as sons of God and as brothers of each other. St. John would have them understand that what is true in particular families is true also of this great family. There is a time of childhood, a time when the name of a Father, and the care of a Father, and the forgiveness of a Father, are all in all. But while St. John looks thus encouragingly and hopefully upon these youths he also wishes them to be alive to the danger of their new position. They may forget their heavenly Fathers house, just as any child may forget his earthly fathers house. And the cause will be the same. The attractions of the outward world are likely to put a great chasm between one period of their life and another; these may cause that the love of the Father shall not be in them. But are the cases parallel? The family of my parents is manifestly separated from the general world; to pass from one to the other is a great change indeed. But is not the world Gods world? Is not the order which we see His order? How then can these young men be told that they are not to love that which He, in whose image they are created, is said so earnestly to love? Assuredly it is Gods world, Gods order. And how has disorder come into this order?–for that it is there we all confess. It has come from men falling in love with this order, or with some of the things in it, and setting them up and making them into gods. It has come from each man beginning to dream that he is the centre, either of this world or of some little world that he has made for himself out of it. This selfish love is the counterfeit of Gods self-sacrificing love; the counterfeit, and therefore its great antagonist. The Fathers love must prevail over this, or it will drive that Fathers love out of us. Here, then, are good reasons why the young men shall not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. For if they do, first, their strength will forsake them; they will give up the power that is in them to the things on which the power is to be exerted; they will be ruled by that which they are meant to rule. Next, they will not have any real insight into these things or any real sympathy with them. Those who love the world, those who surrender themselves to it, never understand it, never in the best sense enjoy it; they are too much on the level of it–yes, too much below the level of it–for they look up to it, they depend upon it–to be capable of contemplating it and of appreciating what is most exquisite in it. Some will say, But these young men to whom St. John wrote were godly young men, to whom he gave credit for all right and holy purposes. I believe it; and therefore such words as these were all the more necessary for them. Love not the world. For there is a love in you that the world did not kindle, that your heavenly Father has kindled; love it not, lest you should be turned into worldlings, whose misery is their incapacity of loving anything. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
Worldliness
Religion differs from morality in the value which it places on the affections. Morality requires that an act be done on principle. Religion goes deeper, and inquires into the state of the heart.
I. The nature of the forbidden world. Now to define what worldliness is. Remark, first, that it is determined by the spirit of a life, not the objects with which the life is conversant. It is not the flesh, nor the eye, nor life, which are forbidden, but it is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. It is not this earth nor the men who inhabit it–nor the sphere of our legitimate activity, that we may not love; but the way in which the love is given which constitutes worldliness, Worldliness, then, consists in these three things;–Attachment to the Outward–attachment to the Transitory–attachment to the Unreal: in opposition to love for the Inward, the Eternal, the True; and the one of these affections is necessarily expelled by the other. If a man love the world the love of the Father is not in him. But let a man once feel the power of the kingdom that is within, and then the love fades of that emotion whose life consists only in the thrill of a nerve, or the vivid sensation of a feeling: he loses his happiness and wins his blessedness.
II. The reasons for which the love of the world is forbidden. The first reason assigned is, that the love of the world is incompatible with the love of God. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him. St. John takes it for granted that we must love something. Love misplaced, or love rightly placed–you have your choice between these two; you have not your choice between loving God or nothing. The second reason which the apostle gives for not squandering affection on the world is its transitoriness. Now this transitoriness exists in two shapes. It is transitory in itself–the world passeth away. It is transitory in its power of exciting desire–the lust thereof passeth away. Lastly, a reason for unlearning the love of the world is the solitary permanence of Christian action. In contrast with the fleetingness of this world the apostle tells us of the stability of labour. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And let us mark this. Christian life is action: not a speculating, not a debating, but a doing. Observe, however, to distinguish between the act and the actor–it is not the thing done but the doer who lasts. The thing done often is a failure. Bless, and if the Son of Peace be there your act succeeds; but if not, your blessing shall return unto you again. In other words, the act may fail; but the doer of it abideth forever. We close this subject with two practical truths. Let us learn from earthly changefulness a lesson of cheerful activity. Let not the Christian slack his hand from work, for he that doeth the will of God may defy hell itself to quench his immortality. Finally, the love of this world is only unlearned by the love of the Father. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The peril of worldliness
How many a hopeful beginning of Christian life is marred by worldly influences! How many a flower of Paradise seems to perish in the bud at the deadly touch of the worlds cruel frost. We mean by the world not only the place but the people, or at least some of the people, who live in it. Of them St. Paul says they mind earthly things; that is, their affections and desires are centred in this world. Now in primitive times the distinction between the world and the Church was very marked. Those who belonged to the world did not even profess to accept the authority of Jesus Christ; on the contrary, they proclaimed outward war against Him and His, and carried it on with cruel persecutions. But soon Satan began to change his tactics. He disposed the world to respect the Church, for he began to see that her strength lay in opposition. He therefore set his wisdom to work to rob her of this power, and he has attempted to compass this end by seeking to obliterate as far as possible that clear, sharp, well-defined line of demarcation which separated the children of God from the children of this world. There is such a line, and we ought in the first place to recognise that fact, and in the second place look to God for wisdom to discern it as clearly as we can. In a large number of instances it is not difficult to discern, because there are a great number of persons whose lives speak for themselves; evidently their object in life is not to glorify God or yield to His claims. In another large number of instances, where the lines are not so hardly drawn, a tolerably good idea of the character can be obtained from indications proceeding from the lives of those by whom you are surrounded. When it is apparent that the regal claims of Christ upon the human heart are not recognised; when there is no confession of Christ in either words or actions; when lower objects obviously engross the attention, and nothing in their character or conduct indicates that the will has been surrendered to Christ, then the honesty of true love constrains us to regard such persons as belonging to the kingdom of this world, and as destitute of the new life and life instincts which belong to citizens of the New Jerusalem. Nor must we allow ourselves to be misled by the fact that most people are nominally Christians. What, then, is our relation to the world? Christ answers, Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. By constant contact with the world and by exposure to the temptations which arise in our daily life, we are to be driven more and more to realise the fact that we are citizens of a heavenly country. But there is more to be said about our relations with the world than that we are in it but not of it. We notice that our text says we are not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world; and it goes so far as to say, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, Now, side by side with this direction we must place another text, with which we are equally or more familiar: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. What shall we say then? If God loved the world, are we precluded from doing that which we thank God for having done? Let us contemplate a man in whose heart the love of benevolence is strong towards the world. That benevolence will induce him to recognise the worlds present position; to bear in mind the truth that the world has rebelled against God, and that Gods edict of condemnation has already gone forth against it. Realising this–its terrible peril–he will shrink from adopting any attitude towards the world that would be likely to make the world feel as if its danger were a mere doctrinal or sentimental unreality, and this will keep him from associating with the world on terms of reciprocal amity. Christ might have wrought miracles of salvation from heaven, but He preferred to come into the world to save sinners; and so we may go into the world too, provided it is to save sinners. This should be the great work of our lives. But when instead of this we associate with the world as if it were congenial to us, it is far more likely to drag us down than our friendship is to lift it up. I am afraid it must be sorrowfully admitted that too many professing Christians are leading two distinct kinds of lives, worldly with the worldly and Christian with the Christian. You would hardly think them the same persons were you to meet them under different circumstances. They cannot be distinguished from the citizens of this world today, and they might pass for excellent saints tomorrow. But such people as these really exercise their influence for the world and not for God. (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
The guileless spirit loving not the world, which is darkness, but God, who is light
The love of the world is here declared to be irreconcilable with the love of the Father. And the declaration applies to the things that are in the world. These are represented under three categories or heads–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
1. The lust of the flesh. It is lust or desire of a carnal sort; such as the flesh prompts or occasions. It is the appetite of sense out of order, or in excess. The appetite for which food is Gods appointed ordinance, and the appetite for which marriage is Gods appointed ordinance–the general needs and cravings of the body which the laws of nature and the gifts of Providence so fully meet–the higher tastes which fair forms and sweet sounds delight–the eye for beauty and the ear or the soul for music–these are not, any of them, the lust of the flesh. But they all, everyone of them, may become the lust of the flesh. And in the world they do become the lust of the flesh. It is the worlds aim to pervert them into the lust of the flesh and to pander to them in that character, either grossly or with refinement.
2. The lust of the eyes. It is not merely that the flesh lusts through the eyes, or that the eyes minister to the lust of the flesh. The eyes themselves have their own lust. It is lust that can be satisfied with mere sight, which the lust of the flesh never is nor can be. I may be one in whom the worlds sensual or sensuous delights no longer stimulate the lust of the flesh. But my eyes are pained when I see the giddy crowd so happy and secure. My bosom swells and my blood boils when I am forced to look on villany triumphant and vice caressed. It may be all righteous zeal and virtuous wrath–a pure desire to witness wrong redressed and justice done. But, alas! as I yield to it I find it fast assuming a worse character. I would not myself be partaker of the sinful happiness I see the world enjoying; but I grudge the worlds enjoyment of it.
3. The pride of life. What pains are taken in the world to save appearances and keep up a seemly and goodly state! It is a business all but reduced to system. Its means and appliances are ceremony and feigned civility. All is to be in good taste and in good style–correct, creditable, commendable. It is the worlds pride to have it so. What is otherwise must be somehow toned down or shaded off, concealed or coloured. Falsehood may be necessary; a false code of honour; false notions of duty, as between man and man or between man and woman; false liberality and spurious delicacy. It debauches conscience and is fatal to high aims. It puts the men and women of the world on a poor struggle to out manoeuvre and outshine one another, to outdo one another, for the most part, in mere externals, while, with all manner of politeness, they affect to give one another credit for what they all know to be little better than shams. Nevertheless, the general effect is imposing. Need I suggest how many sad instances of religious inconsistency and worldly conformity spring from this source? Do you not sometimes find yourselves more ashamed of a breach of worldly etiquette–some apparent descent from the customary platform of worldly respectability–than of such a concession to the worlds forms and fashions as may compromise your integrity in the sight of God and your right to acquit yourselves of guile?
And now, for practical use, let three remarks be made.
1. Of all that is in the world it is said that it is not of the Father, but of the world. The choicest blessings of home, the holiest ordinances of religion, the very gospel itself, may thus come, when once in the world, to be of the world. There is nothing in them that rises above the natural influences of self-love and social, as these are blended in the world.
2. All that is in the world is of the world, Wherever it may be found. Let us beware, then, of letting into the sanctuary and shrine of our soul, now become the dwelling place of God by His Spirit, anything that savours of the worlds sloth and self-indulgence, or of the worlds jealousy and envy, or of the worlds vain pomp and pride.
3. Let us remember that the world which we are not to love, because all that is in it is not of the Father but is of the world, is yet itself the object of a love on the part of the Father, with which, as His children, having in us His love, we are to sympathise. Let us look at it as the Father looks at it–as a deep, dark mass of guilt, ungodliness, and woe. Let us plunge in to the rescue. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)
Love not the world
I. The warning. Are we not required diligently to attend to the things of the world? And is not a promise of its enjoyment made to those who do so? True. The command is Look well to thy flocks and herds. Not slothful in business. And this is among the promises, Godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. We may value the world, we may seek to possess it, we may enjoy it. This is not what the apostle forbids. The true meaning of the injunction lies in the term, Love not the world. This affection is supreme in whatever heart it dwells. It is jealous, and admits no rival. If a man loves the world, he gives it the first place in his heart, and everything is subordinated to it. The world then becomes his God, and he worships it. What ever comes in competition with it is discarded. It becomes the object of a passion of which it is wholly unworthy. Yet the love of the world is a principle fearfully prevalent. It is to be found in many who do not suspect it. Here is a man placed in a position where he may add to his worldly substance. But there is a difficulty. The law stares him in the face, provide things honest in the sight of all men. He would like to keep it, but the prospect is tempting. By degrees his principle of integrity is overcome, and he takes the golden bait, overcome by the love of the world. One other illustration may be added. Here is a man who does respect the laws of integrity, and honour, and devotion. But he is associated with another, who does not respect them. A case arises where both must act together. The former expresses his desire to act righteously. The other uses his influence to overcome what he denominates his scruples. He is afraid to offend him; his interests are too deeply involved to run so great a risk; he yields, and presents another example of a victim overcome by the love of the world.
II. The reasons of the warning.
1. The love of God and the love of the world are incompatible with one another, and cannot exist together in the same mind. This is precisely the sentiment of our Lord (Mat 6:24).
2. The world is sinful, and therefore its service is incompatible with that of God.
3. We are ourselves perishing, and so is all that is earthly.
4. But to all this there is a glorious contrast in the last reason. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Such a man is the subject of principles that will endure through all the trials and vicissitudes of life. (James Morgan, D. D.)
Love not the world
Intimately connected, as we are, with this point of space, we are connected still more intimately with something which transcends alike both time and space–the Eternal and the Infinite in which we live and move and have our being. It is because the world tends to draw off our thoughts from Him Who is the centre and fountain of our life that we are warned not to love the world. The world against which we are warned is something transitory and changeable. It is that which appeals to our senses, which supplies to us the natural field of enjoyment and thought and action. It is plain that if the world means all this, it is utterly absurd to think we can escape from it, as some have fancied, by becoming hermits, or avoiding certain kinds of society or amusement. The world is wrapt up in our very nature. It is a necessity of our earthly life. We might as well say we would renounce our bodies, renounce easing or breathing, as say we would renounce the world in this sense. It is not the world then in itself, but a particular way of using the world, a particular way of being affected by the world, which we Christians are to give up. It may help us to understand what is the wrong use and the wrong influence of the world if we think first what is the right use and right influence. Why did God place us in such a world as this? Was it not in order that we might be raised from the animal to the spiritual, from the state of nature to the state of grace, that we might learn to know God and do His will, and so become partakers of eternal life? This, then, is the right use of the world, that, through the things which are made, we might come to Understand the invisible things of God. Let us think of some of the ways in which this is done. The infants world is its mothers lap. In and through that visible world it is taught, even before it can think, some of the invisible things of God. So again the astronomer when he ponders over the varying aspects of the starry heavens, the naturalist when he examines with the microscope the structure of creatures invisible to the naked eye, the poet when he bows down in reverence and adoration before the Holy Spirit revealing itself in nature–these all use the world aright, they rise through the visible, the outward transitory fact, to the invisible, the inner law, the unchanging character and will of the Eternal Father. Let us now descend from this wider view of our environment to that which we most commonly understand by the term the world, and which no doubt approaches more nearly to its use in the Bible–the influence of society in general upon each member of the society. Many men have been kept from doing wrong by fear of the worlds censure, many men have been stimulated to do right from hope of the worlds praise. In this way, then, the voice of society is to a certain extent an echo of the voice of God. But far more valuable and important is that other influence of society, when each individual man ceases to think of himself as a separate unit with his separate interests, and becomes conscious of a common membership and a common life. As, for instance, when a boy at school learns to care more for the honour and credit of the school than he does for any advantage or credit to himself, or when the soldier is so penetrated by the spirit of discipline and loyally and patriotism that he willingly sacrifices his life to ensure the safety of his comrades or the triumph of his country. If through the world of nature we are taught something of the might and the wisdom and the glory of God, surely through the world of humanity, through the natural feeling of fellowship which binds us all together, we are taught a yet higher truth, we are brought into sympathy with Him who left the throne of glory to take upon Him the form of a servant. Such, then, being the right use and the right influence of the world, it will not be difficult to see what is its wrong use and wrong influence, what, in fact, is the meaning of the term world as used in my text. The world, in the bad sense, is that in our environment which has a tendency to lower our moral nature, to shut out the thought of God, to make us disbelieve in the eternal righteousness and love. Let us take a few examples. Public spirit, esprit de corps, which is the parent of so much that is good, may also be the parent of terrible evil. Men who would have shrunk from doing harm to their neighbour on private grounds have been ready to commit the worst atrocities when it was ordered by the society to which they belonged. So a man whom we have known as fair and honourable in private life, will use the most unfair means, will descend to intimidation and slander, if not to actual falsehood, in order to promote the interests of the religious or political party to which he belongs. In all these cases we see the evil influence of that world against which St. John warns us. The man forgets that the first and greatest commandment is his duty to God, and that his duty to man can only be rightly accomplished as long as he remembers his duty to God. I turn now to the second kind of social influence of which I spoke before, I mean where a man is not carried away by the prevailing feeling, but where he consciously adapts himself to it with a view to gain respect or admiration, or to avoid punishment, or blame, or contempt, or inconvenience of any kind. As I said before, the effect of this motive is to a certain extent favourable to virtuous action, but no action is made virtuous or right simply because it is done to get credit or avoid discredit. It becomes right when it is done to please God, and it is only when we believe that human judgment is in accordance with Gods judgment that we may properly take mans approval as a guide for our conduct. The great danger is that we take the fashion, whether of a larger or smaller world, as being itself the authoritative standard of life; that we are so deafened by the outside noise that we cease to hear the still small voice of God in the heart; we do not ask whether He approves, we do not even stop to ask what is the origin, or meaning, or ground of the custom or opinion which fashion enjoins, till at last we become simple echoes, we have no genuine tastes or feelings left, our one anxiety is to repeat correctly the latest catch word of the moment. (J. B. Mayor, M. A.)
Love of the world
I. Excessive affection for the mere things of the world must always be incompatible with the love of God. That which is of the earth is earthy, and cannot be made to incorporate with that which is heavenly. He who is warm in the chase after wealth or renown finds no time nor room in his heart for spiritual contemplation. It was fabled of old that when the arch tempter had made his allurements agreeable to a man his guardian angels uttered a sad lament, sang a melancholy dirge, and left him. When a licentious passion has gained dominion over the thoughts of a man, or when ambition is made free of his breast and constituted his privy councillor, then do his anxious watchings over the purity of his spirit, and his delicate perceptions of right and wrong, and his tender feelings of universal benevolence, and his meditations on futurity, and his frequent and holy communions with God, which may indeed be called our guardian angels, take farewell of the habitation where they must stay no longer, carrying out their peace and glory with them. Alas I this is no fable, but a daily sight.
II. The love of the world, being incompatible with the love of God, is consequently at enmity with His service. The lover of the world is perhaps a votary of gain; if so, he cannot serve God with the accepted obedience of generosity and benevolence. He may have enrolled himself on the lists of ambition; but God dwells with the lowly and with him on whose lips there is no guile. He may have plunged into the roaring vortex of dissipation and intoxicating pleasure; he surely cannot serve God there.
III. There is nothing durable in these objects, which appear so enchanting, and are pursued so eagerly.
IV. We ought not to love the world because an excessive attachment to it makes us unwilling to leave it at death.
V. It is but little to say that we are thus rendered unwilling to leave it when we have also to say that we are thus rendered unworthy to leave it, unfit to leave it. The discipline which the soul receives in the schools of selfishness and the bowers of pleasure and the halls of pride is not such as will fit it for heaven. (F. W. P. Greenwood, D. D.)
Love of the world
Is it true, then, that religion requires us to sacrifice every natural affection? If it is, then comply with it. If religion is such a thing, then Simeon Stylites, on his pillar top, was a pattern saint. But if this is not the ideal of religion, let us find out what the true ideal is. If there is a love of natural things perfectly consistent with and flowing out from the love of God, let us know it and act accordingly. Now what is the doctrine in the text? When we consider it in its connection we find it is not a mere statement of negations. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. It does not stop with this. Why not love these? Because we are called to cherish a higher and more comprehensive affection. We are to love the Father supremely. There are some who try to preserve a sort of balance between the two–between the spirit that makes this world supreme, which of course dissolves all moral distinction between right and wrong; and the spirit that makes God supreme, which claims as right the love of right only. It is like compromising with a cancer, or holding negotiations with the yellow fever. There are only two standards that which proceeds from the love of God as supreme; that which proceeds from the love of the world as supreme. You cannot serve them both. The whole statement of the text rests upon the simple fact that every man has a master motive in his heart, which he more or less consciously acts upon. There is one general ground from which a man measures. Here, for instance, is a man that measures from the love of the world, from the summit of worldly advantage. If you want to explain his life you do it in this way: he starts with worldly sanctions and worldly interests, and thus sometimes measures up to spiritual claims and moral laws. So you see men in every avocation of life, from the most private to the most public transactions, willing enough to confess the right, but after all holding it subordinate to the ground from which they measure–worldly advantage. Now a thing is either right or it is wrong. If we measure from Gods supreme law, the love of the Father, we must bring everything else down before that; if we measure from worldly advantage, we must bring Gods law down before that. Love not the world, is the principle. What the apostle means by loving the world and the things of the world, is loving them supremely and making them a standard; measuring from the ground of worldly sanction and interest up to the supreme right. No, we are to measure from the love of the Father downward–not from the love of worldly advantage and sanction upward. That is the real meaning of the text. Loving the Father supremely, we shall know what to love as He loves, and we shall see everything in the relation in which He sees it. From His all-comprehending affection we shall go forth to see everything truly and to love everything as we ought to love it. Every daily duty, every daily care, every common interest–your homes, your toils, your trials, will all be loved by you in due proportion, because you will read in them the Fathers meaning and you will see them in their true relations and significance. And still again, when we start from this ground of love We learn to distinguish the essence of things from the outside of things. When, for instance, a man becomes so enamoured of nature that he forgets the God who made it; when he touches not the pulses of the infinite in the motions of the worlds, but all is a dead blank and all traces of God have vanished, then man has that love of the world and of the things that are in it which is condemned by the apostle. So, too, a man may love humanity simply on its outside–for its advantage to him–merely for that which is pleasing to him, not in its essence. Jesus Christ did not look at the outside of men. He looked into humanity as an emanation from God. He saw it in its priceless worth, and died for it–not for its relations to him of friendliness, or kindness, or love, or service, or beauty, or use, but for its intrinsic worth. That is the way to love humanity. Not because it serves us, not because it is pleasant to us, not because it is friendly to us. That is a very little thing. How sour men get by and by who love it on that account! The true Christian never falters in his high faith in and deep love for humanity, because he sees it and loves it as Jesus Christ did–not with reference to himself but for its intrinsic character and value in the eyes of God. (E. H. Chapin, D. D.)
When do we love the world too much
1. When, for the sake of any profit or pleasure, we wilfully and knowingly and deliberately transgress the commandments of God and become openly and habitually wicked and vicious, and live addicted to sensuality, to intemperance, to fraud, to extortion, to injustice.
2. When we take more pains to obtain and secure the conveniences of this life than to qualify ourselves for the rewards of the next.
3. When we cannot be contented, or patient and resigned, under low or inconvenient circumstances.
4. When we cannot part with anything that we possess to those who want it, who deserve it, and who have indeed a right to it.
5. When we envy those who are more fortunate and more favoured by the world than we are, and cannot behold their success without repining; when at the same time we can see others better and wiser and more religious, if they be in a lower state than ourselves, without the least uneasiness, without emulation and a desire to equal them.
6. When we esteem and favour persons purely according to their birth, fortunes, and success, measuring our judgment and approbation by their outward appearance and situation in life.
7. When we dislike and slight others only because the world favours them not, and thus suffer our affections, our judgment, and our behaviour to be regulated by the notions and customs of men, and indeed of the worst sort of men.
8. When worldly prosperity makes us proud and vain, and we expect to be greatly honoured by others, only because they are placed beneath us, though in other respects, in valuable qualities, they may surpass us; and when we resent any little failure of homage as a real injury.
9. When we omit no opportunity of enjoying the good things of this life, when our great business and serious employment is to amuse ourselves, till we contract an indifference for manly and rational occupations, deceiving ourselves, and fancying that we are in a safe condition, because we are not so bad as several whom we could name, nor guilty of such and such vices with which the world abounds. (J. Jortin, D. D.)
The expulsive power of a new affection
There are two ways in which a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world–either by a demonstration of the worlds vanity, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment. Love may be regarded in two different conditions. The first is, when its object is at a distance, and then it becomes love in a state of desire. The second is, when its object is in possession, and then it becomes love in a state of indulgence. Such is the grasping tendency of the human heart that it must have a something to lay hold of–and which, if wrested away without the substitution of another something in its place, would leave a void as painful to the mind as hunger is to the natural system. It may be dispossessed of one object, or of any, but it cannot be desolated of all. We know not a more sweeping interdict upon the affections of nature than that which is delivered by the apostle in the verse before us. To bid a man into whom there has not yet entered the great and ascendant influence of the principle of regeneration, to bid him withdraw his love from all the things that are in the world, is to bid him give up all the affections that are in his heart. The world is the all of a natural man. He has not a taste nor a desire that points not to a something placed within the confines of its visible horizon. He loves nothing above it, and he cares for nothing beyond it; and to bid him love not the world, is to pass a sentence of expulsion on all the inmates of his bosom. The love of the world cannot be expunged by a mere demonstration of the worlds worthlessness. But may it not be supplanted by the love of that which is more worthy than itself? The heart cannot be prevailed upon to part with the world by a simple act of resignation. But may not the heart be prevailed upon to admit into its preference another, who shall subordinate the world, and bring it down from its wonted ascendency? This explains the operation of that charm which accompanies the effectual preaching of the gospel. Beside the world, it places before the eye of the mind Him who made the world, and with this peculiarity, which is all its own–that in the gospel do we so behold God, as that we may love God. It is there, and there only, where God stands revealed as an object of confidence to sinners–and where our desire after Him is not chilled into apathy, by that barrier of human guilt which intercepts every approach that is not made to Him through the appointed mediator. It is the bringing in of this better hope, whereby we draw nigh unto God–and to live without hope is to live without God; and if the heart be without God, the world will then have all the ascendency. It is God apprehended by the believer as God in Christ, who alone can dispost it from this ascendency. And here let us advert to the incredulity of a worldly man: when he brings his own sound and secular experience to bear upon the high doctrines of Christianity–when he looks on regeneration as a thing impossible. We think that we have seen such men, who, firmly trenched in their own vigorous and homebred sagacity, and shrewdly regardful of all that passes before them through the week, and upon the scenes of ordinary, business, look on that transition of the heart by which it gradually dies unto time, and awakens in all the life of a new-felt and ever-growing desire towards God, as a mere Sabbath speculation; and who thus, with all their attention engrossed upon the concerns of earthliness, continue unmoved to the end of their days, amongst the feelings and the appetites and the pursuits of earthliness. Now, it is altogether worthy of being remarked of those men who thus disrelish spiritual Christianity, and in fact deem it an impracticable acquirement, how much of a piece their incredulity about the demands of Christianity, and their incredulity about the doctrines of Christianity, are with one another. No wonder that they feel the work of the New Testament to be beyond their strength, so long as they hold the words of the New Testament to be beneath their attention. Neither they nor anyone else can dispossess the heart of an old affection but by the expulsive power of a new one; and if that new affection be the love of God, neither they nor anyone else can be made to entertain it, but on such a representation of the Deity as shall draw the heart of the sinner towards Him. Now it is just their unbelief which screens from the discernment of their minds this representation. They do not see the love of God in sending His Son unto the world. It is a mystery to them how a man should pass to the state of godliness from a state of nature; but had they only a believing view of God manifest in the flesh, this would resolve for them the whole mystery of godliness. As it is, they cannot get quit of their old affections, because they are out of sight from all those truths which have influence to raise a new one. But if there be a consistency in the errors, in like manner is there a consistency in the truths which are opposite to them. The man who believes in the peculiar doctrines, will readily bow to the peculiar demands of Christianity. The effect is great, but the cause is equal to it–and stupendous as this moral resurrection to the precepts of Christianity undoubtedly is, there is an element of strength enough to give it being and continuance in the principles of Christianity. Conceive a man to be standing on the margin of this green world; and that, when he looked towards it, he saw abundance smiling upon every field, and all the blessings which earth can afford scattered in profusion throughout every family, and the joys of human companionship brightening many a happy circle of society–conceive this to be the general character of the scene upon one side of his contemplation; and that on the other, beyond the verge of the goodly planet on which he was situated, he could descry nothing but a dark and fathomless unknown. Think you that he would bid a voluntary adieu to all the brightness and all the beauty that were before him upon earth, and commit himself to the frightful solitude away from it? But if, during the time of his contemplation, some happy island of the blest had floated by; and there had burst upon his senses the light of its surpassing glories, and its sounds of sweeter melody; and he clearly saw that there a purer beauty rested upon every field, and a more heartfelt joy spread itself among all the families; and he could discern there, a peace, and a piety, and a benevolence, which put a moral gladness into every bosom, and united the whole society in one rejoicing sympathy with each other, and with the beneficent Father of them all. Could he further see that pain and mortality were there unknown; and above all, that signals of welcome were hung out, and an avenue of communication was made for him–perceive you not, that what was before the wilderness, would become the land of invitation; and that now the world would be the wilderness? What unpeopled space could not do, can be done by space teeming with beatific scenes, and beatific society. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Worldly affections destructive of love to God
There are things in the world which, although not actually sinful in themselves, do nevertheless so cheek the love of God in us as to stifle and destroy it. For instance, it is lawful for us to possess wealth and worldly substance; we may serve God with it, and consecrate it at His altar; but we cannot love wealth without growing ostentatious, or soft, or careful, or narrow hearted (1Ti 6:10). So, again, with friends and whist is called society.
I. Love of the world brings a dulness over the whole of a mans soul. Fasting, and prayer, and a spare life, and plainness, and freedom from the cumbering offices and possessions of the world, give to the eye and ear of the soul a keen and piercing sense. But this discipline is almost impossible to the man theft moves with the stream of the world; it carries him away against his will. The oppressive nearness of the things which throng upon him from without defrauds him of solitude with God. They come and thrust themselves between his soul and the realities unseen; they drop like a veil over the faint outlines of the invisible world, and hide it from his eyes. And the spiritual powers that are in him grow inert and lose their virtue by the dulness of inaction. The acts of religion, such as reading, thought, contemplation of the unseen, prayer, self-examination, first seem to lose their savour, and are less delighted in: then they grow irksome, and are consciously avoided.
II. As we grow to be attached to the things that are in the world, there comes over us what I may call a vulnerableness of mind. We lay ourselves open on just so many sides as we have objects of desire. We give hostages to this changeful world, and we are ever either losing them, or trembling lest they be wrested from us. What a life of disappointment, and bitterness, and aching fear, and restless uncertainty, is the life of the ambitious, or covetous, or self-indulgent! But it is not only in this form that the mind is made vulnerable by a love of the world. It lays itself open not more to chastisements than to temptations; it gives so many inlets to the suggestions of evil. Every earthly fondness is an ambush for a thousand solicitations of the wicked one. It is a lure to the tempter–a signal which betrays our weaker side; and as the subtle infection of evil temper winds itself into the mind, the spirit of the Dove is grieved by an irritable and unloving spirit. The very affections of the heart recoil sullenly into themselves, and sometimes even turn against the objects of their immoderate fondness. In this way the love of the world becomes a cause of very serious deterioration of character. It soon stifles the love of God; and when that is gone, and the character has lost its unity, particular features unfold themselves into a fearful prominence. The chief among its earthly affections becomes thenceforth its ruling passion, and so predominates over all the rest, and draws the whole mind to itself, as to stamp the man with the character of a besetting sin. And this is what we mean when we call one man purse-proud, and another ostentatious, or selfish, and the like. The world has eaten its way into his soul, and the love of the Father is not in him.
III. Now, if this be so, what shall we do? We cannot withdraw ourselves. One has wealth, another a family, a third rank and influence, another a large business: and all these bring with them an endless variety of duties and offices, and usages of custom and courtesy. If a man is to break through all these, he must needs go out of this world. All this is very true; but, at the same time, it is certain that every one of us might reduce his life to a greater simplicity. In every position of life there is a great multitude of unnecessary things which we may readily abandon. And as for all the necessary cares of life, they need involve us in no dangers. In them, if we be true hearted, we are safe. When God leads men into positions of great trial, whether by wealth, or rank, or business, He compensates by larger gifts of grace. (Archdeacon Manning.)
The nature and danger of an inordinate love of the world
I. What we are to understand by the world. A general inventory of this worlds goods is given us by the apostle, divided into three lots. The first contains all the pleasures of the world, called the lust of the flesh, because they are proper to a corporeal nature, or such as the soul now desires, only by reason of its union with the body. The next class is riches, which he calls the lust of the eyes, because the eye takes a peculiar pleasure in gazing at those things which they immediately procure. The pleasures I before mentioned are gone with a touch, these with a look. So unsubstantial are the goods contained in the two first lots of this worlds inventory. Let us now examine the third, and see if we can find anything more solid there. This opens to us all the honours, the high stations, the power and preferments of the world. This the apostle calls the pride of life, because it is the ambitious mans great object, and at once attracts and foments the vanity of Iris heart. Bet it never satisfies the vanity which it excites. Ambition is insatiable as arvarice.
II. The extent of this prohibition; or with what restrictions it must nccessarily be taken.
1. This does not forbid us
(1) to prosecute our worldly affairs with application and diligence.
(2) Nor does it countenance, much less require, a total separation from the world.
(3) Nor are we hereby forbid to enjoy the world, or to take any delight in the good things of the present life.
(4) This text does not forbid us to value, or in a certain degree desire to possess the good things of this world: because they are in some respects desirable, and to many good purposes useful; and therefore a wise man will not indulge an absolute contempt of them, or be totally indifferent to them.
(5) Neither are we forbid a conformity to the innocent customs, manners and fashions of the world.
2. What is it then that it does forbid?–I answer in one word, all excessive love of the world, or all immoderate attachment of the heart to it.
(1) We then love this world too much when we neglect our souls, or our interest in a better world, for the sake of it.
(2) Tis a certain sign that a ]nan loves the world too much when he grows vain, imperious and assuming, and despises others merely on the score of their wanting that affluence which he enjoys.
(3) When a man grows confident in the world, and trusts to it as his chief good.
(4) We then love the good things of this world too much when we dare to venture on any known transgression with a view to secure or increase them.
(5) When a man has no heart to do good with what he has iii the world, and is averse to acts of charity, piety and beneficence.
(6) When we are tormented with an anxious solicitude about the things of this world.
(7) It is a sign that our hearts are two much attached to earthly things if we cannot bear our earthly losses and disappointments with temper.
(8) It is an indication that we love the good things of this life too much when we are not thankful for them, and forget to make our acknowledgements to Him at whose hand we hold them.
III. The grounds of this prohibition.
1. I am to suggest a few general considerations proper to guard us against an immoderate love of the present world. To this end then let it be considered.
(1) How many dangerous temptations it lays in the way of our souls.
(2) The more fond we are of the world the greater is our danger from it. The more it engages our hearts the more power it has to captivate them.
(3) An excessive passion for the world defeats its own end. The more inordinately we love it, the less capable we are of the true enjoyment of it. If we squeeze the world too hard we wring out dregs. In our cup of worldly bliss the sweetest lies at top: he who drinks too deep will find it nauseous.
(4) Why should we love the world so much, when there is nothing in it that suits the dignity or satisfies the desires of our souls?
2. Let us now particularly consider those two motives whereby the apostle himself enforces the caution he gives in the text.
(1) An excessive love of the world is inconsistent with a sincere love of God. An immoderate love of the world, or of anything in it, is paying that devotion and homage of our heart to the creature which is due only to the Creator. What vile ingratitude as well as folly is here! To love the world more than God is a plain indication of the apostacy of the heart from him. And from this inward apostacy of the heart begins the outward apostacy in life.
(2) The world and everything in it is mutable and mortal, constantly changing, and hastening apace to dissolution. (John Mason, M. A.)
Worldliness
I speak to you, not as hermits, but as men of the world, occupied constantly in honourable vocations, and yet conscious that there is a life above this world–an eternal, spiritual, divine life. Will you suffer me to put before you two or three suggestions which may enable us, while living in this world, yet to rise above it?
1. And the first suggestion I would make is, that it would be well for him who desires the spiritual life to adopt some definite, constant action of self-denial. It may be abstinence from alcoholic drink, from theatres and balls–things perfectly right and legitimate in themselves; it may be even so small a thing as early rising in the morning, or it may be some pecuniary generosity; but whatever it is, if it be adopted as a definite self-denial, as a definite self-consecration of the man to God, it will undoubtedly have a purifying and elevating influence.
2. My second suggestion is this, that every one of us who desires to live the spiritual life should ask himself the question, In what respect does my ordinary life, my professional, my regular routine of existence, tend to draw me from God, tend to deaden the spiritual activities and faculties? and then that he should set himself to encourage a practice which will limit this tendency. For, according to the familiar illustration of the philosopher Aristotle, if a stick is bent in one direction, and you want to straighten it, you must bend it violently in the opposite direction. Suppose, for example, as is quite likely, that one is engaged in the business of commerce, it is his object to make money, and this is legitimate in itself; yet, if he be spiritually minded, he will not be blind to the fact that the occupation of making money does tend to set the soul upon earthly, and not upon heavenly things. In order to remedy this tendency he will encourage in himself a definite, systematic practice of generosity; he will aim at using his money, not as an owner, but as a trustee, so that by means of it he may make the world better, he may increase the happiness and joy of those less fortunate than himself.
3. Let me take a third instance to show the duty and beauty of this spiritual life. It is easy to get into the state in which the very being of God Himself becomes a doubt and a difficulty, and yet it is vital to avoid that state altogether and always. Is it not the case in public life that there are dangers which threaten the well-being of the spiritual nature–I mean the love of victory for instance, which is not the love of truth? The voice of the people is not the voice of God, it tends now-a-days to drown the voice of God. What can be the effect of the malice and uncharitableness which men display so often towards one another, but to make God seem distant, and as if He had no relation to the human soul? Anyone then who in the noble field of public life is anxious not to let his spirituality die out will be careful at times to retire into solitude to commune with his Maker and with his own soul, and he will cry out, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Such a man will try always to live as in the sight of God. (J. E. Welldon, D. D.)
The world we must not love
Let us not confuse the world with the earth, with the whole race of man, with general society, with any particular set, however much some sets are to be avoided. Look at the thing fairly. Yet let us read the letters of Mary Godolphin. She bore a life unspotted by the world in the dissolute court of Charles II, because the love of the Father was in her. In small serious circles are there no hidden lusts which blaze up in scandals? Is there no vanity, no pride, no hatred? In the world of Charles IIs court Mary Godolphin lived out of the world which God hated; in the religious world not a few, certainly, live in the world which is not Gods. For once more, the world is not so much a place–though at times its power seems to have been drawn into one intense focus, as in the empire of which Rome was the centre, and which may have been in the apostles thought in the following verse. In the truest and deepest sense the world consists of our own spiritual surrounding; it is the place which we make for our own souls. No walls that ever were reared can shut out the world from us; the Nun of Kenmare found that it followed her into the seemingly spiritual retreat of a severe Order. The world in its essence is subtler and thinner than the most infinitesimal of the bacterian germs in the air. They can be strained off by the exquisite apparatus of a man of science. At a certain height they cease to exist. But the world may be wherever we are; we carry it with us wherever we go, it lasts while our lives last. No consecration can utterly banish it even from within the churchs walls; it dares to be round us while we kneel, and follows us into the presence of God. (Abp. Wm. Alexander.)
The Christian in the world
A true Christian living in the world is like a ship sailing on the ocean. It is not the ship being in the water which will sink it, but the water getting into the ship. So in like manner the Christian is not ruined by living in the world, which he must needs do while he remains in the body, but by the world living in him. Our daily avocations, yea, our most lawful employments, have need to be narrowly watched, lest they insensibly steal upon our affections, and draw away our hearts from God.
A dangerous experiment
Whoever is contriving, by how little faith or how little grace, and with how large interspersing of gaieties and worldly pleasure he may make his title to salvation good, is engaged in a very critical experiment. He is trying how to be a Christian without being at all a saintly person. How to love God enough without loving Him enough to be taken away from his lighter pleasures, and he really thinks that, aiming low enough to be a little of a Christian, he still may just hit the target on the lower edge. Perhaps he will; but is he sure of it? And, if he really is, what miserable economy is it to be so little in the love of God and the joys of a glorious devotion, that he can be just empty enough to want his deficit made up by amusements! If that will answer, a very mean soul certainly can be saved. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Unlading
When ballast is thrown out, the balloon shoots up. A general unlading of the thick clay which weighs down the Christian life of England and of America, would let thou sands soar to heights which they will never reach as long as they love money and what it buys as much as they do. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Worldliness impedes the sight of higher things
Suppose I were shut up within a round tower, whose massive wall had in some time of trouble been pierced here and there for musketry; suppose, further, that by choice or necessity, I am whirled rapidly and incessantly round its inner circumference, will I appreciate the beauties of the surrounding landscape or recognise the features of the men who labour in the field below? I will not! Why? Are there not openings in the wall which I pass at every circuit? Yes; but the eye, set for objects near, has not time to adjust itself to objects at a distance until it has passed the openings; and so the result is the same as if it were a dead wall all round. Behold the circle of human life! of the earth, earthy it is, almost throughout its whole circumference. A dead wall, very near and very thick, obstructs the view. Here and there, on a Sabbath or other season of seriousness, a slit is left open in its side. Heaven might be seen through these; but alas! the eye which is habitually set for the earthly cannot, during such momentary glimpses, adjust itself to higher things. Unless you pause and look steadfastly, you will see neither clouds nor sunshine through these openings, or the distant sky. So long has the soul looked upon the world, and so firmly is the worlds picture fixed in its eye, that when it is turned for a moment heavenward, it feels only a quiver of inarticulate light, and retains no distinct impression of the things that are unseen and eternal. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Love not the world
Love not the world, cries St. John in a shuddering laconicism. A multitude of voices echo his words. The shores of time are strewn with many a wreck, each serving as a beacon to point out the rock on which they stranded. Here the merchant who worked seven days in the week, who forgot God in piling up riches, and failed at last, cries, Love not the world. Here the millionaire who inherited a fortune and doubled it every ten years, and drained every cup of pleasure, and now faces death with a tainted body and a leprous character, cries, Love not the world. Here the statesman who reached the senate chamber and laid his hand on dishonest gold and went down in ignominy, cries, Love not the world. Here the brilliant journalist, the clever student, the gifted artist, who reached distinction at the sacrifice of strength, life, reputation, cry, Love not the world. Could we lift the curtain that shrouds the tomb, what awful warnings would break upon our ears! Miser, spendthrift, drunkard, libertine, sensualist, what sayest thou? That gluttony is shame, and drunkenness woe, and debauchery corruption, and the wages of sin death. Love not the world. Apart from God there is nothing. In Him are all things. The love of the creature more than the Creator is the curse and condemnation of the soul. Supreme affection toward God is the coronation of humanity. (S. S. Roche.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. Love not the world] Though these several classes were so well acquainted with Divine things, and had all tasted the powers of the world to come: yet so apt are men to be drawn aside by sensible things, that the Holy Spirit saw it necessary to caution these against the love of the world, the inordinate desire of earthly things. Covetousness is the predominant vice of old age: Ye fathers, love not the world. The things which are in the world, its profits, pleasures, and honours, have the strongest allurements for youth; therefore, ye young men, little children, and babes, love not the things of this world. Let those hearts abide faithful to God who have taken him for their portion.
The love of the Father is not in him.] The love of God and the love of earthly things are incompatible. If you give place to the love of the world, the love of God cannot dwell in you; and if you have not his love, you can have no peace, no holiness, no heaven.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What he here means by the forbidden object of our love, must be gathered from his own explication, 1Jo 2:16. The love itself forbidden, in reference thereto, is that excess thereof, whereby any adhere to terrene things, as their best good; wherewith, as he adds, any sincere love to God is inconsistent, as Mat 6:24; Luk 14:3; a consideration so awful and tremendous, that it is not strange the precept it enforces should have so solemn and urgent an introduction.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Love not the worldthatlieth in the wicked one (1Jo5:19), whom ye young men have overcome. Having once forall, through faith, overcome the world (1Jn 4:4;1Jn 5:4), carry forward theconquest by not loving it. “The world” here means “man,and man’s world” [ALFORD],in his and its state as fallen from God. “God loved [withthe love of compassion] the world,” and we should feelthe same kind of love for the fallen world; but we are not tolove the world with congeniality and sympathy inits alienation from God; we cannot have this latter kind of love forthe God-estranged world, and yet have also “the love of theFather in” us.
neitherGreek,“nor yet.” A man might deny in general that he loved theworld, while keenly following some one of THETHINGS IN IT: its riches, honors, or pleasures; this clauseprevents him escaping from conviction.
any mantherefore thewarning, though primarily addressed to the young, applies to all.
love ofthat is,towards “the Father.” The two, God and the (sinful)world, are so opposed, that both cannot be congenially loved at once.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Love not the world,…. The habitable earth, the world in which men live; this is not to be loved by saints, as if it was their habitation, where they are always to be, and so loath to remove from it, seeing they are but sojourners, and pilgrims, and strangers here; this is not their rest, nor dwellingplace, their continuing city, or proper country, that is heaven. Nor should they love the men of the world, who are as they came into it, are of it, and mind the things of it, and lie in wickedness, and are wicked men; for though these are to be loved, as men, as fellow creatures, and their good, both spiritual and temporal, is to be sought, and good is to be done to them, as much as lies in our power, both with respect to soul and body; yet their company is not to be chosen, and preferred to the saints, but to be shunned and avoided, as disagreeable and dangerous; their evil conversation, and wicked communications, are not to be loved, but abhorred, and their works of darkness are to be reproved; nor are their ways to be imitated, and their customs followed, or their manners to be conformed unto:
neither the things [that are] in the world; good men that are in the world, though they are not of the world, are to be loved; and the kingdom of Christ, though it is not of the world, yet it is in the world, and is to be regarded and promoted to the uttermost; and there are the natural and civil things of the world, called this world’s goods, which may be loved within due bounds, and used in a proper manner, though they are not to be loved inordinately and abused. This is the character of worldly men; so the Jews call such,
, “such that love world” g. Near relations and friends in the world, and the blessings of life, may be loved and enjoyed in their way, but not above God and Christ, or so as to take up satisfaction and contentment in them, to make idols of them, and put trust and confidence in them, and prefer them to spiritual and heavenly things, and be so taken with them, as to be unconcerned for, and careless about the other; but the evil things of the world, or at least the evil use of them, and affection for them, are here intended, as appears from the following verse. Now it is chiefly with respect to the fathers, and young men, that this exhortation is given; and the repetition of what is said to them before is made, to introduce this; which is exceeding suitable to their age and characters. Old men are apt to be covetous, and love the world and worldly things, just when they are going out of it, and about to leave them; and young men are apt to be carried away with lust, vanity, ambition, and pride: and therefore, from each of these, the apostle dissuades, from the following arguments,
if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; that is, “the love of God”, as the Alexandrian copy and the Ethiopic version read; who is the Father of Christ, and of all the elect in him; and who is indeed, by creation, the Father of all men, the Father of spirits, of the souls of men, and of angels, and the Father of mercies and of lights, and by the love of him is meant, either the love with which he loves his people, and which being shed abroad in the heart, attracts the soul to himself, and causes it to love him above the world, and all things in it; and such an one esteems of it, and an interest in it, more than life, and all the enjoyments of it, and is by it loosened to the world, and sets light by it, and can part with all good things in it, and suffer all evil things cheerfully, under the constraints and influence of this love; so that it is a clear case, that when the affections of men are set upon the world, and they are glued to the things of it, their hearts are not warmed with a sense of the love of God, or, that is not sensibly in them, or shed abroad in their hearts: or else by the love of God is meant love to God, which is inconsistent with the love of the world, or with such an inordinate love of mammon, as to serve it; for a man may as soon serve two masters, as serve God and mammon, which he can never do truly, faithfully, and affectionately; and which also is not consistent with friendship with the men of the world, or a conversation and fellowship with them in things that are evil, whether superstition or profaneness; see Mt 6:24.
g Kimchi in Psal. xlix. 9. Ben Melech in ib. ver. 14.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Love not the world ( ). Prohibition with and the present active imperative of , either stop doing it or do not have the habit of doing it. This use of is common in John’s Gospel (1John 1:10; 1John 17:14) and appears also in 1Jo 5:19. In epitome the Roman Empire represented it. See it also in Jas 4:4. It confronts every believer today.
If any man love ( ). Third-class condition with and present active subjunctive of (same form as indicative), “if any keep on loving the world.”
The love of the Father ( ). Objective genitive, this phrase only here in N.T., with which compare “love of God” in 2:5. In antithesis to love of the world.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The world [ ] . See on Joh 1:9.
The love of the Father [ ] . The phrase occurs only here in the New Testament. It means love towards the Father, yet as generated by the Father ‘s love to man. Compare 1Jo 3:1. See on love of God, ver. 5.
Is not in him. This means more than that he does not love God : rather that the love of God does not dwell in him as the ruling principle of his life. Westcott cites a parallel from Philo : “It is impossible for love to the world to coexist with love to God, as it is impossible for light and darkness to coexist.” Compare Plato. “Evils, Theodorus, can never pass away; for there must always remain something which is antagonist to good. Having no place among the gods in heaven, of necessity they hover around the earthly nature, and this mortal sphere. Wherefore we ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like Him is to become holy and just and wise” (” Theaetetus, ” 176).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
GOD’S FAMILY MUST NOT GLUE THEIR AFFECTIONS TO THE
SINFUL WORLD ORDER
1) “Love not the world” (Greek me agapate) John imperatively orders or commands, as a loving father, that children of God should not love, with strong affection, the (Greek kosmon) present world order. Rom 12:2; Jas 4:4.
2) “Neither the things that are in the world.” A child of God must not tie himself affectionately, either to the general system of World order and ethics, or any specific thing or things of the world order. They are temporal, ephemeral, passing; earthly things pass like a vapor, a rainbow, and an empty cloud. 2Co 4:18.
3) “If any man love the world”. John poses a subjunctive of possibility, asserting therewith that the one (Greek tis) who should have strong affections for the world – world order – like Judas Iscariot, the thief, like Annanias and Sapphira the thieves and liars.
4) “The love of the Father is not in him”. Did not have or hold the high, holy affections of the Father existing in or controlling him. 2Jn 1:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15 Love not He had said before that the only rule for living religiously, is to love God; but as, when we are occupied with the vain love of the world, we turn away all our thoughts and affections another way, this vanity must first be torn away from us, in order that the love of God may reign within us. Until our minds are cleansed, the former doctrine may be iterated a hundred times, but with no effect: it would be like pouring water on a ball; you can gather, no, not a drop, because there is no empty place to retain water. (68)
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. (69)
Moreover, the love of the world is thus severely condemned, because we must necessarily forget God and ourselves when we regard nothing so much as the earth; and when a corrupt lust of this kind rules in man, and so holds him entangled that he thinks not of the heavenly life, he is possessed by a beastly stupidity.
If any man love the world He proves by an argument from what is contrary, how necessary it is to cast away the love of the world, if we wish to please God; and this he afterwards confirms by an argument drawn from what is inconsistent; for what belongs to the world is wholly at variance with God. We must bear in mind what I have already said, that a corrupt mode of life is here mentioned, which has nothing in common with the kingdom of God, that is, when men become so degenerated, that they are satisfied with the present life, and think no more of immortal life than mute animals. Whosoever, then, makes himself thus a slave to earthly lusts, cannot be of God.
(68) It is considered by many, such as Macknight and Scott, that the three former verses are connected with this — that the particulars stated with regard to little children, fathers, and young men, are adduced as reasons to enforce this exhortation, “Love not the world,” etc. And this no doubt is the best view of the passage. — Ed.
(69) There are two things, the world, and the things that are in the world. The world, thus distinguished from what is in it, means, according to Macknight, the wicked and unbelieving, the men of the world, as when our Savior says, “the world,” that is, the unbelieving Jews, “hateth you,” Joh 15:19. According to this view, the contrast in verse 17 appears very suitable, “The world (the ungodly men of the world) passeth away, and its lust, (their lust;) but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Others think that the blessings of the world are meant, the good things necessary for the support of man, and that these are not to be loved, though they may be rightly used. In this case, “in the world” must have a different meaning, a thing not unusual in Scripture; it must mean in the present state of things. But the most consistent view is the first, that is, to take “the world” throughout as signifying the ungodly men of the world. What prevail among them are the lusts here mentioned, — sensual gratification, avarice, and ambition, the three gods who rule and reign in mankind. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CHURCH THEATRICALS A TRAVESTY OF TERMS
1Jn 2:15-17.
Sermon by Dr. W. B. Riley, First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Jan. 3, 1909.
THIS is one of the plain texts of that easily understood Bookthe Bible. Among other proofs of the inspiration of this volume, this must ever be regarded as important, namely, that its thought is simple and its ideas clearly expressed.
I propose to apply this text to the subject of church theatricals in order to correct if possible that evil compromise which some churches are making with the world in this matter. In the years of my residence in this city I have never, in so short a time, seen so much in the newspapers involving this travesty of terms as recently.
To pass over the question of ethics where a church photographs girls engaged in scant clothing as an appeal for public patronage, there still remains occasion to compare some evident ideas involving the name of the Church of Christ with the clear teaching of this Scripture.
Think of the promise of thirty living pictures and ten fancy dances and a German drama in three acts and a pickaninny chorus to close the bill, and so on, put forth by a professed Church of Christ, and all in the name of sweet charity.
When respectable Christian people go thus far in the name of the Church, is it any wonder that the world takes an additional step and opens a hall to a Sunday night revelry of drink and dance and adulterous suggestion; and then defend it, and even secure the judgment of a judge, in the name of charity?
Long enough has the Church of God been hoodwinked by that false philosophy that we may do evil that good may come. It is time we turned again to the rules and regulations laid down by our Lord or voiced by men inspired by the Spirit, and this test is among them.
There are three suggestions in this Scripture worthy of development:The World is Opposed, The World is Portrayed, and The World is Passing.
THE WORLD IS OPPOSED
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
That is not fanaticism! that is sanity instead. There are positive reasons why the Church must take this very attitude in order to maintain its existence and accomplish its mission. We are not asked to oppose the world just to be odd, but rather because the True Church and the real world can no more escape mutual opposition than can light and darkness, love and hatred, life and death. These two are constitutionally opposed; they are opposed in life, in customs and in influence.
In saying these things let it be understood that we do not hold to the idea that matter is inherently evil. The world as used in the Bible, does not refer to the globe we inhabit, but rather to the fallen state of man, to his universal unregeneracy. We have no sympathy with that race of hermits of whom Tennyson speaks, who Live on pillars to avoid contamination by touching the surface of the earth.
Christs disciples are to be in the world; but, as Paul says to the Romans, not conformed to it.
In life, the world is from below and the Church from above. When at night Nicodemus came to Jesus inquiring the way, Jesus said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man he born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
And to explain His meaning, Paul writes:
That which is horn of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is the Lord from Heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the Heavenly, such are they also that are Heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly.
This new birth not only changes ones character, but it actually introduces another life and an opposing spirit. He that hath the Son hath life. The life in Christ is absolutely another thing from the life of the world.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2Co 5:17).
In customs the life of the Christian and the life of the world are necessarily opposed. It would be impossible to bring this out more fully than Paul expresses it in his Epistle to the Romans when he tells of a disposition to do the will of God opposed to certain customs which cling to him from the former life, and in reference to it he says,
The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me,
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me,
For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man:
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (Rom 7:19-23).
That may account for the compromise of many a churchman with the world, but it in no wise condones the offense, nor suggests the necessity of its continuance. Paul bemoaned his estate, Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
And Paul appropriated proffered help and was able to cry, I thank God through Jesus Christ.
If there is one point at which the world reveals its spirit more than another it is in the so-called dramatic art, or the modern theater. It is doubtful if there is a more worldly institution in existence, and the Word of the Lord is that ye be * * not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; and the injunction following, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, has never found better occasion than when the Church is compromised with the world at this point. Her very life depends upon her obedience to the Divine injunction. Worldly customs, worldly society, the things that are in the world, are to the new life a depressing atmosphere, and if they do not destroy its existence they will certainly destroy its brilliancy, extinguish its light, and if * * the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.
In influence the world must be opposed by the Church. The worlds attitude is one of opposition to Christian people. Jesus Himself said of His disciples, I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
The world opposes the Church of Jesus Christ without cause. The Church of Jesus Christ can hate the world with good occasion, for the world crucified its Lord. I heard J. Wilbur Chapman say that his uncle was stabbed to death by a man who used a dirk knife in the awful deed. His father went to the scene of the tragedy in answer to a telegram, and found the knife lying near to his brothers side. He wrapped it in paper and carried it home that it might be introduced as evidence in the murder trial. When he came to the house with it, he unwrapped the paper and mother and us children had one glance; mother screamed and said, Take it away, I dont want to ever see it again! and father wrapped it up and carefully concealed it. The sight of that knife made my mother sick at heart, and sent a chill over every child. Why? Solely because it was the instrument of my loved uncles death.
How can the brethren of our Lord fondle with affection that instrument which Satan used to slay our loved Saviour? On it He was crucified by the world. Do not tell me then that those people who love not the world, are mere cranks, for I declare to you that in that circumstance they reveal one of the surest signs of discipleship to Jesus Christ.
Again, the man who wears His Name, or the name of His Church, and yet gives himself to worldliness will soon discover a depression, if not a destruction, of all spiritual life and power. When did you ever see a professed Christian constantly consorting with the world, or a church in daily alliance with it, retain spiritual gifts or evidence spiritual ability? Goethe was right, Tell me with whom thou dost company and I will tell thee who thou art.
THE WORLD PORTRAYED
The ground of opposition to the world is defended in the definition of the world. Three phrases cover that definition and nothing more is needed the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Did it ever occur to you that when Satan attacked the Son of God these were the three points of approachthe lust of the flesh,the lust of the eye, and the pride of life?
Command that these stones be made bread and feed Thyselfan appeal to the lust of the flesh.
Cast Thyself down from the pinnacle of the Temple, and let the angels of God descend to catch Thee in their arms, and the whole world look on the lust of the eyes!
Bow down before me and all the kingdoms of the world will be given theethe pride of life!
The devil knew the most powerful appeals, and he also understood the weakest points of the human nature. Those appeals constitute the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
The lust of the flesh. What a multitude are going down, that way, tonight! It is nothing less than the world that is taking those young men into yonder blind pig. It is the lust of the flesh that leads them there, and into yonder pool rooms where smoking and drinking and filthy conversation and filthier conduct are cursing the lads of the land. It is the lust of the flesh.
R. J. Campbell, successor to Joseph Parker, in London, England, a few years since, made himself famous by his erratic theology and infamous by his false teaching. Seldom has he spoken more falsely than when he said,
What I mean to point out is, that there is not, and never has been, an act of the will in which a man without bias in either direction, has deliberately chosen evil in the presence of good. Under such circumstances no being in his sober senses would ever choose evil. Enlightened self-interest alone would forbid the probability of such a choice. Freedom of the will, in this sense, has never existed.
Is God responsible then for the evil conduct of man? I prefer the Apostle James to Reginald Campbell. James says,
God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, (or full-grown) bringeth forth death.
The newspapers reported within one week, three men have appeared at the State University offering to sell their bodies for $25.00 and commit suicide on New Years Day.
Has the meaning of that proposition appeared to you? $25.00 to be spent in two or three days! Life for the poor has no such necessities! If it was life they loved, they would continue it thirty days, for that amount of money would have sustained it in fair comfort for so long. But in the interest of lustdrunkenness, adultery, and such like, these men were willing to sell their bodies and souls for a three-day debauch.
Would God the world could entice only such debased and degraded ones; but she has her attractions for the refined, the comfortably situated; yea, even for those whose morals have been fair and whose mental culture has been fine.
Hawthorne, in his story of Prudence Ingelfield, gives us a pitiful illustration. It was Thanksgiving Eve when the prodigal daughter returned to fill the empty chair at the family table. Her father received her with thanksgiving and her brother thanked God that she had come before he set off to a far field as a foreign missionary.
But when the dinner was over, Satan came and called to this beautiful child again, and even while the family were making preparations for the evening prayer, Prudence slipped on her cloak and hood and lifted the latch of the door and was gone. Her father called after her, but Hawthorne says,
The fiend prevailed and Prudence vanished into outer darkness. When the family reached the door they could see nothing but heard the sound of wheels rolling over the frozen ground. That same night among the painted beauties at the theater of a neighboring city, there was one whose dissolute mirth seemed inconsistent with any sympathy for pure affections, and for the joys and griefs which are hallowed by them. This was Prudence Ingelfield.
No wonder Hawthorne concludes, The same dark power that drew Prudence Ingelfield from her fathers hearth, the same in its nature, though heightened then to a dread necessity, would snatch a guilty soul from the gate of Heaven and make its sin and its punishment alike eternal.
What was that power? The lust of the flesh. To what place did she return for its satiety?
To the place of the painted beauties at the theater.
Shame on the Church of God that compromises with an institution that for more than two thousand years has done little else than excite the lust of the flesh and destroy the souls of men and women, and lads and lassies.
The lust of the eyes. Ever since the fall of man the eye gate has been one of the favorite ways of Satan to the town of Mans-soul.
It would almost seem that with the race of the centuries, he is choosing more and more to enter by that way. What is the meaning when, in one of our theaters recently, upon which people who profess themselves to be decent, attend, young girls appeared without so much as a. ribbon at the waist; exposing femininity for price and patronage, selling their own souls, damning the souls of others, sacrilegiously attempting to besmirch religion in the endeavor?
Because the lust of the eyes is such that many a modern theater lives by the same! Yonder Madam, in the red-light district, who hires her sleuth hounds to hunt the innocent and convert them into victims of fleshly lusts, is no more Satans agent than that theater which makes its money by damning alike the souls of its performers and patrons.
Truly, as the Epistle to the Romans says, such as engage here in the flesh the sinful passions work in [their] members to bring forth fruit unto death.
What should be the attitude of the Church toward this whole institution, (for while some of them are worse than others, none of them are good,) except for Christians to come out from among them * * and touch not the unclean thing?
But this is not the sole offender through the lust of the eyes.
Tolstoi was not only the noblest Russian, but was one of the most remarkable men of modern times. The thing that distinguished him was that he saw clearly and spake fearlessly.
He has a volume on What is Art? that every man and woman should read. In it he says, Since the world began, since the Trojan war, which sprang from that same sexual dissoluteness, down to and including the suicides and murders of lovers described in almost every newspaper, a great proportion of the sufferings of the human race have come from this source.
Then he raises the question, What is art doing with it? And answers, All art, real and counterfeit, with very few exceptions, is devoted to describing, depicting, and inflaming sexual love in every shape and form. When one remembers all those novels and their lust-kindling descriptions of love with which the literature of our society overflows; if one only remembers all those pictures and statues representing womens naked bodies, and all sorts of abominations which are reproduced in illustrations and advertisements; if one only remembers all the filthy operas and operettas, with which the world teems, involuntarily it seems as if existing art had but one definite aimto disseminate vice as widely as possible.
And after a further description, Tolstoi says, I think that every reasonable man will again decide the question as, Plato decided it, Rather let there be no art at all than continue the depraving art, or simulation of art, which now exists.
And yet when it is all said, what is the meaning of it? The Bible, with its accustomed ability, puts it in one phrasethe lust of the eyesthat is another feature of the world. How then can the Church of God compromise with it and its institutions?
The pride of life.
If one would like a fuller description of this subject then go back to the Book of Ecclesiastes and hear Solomon as he sums it up. James also has spoken a brief word,
What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
That is true if one is to live only the life that now is.
All is vanity and vexation of spirit! How many people there are who think if they can only build a mansion, blessedness will begin! Let one man instruct us from experience, for that alone reveals the vain glory of the world. Writing in the Chicago Evening Post he said, When we were poor we looked toward the time when we could have a summer home. Yes, said his friend. When we got rich enough to have one we did not like going to the same place every summer. Yes. Then we built another. After a bit we got to going to a different place in the winter so that we would not have to put some time in the city and so we built there. I suppose you are satisfied now.
I suppose so; at least I suppose my wife is. She spends most of her time in Europe now, but she knows she has them.
Of this vain glory even the secular papers could see the moral, and headed this article The way of the world.
But if the world only disappointed men it would not be so bad. The truth is it destroys them.
Do you remember that the author of Quo Vadis speaks of the time when Lygia went with Acte to the palace and looked upon what was to her a strange world whose beauty intoxicated her eyes, but whose contrasts her girlish understanding could not grasp. In those twilights of the sky, in those rows of motionless columns vanishing in the distance, and in those statuesque people, there was a certain lofty repose. It seemed that in the midst of those marbles of simple lines demigods might live free of care, at peace and in happiness. Meanwhile, the low voice of Acte disclosed, time after time, a new and dreadful secret of that palace and those people. See, there at a distance is the covered portico on whose columns and floor are still visible red stains from the blood with which Caligula sprinkled the white marble when he fell beneath the knife of Cassitrus Chaerea; there his wife was slain; there his child was dashed against a stone; tinder that wing is the dungeon in which the younger Drusus gnawed his hands from hunger; there the elder Drusus was poisoned; there Gemelius quivered in terror, and Claudius in convulsions; there Germanicus suffered,everywhere those walls had heard the groans and death-rattle of the dying; and those people hurrying now to the feast in togas, in colored tunics, in flowers, and in jewels, may be the condemned of tomorrow. On more than one face, perhaps, a smile conceals terror, alarm, the uncertainty of the next day; perhaps feverishness, greed, envy are gnawing at this moment into the hearts of those crowned demigods, who in appearance are free from care.
Lygias frightened thoughts could not keep pace with Actes words; and when that wonderful world attracted her eyes with increasing force, her heart contracted within her from fear.
Some might think this the fear of inexperience, or even the timidity of the ignorant, but the better instructed know full well that it was well founded. The very scene upon which she had looked there had been the delight of the multitude when first they touched it; it proved itself later to be their death, destroying body and soul in hell. Vain glory indeed, and from it the Apostle, by inspiration tries, Love not.
But the Bible is again remarkable in that it always assigns its reasons.
THE WORLD IS PASSING
The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Here the end of the world is predicted. If there is anything that has been made certain by the voice and pen of inspiration it is the temporary character of the world. The end of the world is not a philosophical phrase; it is a Biblical sentence.
Every prophet saw it; every inspired sage spake of it. Without attempting to quote the multitude of passages relating to this subject let me remind you of a few. The Evangel of the Old Testament Isaiahspeaking of it after this manner:
Behold, the Lord will dome with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.
For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
The Apostle Peter says,
The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
John in the Revelation saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. It is folly for the Christian manimmortalized by his conversionto fix his affections upon that which passeth away.
This end involves a sentence of judgment also.
And the lust thereof.
When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The first warning against sin that ever was uttered was attended by the statement, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. It is no more true that the gift of God is eternal life than it is that the wages of sin is death.
And when one remembers that the world is to be brought into judgment, and that part of it which lieth in the wicked one is to be turned into hell, it is an occasion for the Church of God to keep itself separate.
People read these sacred sentences without stopping to reflect upon them. The fear of judgment is strong enough in the human heart if only men believed it were about to fall. Convince Minneapolis today that it will stand before God before tomorrow dawns, and every sanctuary of it will be filled with penitents, and scarce an unregenerate man but will be confessing his sins and begging for pardon; and scarce a churchman but will be contrite in spirit, and grieving his alliance with the world.
What better illustration of this fact could one find than is already written into history. In 1721 Mr. Whitson, having calculated the return of a comet for the 24th of October, at five minutes past five in the morning, gave notice to the public accordingly and declared that as a result of the comets coming the world would be dissolved by fire on the following Sunday.
Mr. Whitsons reputation as a divine and as a philosopher carried conviction to the populace that his prediction would come to pass. The gentleman who had neglected to have family prayers for five years resumed them that night. His wife, having an engagement to attend a ball, tried to persuade him to put it off until they saw whether the comet was coming into sight. The South Sea stock immediately fell to 5% and the East India stock to 1%. But when the next morning the comet appeared according to prediction, the people believed the judgment was at hand. One hundred and twenty-five clergymen were ferried to Lambeth to pray for the people. Many burned their novels and rushed to the bookshops to get a copy of the Bible or of Taylors Holy Living and Dying. More than seven thousand men who kept mistresses were promptly married, and so on.
We smile at these suggestions and yet one day, in a moment, the end will be on, the judgment will have come. If the Revelation be dependable, men who have forgotten to be honestmen and women who have made traffic of virtue; multitudes who have mocked Godthe mighty of all the earth including its kings, and princes, and chief captains, and its rich men, and! strong men and bond men and! free men, will seek a hiding place, and with their voices will cry to the dust and to the rocks to fall on us, and hide us ** from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Then both the passing of the world and the prominence of the Christian will be alike revealed. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from Heaven; whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain, namely, the Kingdom of God and the places of His grace. For the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Dwight Hillis, in his little volume Immortality, says, It was faith in the immortality that gave the heroes their conquering courage and the reformers their immortal renown. The light falling from the Heavenly shore hath lent a soft radiance to mans earthly life and thought. Handel tells us that when he wrote the Hallelujah Chorus he saw Heaven opened and all the angels and the great God Himself. When death robbed Tennyson of Hallam, his friend, the poet took up the harp of life, and looking toward the immortal realm, the music of unwonted sweetness stole over the world. Dying at last he passed away to the music of his own requiem. When the little child, the sweet mother, the poet or statesman falls asleep, should we look up with Dante we would see:
A Divine chariot sweeping through the Heavenly confines,Its pathway well-nigh choked with flowers.
This is the prospect and the promise that puts the crown upon the Christians brow. And whether it is the little one or the parent, the man in the palace or the peasant in the hut, who is passing, if his faith is in Christ, he goes knowing that to die is to live again.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
3. So that we must not love a godless and evanescent world, 1Jn 2:15-17.
This self-purification revolves a withdrawal of our fellowship from the world in its impure conditions.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15. Love Resumption of the topic of love from 1Jn 2:11. To that verse John had impressively taught us to love our brother; he will now teach us what not to love.
The world There are aspects in which the world should be loved.
1. With a love of affection which desires its well-being not only as a whole, but for the beings that inhabit it. Even “God so loved the world;” and so requires us to love; and this includes the love of our brother in 1Jn 2:3-14.
2. We are to love in due degree the enjoyments which God has provided for our rational natures. We may enjoy life as a scene of duties, mercies, and gracious gifts of God. Yet are we so to enjoy as to not love it in any superiority over, or competition with, that better world for which it is our preparatory. He who enjoys this world in accordance with a constant faith in a higher and holy world to come “makes the best of both worlds.” A two-fold happiness makes him both fearless and doubly cheerful. But there are three aspects in which the world is not to be loved.
1 . As a material solid residence it is under divine reprobation, and is vanishing and doomed, and if we bury ourselves in its materialities we are liable to be doomed with it. 2. As a mass of unregenerate beings, to whom, however we may wish well, yet we know that it “lieth in wickedness,” and must not sympathize with its unregeneracy. 3. As a mass of depravities and errors, of immoralities and false doctrines, there is a world of thought and character for which we must have no moral approving love. These are unfolded in the triad of the next verse. In these aspects the love of the world is incompatible with the love of the Father. The errorist may believe that his lawless appetites for the world are at one with the Father; the Christian knows better. Of these three the first is most properly the world.
Love of the Father The word Father here, as in 1Jn 2:1, designates God the Father in his relation to the Son, and so as head of the system of salvation. The love of the Father is, then, our love for God as the prime source of our salvation, the author of the blessed heaven, the Father of Christ. It is the love inspired by the Spirit in consequence of our faith in Christ.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and its desire, but he who does the will of God abides for ever.’
This is possibly to be seen as continuing the address to the young men, although also applying to all. It is they who will be most vulnerable to it. It is not a direction not to love mankind, for God’s general benevolence was towards mankind (Joh 3:16) and the need to love one’s neighbour was a well established principle (Mar 12:30-33; Rom 13:8-10). Rather the world that is in mind is that which lies in the Evil One (1Jn 5:19), that which he rules and controls (Mat 4:8-9) and deceives. These young men have overcome the Evil One. And it is by means of the activities of the world without God that he will try to win them back. Therefore they must beware.
The ‘world’ that is in mind is the world and its ways, its aims, its ambitions, its desires and its pleasures. That is what they are to beware of. It is not to avoid the world totally, for they must live in it, but to beware of loving it, of being caught up in it and its ways. The Christian is to be in the world but not of the world, salt which counters the world’s putrefaction, light which serves to counter the world’s darkness.
So having concentrated on what they are to set their hearts on, the knowing of the Father, the knowing of the One ‘Who is from the beginning, the knowing of the Word of God, the receiving of forgiveness with all its implications of walking in the light, John now turns their thoughts to what they should not seek to ‘know’, the world and its ways. Indeed love for the world in this sense would demonstrate that they neither loved the Father, nor were filled with the Father’s love, for it is contrary to all God’s requirements.
‘The love of the Father is not in him.’ The Father’s love is directed at His children (1Jn 3:1) and enters into them, and the result is that they love what He loves. And what the world loves is not what He loves. The world is going in a different direction. The Father loves righteousness, truth, purity, selflessness, consideration for others, compassion. This is the opposite of what the world loves. And thus the one who loves the world reveals by that fact that the Father’s love is not in him. We cannot love God and mammon,
And why is this? Because what the world rejoices in and craves is the exact opposite to what is of the Father. It craves power, control, position, satisfaction of its desires, illicit sex, greed, gluttony, wealth and more wealth, continuing self-satisfaction, earthly glory, none of which are of the Father, and it grows more and more careless as to how it obtains them. For its aims are totally selfish, and, while even sometimes seeming noble, regardless of God. There is little in them of true self-giving. It controls and manipulates. It revels while others starve. It is the world which is God-dismissing, which takes little notice of God’s will, indeed scoffs at it.
The meaning of the loving of the world is defined in three ways, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the vain glory of life. The first signifies the misuse of wine, wealth, women and song and other human pleasures, where human desires have become prominent and require satisfaction (in John ‘flesh’ signifies being human rather than being particularly sinful – Joh 1:12; Joh 1:14; Joh 3:6), the second the glittering prizes of wealth and honour and fame and position, where the eye is fixed on earthly things and earthly goals, and the third the desire to control and govern in their own name, to be someone, and yet all for their own purposes. Thus they make gods of pleasure, prestige and power. Such attitudes are the direct opposite of all that God is. They symbolise the direct rejection of God’s requirements and law, for the point is that they control men’s decisions and direct men’s lives and lead them into every kind of wickedness, and every form of manipulation, all of which is contrary to God’s commandments. The thought of loving God and their neighbour as themselves is the last thing that they have in mind.
But, warns John, these things are not only unsatisfying, they are passing. The world and its desires, as will darkness (1Jn 2:8), will inevitably pass away, sometimes more quickly than we anticipate. They are temporary and not lasting. In contrast those who know God and walk with Him achieve what is permanent. They seek what God wills. They use their wealth for good and for God so as to gain treasure in Heaven and not status on earth (Luk 16:9). They look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen (2Co 4:18). They take ‘pride’ in pleasing God. And he who thus seeks and does the will of God will continue for ever. And the logical contrast is that those who love and follow ‘the world’ will not live for ever. By their ways they forfeit eternal life.
‘He who does the will of God abides for ever.’ In John’s Gospel it is Jesus who repeatedly states that He has come to do the will of the Father who sent Him (Joh 4:34; Joh 5:30; Joh 6:38). This involved considering heavenly aims and not earthly aims, and yet doing so in a way that was very much a part of this earth, and resulted in Jesus’ obedience to the will of God in fulfilling His moral demands and even to the point of death. In the same way in 1 John the author stresses obedience to the will of God by His people, and this by walking and conducting their lives even as He walked (1Jn 2:6). Thus while their eyes are to be fixed on heavenly things and not earthly things, and they are citizens of Heaven (Php 3:20) and are to seek to further Heaven’s interests and not to be passionately taken up with their own interests in the world, they are to do so as people living in the world. There is no though of withdrawing from the world or losing touch with the world. The will of God involves right moral behaviour in the world.
‘Abides for ever.’ In Joh 8:35 Jesus affirmed that the ‘son’ remains in the household forever, and in Joh 12:34 declared that the Messiah will remain forever. Thus those who dwell in God’s household and who follow the Messiah will also remain forever. Compare Joh 8:51, “I tell you the solemn truth, if anyone obeys my teaching, he will never see death.” Thus the one who is doing the will of God has undying life, and by his obedience which reveals his true faith may be assured that he will live forever (1Jn 5:13).
The three fold description of the ways of the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the vainglory of life compare interestingly with the temptation in the Garden of Eden. ‘The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (as one of the elohim).’ Again the contrast was with the will of God. The choice was obedience to God or sampling that which while attractive was forbidden because of its effects. The same parallel comes in the temptations of Jesus. The desire for bread by a hungry man, the seeing of all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in a moment of time, and finally the vainglorious hurling of Himself from the Temple to demonstrate that He was the favoured of God. And again the contrast was with the will of God. Where Man first failed, Jesus triumphed, and John now calls on His people to triumph in the same way.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Jn 2:15 “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” – Comments – A person’s heart, or spirit, cannot be divided into parts, because it is single. Yet, it dependents upon the human will as to what it will embrace. Jesus said that we cannot love God and mammon (Mat 6:24). You cannot love God’s work and the world at the same time. Love abides in the heart, which is “in man.” This is why Paul calls the spirit of man the “inner man” (Eph 3:16). Peter calls it the “hidden man” (1Pe 3:4).
The phrase “the love of the Father” should be viewed with the objective genitive in the Greek text, so that it is translated, “a person’s love for the Father is not present in him.” It is not possible to translate this phrase as the subjective genitive in describing the Father’s love not being towards the world, for this would be unsound doctrinally; for God loves the world, and this love is unceasing. The idea this verse means that a person who is pursuing the things of this world is not offering his love and devotion to God the Father.
Mat 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Eph 3:16, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;”
1Pe 3:4, “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:16
[29] Creflo Dollar, Changing Your World (College Park, Georgia: Creflo Dollar Ministries), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program, 29 July 2009.
The Scriptures give us three aspects of temptation in 1Jn 2:16: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. The Scriptures also tell us that we are a three-fold makeup of spirit, soul and body.
1Th 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, the lust of the flesh refers to temptations of the flesh, the lust of the eyes refers to the temptations of the mind, or soul, and the pride of life refers to the heart of man. Note that both Adam and Jesus faced all three aspects of temptation from Satan:
1. The Lust of the Flesh:
Adam – The tree was good for food
Jesus – Command this stone to become bread
2. The Lust of the Eyes:
Adam – The tree was pleasant to the eyes
Jesus – The devil…showed Him all the kingdoms
3. The Pride of Life:
Adam – A tree to be desired to make one wise
Jesus – Throw yourself down from here
“the lust of the flesh” Man’s physical body continually craves sin simply because it has not yet been redeemed from its fallen nature. Paul discusses the sinful, fallen nature of the flesh in Rom 7:18; Rom 7:23 and in Gal 5:16-21.
“the lust of the eyes” The mind receives information through its five physical sense gates (eyes, ears, touch, taste, smell). Since the eyes are man’s primary sense gate, it is used in this phrase to represent all five of man’s physical senses. These sense gates “lust” in the sense that man’s physical senses crave to be stimulated. We instinctively look, listen, touch, smell, and taste the things of the world around us. The carnal man uses his senses to satisfy his physical desires.
“the pride of life” The phrase “pride of life” describes the depraved condition of man’s heart, or spirit. It is a condition in which the heart has embraced the things of this world and is, therefore, in a state of rebellion against God. The word “life” in this context refers to a person’s means of existence. Note that the same Greek word is also used in Mar 12:44 and 1Jn 3:17.
Mar 12:44, “For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living .”
1Jn 3:17, “But whoso hath this world’s good , and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
1Jn 2:17
Psa 119:36, “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.”
1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:18
The “many antichrists” that John refers to will later be clarified as those who have the “spirit of antichrist” (1Jn 4:3). Although the word “spirit” is not in the original text, it is implied by the context.
1Jn 4:3, “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Warning against the love of the world:
v. 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
v. 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
v. 17. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. On the fact that he is dealing with believers who have a large experience of the mercy of the Father and of the grace of Christ, the apostle bases his warning appeal: Do not love the world nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. It is true, on the one hand, that we should make all men, regardless of their attitude toward the Gospel, the object of our merciful and benevolent regard, Gal 6:9-10. Above all, we should try to bring them all the wonderful news of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, Mat 28:19-20. But an entirely different matter is that of fraternizing with them while the unbelievers persist in rejecting the Word of God and in remaining in their spiritual darkness and condemnation. In this sense we cannot and should not love the world, the unbelievers. We should shun and detest the things in which the unbelievers find their enjoyment, with which they are exclusively concerned the avaricious love of money, the pleasures of sin, particularly transgressions of the Sixth Commandment, ambition for honor before men, business schemes and practices which are at variance with the law of love. If a person professes to be a Christian and yet seeks the company of the world, of the children of the world, and takes part in the sinful pleasures, pastimes, and practices in which they indulge, he thereby convicts himself as not being a genuine disciple of the Lord, and shows that the love toward God, his heavenly Father, is not living in his heart. For how can a person be united with the enemies of God in the bonds of a true friendship? Where love for the world and its ways begins, there begins also the hatred of God. Where love of the world gains the ascendancy, there is nothing but spiritual death.
How this condition is brought about the apostle explains: For everything that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the proud ostentation of life, not are they of the Father, but they are of the world. That is the entire imagination, the sole object of the children of this world: the lust of the flesh, the desire to have and enjoy that which pleases their corrupt nature, the evil inclination of their hearts, whether this be in eating and drinking or in sensual delights; the lust of the eyes, when people seek to gratify the sensuality of their hearts by such sights as are intended to satisfy this desire, as in impure, lewd pictures and filthy theatrical exhibitions; the pride, the braggart boasting, the conspicuous ostentation of this life, when people make it a point to show off their wealth, very often ill-gotten gains. All these things are not in agreement with the new spiritual mind which should be found in the believers, in the children of God; they do not come from above, from the Father of Lights, but from below, from the kingdom of darkness. Those sins are the sphere in which the children of the world live and move, and from which the believers should always be far removed.
With warning emphasis the apostle therefore adds: And the world passes away and its lust;
but he that does the will of God remains to eternity. This world with all its sinful lusts and desires is passing away; the sentence of condemnation has been spoken, and the final destruction is inevitable. The thought is not only that the world and all its so-called pleasures are transient, but also that they are corrupt and subject to eternal damnation. Only he that does the will of God, that walks and conducts himself always in conformity with the will of the heavenly Father, whose fellowship with the Lord expresses itself in a behavior which always meets with His approval, only lie will obtain eternal life, for only he will have given that evidence in love which proves the presence of faith in the heart. Thus we Christians must never forget that our faith will bear the fruit of a Christian conduct, of true brotherly love, and of denial of the world and its lusts.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Jn 2:15. Love not the world, &c. By the world, is sometimes meant the whole creation; sometimes the visible part of it, more commonly this earthly globe, with its appendages. Sometimes the world includes this animal life,together with the place of our present abode, and the things which support this life, or render it agreeable in a temporal sense. The love of such a state is then criminal, when it is exorbitant, and disproportioned to the worth and value thereof; when it is regarded as the chief good of man, and a due regard to God and religion, to holiness and to a better world, is thereby neglected: and as the many set too great a value on present and sensible things, they are sometimes called the world. See ch. 1Jn 5:19. If it should be objected, that we ought to love the wicked, and all mankind, the answer is obvious: we ought to love all mankind with a love of benevolence or good will; but we ought not to love a wicked world with a love of complacence or delight: we should shuntheir company as much as possible, lest we be tainted by their customs, and corrupted by their bad examples. By the things which are in the world, we may understand the good things, or the enjoyments thereof; the inordinate love of which is in the next verse reduced to three heads, and all most justly condemned. God is considered as the Creator and Father of all men, (but more especially of real Christians,) who has amply manifested his paternal affection for them. An inordinate love of earthly things is inconsistent with that love which we owe our Heavenly Father. When conscience under the Spirit of Christ governs, and the passions, affections, and appetites are regulated thereby; when the rules of the gospel are our guide, that is the government of God over us; but when a worldly disposition governs us, and the passions and appetites bear sway, the love of the Father is not in us, nor do we behave at all as his obedient children. Hence it was that in the primitive church adults, when baptized, renounced the world, that is, the unlawful pursuit or love of riches and honours; the flesh, that is, all sensual impurity, or criminal pleasures; and the devil, that is, idolatry, and all the vices which it supported and encouraged: and Christians are still under the same obligations; for the love of these things is utterly inconsistent with the love of God. See the next note.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Jn 2:15 . ] The meaning of depends on that of the idea .
is with John eminently an ethical conception = mankind, fallen away from God, and of hostile disposition towards Him, together with all that it lives for and has made its own; comp. on Jas 1:27 ; Jas 4:4 (similarly Gerlach, Besser, Dsterdieck, Myrberg, Ebrard, Braune [132] ). The explanations that deviate from this are divided into three leading classes (1) Those in which is regarded as a total number of men indeed, but in a limited way; either = “the heathen world” (Lange), or more indefinitely: “the mass of common men” (Oecumenius: , ; Calovius: homines dediti rebus hujus mundi), or “the greater part of men” (Grotius: humanum genus, secundum partem majorem , quae in malis actionibus versatur); Storr limits the idea here “to that part of the world which the antichristians constituted.” (2) Those which understand not of the human world itself, but of the evil dwelling in it; so says the Scholiast: , ; Luther: “the world, i.e. godlessness itself, through which a man has not the right use of the creatures;” to this class belong also the explanations of Calvin, Morus, S. Schmid, Semler; [133] but in this abstract sense the word never appears elsewhere; and besides, taking this view, difficulties appear in the sequel which can only be overcome by arbitrary interpretations. (3) Those explanations in which is regarded as the total of perishable (actual) things; these things being regarded as purely physical, there lies in the idea , in and by itself, no ethical meaning, but this appears only through the which is connected with it; the as a creature of God is in itself good and irreproachable, but the love to the , through which man centres his affections on it, and makes it the single aim of his activity, is to be blamed, because amid all association with earthly things it is not they, but God, that must be loved; thus there results for the command: , certainly an appropriate idea; but what follows in 1Jn 2:16-17 has induced almost all commentators who accept this view to give, nevertheless, to the idea itself, more or less distinctly, an ethical reference; thus Lcke indeed says: “ is, as the sum total of the temporal and sensuous, in contrast (!) to the , always only the objective sphere of evil, i.e. to which it tends as ethical direction and disposition,” but immediately afterwards he explains the same idea “as the sum total of all sensuous appearances, which excite the desire of the senses; ” still more definitely de Wette says: “the sum total of that which attracts desire , the temporal, sensuous, earthly regarded in contrast with God; ” but this connection of the ethical reference with the idea of actual things is itself rather unsuitable; not in the things, but in man himself, lies the cause of the seductive charm which things exercise upon him; besides, it is not possible to retain this conception of the word without modification to the end of the 17th verse. [134] It is true some commentators [135] distinctly say that John here makes a sort of play upon the word, but such an assumption does too much violence to the clearness and certainty of the thought for us to approve of it. The right view, therefore, is to take here in the same sense that the word prevailingly has throughout John’s works, so that it signifies the world lying . This , this is the meaning of the apostle’s warning, is not to be the object of the of believers. From this it follows that here means neither “to love too much,” nor “to love with unhallowed sense,” but love in the strictest sense of the word, consisting in a life of inner fellowship. [136]
] As is an ethical idea, natural objects as such cannot be meant by . ., but only these in so far as they are taken by the ungodly world into its service; or better, the apparently good things which the world pursues, or with which it delights itself, and which therefore belong to it, as riches, honour, power, human wisdom, and such like. Ebrard erroneously understands thereby “the different kinds of sinful impulse, thought, and action, e.g. avarice, ambition, sensuality, and such like,” for either of these is plainly a love (although a false, unholy love) which cannot itself again be regarded as the object of love.
, . . .] By this sentence the apostle confirms the previous exhortation, expressing the incongruity of love to the with the ; Bede: Unum cor duos tam sibi adversaries amores non capit. By is to be understood neither the love of God to us (Luther II., Calovius), nor the charitas quam Pater praescribit (Socinus); but, as by far the most of commentators (Bede, Beza, Grotius, Vatablus, Spener, etc., and all the modern commentators, even Ebrard, despite his erroneous interpretation of 1Jn 2:5 ), interpret, love to God. [137]
If is the correct reading, then the name Father is here to be explained from the filial relationship of Christians to God, and points to their duty not to love the world, but God.
Between the two sorts of there is the same exclusive contrast as between the and , Mat 6:24 . Compare also Jas 4:4 : , .
[132] It might not be incorrect to suppose that John, when he here and afterwards in his Epistle places the in sharp contrast with believers, specially understands the sum-total of those who, as the light has come into the world, love the darkness rather than light (Gospel of Joh 3:13 ), and therefore not unsaved humanity as such, but those of mankind who resist salvation, while by (1Jn 2:2 ) the whole human race, as needing salvation, is to be understood.
[133] Calvin: Mundi nomine intellige, quiequid ad praesentem vitam spectat, ubi separatur a regno Dei et spe vitae aeternae. Ita in se comprehendit omne genus corruptelae et malorum omnium abyssum. Morus explains by: malum morale; S. Selimid by: corruptio peccaminosa; Semler by: vulgata consuetudo hominum, res corporeas unice appetentium. Here may be enumerated also the interpretation of Erdmann: totus complexus et ambitus mali, quatenus hoc non solum toti generi humano, verum etiam propter hominum a Deo defectionem omnibus rebus humanis totique rerum naturae inhaeret.
[134] Thus Lcke finds himself compelled in the case of to make an abstraction of the things themselves, and to understand thereby their ethical reference; and here results the certainly unjustifiable thought that this ethical reference of things has its origin in the things themselves ( ). Still more decidedly, de Wette says that in the words , ver. 16, “ is not regarded as the sum total of earthly things, but as the sensuous life alienated from God, or as the sum total of worldly men who enjoy this;” somewhat differently Brckner: “that the sum total of earthly evil, of the , is here regarded rather of real things, is clear from the subordinate clause .; in ver. 16 the personal aspect prevails.” Neander, on ver. 16, equally deviates from the explanation which he had given of ver. 15; in the latter he regards as “the world and earthly things,” but in the former as “the predominating tendency of the soul to the world, the growing worldliness of the soul, which blends itself with the world.”
[135] Thus a Lapide says (after he has assigned to the word three meanings, namely (1) homines mundani, in his proprie est concupiscentia; (2) orbis sublunaris, in hoe mundo proprie et formaliter non est eoncupiscentia; sed in eo est concupiscentia materialis i.e. objectum concupiscibile; (3) ipsa mundana vita vel concupiscentia in genere): omnibus hisce modis mundus hic accipi potest et Johannes nunc ad unum, nunc ad alterum respicit; ludit enim in voce mundus.
[136] Lcke groundlessly thinks the idea of love must necessarily be weakened to that of “mere longing for,” if by the human world is understood.
[137] A combination of both interpretations: amor patris erga suos et filialis erga patrem (Bengel), is clearly unjustifiable.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
1Jn 2:15-17 . A warning against love of the world, which is directed neither specially to the children (Oecumenius: ), nor specially to the young men (Bengel, Semler, Besser), but to all (Bede: omnibus haec generaliter ecclesiae filiis scribit).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2438
LOVE OF THE WORLD FORBIDDEN
1Jn 2:15-17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever [Note: This text might be treated somewhat differently:Thus, Consider,
I.
The persons addressed.
II.
The exhortation given them.
III.
The force of the exhortation as so addressed.
The two first heads might easily be taken from this and the foregoing Discourse; and the third head be treated in distinct Addresses to the three different classes. Thus,
Little Children; Think into how many sins the world has enticed you; and will you love the world now that those sins are forgiven you?
Young Men; The world is Satans ground: withdraw from it, and you vanquish him; but go back to it, and he will overcome you.
Fathers. You who have attained such a knowledge of God, cannot but see how irreconcileable the love of the world is with the love of God. Light and darkness are not more opposed to each other than are these opposing tastes. Compare Rom 8:5-6 and Jam 4:4. with the text.
A more impressive subject than this would be, can scarcely be conceived; especially if the two parts were first treated separately, as in this book, and then a third Sermon were written on them conjointly, and the connexion between them formed the sole and entire subject of the sermon.].
WHATEVER our attainments may be in the divine life, we still need the voice of warning and exhortation, to keep us from the evils to which we are exposed. As believers, we have been brought out of a world which lieth in wickedness: but still we are encompassed with temptations, and bear about with us a corrupt nature which is ever liable to be ensnared by them. In persons most advanced in the divine life the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, as well as the Spirit against the flesh; so that they cannot do all that they would; and may be easily seduced to do things, which, according to their better judgment, they would not.
The Apostle has been addressing the whole Christian Church according to their age and stature in the divine life, under the names of Little Children, Young Men, and Fathers; and now, to the one as well as to the other of these classes, he gives the injunction in our text. Let all classes therefore amongst you also receive the word as addressed personally to yourselves, whilst we consider,
I.
The injunction here given
There are few subjects, if any, in the whole course of our ministrations, that require a more careful and temperate discussion than that before us. The solemnity with which it is introduced, and the extraordinary emphasis with which it is impressed on our minds, evince beyond a doubt the great importance of it: whilst, as if it were of no importance whatever, or there were no danger of erring in relation to it, every one puts the construction upon it which suits his own habits and inclinations, and takes for granted that his views of it are correct. But the truth is, that there is in this subject a need for the nicest discrimination, lest, on the one hand, we make the prohibition more strict than Jehovah himself intended it to be; or, on the other hand, give to it a latitude which is contrary to his mind, and ruinous to all who practically adopt it. A man who lives in monastic seclusion will be ready to say, that this passage forbids all intercourse with the world: whilst a person living in an unrestrained commerce with the world, will see in it nothing that condemns the most unrestrained compliance with the maxims and habits of the world, provided they be not palpably and grossly immoral. In like manner they will differ as widely respecting the extent of the prohibition as the object of it; the one supposing that every degree of inclination towards the world is forbidden; the other, thinking himself at liberty to wallow in earthly indulgences as a sow in the mire [Note: 1Pe 2:22.]. It is obvious therefore that we should enter on this subject with extreme caution; determining with the greatest care,
1.
The import of the terms
[What are we to understand by the world? In answer to this question, I should say, it comprehends all the things of time and sense, as standing in opposition to the things which relate to a better world. The Apostle Paul suggests to us this very distinction, when he says that we are to look, not at the things which are seen and are temporal, but at the things which are not seen and eternal [Note: 2Co 4:18.]. This will appear more clear, whilst we consider what is meant by loving the world. We are not to understand by it every degree of attachment to it, but only such a degree as is inordinate, and such a degree as puts its object in competition with the things which are invisible and eternal. Amongst the things of time and sense must be reckoned a mans intercourse with his own family. Shall we then say, that a man ought to have no pleasure in the society of his own wife and children? Such an absurdity carries its own refutation along with it. Hence then I take the term, not in a positive, but comparative, sense; and regard it as importing, that we are not to give to any object of time and sense that kind or measure of affection which is due only to things of eternal moment.
The Apostles own explanation of his meaning will throw further light on this matter. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are very generally understood as importing all those things which administer to sensual gratification; and those things which, when beheld, are apt to fascinate us with their attractions; and those things which men chiefly affect, as elevating them in the estimation of mankind; or, in other words, pleasure, and riches, and honour. And if to these we apply what was before specified as implied in the term love, we shall be prepared to determine with very considerable accuracy,]
2.
The extent of the prohibition
[The word love comprehends three things; esteem, desire, and delight: and, if we apply it in this extent to the various things above-mentioned, we shall, I think, understand with clearness the Apostles meaning in our text. Some measure of love, I again say, the things of this world are entitled to: they may be esteemed, as gifts from a gracious God; they may be desired, as means of honouring him, and benefiting our fellow-creatures; and they may be delighted in, as conducive to our comfort, when rightly improved: for God has given us all things richly to enjoy [Note: 1Ti 6:17.]. But,
They are not to be esteemed, as though they possessed any intrinsic good. They are all in themselves empty, vain, perishing, and utterly incapable of administering any real comfort to the soul, or even of benefiting us at all, any farther than God shall be pleased to make use of them for that end.
They are not to be desired so as in the least degree to interfere with our pursuit of higher and better things. Our affections are to be set on things above, and not on things on the earth [Note: Col 3:2.]. The two cannot, and must not, be put in competition with each other. The one, how dear soever in itself, must be despised and hated in comparison of the other: father, mother, wife, children, yea and our own life also, must be of no account with us, if they at all stand in our way of serving and honouring our God [Note: Luk 14:26.]. His claims are paramount to every other; and there is nothing either in heaven or on earth to be desired in comparison of him [Note: Psa 73:25.].
They are not to be delighted in, as things in which, to whatever extent they were multiplied, we could be satisfied with taking up our rest. Job seems to have had singularly clear and just views of this subject: If, says he, I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; this were an iniquity to be punished by the judge, for then I should have denied the God that is above [Note: Job 31:24-25; Job 31:28.]. Whoever he be that, on account of his earthly comfort, says, Soul, take thine ease, is justly branded as a fool, and to all eternity will find occasion to bewail his folly.]
With the help of these distinctions I think we may fix, with some precision, the true import of the injunction before us, and may proceed in a satisfactory manner to consider further,
II.
The reasons with which it is enforced
In confirmation of what he says respecting the world, the Apostle declares,
1.
That it is not worthy of our love
[If we look at its nature, how base is it! it is not of the Father, but of the world. What is there in the whole circle of the world that can boast of an heavenly origin? Nothing, not an atom of it either comes from God, or leads to God, any farther than it is sanctified unto us by the covenant of grace. It is enjoyed by heathens, as well as by Christians: and what does it do for them? Yea, what does it advance the real welfare of the great mass of the Christian world? It altogether arose out of the fall of man. In Paradise, the world was nothing; and God was all. It was not till sin had entered into the world, that the world and its lusts were put in competition with God, or that a love to present things had attained an undue ascendant over the soul. And were man still in his primeval innocence, all pleasures, riches, and honours would be of no account, any farther than God was enjoyed in them, and they were made subservient to his glory
Again; if we look at its duration, it is altogether transient: the fashion of this world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. What has the lover of this world of all that he has ever enjoyed? and how long will the savour of his present enjoyments abide with him? How long can he secure the continuance of them? and what will remain of them the moment he has departed hence? On the other hand, if he love God, and do his will, he has a continual feast: his gratifications never cloy: his bliss will bear reflection, and be renewed by the retrospect: the consciousness that he has a taste for such enjoyments will itself be a source of very sublime happiness; of a happiness which he will possess under the most afflictive circumstances, and which will sooth even the pangs of death itself: and this source of enjoyment, instead of being confined to this present life, will be infinitely enlarged, and afford inexhaustible supplies of bliss to all eternity.
Say then, brethren, whether this world is worthy of a Christians affections? I do not hesitate to say, it is not: for it affords nothing that is capable of satisfying an immortal soul; and the poor gratifications it does afford, are all perishing even whilst they are in our hands [Note: Col 2:22.].]
2.
That a love to it is absolutely incompatible with love to God
[How solemn is the declaration, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him? This, if delivered on mans authority, might be deemed uncharitable; but it is declared on the authority of God himself: and a very little reflection will convince us of the truth of it. Can any man conceive that an angel, if sent down from heaven to sojourn here for a time, would set his affections on things below? no; we are well assured, that he would have far juster views of earthly vanities, than to set his heart upon them: his taste would be too refined for such gross aliment. He would fulfil the duties that were assigned him, whatever they might be: but his heart would be with God; with God supremely, and with God alone. Thus then it should be with us: and thus it must be, if we be Christians indeed: for we cannot serve God and Mammon [Note: Mat 6:24.]: the very friendship of the world is enmity with God. As the will or desire to serve the kings enemies, if it were clearly proved, would constitute us traitors to our king and country, even though we had not succeeded in our efforts, so the very will and desire to be the friends of the world is itself sufficient to prove and constitute us enemies of God [Note: Jam 4:4. See the remarkable force of the words in the Greek.]. As the love of God grows in the soul, the love of the world abates: and, as the love of the world revives, the love of God decays: the two are as opposite to each other as light and darkness: and neither can prevail but by the expulsion of the other.
Again then I ask, is not here abundant reason for the injunction in my text? If the love of God and of the world could exist together, there were some reason for harbouring both: but as they are in direct and unalterable opposition to each other, we cannot but unite with the Apostle in this salutary admonition, Love not the world.]
Whilst, however, I cordially unite in this sentiment, I would add,
1.
Be careful in passing judgment upon others
[There is scarcely any subject on which men are so prone to exercise a censorious disposition as this. They are ready to make their own habits, or at all events their own views, a standard for others: and the more strict any persons are in relation to themselves, the more apt they are to pass an uncharitable judgment upon others. But we are not capable of judging rightly for others, unless we can put ourselves exactly into their situation. A person in lower life has little conception of what may be proper for a person of opulence and distinction. Besides, there are a thousand circumstances which may produce somewhat of a diversity of conduct in persons of equal rank and station. Persons in an inferior station are ready to think that the possession of things that are valuable or splendid, is wrong: but the text does not say, that we must not possess the world; for we may possess crowns and kingdoms: nor does it say that we may not use the world, or even find pleasure in it: for we may use it, and find pleasure in it too; since, as has been before observed, God has given us all things to enjoy, and richly to enjoy. The prohibition relates to the heart and the affections, which are not to be set on the world, or on any thing in it, in comparison of God. And who can judge the heart? The man who lives in a palace may have far less love of the world, than his censorious neighbour that is living in a cottage. Let us judge ourselves as severely as we please: but let us leave our neighbour to be judged by him who knows the heart. To his own master he standeth or falleth: the rule for us to walk by is plain enough: Judge not, that ye be not judged.]
2.
Be firm and determined in your own course
[What you are to love, is here plainly declared: The love of the Father is put in opposition to the love of the world: and the doing of Gods will, in opposition to the seeking of any transient enjoyment. Let this then be your care, even to love and serve, not the creature but the Creator alone [Note: Rom 1:25.]. Here you need fear no excess. On the contrary, as the prohibition extends to the world and to all that is in it, so the command of loving God extends to him, and to all that is in him; his whole mind, his whole will, all his perfections, all his purposes, all his dispensations. In this respect you may learn of worldly men. See how faithful they are in their adherence to the world; how active in its cause, how laborious in its pursuits, how immersed in its enjoyments, how insatiable in their desires after its richest communications. And, if you tell them that they are seeking after a mere phantom, they account you either splenetic or mad. Be ye then firm against those who would deride your pursuit of heavenly objects; and serve your God, as they serve theirs, wholly, uninterruptedly, and in defiance of all that can be said to turn you from your ways. In a word, Be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; and know, that when they shall reap only vanity for their recompence, you shall find that your labour has not been in vain in the Lord.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Very sweet as these verses are, yet, so very plain are they as to need no comment. The Apostle contrasts the world, with all its pursuits and pleasures, to Christ; and, within the compass of a few lines, shews how little to be considered, by souls regenerated, and made new creatures in Christ, are all that the world hath to propose, in comparison of the durable riches and righteousness which is in Jesus; yea, which is Jesus himself. One view of Him fades the whole; Pro 8:18-21 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Ver. 15. Love not the world ] You fathers, and you young and strong men, let me caution you (before I speak again to the little children, 1Jn 2:18 ), to beware of worldliness. A man may be very mortified, and yet very apt to dote on the world.
If any man love the world ] Have it he may, and use it too, as the traveller useth his staff (which either he keeps or casts away, as it furthers or hinders his journey), but love it he must not, unless he will renounce the love of God. See Trapp on “ Mat 6:24 “ See Trapp on “ Col 3:2 “ Aristotle in his Politics teacheth, by the example of Thales, that philosophers may be rich; but he excellently addeth , howbeit this is not their chief study; it is but a by-business with them. (Polit. i., cap. ult.)
The love of the Father is not in him ] The sunbeams extinguish the fire; so doth the love of the world the love of God. But some not so much as roving at God, make the world their standing mark.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15 17 .] Dehortation from the love of the world . The preceding designation of the different classes has been, as so frequently in St. John, their ideal designation, in the perfection of their several states of Christian life: and now, as so often, he brings that ideal state to bear on real temptations and duties. The love of the Father, the abiding in Him by His word abiding in them, the victory over him in whom , these particulars have been enounced: and though there may be a more apparent reason why the young should have this dehortation addressed to them, and more apparent allusion to the in the bringing out of the , yet there can be no doubt that it is to all that this address is made. All are in the world, and as long as they are, are in danger of being betrayed by the senses to cleave to the things present and seen, to the forgetfulness of those which are absent and unseen. This general reference is shewn by the which follows. Love not the world (what is , in the diction of St. John? And what does he import by ? When we read Joh 3:16 , , , . . ., are we to understand the same thing by the words as here? and if not, are both and taken in a different sense, or if one only, which? Beza replies, “Mundum considerat quatenus cum Dei voluntate non consentit, et enim amorem damnat qui nos a Deo abducit: alioquin dicitur Deus ipse suum mundum infinito quodam amore dilexisse, id est, eos quos ex mundo elegit,” The palpable error of this last “id est,” directs us to the right solution of both questions. The in both cases is the same, the is different. In Joh 3:16 it is the love of divine compassion and creative and redeeming mercy: here, it is the love of selfish desire, cherishing avarice or pride. But then recurs our question, What is ? And it is no easy one to answer. If we reply so as to make it personal , we are met at once by the difficulty of : from which we cannot escape by saying that these are as below . . ., for none can be said , but the is the . Hence some have been led to take these three, . , . ., , as put for the things desired, and the material of the . So Calvin, Episcopius, Bengel: but this manifestly will not hold, owing to the opposition in 1Jn 2:17 between . on the one hand, and on the other, which evidently requires that its first member should be personal as well as its second. And this last will be a weighty reason also against 2) taking as merely material, the present order of things, in so far as it is alien from God. We are thus brought to a point, for our understanding of , intermediate between personal and material. But then our question is, which of the two is to take the first place? Is the world of matter, including the men who dwell in it, or is it the world of man, including matter as subordinate to man? If the former, we seem in danger of falling into a dualism, in which God and the world of matter should be set over against one another as independent existences: for thus the evil one, the , and his agents the , would themselves be included in the , and adjuncts to the world of matter: a mode of thought which no where appears in the apostolic writings. We are thus narrowed to our other alternative, that of understanding as of human persons, including the inferior ranks of created being, and the mass of inanimate matter which they inhabit. Let us see whether this view will meet the necessities of our text and of similar passages. Thus understood, the was constituted at first in Adam, well-pleasing to God and obedient to Him: it was man’s world, and in man it is summed up: and in man it fell from God’s light into the darkness of selfish pursuits and , in and by which man, who should be rising through his cosmic corporeal nature to God, has become materialized in spirit and dragged down so as to be worldly and sensual and like him who has led him astray, and who now, having thus subjected man’s nature by temptation, has become the . And thus the is “ man and man’s world ,” in his and its fall from God. It was this world which God loved, in its enmity to Him, with the holy love of Redemption: it is this world which we are not to love, in its alienation from Him, with the selfish love of participation. And this is spoken of sometimes as personal, sometimes as material, according to the context in which it occurs. To give but a few decisive examples; of the purely personal sense, Joh 15:18 , . . ., followed by , , where the singular is broken up into the individual persons: of the purely material, Joh 11:9 , , , . And in passages like the present, these two senses alternate with and interpenetrate one another: e. g. in , the is apparently material and local: in the opposition which follows, between the love of the world and the love of the Father, the personal meaning begins to be evident: in what follows, , which at first sight seems material, is explained by , . . ., which are the subjective desires of the , not the things themselves: then, finally, in 1Jn 2:17 where is opposed to , it is plain that we have passed, by the transition in the last verse, from the material to the personal sense altogether. This account may serve to explain that which has given so much trouble to Commentators here, the question whether is not put for the thing itself which is desired: the fact being that, the including the material world in the men, the , which are in the men, are in the , as well as the things of which they are the desires, and which are in their turn included in them. See on the whole, the long and elaborate note in Dsterdieck, the results of which are nearly the same as those arrived at above. To detail all the shades of opinion, would be hopeless: they will mostly be found, classified and discussed, in the note referred to), nor yet (not = , but carrying with it an exclusive and disjunctive force, implying that what follows is not identical with what went before. That was spoken of the world itself, the totality: “have no love for this present world as such.” But an escape from this prohibition might be sought by men who would deny in the abstract the charge of worldly-mindedness, but devoted themselves to some one object of those followed by worldly men: so that it is necessary to add, after “Love not the world,” “no, nor any thing in it”) the things in the world (explained above: here, the objects after which the ungodly world’s reaches out, and on which its is founded). If any man (see on the same expression above, 1Jn 2:1 ) love the world, the love of the Father is not in him ( . , love to the Father, as opposed to his love to the world: not as Luther (2), Seb.-Schmidt, and Calov., the love which the Father hath shewed to us : nor as Bengel, “amor Patris erga suos et filialis erga Patrem.” As Bed [22] , “unum cor duos sibi tam adversarios amores non capit.” Philo says, fragm. ex Joh. Damasceni sacris parallelis, p. 370 B (vol. ii. p. 649), , ).
[22] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Jn 2:15 . He is dealing with believers who have a large experience of the grace of Christ, and on this fact he proceeds to base an appeal, a call to further advancement and higher attainment: “Love not the world”. Yet God “loved the world” (Joh 3:16 ). Observe that the Apostle does not say that the world is evil. It is God’s world, and “God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31 ). His meaning is: “The things in the world are transient. Do not set your affection on them, else you will sustain a bitter disappointment. The world is a good and beautiful gift of God, to be used with joy and gratitude; but it is not the supreme end, it is not the home of our souls”. “Let the Spirit of God be in thee,” says St. Augustine, “that thou mayest see that all these things are good; but woe to thee if thou love created things and forsake the Creator! If a bridegroom made a ring for his bride and, when she got it, she were fonder of the ring than of the bridegroom who made the ring for her, would not an adulterous spirit be detected in the very gift of the bridegroom, however she might love what the bridegroom gave? God gave thee all those things: love Him who made them. There is more which He would fain give thee, to wit, Himself who made these things”. Again: “There are two loves of the world and of God. If the love of the world inhabit, there is no way for the love of God to enter. Let the love of the world retire and that of God inhabit, let the better get room. Shut out the evil love of the world, that thou mayest be filled by the love of God. Thou art a vessel, but thou art still full; pour out what thou hast, that thou mayest get what thou hast not”. , like (1Jn 2:5 ), either (1) “love for the Father,” in antithesis to , or (2) “the love which the Father feels for us”. In fact the one implies the other. The sense of the Father’s love for us awakens in us an answering love for Him. Cf. 1Jn 4:19 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Jn 2:15-17
15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
1Jn 2:15 “Do not love” This is a Present active imperative with a negative particle, which means to stop an act that is already in progress. The love of the world characterized one group of Gnostic false teachers.
“the world” This term is used in two different senses in the NT: (1) the physical planet and/or the created universe (cf. Joh 3:16; Joh 16:33; 1Jn 4:14) and (2) human society organized and functioning apart from God (cf. 1Jn 2:15-17; 1Jn 3:1; 1Jn 3:13; 1Jn 4:4-5; 1Jn 5:4-5; 1Jn 5:19). The first refers to initial physical creation (cf. Genesis 1-2) and the second to fallen creation (cf. Genesis 3). See Special Topic: Kosmos at Joh 14:17.
SPECIAL TOPIC: HUMAN GOVERNMENT
“nor the things in the world” This seems to refer to a love of material objects (cf. 1Jn 2:16) or the things the world has to offer: power, prestige, influence, etc. (cf. Rom 12:2; Jas 1:27). This fallen world system attempts to meet all of mankind’s needs apart from God. It structures life in such a way that humans appear to be independent. Institutions that all of us are grateful for can become idolatrous when they allow independence from God. Examples include: (1) human governmental systems; (2) human educational systems; (3) human economic systems; (4) medical systems, etc.
As Augustine said so well, “man has a God-shaped hole” in his life. We try to fill that hole with earthly things, but we can only find peace and fulfilment in Him! Independence is the curse of Eden!
“If” This is a third class conditional sentence, which means potential action. What we love is evidence of whose we are. . .God’s or Satan’s.
1Jn 2:16 “the lust of the flesh” This refers to fallen mankind’s self-seeking attitude (cf. Gal 5:16-21; Eph 2:3; 1Pe 2:11). See Special Topic: Flesh (sarx) at Joh 1:14.
“the lust of the eyes” The Jews recognized that the eyes are the windows of the soul. Sin begins in the thought life and works its way out to action. One’s actions develop into lifestyle domination (e.g., Pro 23:7).
“and the boastful pride of life” This refers to human pride apart from God (i.e., humans trusting in their own resources). In The Jerome Bible Commentary, vol. II, Raymond Brown, a renowned Catholic Johannine scholar, says of the phrase,
“However, alazoneia, found also in Jas 4:16, has a more active meaning then mere pride: It denotes arrogance, boastfulness, the conviction of self-sufficiency” (p. 408).
The term life is bios which refers to earthly, physical, temporal life on this planet (what mankind shares with the plants and animals, cf. 1Jn 3:17). These characterizations describe both groups of Gnostic false teachers and unregenerate fallen mankind. God help us, they also describe immature Christians!
“is not from the Father, but is from the world” There are two reasons Christians must not love the world.
1. that love is not from the Father (cf. 1Jn 2:16)
2. the world is passing away (cf. 1Jn 2:17)
1Jn 2:17 “The world is passing away” This is a present middle indicative (cf. 1Jn 2:8). This relates to the Jewish two ages. The new and consummated age is coming; the old age of sin and rebellion is passing away (cf. Rom 8:18-25).
SPECIAL TOPIC: This Age and the Age to Come
“but the one who does the will of God lives forever” Notice how eternal life (i.e., literally “abides into the age”) is connected to a loving lifestyle, not just a past profession of faith (cf. Mat 25:31-46; Jas 2:14-26). See Special Topic on the Will of God at Joh 4:34.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
neither. Greek. mede.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15-17.] Dehortation from the love of the world. The preceding designation of the different classes has been, as so frequently in St. John, their ideal designation, in the perfection of their several states of Christian life: and now, as so often, he brings that ideal state to bear on real temptations and duties. The love of the Father, the abiding in Him by His word abiding in them, the victory over him in whom ,-these particulars have been enounced: and though there may be a more apparent reason why the young should have this dehortation addressed to them, and more apparent allusion to the in the bringing out of the , yet there can be no doubt that it is to all that this address is made. All are in the world, and as long as they are, are in danger of being betrayed by the senses to cleave to the things present and seen, to the forgetfulness of those which are absent and unseen. This general reference is shewn by the which follows. Love not the world (what is , in the diction of St. John? And what does he import by ? When we read Joh 3:16, , , …, are we to understand the same thing by the words as here? and if not, are both and taken in a different sense, or if one only, which? Beza replies, Mundum considerat quatenus cum Dei voluntate non consentit, et enim amorem damnat qui nos a Deo abducit: alioquin dicitur Deus ipse suum mundum infinito quodam amore dilexisse, id est, eos quos ex mundo elegit, The palpable error of this last id est, directs us to the right solution of both questions. The in both cases is the same, the is different. In Joh 3:16 it is the love of divine compassion and creative and redeeming mercy: here, it is the love of selfish desire, cherishing avarice or pride. But then recurs our question, What is ? And it is no easy one to answer. If we reply so as to make it personal, we are met at once by the difficulty of : from which we cannot escape by saying that these are as below …, for none can be said , but the is the . Hence some have been led to take these three, . , . ., , as put for the things desired, and the material of the . So Calvin, Episcopius, Bengel: but this manifestly will not hold, owing to the opposition in 1Jn 2:17 between . on the one hand, and on the other, which evidently requires that its first member should be personal as well as its second. And this last will be a weighty reason also against 2) taking as merely material, the present order of things, in so far as it is alien from God. We are thus brought to a point, for our understanding of , intermediate between personal and material. But then our question is, which of the two is to take the first place? Is the world of matter, including the men who dwell in it, or is it the world of man, including matter as subordinate to man? If the former, we seem in danger of falling into a dualism, in which God and the world of matter should be set over against one another as independent existences: for thus the evil one, the , and his agents the , would themselves be included in the , and adjuncts to the world of matter: a mode of thought which no where appears in the apostolic writings. We are thus narrowed to our other alternative, that of understanding as of human persons, including the inferior ranks of created being, and the mass of inanimate matter which they inhabit. Let us see whether this view will meet the necessities of our text and of similar passages. Thus understood, the was constituted at first in Adam, well-pleasing to God and obedient to Him: it was mans world, and in man it is summed up: and in man it fell from Gods light into the darkness of selfish pursuits and , in and by which man, who should be rising through his cosmic corporeal nature to God, has become materialized in spirit and dragged down so as to be worldly and sensual and like him who has led him astray, and who now, having thus subjected mans nature by temptation, has become the . And thus the is man and mans world, in his and its fall from God. It was this world which God loved, in its enmity to Him, with the holy love of Redemption: it is this world which we are not to love, in its alienation from Him, with the selfish love of participation. And this is spoken of sometimes as personal, sometimes as material, according to the context in which it occurs. To give but a few decisive examples; of the purely personal sense, Joh 15:18, …, followed by , , where the singular is broken up into the individual persons: of the purely material, Joh 11:9, , , . And in passages like the present, these two senses alternate with and interpenetrate one another: e. g. in , the is apparently material and local: in the opposition which follows, between the love of the world and the love of the Father, the personal meaning begins to be evident: in what follows, , which at first sight seems material, is explained by , …, which are the subjective desires of the , not the things themselves: then, finally, in 1Jn 2:17 where is opposed to , it is plain that we have passed, by the transition in the last verse, from the material to the personal sense altogether. This account may serve to explain that which has given so much trouble to Commentators here, the question whether is not put for the thing itself which is desired: the fact being that, the including the material world in the men, the , which are in the men, are in the , as well as the things of which they are the desires, and which are in their turn included in them. See on the whole, the long and elaborate note in Dsterdieck, the results of which are nearly the same as those arrived at above. To detail all the shades of opinion, would be hopeless: they will mostly be found, classified and discussed, in the note referred to), nor yet (not = , but carrying with it an exclusive and disjunctive force, implying that what follows is not identical with what went before. That was spoken of the world itself, the totality: have no love for this present world as such. But an escape from this prohibition might be sought by men who would deny in the abstract the charge of worldly-mindedness, but devoted themselves to some one object of those followed by worldly men: so that it is necessary to add, after Love not the world,-no, nor any thing in it) the things in the world (explained above: here, the objects after which the ungodly worlds reaches out, and on which its is founded). If any man (see on the same expression above, 1Jn 2:1) love the world, the love of the Father is not in him ( . , love to the Father, as opposed to his love to the world: not as Luther (2), Seb.-Schmidt, and Calov., the love which the Father hath shewed to us: nor as Bengel, amor Patris erga suos et filialis erga Patrem. As Bed[22], unum cor duos sibi tam adversarios amores non capit. Philo says, fragm. ex Joh. Damasceni sacris parallelis, p. 370 B (vol. ii. p. 649), , ).
[22] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Jn 2:15. , love not the world) This has special reference to you, young men. Follow up your victory against the wicked one, in whom the world lies: ch. 1Jn 5:19.- , is not) Contraries do not exist together.- ) the love of the Father towards His children, and filial love [of the children] towards the Father.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Jn 2:15-17
LOVE OF THE WORLD FORBIDDEN
(1Jn 2:15-17)
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.–Those addressed in the verses immediately preceding –the children, fathers, and young men–though each is com-mended for having triumphed in his respective sphere, were nev-ertheless yet in the world, yet subject to its allurements and temp-tations, yet within the reach of the Evil One. There was, there-fore, need that such an exhortation be given.
What is the “world” here contemplated? How do the “things of the world” differ from the world itself? What is the signifi-cance of the word “love” in this passage? In view of the fact that “God so loved the world” (Joh 3:16), does the world which he loved differ from that which we are not to love, or is the difference in the “love” which is to be exercised, or both? Obviously, the answers to these questions are essential to any proper exposition of this passage.
The “world” which John’s readers were forbidden to love was not the material universe, God’s original creation (Rom 1:20), the people who inhabit it (Joh 3:16); the earth (Joh 1:9), or the visible and tangible elements of our surroundings which are in themselves neither good nor bad. By the world John did not mean the sunshine and the rain, the mountains and the seas, the sunset and the stars, the loveliness of the night, the sparkling freshness of the morning, the sweet song of the birds, or the fra-grance of the flowers. He did not mean the dust from which our bodies are composed, the earth which supplies us with our food, and in whose gentle embrace we must at last eventually rest. Nor does the word “love” denote the tenderness of affection and the warmth of heart which characterize God and man toward those whose attributes encourage and stimulate such feeling. The “world” of this passage is a sphere or cosmos (kosmos) of evil, an order which is opposed to God, and to whose pursuit those who abandon the Lord have dedicated themselves. The “love” which men entertain for this world is evil desire. The love contemplated in Joh 3:16 is that of divine compassion and redeeming mercy; here, it is the emotion of selfish desire, of avarice and worldly pride. The love of the Father is an affection grounded in utter selflessness; that which man cherishes for the world is a greedy reaching for its affairs. The “world” which God loves is man-kind that which man is forbidden to love is an evil order or sphere.
But not only did the apostle’s exhortation embrace the “world,” it is extended to include the “things of the world.” The prohibi-tion is exceedingly emphatic: “Love not the world, neither (mede) no not either the things of the world.” The meaning is, Do not love the world, no, nor anything that may be in it. There is, therefore, a distinction drawn between the world and the things in it: a, distinction between the general and the specific, the whole and the particular. We are forbidden to love even a specific or par-ticular part of the world–an exhortation needful then and now. There are those who have repudiated the world, but for one par-ticular, as for example the rich young ruler, who but for his love of riches would have surrendered his life wholly to the Lord. The “one thing” which we “lack”–be it the love of pleasure, of riches, of ease; the attraction of a home, a farm, or a business ; the desire for fame, prominence, and worldly honor, is the particular or specific thing, though we may have repudiated the world as such, which will eventually close the door of heaven in our faces.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.–Love for the world and love for the Father are wholly incompatible; they cannot exist in any heart at the same time. “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mat 6:24.) The antithesis drawn is the same as that in Rom 8:5 : “For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” The warning is similar to one from James: “Ye adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.” (Jas 4:4.) On the principle here enunciated is the exhortation of Paul: “Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye sepa-rate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters.” (2Co 6:17-18.)
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.–The things of the world have their ori-gin, not in the Father, but in the world of which they are a part and they are designated as (1) the lust of the flesh; (2) the lust of the eyes; and (3) the vainglory of life. The “lust of the flesh” is evil desire which finds its origin in the flesh and through the flesh finds expression. It is a lust after the flesh; but it is more ; the genitive is subjective, the flesh is thus designated as the seat in which the evil desire dwells. The word “flesh” as here used does not denote skin and muscle and tissue; it is used in that darker sense so often seen in Paul’s writings of the animal nature, the source of evil appetites. (See Gal 5:16-24; Eph 2:3; 2Pe 2:18; Col 2:18.) The lusts of the flesh exhibit themselves in the works of the flesh, a catalog of which is listed in Gal 5:19 ff.
It is significant that John sums up, in this section, the three avenues of approach which Satan, in his efforts to seduce, follows. The appeal which he ever makes is based on (1) carnal desires; desires awakened through the appeal of objects of sight; and (2) vanity, pride, worldly honor. Such was, precisely, the course followed in the seduction of Eve and in the unsuccessful attempt on the Saviour. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (the lust of the flesh), and that it was a delight to the eye (the lust of the eyes), and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (the vainglory of life), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.” (Gen:3:6.) In similar fashion, and by follow-ing the same procedure, Satan suggested that Jesus, after forty days of fasting, should command the stones to become bread, thus appealing to the lust of the flesh; he showed the Lord all the kingdoms of the world and promised them to him on condition that he do him homage, an appeal to the lust of the eyes; and in bidding the Lord to exercise his powers of divine protection by flinging himself down from the pinnacle of the temple there was an evident appeal to a sense of pride and vainglory which such an achievement, in the breasts of some, would have been certain to create.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.–The world will pass, and with it every lustful pleasure; but he who does the will of God abides through the ages. The transitoriness of the one–the world–is contrasted with the permanence of the other, the one doing the will of God. God himself is eternal; and those who abide in his will share in his eternal nature. In view of the temporal nature of the world, it is supreme folly for one to cling tenaciously to it, when it will inevitably be dissolved and cease to be. The tense of the word “passeth” is present middle indicative, “is passing away,” the process is even now in operation, and will continue until the present evil age is no more. But, notwithstand-ing its passing, he who does (literally, keeps on doing) the will of the Father, abides unto the ages.
Commentary on 1Jn 2:15-17 by E.M. Zerr
1Jn 2:15. World is from a word that means the inhabitants of the earth. Other passages require us to love our enemies and Joh 3:16 says God loved the world. The apparent difficulty is explained by the words things that are in the world. We should understand that Christians are not to love the things that the people in the world possess and use for their lustful pleasures. Of course no man can love such things and love the Father also, for He has condemned them and commanded His children to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1Pe 2:11).
1Jn 2:16. The things named in this verse the apostle says are all that is in the world. That is not merely an arbitrary declaration made just because the apostle chose to sum it all up that way, but upon examination it will be seen that it is historically and logically true. In Gen 3:6 we read; “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food [lust of the flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [lust of the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [pride of life],” etc. Next we shall consider Luk 4:1-13. Satan suggested to Jesus a way to get food, which was an appeal to the lust of the flesh. (The obtaining of food was no sin if done by lawful means.) Satan showed Christ the kingdoms of the world which was an appeal to the lust of the eyes. Next he challenged Him to cast himself from the roof of the temple to show the greatness of His power, which was an attempt to get Jesus to yield on a point that would have shown the spirit of pride. Luke says after these three items that “the devil had ended all the temptations,” which agrees with John that the three classes of evil are all that is in the world.
1Jn 2:17. World is still from the word that means the inhabitants pf the earth, and the lusts are the practices of the same which confirms the comments on the preceding verse. Since this world and its practices are to pass away, it is great folly for a disciple to let his affections be attached thereto. But the doer of God’s will abideth for ever and hence that is the proper subject to receive our sincere interests.
Commentary on 1Jn 2:15-17 by N.T. Caton
1Jn 2:15-Love not the world.
This exhortation is intended for all three classes of believers before mentioned. Love not the world, meaning the wicked practices of men in the world; nor the things that are in the world, meaning not only the treasures and ambitions of the world, but also all the evils thereof, such as unrestrained desires of the flesh, pleasures of appetite and passion; in short, all evils that lead astray from the love of God, and the right way which he commands-that right way in which Christ, our great model, walked before God, doing his will
1Jn 2:15 –If any man love the world.
Here we have an unqualified declaration. One seeking the ambitions and things of this world, and the pleasures of life only, has no love of the Father. That love is not in him. Make no mistake here. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Love of God does not show itself in struggles for the things of this world, or in pursuit of its pleasures.
1Jn 2:16-For all that is in the world.
Here, as before, the word world comprehends the men of the world. This is apparent from the succeeding clause.
1Jn 2:16 –The lust of the flesh.
This expression is one component part of what the apostle calls the world, and since it applies only to man, I take it that, by the world, the writer desires us to understand him to mean the wicked men of the world-are not of the Father. These he embraces in the classification, as follows:
1. Lust of the flesh.
2. Lust of the eyes.
3. Pride of life.
In the first may be included every desire which has its source in the appetite. In the second, every desire aroused by objects which make their appeal through our sense of sight. In the third may be included, what is displayed vainly in the world, such as ambitions for place and power, and thus gratify our own vanity to be great among men, without regard to virtue and merit. Avarice, greed, selfishness and pride are included in the third classification, and it is very doubtful whether even then we have exhausted all that is included in the pride of life. However, all these are not of the Father. They came not from him. They are not in consonance with his divine character. They are not such as his children exhibit. He is holy. His children must be holy. These are all evil. In the succeeding verse another view is to be had of they things, well to be pondered.
1Jn 2:17-And the world passeth away.
Here we are informed that the world and all the lust thereof is transient; nothing permanent or abiding about it. Certainly a poor foundation upon which to build.
But he that doeth the will of God.
Here quite a different foundation is presented. Doing God’s will insures something abiding; something enduring; no danger of being swept away; the only foundation that is essentially permanent.
Commentary on 1Jn 2:15-17 by Burton Coffman
1Jn 2:15 –Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Love not the world … God so “loved the world” that he gave his only begotten Son (Joh 3:16), but “world” here has a different meaning. “It is an inclusive term for all those who are in the kingdom of darkness and have not been born of God.”[35] It also regards the material and temporary character of it. It is “visible” and therefore must be classified among those things which “are seen,” contrasting with the things which “are unseen” and designated by Paul as eternal (2Co 4:18). Bruce noted the difference thus: “It is the world-system organized in rebellion against God which is in view – the current climate of opinion, as we might say.”[36] He also observed that the word “love” is different here from that used in Joh 3:16. “In Joh 3:16, it is self-sacrificing love; here it is acquisitive love.”[37] John will further explain his meaning in the next verse.
Love of the world … love of the Father … This strongly suggests the “love of God” contrasted with the love of mammon in Mat 6:24; and John’s statement that the love of the Father is not in one who loves the world corresponds with Jesus’ declaration that “No man can serve two masters” (Mat 6:24). Morris pointed out what he called John’s little trick of “emphasizing a word by simply repeating it. He used world three times in this verse and another three times in the next two verses.”[38] John used this word “more than twenty times in this epistle,”[39] and in more than one sense. Hoon thought that the “world” has the “sense of creation as contrasted with the Creator.”[40] See under next verse.
[35] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 101.
[36] F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972), p. 132.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 1263.
[39] Paul W. Hoon, op. cit., p. 238.
[40] Ibid.
1Jn 2:16 –For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
For all that is in the world … is not of the Father … This has the effect of explaining what John meant by his use of “world” in 1Jn 2:15. It is that aspect of it which is “not in the Father.” It is therefore incorrect to accept “world” in these verses as meaning God’s glorious natural creation, described by the Father himself as “good” (Gen 1:10; Gen 1:12; Gen 1:18; Gen 1:21; Gen 1:25). Jesus said the world loves its own (Joh 15:19); Paul said, “Be not conformed to this world” (Rom 12:2); and John declared that, “The whole world lieth in the evil one” (1Jn 5:19). In the light of these and many other passages in the New Testament, it is clear that John was here speaking of that phase of the world of people which is antagonistic to God.
Lust of the flesh … lust of the eyes … vainglory of life … For ages, students of the New Testament have seen in this triad suggestions of the triple temptation of Eve: the fruit was good to eat … beautiful to see … and would make one as God, knowing good and evil; and likewise the triple temptation of Christ: he was hungry … Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world … such an exhibition of Jesus’ power as that of leaping from the parapet of the temple unharmed would have been a vainglorious triumph. From such comparisons, the things mentioned by John in this verse have come to be called “the three avenues of temptation.” The sins in view have been variously classified: sensuality, materialism, ostentation (C. H. Dodd);[41] voluptus (sensuality), avaritia (avarice), superbia (vain-glory) (B. F. Westcott);[42] appetites of the body … desire to possess material things … egotism, etc. A number of scholars are reluctant to allow that any correspondence of this passage with the temptations of Eve and of Christ is intended; but David Smith did not hesitate to affirm that, “Here is a summary of all possible sins, as exemplified in the temptations of Eve (Gen 3:1-6), and of our Lord (Mat 4:1-11).”[43]
Lust of the flesh … All temptations which have their roots in appetites and needs of the body are included in this; but the appetites of the body are not in themselves sinful. Therefore, “flesh” is used here in “the ethical sense, meaning the old nature of man, or his capacity to do that which is displeasing to God.”[44]
Lust of the eyes … The eyes have been called the gateway to the soul, hence the point of entry for many temptations. ‘tin John’s day, the impure and brutal spectacles of the theater and the arena would have supplied abundant illustrations of these.”[45] It is no less true of our own times.
Pride of life … The central lust of the ego itself is indicated by this. The utterly selfish instinct in all human life that insists upon achieving the fulfillment of the person itself, the inherent passion of the soul to do its own will, fulfill its own desires, glorify its own ego, and to occupy the inner control-center of life – that is the pride of life. Salvation in Christ requires that this be denied. Macknight’s comment on this was:
John means all things pertaining to this life, of which men of the world boast, and by which their pride is gratified: such as titles, offices, lands, noble birth, honorable relations, and the rest, whose efficacy to puff up men with pride and to make them insolent, is not of God.[46]
[41] R. W. Orr, op. cit., p. 612.
[42] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 101.
[43] David Smith, op. cit., p. 178.
[44] Charles C. Ryrie, op. cit., p. 1013.
[45] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 24.
[46] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 50.
1Jn 2:17 –And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
All of the vain things that so charm, seduce and dominate the lives of people during their brief pilgrimage upon earth are actually endowed with no more permanence than a mirage. Whatever glory or eminence may come to man is only for the fraction of a moment; he builds for himself a house, a palace or an empire; but the whirling suns brush him into the grave, and where is he? Whatever achievement, success or honor may place upon his head for an instant some distinction or accolade, tomorrow cannot remember it. This tragic quality of all human glory is the reason why the apostles taught Christians to look to the unseen, the invisible realities of hope and faith in Christ for their true fulfillment.
As Paul put it:
We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal (2Co 4:18).
Paul’s words are an excellent supplement to what John wrote in this verse.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world
kosmos = world-system. 1Jn 3:13; Joh 7:7. (See Scofield “Rev 13:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Love not: 1Jo 4:5, 1Jo 5:4, 1Jo 5:5, 1Jo 5:10, Joh 15:19, Rom 12:2, Gal 1:10, Eph 2:2, Col 3:1, Col 3:2, 1Ti 6:10
If: Mat 6:24, Luk 16:13, Jam 4:4
the love: 1Jo 3:17
Reciprocal: Gen 13:10 – and beheld Lev 11:20 – General Deu 10:12 – love Jos 7:21 – I saw Jdg 16:15 – when thine Psa 10:3 – and blesseth Psa 119:10 – my whole Ecc 11:9 – in the sight Jer 22:17 – thine eyes Hos 10:2 – Their heart is divided Mat 4:8 – and showeth Mat 6:19 – General Mat 13:22 – the care Mat 22:5 – one Mar 4:7 – General Mar 4:19 – and the lusts Mar 8:33 – savourest Mar 10:22 – for Luk 4:5 – taking Luk 8:14 – and are Luk 14:18 – I have Luk 14:33 – General Luk 16:25 – thy good Luk 18:23 – he was very sorrowful Joh 5:42 – that Joh 8:23 – Ye are from Rom 1:25 – the creature Rom 6:12 – in the lusts Rom 7:7 – Thou shalt Rom 8:7 – the carnal mind Rom 13:14 – and Gal 1:4 – from Gal 5:16 – and Gal 6:14 – the world 1Ti 6:9 – many 2Ti 4:10 – having Tit 2:12 – denying Heb 12:1 – let us lay Jam 1:27 – to keep Jam 4:1 – come they 1Pe 2:11 – abstain 2Pe 1:4 – having
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
WHAT IS THE WORLD?
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.
1Jn 2:15
The world here is some kind of moral order which corresponds to the far country described in the parable of the Prodigal Sonthat country where God is not obeyed, is not cared for, perhaps is not even recognised; but which is under the influence and rule of another, and an antagonistic, power.
I. The World in the Church.Does any one say to me, I, for instance, have had no experience of this opposing forcethis system of antagonismthis realm, in which God is not to be found. Indeed, I question altogether the existence of such a thing as this within the borders of the Christian Church? Well, we have only to make the experiment for ourselves. The man who is floating in a boat down a stream is incredulous when you warn him of the force of the current; and it is only when he turns his boats head round and endeavours to make his way upward to the spot from which the waters flow that he can be persuaded to believe in the truth of what you affirm. And it is just so in spiritual things. Content yourself with outward form; let your religion be merely superficial; multiply your ceremonies if you please, but let your heart be unchangedand you will have a very easy time of it. The world is keen enough to recognise its own under any disguise. But change all this. Accept Christ in downright reality as your Lord and your King. Carry Christ into your life, into your conversation, into your household, into your bargains, into your counting-house, into your profession. I do not urge upon you to make a false show of Christian earnestness. That is simply disgusting. But be real and true, and be manifestly on the Lords side, so that there can be no doubt about it. And I am very much mistaken if you do not find that there is a world even within the borders and precincts of the professedly Christian Church.
II. When a man becomes a true disciple under the influence of the teaching of the Spirit of God, he is drawn out of this great system and placed apart from it. I have chosen you, says the Lord to His followers, out of the world. Of course, it is not meant that there is any change of locality. In all probability the man remains where he was when the Lord met with him. He moves amongst his old companions; he is engaged in his old pursuits. The difference lies in the spirit which animates him, and in the motive which impels him to his work. In this respect he has become what St. Paul calls a new creature: that is, a new creationrecast, remoulded, refashioned, remade. The same in his faculties and powers, preserving his former characteristics of mind and body, of preferences and tastes; he is different from what he was, simply because the current of his being has been turned from its former direction into another channel; because, in fact, whilst he moves amongst the activities of human life, occupied, but not engrossed by them, he is all the while, in heart and spirit, a citizen of that heavenly commonwealth of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the centre and the King and the exceeding great reward. He has, as it were, pushed forward his moral and intellectual frontier. Formerly, the horizon of time was the boundary of his calculations; now, he reaches out and links himself on to the region of the eternity which lies beyond the grave. It is not, then, the intention of the Lord that the true believer should be taken out of the world, but rather that he should be keptkept from the evil, kept from the power of surrounding influenceswhilst he abides in it. For his own sake, that he may receive the necessary training and discipline; for the worlds sake, that he may make it somewhat the better and the more wholesome by his presence in it, he has to continue where he is, steadfast at his post of duty and a witness to his Divine Lord, until the summons comes for him to depart hence and to enter into the rest that remaineth for the people of God. Let this stand for our second thought.
III. It may be well for us to consider that the security of the Christian disciple, thus placed in the world, consists in his possession and retention of spiritual life.He that hath the Son hath the life; that is to say, when we lay hold of by faith, and appropriate to ourselves the Lord Jesus; when we claim our interest in His person and workwe enter into the enjoyment of that life, which is the germ and foretaste of eternal life. But it is not to be supposed that the life will be retained without our own personal concurrence in the matter. Abide in Mesays the Lord to the branches of the true vineand I in you. If we cease to abide in Him, He ceases to abide in us. Now, no words could convey more forcibly than these the indispensable necessity there is for an earnest watchfulness on our part, and for a diligent use of opportunities in order that we may remain possessed of the trust that was committed to us, and may not be deprived of it by the influences by which we are surrounded on every side. We have, if I may so say, to keep ourselves up to the mark continually; for there is no little danger for all of us to relax our influence, and so to drift into carelessness, which may possibly lead to a fatal result.
Rev. Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.
Illustration
Some years ago I visited a poor sufferer, held in the grip of an incurable disease. He had always a reason to give for diminution of his physical power. He is not so well to-day; but then, he sat in a draught yesterday. Another day he is not so well; but then, he incautiously took some food that did not agree with him. Again, he is not so well; but that, of course, is the fault of the bitter east wind that is now blowing. Anything, you see, to hide from himself what is patent enough to every observerthat his vital force is gradually declining; and that, day by day, he is drawing nearer and nearer to the brink of the cold waters of the river of death. Why not so with our souls? If we notice, and we can hardly help noticing, that we are drifting away from our old moorings, and floating down the tide; if we have to confess to ourselves that our interest in religion has abated; that we do not read our Biblesor, if we do, that we only read them as a dry matter of duty; that our private prayers are huddled up and shortened, or even abandoned altogether; that we are glad of any excuse for absenting ourselves from the house of God; that we have deserted the Lords table, though we once attended it; that we are beginning to relish more keenly any argument which seems to tell against the authority of the Scriptures or to throw discredit on the supernatural lifeunder such circumstances ought we not to conclude that the explanation of the whole matter is to be found in the fact that, somehow or other, the fabric of our spiritual vitality is being undermined?
(SECOND OUTLINE)
LOVE NOT THE WORLD.
Love not the world.
1Jn 2:15
This command may appear to some incapable of being obeyed. But rightly understood, it is incumbent upon us all.
I. What it is not:
(a) It is not the world of nature.
(b) It is not the world of human occupation.
(c) It is not the world of human affection.
II. What it is.The command applies
(a) To the world apart from God.
(b) To the world apart from righteousness.
(c) To the world which is in opposition to the eternal and true.
The world which St. John condemns is, alas! a very real world. It is a world which is everywhere around usa world from which we cannot escape, and yet a world which need not contaminate a single one of us. It is the world of which Wordsworth speaks when he says, The world is too much with us; late and soon. It is the world to which our Blessed Lord alludes when He says, I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Illustrations
(1) It is told of Mary Godolphin that she bore an unsullied charactera soul unspotted by the world, amid the dissolute surroundings of Whitehall, in the Court of Charles II. She lived in the worldin a world infamous in history for its shameless profligacyand yet she was not of the world; in the midst of general corruption, her soul was like a star and dwelt apart.
(2) Not to love the world was identified with flying from it altogether. But even in the solitude of the desert it was revealed to the blessed saint Macarius that, in spite of his privations and asceticism, he was yet less dear to God than two poor washerwomen of Alexandria; and, upon inquiry, he found to his amazement that they were simply good women honestly endeavouring, amid the humblest surroundings, to perform their duties faithfully and well.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Jn 2:15. World is from a word that means the inhabitants of the earth. Other passages require us to love our enemies and Joh 3:16 says God loved the world. The apparent difficulty is explained by the words things that are in the world. We should understand that Christians are not to love the things that the people in the world possess and use for their lustful pleasures. Of course no man can love such things and love the Father also, for He has condemned them and commanded His children to “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1Pe 2:11).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The love of the world: renounced in the Fellowship of the Father. This exhortation is addressed to all, the tone of contrast being now again resumed.
1Jn 2:15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Fellowship with God, and walking in darkness, were diametrical opposites in chap. 1; the same is now said of the love of God and fellowship with the world. Here is an exhortation, and the reason for it. The emphasis is in this verse on the love, which only in this passage is used both of God and the world: elsewhere we have friendship with the world (Jas 4:4), minding earthly things (Php 3:19); but the strong word love, the giving up of the whole being, mind, and heart, and will, we have only here. That in the nature of things, and by the evangelical law, must be reserved for God alone; two contradictory perfect loves cannot be in the same soul; therefore, he who thus loves the world cannot have the love of the Father. This reason assigned explains the exhortation. The world is interpreted by it, just as mammon is interpreted by the impossibility of double service: ye cannot serve God and mammon. The world is the sphere of the unregenerate life, governed by another god, fallen from God, and consequently swayed by self, which is separation from God. It is not therefore the whole economy of things; which man cannot love, though he may make it his god. It is not for the same reason the earth as the abode of man. It is not the aggregate of mankind, whom we must love as God loved the world. But it is the whole sum of evil which makes up the principle of opposition to the holiness of God, the world which lieth in the wicked one. In distinction from this universal sphere of sin, which has the whole heart of the unconverted, the things that are in the world define the particular directions which alienation from God may take, and the special objects which self may convert into objects of love.
1Jn 2:16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Now, the apostle defines the nature of the world, more particularly in its utter contrariety to the nature of God. The world is a sphere of life; it has a unity, and the whole that is in it, as it is occupied by man, may be distributed into a trinity. First, the lust of the flesh: in its more limited sense, the living to gratify the desires of the fleshly nature; in its deeper meaning, the gratification of the fallen nature generally in opposition to the Spirit, for St. John, like St. Paul, defines that which is born of the flesh as flesh. Then the lust of the eyes; all the manifold desires that are awakened by the eye as their instrument, or that connect the flesh with the outer world. This also has its profounder meaning: the desire of the worlds eye rests upon the sum of things phenomenal, or the things that are seen; and its sin is the universal sin of dependence on the creature, and not beholding, rejoicing in, and being satisfied with the Creator and invisible realities. Thirdly, the vainglory of life: life being here the way or means of physical existence, and not the life which is the glory of this Epistle; the vainglory is the pride and pomp that exults in itself, and gives not the glory to God. This trinity is a tri-unity, making up the whole that is in the world of mans estrangement from Divine things. And, with reference to this whole, the apostle says, twice repeating is, that it springs not from God. It is not of that new life which is from God; but is its perfect opposite. It cannot love God, because it is not of His nature; it cannot go to God, because it came not from Him. Whence then came it originally and comes it now? The apostle does not say from sin, nor from Satan. He is thinking and about to speak of its emptiness and transitoriness: he could not therefore say that it cometh of evil, or of sin, or of Satan; for these do not pass away. But he limits his words, it is of the world, the emphasis being on this, that it is not of the Father, the Father of that Son in whom we have eternal love and eternal life.
1Jn 2:17. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. The world as a system of desires contrary to the Divine will, governed by its one lust that makes it what it is, is even now in the act of passing. Its sinners will remain, and the consequences of its sin; but as a complex world of iniquity, ordered in its disorder, it will pass away, it is even now passing. Then there is a change to the personal individual, who knows no lust, but only the one will: abjuring the lust of the flesh, he doeth that will which is his sanctification; renouncing the sight of his eyes, he walks before Him who is invisible; and forsaking all glorying in self, he gives glory to God supremely and alone. He shall, like God, and with God, and in God, abide for ever.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. That our apostle doth not, as he did before, direct his advice to any one particular sort or rank of Christians in special, but unto all in general; Love not the world, &c.
Observe, 2. That the prohibition here is not absoltue, but comparatively only. It is not an ordinata charitas, but inordinata cupiditas, that is here forbidden; we may look upon the world, and desire it, delight in it, and in the enjoyment of it, provided we do not chuse it for our portion, delight in it as our chief good.
Observe, 3. St. John doth not say, Leave the world, but Love not the world; he doth not say, use not the world, but Love it not; that is, seek not after the world inordinately, and delight not in it immoderately. Seek it we may, but but not in an undue manner; delight in it we may, but not in an undue measure.
Observe, 4. The arguments which our apostle makes use of to enforce his dehortation.
1. The contrariety of the love of the world to the love of God; If any man love the world (in an undue manner and measure) the love of the Father is not in him; that is, the worldly lover has no interest in the Father’s love; the world’s darlings are none of God’s friends, the world’s lover has no love of the Father in him; there is no positive love of God in him in whom there is a superlative love of the world.
Lord, how desperate and dangerous a sin then is worldly love! If the love of the Father be not in him, the hatred of the Father is towards him, Jam 4:4 Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
A second argument to dissuade from worldly love is contained in the 16th verse: For all that is in the world; that is, all that is in esteem and vogue with the men of the world, is either the lust of the flesh, that is all sensual delights and enjoyments, which occasion intemperance: or the lust of the eye, the desire of gold, silver, stately houses, rich gardens, which tend to gratify the eye: and the pride of life, or the desires of honours and dignities, high titles, and places of advancement, which tend to gratify our pride, all these are not of the Father; that is, they are not desires excited by him, nor are they pleasing to him, but are the desires of the men of the world, and proceed from that corruption which is in them.
The third argument is taken from the world itself, and its short continuance, in the 17th verse, the world passeth away, that is, all the things of the world, which the men of the world doat upon, and are in love with, are of a fading transitory nature in themselves, and they pass away from their possessors and owners. And the laws thereof: that is, the pleasure which they had in gratifying their lusts passeth away, but the sting remaineth, and the torment abideth.
It is added, But he that doth the will of God abideth forever. Behold here the permanent felicity, not of the knowing, but obedient Christian. He abideth forever, not in this, but in the other world, in a state of endless happiness. Although eternity, in its most comprehensive notion, be peculiar to a Diety, and incommunicable to a creature, yet it is that which God has made rational creatures capable of; and as he abideth for ever, so will he grant to them that do his will to abide with him for ever also; The world passeth away, and the lust therof; but he doth the will of God abideth for ever.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
“Do Not Love the World”
Worldliness did not originate in the Father but in the world out of which believers come. The lust of the flesh would involve any uncontrolled appetite of the body. Eating, for example, is not wrong unless we allow it to lead to gluttony. The lust of the eyes would be anything excited by sight. The pride, or vain glory, of life is the seeking of worldly rewards and praise of men above that of God. All of these were used by Satan in the Garden of Eden and the temptations of the Lord ( 1Jn 2:16 ; Gen 3:1-24 ; Mat 4:1-3 ).
The things of this life are, at best, temporary ( 2Co 4:18 ). Woods says the verb tense indicates the world is already in the process of passing away. In contrast to the world, the one who does God’s will lasts or endures throughout eternity ( 1Jn 2:17 ; Rom 6:23 ). The disciple’s prayer should be that God will help him have that lasting quality through the blood of his precious Son!
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Jn 2:15-17. To you all, whether fathers, young men, or little children, I say, Love not the world Pursue your victory by overcoming the world, and all the temptations which may assault you from it, whether from prosperity or adversity, from riches or poverty, honour or reproach, pleasure or pain, life or death; from the persons of the world, or from the things that are in the world Whether they assault you through the medium of your senses, or your appetites and passions. If any man love the world Esteem, desire, or pursue it, or any thing in it, inordinately, so as to place his happiness in the enjoyment of it; the love of the Father is not in him There being a real inconsistency between the love of the world and the love of God; between being carnally minded, esteeming, desiring, and pursuing immoderately visible and temporal things, which is death, and being spiritually minded, having our thoughts and affections set on invisible and heavenly things, which is life and peace, Rom 8:6. For all that is in the world That is tempting and alluring; the lust , the desire; of the flesh The pleasure arising from gratifying the outward senses, whether of the taste, smell, or touch, or the bodily appetites; the desire of the eyes Those things, which, being seen by the eyes, are earnestly desired and sought after, and which they take pleasure in beholding, especially riches, including also the pleasures of imagination, (to which the eye chiefly is subservient,) of that internal sense whereby we relish whatever is grand, new, or beautiful; and the pride of life Those things wherein men are wont to take the greatest pride, and which chiefly feed pride of heart; all that pomp in clothes, houses, furniture, equipage, manner of living, things which generally procure honour from the bulk of mankind, and so gratify pride and vanity. It therefore directly includes the desire of praise, and, remotely, covetousness. All these desires are not of the Father, but of the world That is, from the prince of this world, or from that corruption of nature that prevails in worldly men. And the world passeth away Namely, all the enjoyments of the world; and the desire thereof All that appears desirable in it, and causes it to be so much sought after; or all that can gratify the above-mentioned desires, passeth away with it; but he that doeth the will of God That loves him, and not the world, and seeks happiness in him, and not in worldly things, abideth in the enjoyment of what he loves, and makes the object of his pursuit, for ever.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Jn 2:15-17. Christians are called to love God and their brethren, but they must not love the world, i.e. the circle of interests divorced from God and in opposition to His will. Its gratifications, such as sensual excesses, unlawful desires awakened by means of the eyes, self-assertive and atheistical display, belong to a doomed and dying order. World is the key-word to this section. Unlike 1Jn 2:2 (cf. also 1Jn 4:14), where it describes the sum total of humanity, it means here the un-Christian and anti-Christian forces and interests of the time, society viewed as apart from God and controlled merely by selfishness. Hence in Johns terminology it is the antithesis of the Church which it hates (1Jn 3:13), the home of Antichrist and false prophets (1Jn 4:1 ff.), and the domain of Satan (1Jn 5:19). The sharp contrast in the first century between the Christian brotherhood and society outside it gave special point to this conception.
1Jn 2:17 a. John believed that the existing order of things was on the point of being brought to an end (1Jn 2:18). On this ground, love of it was foolish, even as, because of its moral quality, love of it was incompatible with a true love for God (cf. Jas 4:4).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
2:15 {14} Love not the {l} world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the {m} love of the Father is not in him.
(14) The world which is full of wicked desires, lusts or pleasures, and pride, is utterly hated by our heavenly Father. Therefore the Father and the world cannot be loved together: and this admonition is very necessary for young and growing youth.
(l) He speaks of the world, as it agrees not with the will of God, for otherwise God is said to love the world with an infinite love, Joh 3:16 that is to say, those whom he chose out of the world.
(m) Wherewith the Father is loved.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. Recognizing Spiritual Adversaries 2:15-27
Having encouraged the readers with affirmations that their spiritual condition was very good (1Jn 2:12-14), John turned next to the enemies they must face: the world (1Jn 2:15-17) and the antichrists (1Jn 2:18-27).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Resisting the World 2:15-17
John warned his readers of worldly dangers that face the Christian as he or she seeks to get to know God better. He did so to enable them to prepare for and overcome these obstacles with God’s help.
"As often in 1 John, a section of parenesis [reminders of what the readers already knew or were doing or of what they knew they should avoid] follows a series of dogmatic statements." [Note: Smalley, p. 89.]
The New Testament uses the term "world" (Gr. kosmos) in at least three ways. Sometimes "the world" refers to planet earth, the physical world (e.g., Act 17:24). Sometimes it refers to humankind, the human world (e.g., Joh 3:16), and sometimes it refers to human culture as influenced by Satan, the world system (here).
John again presented three pairs, as he did in 1Jn 2:12-14.
|
1Jn 2:15 |
The love of the world |
The love of the Father |
|
1Jn 2:16 |
comes from the world |
comes from the Father |
|
1Jn 2:17 |
The world passes away |
The one who obeys God remains forever |
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Greek negative prohibition me with the present active imperative verb means either stop doing something or do not have the habit of doing it. The "world" (kosmos) represents the system of values, priorities, and beliefs that unbelievers hold that excludes God.
"The world is that organized system which acts as a rival to God." [Note: Ryrie, "The First . . .," p. 1469.]
It is a moral and spiritual system designed to draw people away from God. It is a seductive system that appeals to all people, believers as well as unbelievers, and calls for our affection, participation, and loyalty (cf. Joh 3:16-19; Jas 4:4). Satan controls this system, and believers should shun it (cf. 1Jn 5:19; Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30). Here kosmos does not refer primarily to the created order, though that order is also passing away (1Co 7:31; 2Pe 3:7-13; Rev 21:1-4). [Note: Smalley., p. 87.]
"If" assumes that some Christians will love the world (third class condition in Greek), which is unfortunately often true to reality. One writer responded to the question of many, "What’s so bad about the world?" [Note: Yarbrough, pp. 128-37.] "The love of the Father" is probably the believers’ love for the Father (objective genitive), not His love for us (subjective genitive). [Note: Robertson, 6:214.] "In him" again reflects a controlling influence (cf. 1Jn 1:8; 1Jn 2:4).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 10
THE WORLD WHICH WE MUST NOT LOVE
1Jn 2:15-16
An adequate development of words so compressed and pregnant as these would require a separate treatise, or series of treatises. But if we succeed in grasping St. Johns conception of the world, we shall have a key that will open to us this cabinet of spiritual thought.
In the writings of St. John the world is always found in one or other of four senses, as may be decided by the context.
(1) It means the creation, the universe. So our Lord in His High priestly prayer -“Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.”
(2) It is used for the earth locally as the place where man resides; and whose soil the Son of God trod for a while. “I am no more in the world, but these are in the world.”
(3) It denotes the chief inhabitants of the earth, they to whom the counsels of God mainly point-men universally. Such a transference is common in nearly all languages. Both the inhabitants of a building, and the material structure which contains them, are called “a house”; and the inhabitants are frequently bitterly blamed, while the beauty of the structure is passionately admired. In this sense there is a magnificent width in the word “world.” We cannot but feel indignant at attempts to gird its grandeur within the narrow rim of a human system. “The bread that I will give,” said He who knew best, “is My flesh which I will give for the life of the world.” “He is the propitiation for the whole world,” writes the Apostle at the beginning of this chapter. In this sense, if we would imitate Christ, if we would aspire to the Fathers perfection, “love not the world” must be tempered by that other tender oracle-“God so loved the world.”
In none of these senses can the world here be understood. There remains then:
(4) a fourth signification, which has two allied shades of thought. World is employed to cover the whole present existence, with its blended good and evil-susceptible of elevation by grace, susceptible also of deeper depths of sin and ruin. But yet again the indifferent meaning passes into one that is wholly evil, wholly within a region of darkness. The first creation was pronounced by God in each department “good” collectively; when crowned by Gods masterpiece in man, “very good.” “All things,” our Apostle tells us, “were made through Him (the Word), and without Him was not anything made that was made.” But as that was a world wholly good, so is this a world wholly evil. This evil world is not Gods creation, drew not its origin from Him. All that is in it came out from it, from nothing higher. This wholly evil world is not the material creation; if it were, we should be landed in dualism, or Manicheism. It is not an entity, an actual tangible thing, a creation. It is not of Gods world that St. John cries in that last fierce word of abhorrence which he flings at it as he sees the shadowy thing like an evil spirit made visible in an idols arms-“the world lieth wholly in the evil one.”
This anti-world, this caricature of creation, this thing of negations, is spun out of three abuses of the endowment of Gods glorious gift of free will to man; out of three noble instincts ignobly used. First, “the lust of the flesh”-of which flesh is the seat, and supplies the organic medium through which it works. The flesh is that softer part of the frame which by the network of the nerves is intensely susceptible of pleasurable and painful sensations: capable of heroic patient submission to the higher principles of conscience and spirit, capable also of frightful rebellion. Of all theologians St. John is the least likely to fall into the exaggeration of libelling the flesh as essentially evil. Is it not he who, whether in his Gospel, or in his Epistles, delights to speak of the flesh of Jesus, to record words in which He refers to it? Still the flesh brings us into contact with all sins which are sins that spring from, and end in, the senses. Shall we ask for a catalogue of particulars from St. John? Nay, we cannot expect that the virgin Apostle, who received the Virgin Mother from the Virgin Lord upon the cross, will sully his virgin pen with words so abhorred. When he has uttered the lust of the flesh his shudder is followed by an eloquent silence. We can fill up the blank too well-drunkenness, gluttony, thoughts and motions which spring from deliberate, wilfully cherished, rebellious sensuality; which fill many of us with pain and fear, and wring cries and bitter tears from penitents, and even from saints. The second, abuse of free will, the second element in this world which is not Gods world, is the desire of which the eyes are the seat-“the lust of the eyes.” To the two sins which we instinctively associate with this phrase- voluptuousness and curiosity of the senses or the soul-Scripture might seem to add envy, which derives so much of its aliment from sight. In this lies the Christians warning against wilfully indulging in evil sights, bad plays, bad books, bad pictures.
He who is outwardly the spectator of these things becomes inwardly the actor of them. The eye is, so to speak, the burning glass of the soul; it draws the rays from their evil brightness to a focus, and may kindle a raging fire in the heart. Under this department comes unregulated spiritual or intellectual curiosity. The first need not trouble us so much as it did Christians in a more believing time. Comparatively very few are in danger from the planchette or from astrology. But surely it is a rash thing for an ordinary mind, without a clear call of duty, without any adequate preparation, to place its faith within the deadly grip of some powerful adversary. People really seem to have absolutely no conscience about reading anything-the last philosophical Life of Christ, or the last romance; of which the titles might be with advantage exchanged, for the philosophical history is a light romance, and the romance is a heavy philosophy. The third constituent in the evil anti-trinity of the anti-world is “the pride” (the arrogancy, gasconade, almost swagger) “of life,” of which the lower life is the seat. The thought is not so much of outward pomp and ostentation as of that false pride which arises in the heart. The arrogancy is within; the gasconade plays its “fantastic tricks before high heaven.” And each of these three elements (making up as. they do collectively all that is “in the world” and springing out of the world) is not a substantive thing, not an original ingredient of mans nature, or among the forms of Gods world; it is the perversion of an element which had a use that was noble, or at least innocent. For first comes “the lust of the flesh.” Take those two objects to which this lust turns with a fierce and perverted passion. The possession of flesh in itself leads man to crave for the necessary support to his native weakness. The mutual craving for the love of beings so like and so unlike as man and woman, if it be a weakness, has at least a most touching and exquisite side. Again, is not a yearning for beauty gratified through the eyes? Were they not given for the enjoyment, for the teaching, at once high and sweet, of Nature and of Art? Art may be a moral and spiritual discipline. The ideas of Beauty from gifted minds by cunning hands transferred to, and stamped upon, outward things, come from the ancient and uncreated Beauty, whose beauty is as perfect as His truth and strength. Still further; in the lower life, and in its lawful use, there was intended to be a something of quiet satisfaction, a certain restfulness, at times making us happy and triumphant. And lo! for all this, not moderate fare and pure love, not thoughtful curiosity and the sweet pensiveness which is the best tribute to the beautiful-not a wise humility which makes us feel that our times are in Gods hands and our means His continual gift-but degraded senses, low art, evil literature, a pride which is as grovelling as it is godless.
These three typical summaries of the evil tendencies in the exercise of free will correspond with a remarkable fulness to the two narratives of trial which give us the compendium and general outline of all human temptation.
Our Lords three temptations answer to this division. The lust of the flesh is in essence the rebellion of the lower appetites, inherent to creaturely dependence, against the higher principle or law. The nearest and only conceivable approach to this in the sinless Man would be in His seeking lawful support by unlawful means- procuring food by a miraculous exertion of power, which only would have become sinful, or short of the highest goodness, by some condition of its exercise at that time and in that place. An appeal to the desire for beauty and glory, with an implied hint of using them for Gods greater honour, is the essence of. the second temptation; the one possible approximation to the “lust of the eyes” in that perfect character. The interior deception of some touch of pride in the visible support of angels wafting the Son of God through the air is Satans one sinister way of insinuating to the Saviour something akin to “the pride of life.”
In the case of the other earlier typical trials it will be observed that while the temptations fit into the same threefold framework, they are placed in an order which exactly reverses that of St. John. For in Eden the first approach is through “pride”; the magnificent promise of elevation in the scale of being, of the knowledge that would win the wonder of the spiritual world. “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” {Gen 3:5} The next step is that which directs the curiosity both of the senses and of the aspiring mind to the object, forbidden-“when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise.” {Gen 3:6} Then seems to have come some strange and sad rebellion of the lower nature, filling their souls with shame; some bitter revelation of the law of sin in their members; some knowledge that they were contaminated by the “lust of the flesh.” {Gen 3:7} The order of the temptation in the narrative of Moses is historical; St. Johns order is moral and spiritual, answering to the facts of life. The “lust of the flesh,” which may approach the child through childish greed, grows apace. At first it is half unconscious; then it becomes coarse and palpable. In the mans desire acting with unregulated curiosity, through ambition of knowledge at any price, searching out for itself books and other instruments with deliberate desire to kindle lust, the “lust of the eyes” ceases not its fatal influence. The crowning sin of pride with its selfishness, which is self apart from God as well as from the brother, finds its place in the “pride of life.”
III We may now be in a position to see more clearly against what world the Primate of early Christendom pronounced his anathema, and launched his interdict, and why?
What “world” did he denounce?
Clearly not the world as the creation, the universe. Not again the earth locally. God made and ordered all things. Why should we not love them with a holy and a blameless love? Only we should not love them in themselves; we should not cling to them forgetting Him. Suppose that some husband heaped beautiful and costly presents upon his wife whom he loved. At last with the intuition of love he begins to see what is the secret of such cold imitation of love as that icy heart can give. She loves him not – his riches, not the man; his gifts, not the giver. And thus loving with that frigid love which has no heart in it, there is no true love; her heart is anothers. Gifts are given that the giver may be loved in them. If it is true that “gifts are naught when givers prove unkind,” it is also true that there is a sort of adultery of the heart when the taker is unkind-because the gift is valuable, not because the bestower is dear. And so the world, Gods beautiful world, now becomes to us an idol. If we are so lost in the possession of Nature, in the march of law, in the majestic growth, in the stars above and in the plants below, that we forget the Lawgiver, who from such humble beginnings has brought out a world of beauty and order; if with modern poets we find content, calm, happiness, purity, rest, simply in contemplating the glaciers, the waves, and the stars; then we look at the world even in this sense in a way which is a violation of St. Johns rule. Yet again, the world which is now condemned is not humanity. There is no real Christianity in taking black views, and speaking bitter things, about the human society to which we belong, and the human nature of which we are partakers. No doubt Christianity believes that man “is very far gone from original righteousness”; that there is a “corruption in the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam.” Yet the utterers of unwholesome apothegms, the suspecters of their kind, are not Christian thinkers. The philosophic historian, whose gorge rose at the doctrine of the Fall, thought much worse of man practically than the Fathers of the Church. They bowed before martyrdom and purity, and believed in them with a child-like faith. For Gibbon, the martyr was not quite so true, nor the virgin quite so pure, nor the saint quite so holy. He who knew human nature best, who has thrown that terrible ray of light into the unlit gulf of the heart when He tells us “what proceeds out of the heart of man,” {Mar 7:21} had yet the ear which was the first to hear the trembling of the one chord that yet kept healthful time and tune in the harlots passionate heart. He believed that man was recoverable; lost, but capable of being found. After all, in this sense there is something worthy of love in man. “God so loved” (not so hated) “the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” Shall we say that we are to hate the world which He loved?
And now we come to that world which God never loved, never will love, never will reconcile to Himself, -which we are not to love.
This is most important to see; for there is always a danger in setting out with a stricter standard than Christs, a narrower road than the narrow one which leads to heaven. Experience proves that they who begin with standards of duty which are impossibly high end with standards of duty which are sometimes sadly low. Such men have tried the impracticable, and failed; the practicable seems to be too hard for them ever afterwards. They who begin by anathematising the world in things innocent, indifferent, or even laudable, not rarely end by a reaction of thought which believes that the world is nothing and nowhere.
But there is such a thing as the world in St, Johns sense-an evil world brought into existence by the abuse of our free will; filled by the anti-trinity, by “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”
Let us not confuse “the world” with the earth, with the whole race of man, with general society, with any particular set, however much some sets are to be avoided. Look at the thing fairly. Two people, we will say, go to London, to live there. One, from circumstances of life and position, naturally falls into the highest social circle. Another has introductions to a smaller set, with an apparently more serious connection. Follow the first some evening. He drives to a great gathering. The room which he enters is ablaze with light; jewelled orders sparkle upon mens coats, and fair women move in exquisite dresses. We look at the scene and we say-“what worldly society has the man fallen into!” Perhaps so, in a sense. But about the same time the other walks to a little room with humbler adjuncts, where a grave and apparently serious circle meet together. We are able to look in there also, and we exclaim-“this is serious society, unworldly society.” Perhaps so, again. Yet let us read the letters of Mary Godolphin. She bore a life unspotted by the world in the dissolute court of Charles II, because the love of the Father was in her. In small serious circles are there no hidden lusts which blaze up in scandals? Is there no vanity, no pride, no hatred? In the world of Charles IIs court Mary Godolphin lived out of the world which God hated; in the religious world not a few, certainly, live in the world which is not Gods. For, once more, the world is not so much a place- though at times its power seems to have been drawn into one intense focus, as in the empire of which Rome was the centre, and which may have been in the Apostles thought in the following verse. In the truest and deepest sense the world consists of our own spiritual surrounding; it is the place which we make for our own souls. No walls that ever were reared can shut out the world from us; the “Nun of Kenmare” found that it followed her into the seemingly spiritual retreat of a severe Order. The world in its essence is subtler and thinner than the most infinitesimal of the bacterian germs in the air. They can be strained off by the exquisite apparatus of a man of science. At a certain height they cease to exist. But the world may be wherever we are; we carry it with us wherever we go, it lasts while our lives last. No consecration can utterly banish it even from within the churchs walls; it dares to be round us while we kneel, and follows us into the presence of God.
Why does God hate this “world”-the world in this sense? St. John tells us. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Deep in every heart must be one or other of two loves. There is no room for two master passions. There is an expulsive power in all true affection. What tenderness and pathos, how much of expostulation, more potent because reserved-“the love of the Father is not in him”! He has told all his “little ones” that he has written to them because they “know the Father.” St. John does not use sacred names at random. Even Voltaire felt that there was something almost awful in hearing Newton pronounce the name of God. Such in an incomparably higher degree is the spirit of St. John. In this section he writes of “the love of the Father,” {1Jn 2:15-16} and of the “will of God.” (1Jn 2:17.) The first title has more sweetness than majesty; the second more majesty than sweetness. He would throw into his plea some of the winningness of one who uses this as a resistless argument with a tempted, but loving child-an argument often successful when every other fails. “If you do this, your Father will not love you; you will not be His child.” We have but to read this with the hearts of Gods dear children. Then we shall find that if the “love not” of this verse contains “words of extirpation” it ends with others which are intended to draw us with cords of a man, and with bands of love.