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NOT LOVING THE WORLD

1 John chapter 2:12 to 17

Three different categories of people are mentioned here, to whom this letter is addressed:

1. "Little children"

2. "Fathers"

3. "Young men"

As at the beginning of this chapter, "little children" in verse 12, better translated as little born-again ones, can be taken as an affectionate name for all believers.

However, two other categories are also mentioned here, so a distinction is apparently being made: "little children" must be a reference to immature believers, and this is clearer in verse 13 where "little children" originates from another Greek word meaning immature little folk. They are the ones whose sins have been forgiven because they have trusted in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, and through Him they have come to know the heavenly Father as all of God's children should come to know him.

They have, as yet, made no further progress. And many of them just stop there, feeling that they needn't know any more, making up sometimes a congregation in churches which is little better than a spiritual nursery. They are physically full-grown, some of them with grey hair, yet they are spiritually immature, never having grown up, and remain in the nursery all their lives. They had better take heed of what the Spirit of God is telling them in this letter.

"Fathers" are mature believers with long and rich experience of the Lord Jesus, "" (chapter 1:1 and John 1:1-18). Different from "little children", Him who is from the beginningthey are the saints who have grown and matured through learning and practice (Philippians 3:10). We can only get to know the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word of God. The Word of God is the Bread of Life. If we are to know Christ, we must live with Him in His Word as we go through the joys and sorrows of this life. It is not sufficient just to attend Bible studies once a week: it is like going in and eating a good meal and then saying, "I'll be back for another meal in a week." If we don't get any food in the meantime, we will be in bad shape. Mature believers keep feeding on the Word of God, and this epistle provides such food for them.

The "young men" are the dynamic believers, full of enthusiasm and vigour, youthful at heart, who have won a permanent victory after conflict with the prince of darkness, the devil (chapter 3:8,10, John 8:44; 13:2). They abide in the Word of God and their strength is derived from it, making them sufficiently powerful to win the battle over the evil one. In this battle our weapon is the ". . . sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). If we are going to be able to defend ourselves against the Devil, we need to have a good knowledge of the Word of God. The reason so many believers are succumbing to the sins of the world is that they are not studying the Word of God. We need physical food to be physically strong, and we need spiritual food to be spiritually strong. Young men are therefore also addressed in this letter, in order that they may become stronger.

Love not the world means both stop loving and do not have the habit of loving the world. The word world here clearly does not mean the world of creation, that is, the system and order found in the physical creation, nor does it mean humankind in general, as in John 3:16. It means the community of sinful humanity that possesses a spirit of rebellion against God.

The thing which we need to hate today is the world system, an organised system headed by Satan which leaves God out and is actually in opposition to Him (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). The love of the world is the antithesis of the love of God: there is no room in between, for if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Because of its opposition to God, the world indulges in those things which are contrary to God's will, and offers the same temptations which brought Eve to sin, and with which the devil tempted the Lord: the lust of the flesh (Mark 4:19; Galatians 5:17), the lust of the eyes (Matthew 5:28,29), and the pride of life (2 Timothy 3:2-5). They are all "of the world" in origin, in no sense "of the Father".

The world system belongs to Satan: he offered the kingdoms of this world to the Lord Jesus; he is being judged as the prince of this world (John 16:11). Before we were saved we walked according to the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2) This is a world that is filled with greed, with selfish ambition, with fleshly pleasures, with deceit, and lying and danger. It is corrupted and polluted. We are hearing so much today about air pollution and water pollution, but what about the minds which are being polluted by all the pornography and vile language? What about the spirit of man that is being dulled by all these things? If you run with the Devil's crowd all week long and then run with the Lord's crowd on Sunday, it is obvious that the love of the Father is not in you. The problem for the believer is always how to be in the world and yet not of it (John 17:11, 14).

Our contemporary culture and civilisation is anti-God, and that is why we, the children of God, ought not to love it. Many of us must move in the business world, many of us must move even in the social realm, but we do not have to be a part of it. Whereas we used to obey the world system and live in it and enjoy it, now we are children of God and we are going to obey Him: that means hating the world, as Paul said: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world"(Galatians 6:14). A cross stood between him and this satanic world system, both bidding for him and, as a child of God, he was obedient unto Him, and he gloried in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The world is passing by, coming to an end (as the darkness in verse 8), even the lust which belongs to it. But one who keeps on doing the will of God abides for ever; he is working at something which is permanent, has stability, and is going to last for eternity.

 

R David Jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake.

13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for 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 passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever