The writer was not dissatisfied with the spiritual state of his readers. Much less did he question or doubt their salvation, as some expositors of this epistle imply. On the contrary, his readers may even be viewed as having matured in the faith. John wrote precisely because their present state was so good. But he wished to warn them about dangers which always exist, no matter how far one has advanced in his Christian walk.
To summarize, John seems to make it clear that his readers were Christians. They were my dear children (2:1) and dear friends (4:1). Verses 12–14 again call them dear children, fathers, and young men, who have experienced forgiveness, knowledge of God, and victory in spiritual battle. Far from calling into question their salvation or expressing dissatisfaction with their spiritual growth, John seems to reassure them of their salvation. Having reassured them, he then warned them against false teaching and dangers from the world.
Verses:
15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves 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 boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever. (NASB)
Key Takeaways:
- The world competes for the love of Christians and one cannot both love it and the Father at the same time
- The first hindrance to a walk in the light is worldliness.
- The reason we are not to love the world is that the world’s values are in opposition to God
- A person whose character and personality are shaped by obedience to God will not be affected by the passing away of the world and its vain desires
Closer Look:
Verse 15: John now turned to a warning. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.” The “world” (kosmos), thought of here as an entity hostile to God (cf. 4:4), is always a seductive influence which Christians should continually resist (cf. John 15:18–19; James 4:4. In other NT verses “world” [kosmos] means people, e.g., John 3:16–17.)[1] The world competes for the love of Christians and one cannot both love it and the Father at the same time. “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” As James also had told his Christian readers, “Friendship with the world is hostility toward God” (James 4:4, NASB).
Not only are the readers to love God and their community of believers; they are not to love the world. The world (kosmos) in this context refers to the attitudes and values that disregard God or are blatantly against God. It certainly does not refer to God’s natural creation or even humanity (we are to love the people in the world for whom Christ died, as God does, John 3:16), but it refers to that part of human activities that are under the authority of the devil (John 12:31; 1 John 5:19; Eph. 2:1–2). We love the people of the world, but we do not love the sinful attitudes and values they may embrace.
“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” This is a difficult statement. Does it mean that if we do love the world, God does not love us (love of the Father = the love which God has for us), or does it mean we do not love God (love of the Father = our love for God)? Good Bible students stand on both sides of this question. The context leads many to favor the latter. If we love the world, we are not loving God. We cannot love the world and love God at the same time. This interpretation is strengthened by James 4:4.[2]
In this section John points out hindrances to walking in the light (we will see the other hindrances in rest of the chapter). The first hindrance to a walk in the light is worldliness. This is passing away or will pass away, it’s futuristic. This brief paragraph becomes especially meaningful when it is seen as describing dualism as part of the world system. A body is a material; you’re living in this material world. Of course what is said here is true of worldliness in any of its forms and expressions. And again, as I said, it’s futuristic present, it is passing away, meaning it will pass away in verse 17, it will pass away.
Verse 16: The reason love for the world is incompatible with love for God is that everything in the world comes not “from the Father, but is from the world.” The world thus conceived is a system of values and goals from which God is excluded. In describing “everything in the world,” John specified its contents under three well-known phrases that effectively highlight the world’s false outlook. People of the world live for lust of the flesh (you may also see a phrasing of “the cravings of sinful man”). Some older NIV translations use the word “cravings,” which translates epithymia, which is used twice in this verse and once in the next verse. The NIV translates it differently each time: “cravings,” “lust,” “desires.”[3] In the New Testament the word usually, though not always, connotes desires that are sinful. The expression “flesh” translates the Greek sarx (literally, “flesh”). The phrase refers particularly to illicit bodily appetites. The expression “the lust (epithymia) of the eyes” points to our covetous and acquisitive nature. “The boastful pride of life” paraphrases the Greek hē alazoneia tou biou (literally, “the pretension of human life”), which signifies a proud and ostentatious way of life. (Alazoneia is used only here in the NT.) Christians ought to have nothing to do with such worldly perspectives as these.
The reason we are not to love the world is that the world’s values are in opposition to God. The “lust of the flesh” are the sinful interests and desires that draw us away from God. The lust of [the] eyes refers to sinful desires that corrupt us. The eye is often used as a figure of speech to refer to sinful passions (Matthew 5:28).
When Eve looked at the forbidden fruit, it was “pleasing to the eye.” David’s sin with Bathsheba started when he looked on Bathsheba taking a bath (2 Samuel 11:2). It might be translated, “the desires that originate in what we see.”[4] The boasting of what a person has and does refers to the arrogance and pride that can overtake us as we try to keep up or get ahead of the Joneses and when we rely on ourselves rather than God for our material possessions and worldly positions.
These values are foolish for two reasons. First, they do not come from the Father. Therefore, they interfere with our fellowship with the Father. Second, we are all going to die, and what we are living for will come to nothing. The well-known saying of slain missionary Jim Elliot seems appropriate here: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to get what he cannot lose.”
We should not embrace the world’s ways or goods. Because when we do, it squeezes out our love for God. When we live for ourselves, getting what we want when we want it and never content and being more consumed with what we have compared to others, we are not living for God but for the world. This is foolish because it suffocates our relationship with God, and in the end, it will all return to dust anyway.
Verse 17: After all, the world and its lusts (or desires; epithymia) are temporary and pass away, “but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.” The word “live” renders the characteristic Johannine word menō (cf. 1:6). It suggests, as almost always in this epistle, the “abiding life” of fellowship with God.[5] But here is obviously the additional thought that the life lived in God’s fellowship, rejecting the sinful things of this passing world, is a life that has no real ending. A person whose character and personality are shaped by obedience to God will not be affected by the passing away of the world and its vain desires.
Temptation
Many people feel that you fight all temptations the same way; you just fight temptation. I do not think You fight temptations the same way. You fight temptation according to the source of the temptation. Unsaved people are motivated by three things, the world, flesh, and Satan. We know that from Ephesians 2:1-3: “You are dead in your trespasses of sins.” Paul talks about walking according to the course of this world, according to prince of the power of air you walked according to the lust of your flesh. So the middle age theologians referred to temptation as the world, the flesh, the devil.
Now I don’t know if you ever stopped to think of it but everything a lost person does, everything without exception is determined by the world, the flesh, Satan. When you become a Christian, those same three areas of temptation assault us and they are totally different in their approaches. Since they are different, we must have different ways to combat them. So let me take temptations from the world, then from the flesh, and finally from Satan and deal with that very, very quickly.
First of all the world, temptations from the world. I grew up going to a small Christian school. It was very legalistic. Many of families were taught or believed that going to movies was worldliness. If you went to a dance hall, it was worldliness. If girls wore lipstick, that was worldly. We were taught worldliness as activities, actions. Worldliness is not just activities or actions. Worldliness is an attitude and here’s why I say that. Remember when God put Adam and Eve in charge of the world?, He gave them authority over the whole world. We saw in Hebrews 2 that when Adam and Eve sinned, they did not lose that authority. There was God, Adam and Eve and the world. After Adam and Eve sinned, God is over all and Adam and Eve are still over the world. We know that from Psalm 8:4-6: “What is man that You think of him, And a son of man that You are concerned about him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You have him rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put everything under his feet.”
With this we have developed a whole worldly philosophy, a whole concept of looking at life. So that worldliness is an attitude in which you have a desire for prestige, power, possessions, and position in the world system. May I say that again? Worldliness is an attitude where you desire prestige, power, possessions, and position in the world system. Notice none of these things in themselves are wrong. None of them. Every one of them is legitimate in a setting but if you want this in the world system, you want to be recognized by the world. You want to have a new car because somebody else in the neighborhood has a new car; you want the best and so on. That’s worldliness, a desire for worldliness. How do you beat temptation from the world? It’s right here – “Love not the world. Don’t make that a priority of life.”
No matter what happens in your life, you may think you have overcome worldliness. At different points in time, we think we overcome it because we can control our wants for a while. But it’s not true, you never get over this wanting desire for prestige, power, possession, and position in the world. You never get over it. Don’t make that a priority; love not the world. That’s how you beat temptation of the world.
The second temptation is from flesh. The word flesh, in the New Testament, is extremely difficult. The word flesh as one of its meanings, may have or refer the sin nature – Galatians 5. The way to beat temptation from the sin nature is Galatians 5:16: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh..” And there very clearly, Paul us looking at this disposition of evil that inhabits all of us. But I would like to look at another aspect of the flesh. The word flesh may not only be used of just the sin nature. It may be used of the appetites of the flesh such as food or sex. It may be used of appetites of the body. For that one, you have one prescription and that is run, flee, don’t fight it. If you fight this one, I guarantee that you’ll lose and you’ll get dirty. Don’t fight it, run. Now that has all kinds of implications. If you are addicted to pornography, you don’t have pornographic literature around your house and stay away from any place where you might see or have it around. It means that if you are a teenager or you’re dating, you don’t date the wrong people. And teenagers know who the wrong people are far, far better than the parents do. They know who they are. just stay away from them. In fact I found in youth work, if you want to ruin a youth group, start dating. You want to have a gang spirit in a youth group not a couple’s spirit. You’re not pairing off. If you start pairing off, you’ll have problems. I’m off the subject. But in other words, flee.
It is dangerous to listen to the marital problems of someone of the opposite sex in a work environment because that person will start seeing you as someone who understands you or gets you. Even professional counselors get in problems of counseling those of the opposite sex. All you need is one accusation. An accusation is all you need to ruin your ministry. In ministry, it is often more advisable to let the ladies counsel the ladies and the men counsel the men. Those of the same sex know the problems far better than the other sex does anyway.
But just flee, run. I better give you some references for the flee here. Put 1 Corinthians 6:18: “Flee fornication.” 2 Timothy 2:22: “Flee also youthful lusts.” Run just run from them. Just stay away from any situation, stay away from any situation that can lead to sin, that can lead to this.
I’ve seen wonderful, gifted, godly, I’m talking about godly, gifted people who have fallen into immorality just because they got involved with a person of opposite sex through counseling. I’m talking about graduates of my seminary, other seminaries, large churches, small churches, and all in between. If you say, “Oh I would never do that,” you’re in trouble. The first step is to say, “I would never do that.” You don’t know what you would do. So easy, those appetites are so powerful. Flee, run, just stay away from any situation.
The third area of temptation is Satan. What’s the word that you have for Satan? What’s the one word? Resist. Don’t give in. Ask for the Spirit’s help
Now look at what happens. When you have temptation from these three areas, any one sin could be from any one of these three areas. For instance, the world. Let’s suppose you hate the taste of liquor, you can’t stand the smell of it but you’re a salesman. You have a client where there is a new contract possible. If you get this contract, it will literally set you up for the rest of your life. You know that this client loves to drink. So what do you do? You go out and get drunk with him for the sake of making that sale. That’s drunkenness for the sake of the world. Or it may be you are a reforming alcoholic and you come to work one day and find out there’s a secretary that’s planning to quit next week. She knows more about the details of that business than you do. Two hours later, your best salesman in the sales force comes in and says, “I’m going to leave the company, I’m going to go over to a competitor.” And you know that when he goes from your company to another company, he’s going to take a lot of the clients with him, you’re going to lose a lot of business. On the way home, you have a little fender bender and it’s right in front of a liquor store and you’re a reforming alcoholic and you remember how you can drown your sorrows and forget when you got drunk. You go in and buy a bottle of alcohol. What’s that? That’s temptation from the flesh. Or it could be you are a reforming alcoholic and you’re a Christian and you get drunk and Satan comes along and says, “Did you notice that catalog of sins that drunkards do not inherit the kingdom of God? You can’t be a Christian, how could you be a Christian?” In other words, the same sin can be used for the world, the flesh, the devil.
That’s why you have to be so careful in analyzing where is that temptation coming from? I don’t know about you but this little formula has helped me immensely: the world, don’t love the world, the flesh walk by the Spirit do not fulfill the lust of flesh or the appetites of the flesh, run. For Satan, don’t back up, don’t be intimidated, resist him stand fast in the truth. So John here is talking about one of these, which is the worldliness, don’t love the world.
[1] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 891.
[2] David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, vol. 11, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 175.
[3] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 891.
[4] David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, vol. 11, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 175.
[5] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 891.