1 John 2

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I am forever haunted by these words from T.S. Eliot’s “Chorus from ‘The Rock’”:

The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,

The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.

O perpetual revolution of configured stars,

O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,

O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying!

The endless cycle of idea and action,

Endless invention, endless experiment,

Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;

Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;

Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,

All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,

But nearness to death no nearer to God.

Where is the Life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries

Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.[1]

These words speak of the emptiness and futility of the fallen world order and the ways in which we keep falling farther and farther away from God even as we try to achieve wisdom and knowledge. This is a description of what John calls “the world.” In 1 John 2:15-17, John cautions us about love for this world and the things of it.

The fallen world order is an unfit object for our affections.

We will begin with John’s simple and foundational assertion:

^15a Do not love the world or the things in the world.

We are not to love the world. However, we might immediately think of an objection. What about John 3:16?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

How can John say here that we are not to love the world and yet say in John 3:16 that God loves the world? The answer is found in the different ways that the bible speaks of the world. For instance, in John 3:16, “world” refers to the people of the world. “World” is understood in that verse by the word “whosoever,” which is a reference to the people of the world. He is talking about people. John, however, is not is not using the word in that sense in our text.

As you can tell by the wording of my first point, I do not think John means by “world” the people of the world. We are to love people! Rather, he is speaking of something evil, something fallen, something antithetical to God, as he will say. He is speaking of the fallen world order. It is clear that sometimes the Bible uses the word “world” to refer to all of the people of the world. It is also clear that it also sometimes uses the word to refer to the fallen, corrupt, and fading away world order. For instance, consider how the word “world” or a derivative of that word is used in these verses.

Colossians 2

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations

Titus 2

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age

James 1

²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 4

⁴ You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

2 Peter 2

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

Jude

¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

In each of these passages, “world” does not appear to be speaking merely of people but rather of the fallen kingdom of the world that stands in antithesis to the kingdom of God. It is this, not people, that John says we are not to love. We are not to love the corrupt, dehumanizing, kingdom of darkness that is the fallen world order. We are not to love its violence, its corruption, it arrogance, its power, or its godlessness. These things are not fit objects for the affections of the people of God.

What, then, should be our disposition towards the fallen world order? I would suggest grief. We should weep over the fall and decline of the world. Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote, “if you live in a graveyard, you can’t weep for everyone.”[2] Perhaps, but we must try. The world is indeed a graveyard, but if we do not weep over it we will not be moved to reach it with the good news of Christ Jesus.

One thing is for certain, though: we must not love the fallen world order.

The fallen world order is opposed to God.

We must not love the world because it is opposed to God and the things of God.

^15b If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Some argue that the phrase “the love of the Father” (v.15) “should be taken as an objective genitive, ‘love for the Father’.” “This,” it is said, “provides a logical conclusion to the “if” clause: if anyone loves the world, then they do not love God (for the two are mutually exclusive).” However, others say that it should be translated “the love of the Father,” as in, “the love which belongs to the Father,” meaning “that love for the world is proof that God’s love does not dwell in that person.”[3] Regardless, love for the world is incompatible and antithetical to love for or the love of God. Why? Because the nature of the fallen world order is itself wicked.

One of the ways we know that John is not using the word “world” in this particular instance to refer to people per se is to see how John himself defines the term in verse 16.

• the desires of the flesh
• the desires of the eyes
• pride of life

I would like to suggest that these components of the fallen world order harmonize nicely with what are generally considered the three great defeaters of man: money, sex, and power. Perhaps we can envision it like this:

• the desires of the flesh (sex)
• the desires of the eyes (money)
• pride of life (power)

These are not, I hasten to add, perfect correlations, and the phrases John uses undoubtedly mean more than just these three specific manifestations of them, but perhaps it could be argued that these three comprise the essential cores of John’s descriptors. That is, when one looks at the fallen world, one sees that the primary arena for the advancement of the desires of the flesh is sexual, the primary arena for the advancement of the desires of the eyes is monetary, and the primary arena for the advance of pride is power.

The picture of the world that John paints and that John says we must not love is a picture of degradation, debilitation, and despair. We must not love unbridled sensuality, gross materialism, or the seductive call of our own egos. We must see that immersion into a corrupt and corrupting system can do nothing but pull us further from God. In Colossians 3, Paul urges us to better things.

¹ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

“Seek the things that are above” is another way of saying, “do not seek the things that are below,” which is another way of saying, “do not love the world.”

Do not love the fallen world order, for you have been raised with Christ! Do not love the fallen world order, for you have been freed from the shackles of unrestrained sensuality! Do not love the fallen world order, for you have treasures in Christ that are greater than any treasures you might accumulate here and now! Do not love the fallen world order, because the mind of Christ is more beautiful than your own mind, your own will, and your own ego.

The fallen world order will not endure. Only God and His people will.

Furthermore, the fallen world order will not endure. To pin our hopes and affections on it is to pin our hopes and affections on something that is, at best, illusory and transient and, at worst, degrading and soul-destroying.

¹⁷ And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

The world is even now passing away. The idols of man will dissipate into nothingness and all hopes that have been situated upon them will be thwarted and disappointed. The kingdoms of the world will fall. The kings of the world will die and stand before a holy God. The power structures of the fallen world order will collapse. The great minds of the fallen world order will be proved to be fools. The great orators of the fallen world order will be forced to put their hands over their mouths.

However, “whoever does the will of God abides forever.” That which is of God will last. That which is not is doomed to fall. To walk in the light of God is to walk in the light of eternity. Wed yourself to the sinking ship of the fallen and falling world order, and you will sink with it. But wed yourself to Christ, and you will live for all eternity.

I love how C.T. Studd put it:

Two little lines I heard one day,

Traveling along life’s busy way;

Bringing conviction to my heart,

And from my mind would not depart;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,

Soon will its fleeting hours be done;

Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,

And stand before His Judgement seat;

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,

Gently pleads for a better choice

Bidding me selfish aims to leave,

And to God’s holy will to cleave;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,

Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;

Each with its clays I must fulfill,

living for self or in His will;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore,

When Satan would a victory score;

When self would seek to have its way,

Then help me Lord with joy to say;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep,

In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;

Faithful and true what e’er the strife,

Pleasing Thee in my daily life;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,

And from the world now let me turn;

Living for Thee, and Thee alone,

Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,

Now let me say, “Thy will be done”;

And when at last I’ll hear the call,

I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Here is an apt summary of John central thesis: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Commit yourself to what will last.

Commit yourself to Christ and to His way.

 

[1] T.S. Eliot. Collected Poems 1909-1935. (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1980), p.96.

[2] Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago. Vol. I. (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1973), p.584.

[3] Marianne Meye Thompson, 1-3 John. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Ed., Grant R. Osborne. Vol. 19 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), p.66-67.