The Love That God Hates

By David J. MacLeod [1]

An Exposition of 1 John 2:15–17

Introduction

Dr. J. I. Packer, well-known author and teacher, was sitting with friends in a restaurant looking at the dessert menu. The item that caught his eye was the description of “Chocolate-chocolate cake: layers of fudge and decadence. A must for chocolate lovers.” [2] How, Packer asks, does a word like decadence get on a dessert menu? Surely it belongs in “the world of sociology, morality, philosophy, theology, and history, rather than of cake and fudge.” Yet it is easy to see why the menu writer brought it in. He wants his patrons to know that the taste of this chocolate cake will set them “ecstatically indulging with no thought of long-term consequences (bulging bellies, clothes that no longer fit, shortness of breath, etc.)” “Irresponsibility about consequences,” Packer concluded, “is certainly a mark of decadence.”

Dr. Packer’s menu writer is encouraging those of us who are “chocoholics” to see our self-indulgence as right and proper, on the ground that sweetness, however sinful, should never be passed up. This, says Packer, is the Playboy philosophy applied to the taste buds. It is the philosophy of this world which says that pleasure-seeking is the only wise way. Self-indulgence is a must. All of our energy should be given to the worship of the three gods of pleasure, profit, and power (or sensuality, success, and status, if you prefer; or, to put it yet another way, hedonism, materialism, and prestige).

The Apostle John warns his Christian readers about decadence or worldliness in his first epistle (1 John 2:15–17). It is the kind of life, he warns, that leads one morally and spiritually down hill. “Do not love the world,” he says (1 John 2:15). In the previous paragraphs of his letter the Apostle had outlined certain tests by which the presence of the life of God within a professing Christian may be discerned. He had spoken bluntly about those who falsely claim to be in fellowship with God (1:6; 2:4) and to be without sin (2:8–10). He had denounced such people as self-deceived liars who neither possess nor practice the truth. He also spoke of those professing Christians who hate their fellow Christians (2:9–11), and he has declared that they are and always have been lost in spiritual darkness.

At this point John pauses to assure his readers that those hard-hitting statements are not directed against them. He has been writing to them, not about them. He is addressing his readers as genuine believers who possess a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. His purpose is as much to confirm the confidence of the genuine Christian as it is to shake the false assurance of the counterfeit Christian. [3]

So, in vv. 12–14, he writes to believers at different levels of maturity (newborn believers [“little children”], more developed believers [“young men”], and stable and wise older Christians [“fathers”]) to assure them that he sees real evidence of life in them and that he knows they enjoy forgiveness, the knowledge of God, and the power to overcome that is characteristic of genuine Christianity. Then, in vv. 15–17, John turns from a description of the Christians to a description of the world. He changes from his affirmations about the Christians’ standing to warnings about their behavior.

Christians enjoy the forgiveness of sins, fellowship with God, and victory over the evil one. John does not want us to doubt our salvation. But our temptations have not come to an end. [4] The world is constantly attempting to seduce the believer. God has one plan of life for His children; the world has another plan that is totally incompatible with the will of God. [5] John therefore warns, “Do not love the world.” In the paragraph before us he states his prohibition (v. 15a) and he gives his reasons for it (vv. 15b–17).

The Apostolic Prohibition Against Love for the World, v. 15a

John’s appeal is stated negatively, but a positive appeal is also implied. Christians must not love the world. At the same time it must also be said that they are to love God and do His will. As James Boice comments, “It is only as the love of God fills them and the will of God motivates them that the world can be conquered, just as in [verse 14] it is only as the Word of God abides in them that Satan can be overcome.” [6]

A group of first-graders had just completed a tour of a hospital, and the nurse who had conducted the tour was asking for questions. Immediately a hand went up. “How come the people who work here are always washing their hands?” a little fellow asked. After the laughter had subsided, the nurse gave a wise answer: “They are ‘always washing their hands’ for two reasons: first, they love health; and second, they hate germs.” In more than one area of life, love and hate go hand in hand. A man who loves his wife will have hatred for anything that would harm her. The Psalmist says, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord” (Psalm 97:10). The Apostle Paul says, “Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). [7]

“Do not love the world” (Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον, mē agapate ton kosmon). The Greek text uses a construction [8] that has been traditionally [9] understood to forbid an action assumed to be already in progress (“Stop loving the world”). In other words, John takes it for granted that his readers (both in the 1st century and the 20th) love the world to some extent, and he urges them to stop this evil practice. [10]

It is worth stressing that John’s warning is directed to the loyal members of the church, whose spiritual status as God’s children is not in question. Another apostle’s (Paul) warning to the Corinthian church is always timely, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). “A person who publicly condemns, say, pornography, can still take a secret delight in it. As a good pastor John warned against such dangers.” [11]

It is puzzling to some that John should write, “Do not love the world.” After all, in his Gospel John says that the world was made by the Word of God (John 1:10). He writes, “For God so loved the world.. .. “ (John 3:16). In our chapter (2:2) the Apostle says that Christ is “the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins” and for those “of the whole world.” In 4:14 he says that “the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” [12] The solution to the puzzle is in understanding that the term world (κόσμος, kosmos) is used in a variety of ways in John’s writings. [13]

What John Means by the Term “World” in Other Passages

The word κόσμος occurs 186 times in the New Testament, and John uses it more often than all the other New Testament writers put together (55% of the uses are found in the writings of John: 78 times in the Gospel, 23 times in 1 John, 1 time in 2 John, 3 times in Revelation). [14]

Apart from this passage, John uses the word κόσμος in 5 different ways. [15] First, it refers to the universe, the sum total of creation (John 17:24). That is not its meaning here. Some of the false teachers John wrote about believed that matter and the material universe were evil, but that is not the view of the Bible. Genesis 1:31 says that when God created the universe it was “very good.”

Second, the word κόσμος sometimes refers to the earth, the planet upon which we live (John 11:9). John does not refer to the planet here or physical objects on it, even though he speaks of “the things in the world” (τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ta en tō kosmō), because he says in verse 16 that the things of which he speaks are “not from the Father” (οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῢ πατρὸς, ouk estin ek tou patros). In other words, God did not create the things of the world we are commanded not to love. [16]

John, then, is not speaking of the world of nature of which Paul spoke on Mars Hill when he said that “God. .. made the world and all things in it” (Acts 17:24). The Lord does not intend for His people to despise the creation He made for their pleasure and enjoyment. As Paul says in another place (1 Tim. 6:17), He “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” He gives the seasons with the flowers and leaves of Summer, the crisp, cool days of Fall, and the ice and the snow of Winter. He created the landscape with its majestic mountains and its fruitful, cultivated fields, and He created its awe inspiring oceans.

Harry Ironside was with a Christian and said, “Isn’t that a beautiful rose bush?” The man replied, “I am not interested in roses; I am not of this world.” As Dr. Ironside observed, however, our Lord did not have this attitude. He loved the lilies of the field and drew attention to the beauties of nature to demonstrate the wisdom and goodness of the Father (Matt. 6:28). [17]

A similar incident is described in the biography of Sir Robert Anderson (1841–1918), the famed head of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard in Jack the Ripper’s day, during the reign of Queen Victoria. Sir Robert had a friend, a Mr. Fegan, who told of an incident when he was a young man. Mr. Fegan was apparently something of a humorous character who had little time for pompous people. He was on his way home from a football game and stopped to pick up his mother who was attending a prayer meeting. Young Fegan was a bit of a dandy and was wearing a flower in his buttonhole. An old gentleman opened the door, spotted Fegan’s flower, and said, “I always think when I see a young man with a flower in his buttonhole that he has not done with the earth—he is earthy.” Fegan was taken aback for a moment and then replied, “Well, sir, I always think the same when I see an old man eating a potato!” [18]

As my mother used to say, “What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?” Flowers in buttonholes (and Mr. Fegan’s football game, for that matter) have no necessary connection with worldliness. John is not warning us against these things. He would, no doubt, agree with the words of Carl Boberg’s great Swedish hymn:

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;
How great Thou art, How great Thou art! [19]

Third, the word κόσμος sometimes refers to the natural sphere of human existence, the world of physical activity and daily work, of home, friendship, business, and government, the material things necessary to sustain life in this world (1 John 3:17; cf. Rom. 13:1–7; Eph. 5:23–31; 1 Tim. 2:3; 4:1–5). [20] The New Testament writers of God’s Word expect us to be responsible citizens in society (Rom. 13: 1–10; 1 Tim. 2:1–2). They imply that we are to have a genuine concern for its needs.

Fourth, it refers to the world of mankind, which because of its sin stands in need of salvation (John 3:16; 1 John 4:14). That is not its meaning here. Viewed as people the world must be loved, for God loves it.

Fifth, John even uses the term of believers (John 3:17c; 6:33, 51; 12:47), i.e., those out of mankind who receive everlasting life.

John has none of these aspects of the world in mind when he writes, “Do not love the world.”

What John Means by the Term “World” in this Passage

In the passage before us the term world has an ethical sense. This is the most common and most significant usage in John’s writings. [21] It is “the divine creation which has been shattered by the fall.” [22] In this ethical sense the Bible views the world as an evil system controlled by Satan (1 John 5:19) and opposed to God. In this sense people are not viewed simply as people or lost people; rather they are viewed as a “social organism of evil.” [23]

Here, then, the term world speaks of an attitude, namely, the attitude of unregenerate humanity. We might call it “the world system,” or “worldliness.” Fallen, rebellious man impresses his character upon the society and culture which is the sphere of his activity. [24] This world system or worldliness, therefore, is “the principles and ways of pagan society.” [25] It involves the world’s values, pleasures, pastimes, and aspirations. [26] Robert Law says that it is the mass of “unspiritual persons, with their opinions, pursuits, and influences.” [27]

The world, says John “lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). It does not know Jesus Christ (1 John 3:1). It “hated” Him (John 15:18). The Apostle Paul says that it “crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). Jesus said that it hates His followers (John 15:18–19). Christians are not to “love the world.” [28]

The Apostle adds that we are not to love “the things of the world.” John does not have material things in mind. As he explains in verse 16, he is warning against “things” that are “not from the Father.” The things he has in mind are not part of the Father’s creation. [29] Rather he is speaking of the attitudes he outlines for us in that verse. It is an attitude of worldliness, a determination to be anchored to a society that rejects God.30

The Reasons for the Apostolic Prohibition, vv. 15b-17

Now John turns to the reasons for his exhortation not to love the world. His command is grounded in two arguments: [31] First, love for the world and love for the Father are incompatible; they are mutually exclusive. In short, love for the world cannot satisfy the heart of a true believer. Second, the world is transitory, whereas the believer is going to live forever. In short, the world cannot last.

The World Cannot Satisfy: Two Mutually Exclusive Loves, vv. 15b-16

The Danger of the World System

The danger of the world system or worldliness is explained at the end of verse 15: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” James says the same thing when he writes, “Friendship with the world is hostility toward God” (James 4:4). We might expect John to decide for us the pursuits, pastimes, and entertainments that are worldly. We might like for him to “draw the line” for us between what is permissible and what is forbidden for the Christian. [32] But John does not do this. He is far more radical. He tells us that everything is prohibited for the Christian that competes with love for the Father. Anything, even if innocent and safe in appearance, that chills his (my/your) heart toward God. Any affection toward a person that hinders him or her from doing God’s will is touched with worldliness.

The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee. [33]

God has one plan of life for His children, described in verse 17 as “the will of God.” The world proposes a totally incompatible program for its servants.34 What is the world’s program? In verse 16 John expounds upon the three essential ingredients or categories or elements of worldliness. He describes them as “all that is in the world.”

Robert Candlish (1806–73), the noted Scottish minister, called John’s three features of worldliness, the “three harpies of the soul.” [35] In classical mythology a harpy was a greedy, bad-tempered, filthy monster (with a human [woman’s] head and a bird’s body) that defiled everything it touched.

It is important that we consider these three “harpies”—these three elements of worldliness or “essential marks of the pagan way of life” [36]—that every believer must confront in the Christian life.

The Characteristics of the World System

Harpy # 1:

Sensualism or Pleasure or Hedonism (“The lust of the flesh” [ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς, hē epithymia tēs sarkos]). The word translated “lust” (ἐπιθυμία epithymia) can be used in a neutral sense of “desire.” In 1 Thessalonians 2:17 it is used of Paul’s “intense longing” to see his readers. Here it has the more negative connotation of “passionate desire for immediate self-gratification.” [37] The word translated “flesh” (σάρξ, sarx) can be used in the negative sense of fallen, human nature. In this negative sense it speaks of the corrupt, sinful tendency resident in man’s nature. [38] The outlook of the flesh is “the outlook orientated towards the self, that which pursues its own ends in self-sufficient independence of God.” [39] When Paul speaks of the “lusts of the flesh” (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 5:16–17) he is speaking negatively of the cravings of fallen, human nature.

The word “flesh” [40] is also used in a neutral sense by John to speak simply of human nature, in particular the physical part of man, i.e., his body. It is used that way of Christ in 1 John 4:2 where it says that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (cf. John 1:14). That is the way John generally uses the term, and I believe that is the way he uses it here. [41] The term signifying evil in the phrase “lust of the flesh” is “lust” and not “flesh.” [42]

In the present context John is speaking of the bodily appetites of people that are absolutely wholesome in themselves, whether it is an appetite for food or drink or sex. Furthermore, when these appetites are satisfied according to “the will of God” (v. 17), they give wholesome and innocent pleasure. But when we desire to fulfill our appetites outside of the “will of God” (gluttony, drunkenness, illicit sex), then the desire is “lust,” the sin of our sinful souls.

The first century world in which 1 John was written was noted for its sensuality and sexual sin. A smorgasbord of sins (including prostitution, homosexuality, adultery, bestiality) marked out sexual sin as “the lust of the flesh.” [43] John’s exhortation is appropriate to those of us who live in the 20th century, for the world today offers a cafeteria of sexual sins to us. The newspaper stories of priests and ministers overcome by the “lusts of the flesh” are a warning to all of us to be on guard against anything (reading material, TV and VCR viewing material, secret friendships) that would tempt us to gratify our appetites outside of marriage. If one doubts Christ’s warning to His disciples that the world hates Him and His cause, witness the public furor that is caused when some Christian spokesman speaks up about the immorality of the film industry.

Harpy # 2:

Success or Profit or Materialism (“The lust of the eyes” [ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, hē epithymia tōn ophthalmōn]). Bible teachers and commentators have interpreted this phrase in at least three ways: Some say it refers to the tendency to be captivated by the outward show of things without inquiring into their real values [44] —for example, Eve’s thoughtless opinion that the fruit was “a delight to the eyes” (Gen. 3:6). The worldly person identifies lavish ostentation or pretentious show with what is truly important. [45]

These students say that while the “lust of the flesh” is concerned with the appetites, the “lust of the eyes” is concerned with taste. In other words, John is talking about our aesthetic sensibilities. He is here addressing the world of academia and the world of the arts and the world of dress and fashion. While a sense of intellectual curiosity, taste, and beauty are part of our God-given nature, they can become diseased and excessive.

God has given minds and intellectual curiosity to people. We all benefit from the great discoveries and wonderful insights of the academic world. Yet when knowledge and science are pursued as an end in themselves—when they become the object of man’s devotion—they can become idols. Men become arrogant and intellectually self-conscious. It is the love of knowledge divorced from the love of truth.

God is the original and perfect artist. From the smallest crystal to the thousands of constellations, we are struck by His creation of beauty. The arts at their best point us to the beauty of God’s creation, and they inspire us to ethical goodness. At its worst art allies itself to foulness. It forgets all spiritual ideals and repudiates ethical motives and is sheer idolatry. It is “the love of beauty divorced from the love of goodness.” [46]

“Art for art’s sake,” is a slogan to defend this idolatry of man’s aesthetic nature. The National Endowment for the Arts has spent thousands of dollars funding homosexual photography and various depraved sexual performances. One endowed artist produced a photo of a plastic crucifix immersed in urine. Rock groups sing lyrics that are overtly obscene. [47] Michael Medved, movie critic for the PBS show Sneak Previews, has recently written a book in which he accuses the film industry of assaulting our most cherished values and corrupting our children. Time magazine responded in anger to this man for daring to challenge the paganism of our time. [48]

H. A. Ironside says that when he was a young Christian the thing he had to guard against most was the world of literature. He hastened to say that he still appreciated poetry and literature. But he had to be careful that they did not come between him and his love for Holy Scripture. [49]

Our Lord spoke of the beauty of lilies and the glory of Solomon (Matt. 6:28–29) and voiced no opposition to our clothing budgets. Yet He did exhort His followers not to be anxious about such things. The Apostle Peter (1 Peter 3:2–6) warned against being “wrapped up” in external appearances. Christians can get caught in the mind-set of Vanity Fair where they are consumed with material splendor, seductive design, and outward display of apparel and jewelry. It is a love of fashion without a love for holiness and modesty.

A second group of interpreters believes that “the lust of the eyes” refers to the desire to watch things that give sinful pleasure. [50] They point out that John’s readers would be familiar with the cruel, violent, and immoral games of the circus and amphitheater. Leaders in the ancient church such as Tertullian (A.D. 160-225) [51] and Augustine (A.D. 354-430) [52] warned believers against the spectacles, sacraments of the devil in Satan worship, magical arts, and occult events as the “lust of the eyes” that appealed to our sinful curiosity. [53] What is tainted by the world, said Tertullian, taints us. [54]

The third interpretation says that the basic thought is of greed and desire for things that is aroused by seeing them. [55] The world of business can be affected by the world. We all have to work, and a good businessman will try to make a good profit. But if he lives for success and profit (or if you live for your husband’s success and profit)—or if you both live to “keep up with the Joneses”—then the world has you trapped. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (i.e., riches) Matthew 6:24. [56]

Harpy # 3:

Status or Power or Prestige (“the boastful pride of life” [ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῢ βίου, hē alazoneia tou biou]). This is “pride in one’s life-style.” [57] It is a pride which belongs to or derives from one’s possessions. [58] There are two words for life in the New Testament. One (ζωή, zōē) refers to life as a vital, internal, natural force. The other, the one used here (βίος, bios), speaks of life in its external aspect, i.e., the duration or manner of life (1 Tim. 2:2), or the means of life, livelihood, possessions (1 John 3:17; Mark 12:44). [59] The word translated “pride” (ἀλαζονεία, alazoneia) in classical Greek meant “swagger” or “braggadocio.” [60] It speaks of arrogance or pretension or “boastful pride” for which there is no real basis. [61] The term strongly hints at the ultimate emptiness, the make-believe of such a life.

Joseph Bayly, the well-known Christian author, was flying from Chicago to the city of Los Angeles. He engaged the woman sitting next to him in conversation. She was a little over forty, well-dressed, and quite articulate. He said, “Where are you from?” She said, “From Palm Springs.” Knowing that Palm Springs was a city of the rich and famous, he asked, “What is Palm Springs like?” Very perceptively she answered, “Palm Springs is a beautiful, beautiful place filled with unhappy people.” Taking advantage of the occasion, he pressed the question, “And are you unhappy?” She said, “Yes, I certainly am.” “Why?” he asked. She said, “I can answer it in one word, and the word is mortality.” “Until I was forty,” she said, “I had perfect eyesight. But shortly after I went to the doctor because I couldn’t see as well as I could before. And ever since that time these corrective glasses have been a sign to me that not only are my eyes wearing out, but I’m wearing out. Someday I’m going to die. I really haven’t been happy since that time.” [62] That woman had seen through the humbug and pretension of the world system

When Mark Twain (1835–1910) was 71, he met a well known American businessman, who was a little younger. Mark Twain was utterly opposed to Christianity, and speaking to the other man he said: “Well, I don’t know what you think of it, but I think I have had enough of this world, and I wish I were out of it.” The other man replied: “I don’t say much about it, but that expresses my view.” One of Twain’s biographers said this, “This from the foremost man of letters and one of the foremost financiers of the time was impressive. Each at the mountain-top of his career, they agreed that the journey was not worthwhile, that what the world had still to give was not attractive enough to tempt them, to prevent a desire to experiment with the next stage.” [63]

The only other place this term (ἀλαζονεία = “pride”) is used in the New Testament is James 4:16 where it speaks of a traveling businessman who boastfully tells of his schemes—how he will visit this city and that, and make a lot of money and not care at all about God’s will for his life. James says to him, “You boast in your arrogance.” This person takes pride in his/her status and power. They derive pride from their membership in an exclusive club, from the socially acceptable friends of their children, from their money and clothes and jewels. Such boastful pride results from a false estimate—the world’s estimate—of worldly possessions. [64] It is the desire to show off and make others look small. [65]

Commenting on the world’s pride in status and power, Robert Law has written, “To live without looking up to God in dependence and submission, to live looking down on a larger or smaller number of one’s fellowmen—this, which from the spiritual point of view is the worst and deadliest life can give, is, in the world’s reckoning, its most enviable prize.” [66]

These, then, are the ideals of the “world.” Such ideals are “not from the Father,” says John. They are “from the world.”

The World Cannot Last: Two Mutually Exclusive Destinies, v. 17

The Destiny of the World

Having set forth his first reason for not loving the world in vv. 15–16, the Apostle John now advances his second reason. [67] “Do not love the world,” for the whole framework of pagan civilization and culture which is hostile to Christ “is passing away.” The world with its pleasures, its prizes, its profits, its prestige—imposing as it looks, stable and impregnable and overpowering—is doomed. [68]

John is not speaking of the speedy conquest of the world by Christianity, as some commentators suggest. [69] This is clear from the next verse: “Children, it is the last hour.” The thought in John’s mind is the nearness of Christ’s return and the world’s Judgment Day. [70]

The verb translated “is passing away” (παράγεται, paragetai, pres. midd.) is an interesting one in the original text. The tense (present) suggests that the process has actually started. Its voice (middle) suggests that the world is destroying itself. One commentator speaks of “the self-destructiveness of our present civilization.” [71]

The Destiny of the Believer

The paragraph closes with a sharp contrast: “The one who does the will of God abides forever.” The will of God is the one eternal reality to which we may cling.

It is the one truly permanent thing that gives permanence and meaning to our lives. There is one class of people who will survive the Judgment Day of the world system. It is those who love God and do His will. Our text says that believers abide forever (εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, eis ton aiōna), lit. “unto the age,” i.e., the age to come, viz., the kingdom of heaven on earth, the millennium. They shall see the kingdom and be a member of it. [72]

Some Concluding Lessons

Love for the World Is an Ever Present Danger for Christians

A case in point is the man Demas. He is mentioned just three times in the New Testament. In Philemon 24 Paul calls him a “fellow worker.” There was a day, apparently, when he stood by the Apostle Paul as a valued helper. In Colossians 4:14 Paul includes Demas’ name in his list of greetings. Unlike the other names in the Apostle’s list, Demas’ is mentioned without comment. It is as if Paul suspects that something is amiss in his friend’s life. Some time later Paul would sadly write, “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me” (2 Tim. 4:10). The Apostle does not say whether it was pleasure, profit, or prestige that was Demas’ undoing. We only know that he deserted to the world. His life stands in the New Testament as a warning to all believers.

The Only Sure Antidote for Love for the World Is Love for the Father

Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847) was a Scottish preacher and theologian. One day he was riding in a carriage in the Scottish highlands. The driver was on a seat in front. The carriage was traveling on a narrow road and came to a curve. As they rounded the curve they came to a section of road that had a sheer cliff off of one side. The horses took fright, panicked, and began to pull at their traces. Chalmers was sure they would plunge over the cliff. The driver began to beat the horses unmercifully with his whip, and they made it safely around the curve. When they came to a stop Mr. Chalmers asked his driver why he had whipped his horses in such a way. He answered, “I had to give them something else to think of!” As they drove on, Mr. Chalmers began to think of the driver’s remark and how it applied to spiritual things. He later wrote one of his most enduring sermons, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.” Love for Christ is the answer to love for the world. When a Christian is occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ the attractions of the world wane. Christ delivers us from occupation with the world. [73] “We know of no other way,” said Dr. Chalmers, “by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart, than to keep in our hearts the love of God.” [74]

The Person who Lives to Love God and Do His Will Is the Person Whose Life Really Counts
Many people are tempted to live for the moment. They conform their lives to the pagan, material world around them. They question the temporary character of material life and hope there is no judgment. They want a life without the need of God, without righteousness, without purity, without love, or without a moral sense of any kind. In such a life the world would take the place of God as the object of trust and the source of all good. Such a life does not exist except in the perverted human will. [75]

John sweeps aside the whole selfish attitude and says, “the world is passing away, and also its lusts.” John’s answer to the wishful thinking of those who do not want to think of God is that the judgment has already begun; we are blind if we do not realize what is going on before our eyes. The poet Robert Burns (1759–96) described the passing pleasures of this world:

But pleasures are like poppies spread;
You seize the flow’r, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white—then melts forever. [76]

The words on the tombstone of D. L. Moody were well chosen: “He who does the will of God abides forever.” Therefore, someone has said, “Moody still lives.” [77]

Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou, who changest not, abide with me! [78]

I close this essay with a personal word to my readers. Perhaps you are a believer who feels that you’ve had your foot too much in the world. May the Lord encourage you today to renew your commitment to Him. Possibly you are not a believer in Christ and what you are reading is totally new to you. Yet the Lord has spoken to you about the brevity and futility of this life. May I encourage you to begin reading another of the Apostle John’s writings, the Gospel of John. Ask the Lord to show you His love and the new life and forgiveness He offers through Jesus Christ.

Notes

1. Dave MacLeod is a faculty member at Emmaus Bible College and the Associate Editor of The Emmaus Journal. This is the first in a series of articles on the subject, “The Christian and the World.”
2. J. I. Packer, “Decadence à la Mode,” Christianity Today (Oct. 2, 1987): 13.
3. Donald W. Burdick, The Letters of John the Apostle (Chicago: Moody, 1985), 171; John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John, TNTC (rev. ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 100.
4. Stott, The Letters of John, 103.
5. Robert Law, The Tests of Life (3rd ed., Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1914), 148.
6. James Montgomery Boice, The Epistles of John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), 76.
7. Cf. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, 2 vols. (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 2:491.
8. The Greek text has μή + present imperative (ἀγαπᾶτε).
9. Burdick, The Letters of John, 176; cf. H. E. Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (New York: Macmillan, 1927), 301–2; F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, trans. and rev., Robert W. Funk (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), 172, § 336.3.
10. Cf. the discussion of commands and prohibitions in Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, forthcoming). As Wallace notes, μή + the present imperative can also have the force of a general precept. If this is the nuance here, then John could simply be forbidding love of the world without any suggestion that his readers are presently guilty of such love.
11. Cf. I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 142.
12. Cf. George G. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1909), 197.
13. Contra Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John, AncB (Garden City: Doubleday, 1982), 223–24.
14. Cf. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 196; Brown, The Epistles of John, 223; TDNT, s.v. “κόσμος,ς by H. Sasse, 3:883; EDNT, s.v. “κόσμος,” by H. Balz, 2:309–13.
15. Burdick, The Letters of John, 176; cf. BAGD, s.v. “κόσμος,” 446–47.
16. Alfred Plummer, The Epistles of St. John, CGTSC (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1896), 51; contra A. E. Brooke, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of John, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1912), 47.
17. H. A. Ironside, Addresses on The Epistles of John and an Exposition of The Epistle of Jude (Neptune: Loizeaux Brothers, 1931), 73.
18. A. P. Moore-Anderson, Sir Robert Anderson and Lady Agnes Anderson (London: Marshall Morgan & Scott, 1947), 98.
19. “How Great Thou Art,” Hymn # 1 in Hymns of Truth and Praise (Fort Dodge: Gospel Perpetuating Publishers, 1971).
20. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 196; Burdick, The Letters of John, 269.
21. Boice, The Epistles of John, 77.
22. Sasse, “κόσμος,” TDNT, 3:893.
23. Law, The Tests of Life, 148.
24. Cf. B. F. Westcott, The Gospel According to St. John: The Greek Text with Introduction and Notes, 2 vols. (London: John Murray, 1908), 1:64–65).
25. C. H. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles, MNTC (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1946), 41.
26. Boice, The Epistles of John, 77; cf. Law, The Tests of Life, 148.
27. Law, The Tests of Life, 148.
28. Some commentators have argued that it is not the term world that has a different sense in these verses, but the verb love (ἀγαπάω). They argue that the verb love has a different meaning in v. 15 than it does in v. 10 or John 3:16. In v. 10 it has the Christian sense of outgoing care and compassion, concern for the benefit of the object of love. In v. 15 it has the common Greek sense, “to take a fancy to, to place a higher value on” (Rudolf Bultmann, The Johannine Epistles, Hermeneia [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973], 33, n. 19; Marshall, The Epistles of John, 143). In v. 10 (and John 3:16) it is the “love of divine compassion. .. here, it is the love of selfish desire” (Henry Alford, The Greek Testament, 4 vols., vol. 4: Hebrews-Revelation [Chicago: Moody, 1958], 442). The first aims “to save the sinner’s person”; the second, “to share his sin” (John H. A. Ebrard, Biblical Commentary on the Epistles of St. John [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1860], 164). Stott (The Letters of John, 104) sees a subtle change of emphasis in both words.
29. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 201.
30. Stephen S. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, WBC (Waco: Word Books, 1984), 81.
31. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 82; Stott, The Letters of John, 104.
32. Cf. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 199.
33. William Cowper, “Walking with God,” in The Poetical Works of William Cowper Including the Olney Hymns (New York: The American News Co., n.d.), 552.
34. Law, The Tests of Life, 148.
35. Robert Candlish, A Commentary on 1 John (2d ed., Edinburgh: A. & C. Black, 1870), 170.
36. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles, 41.
37. Burdick, The Letters of John, 178–79; cf. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 84.
38. Burdick, The Letters of John, 179.
39. NIDNTT, s.v. “Flesh,” by A. C. Thiselton, 1:680.
40. Since John is speaking of bodily appetites it might be asked why he did not say, “lusts of the body” (ἡ ἐπιθυμία τοῢ σώματος, hē epithymia tou sōmatos)? It may be that he avoids using σῶμα (sōma, “body”) in that the false teachers believed that the material body was inherently evil.
41. Brown, The Epistles of John, 309–10; cf. Law, The Tests of Life, 149.
42. Cf. Law, The Tests of Life, 149, n. 1. The genitive τῆς σαρκός (“of the flesh”) is a subjective genitive. It is not a desire for the flesh; rather it is the “sensuous gratification which the flesh longs for,” sensuous gratification which is innocent if taken within the “will of God.”
43. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 202–3; cf. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles, 41; Marshall, The Epistles of John, 144.
44. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles, 41.
45. William Barclay, The Letters of John and Jude (rev. ed., Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), 58.
46. Law, The Tests of Life, 151; Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 203–5.
47. Cf. Tom Mathews, “Fine Art or Foul?” Newsweek (July 2, 1990): 46-52.
48. Michael Medved, Hollywood Vs. America (New York and Grand Rapids: HarperCollins and Zondervan, 1992), cf. Richard Corliss, “The Magistrate of Morals,” Time (Oct. 12, 1992): 77.
49. Ironside, Epistles of John, 75. Dr. Ironside exercised his liberty in such matters. In the 1920s the Sorter family of New Jersey played host to Ironside who was preaching in their area. Young Mirian Sorter walked into her living room and found the famous Bible teacher reading a novel. She was somewhat stunned in that she had grown up in a family that viewed the reading of fiction as a somewhat worldly pastime. Seeing her staring, Ironside asked her what was the matter. “Why, Mr. Ironside, you’re reading a novel!” she stammered. With a twinkle in his eye, the wise preacher replied, “Mirian, I would go crazy if I only read the Bible.” Harry Ironside, of course, loved and revered God’s Word above all things. He was merely trying, in his own humorous way, to deliver Mirian from the idea that innocent pleasures were sin (As told to me [May 30, 1995] by the man who eventually married Mirian Sorter, Mr. Edward Ristow, Sr., of Highlands Ranch, Colorado).
50. Cf. Plummer, The Epistles of St. John, 52; Burdick, The Letters of John, 179.
51. Tertullian, “The Shows” or De Spectaculis 7, 8 in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (reprint ed., Edinburgh and Grand Rapids: T. & T. Clark and Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1993), 82–83.
52. Augustine, Confessions 6.7-8, 10.35.54–55 in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, ed. Philip Schaff (1886, reprint ed., Edinburgh and Grand Rapids: T. & T. Clark and Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994), 94–96, 157–58.
53. Marshall (The Epistles of John, 145) cites pornography as a possible example of “the lust of the eyes.” Although sexual lust is linked to the eye elsewhere (cf. Matt. 5:28–29), it is not linked to it here. In this context “the lust of the flesh” and “the lust of the eyes” are distinct temptations. The repeated καί clearly indicates that the latter is not a subdivision of the former (Law, The Tests of Life, 150, n. 2; cf. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 204).
54. Tertullian, “The Shows” or De Spectaculis 8 (p. 83).
55. Marshall, The Epistles of John, 145.
56. Law (The Tests of Life, 150–51) seems to combine all three views in his exposition.
57. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 84.
58. I take the phrase “of life” (τοῢ βίου) to be a subjective genitive, i.e., one’s life-style or possessions produce the pride. Cf. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 85.
59. Cf. Brooke, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of John, 48; Brown, The Epistles of John, 312; Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 85; NIDNTT, s.v. “Life,” by H.-G. Link, 2:474.
60. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 207.
61. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 85.
62. As told by Howard Hendricks, in “Death for the Christian,” the funeral sermon for Mrs. Bea Campbell, who died June 21, 1991.
63. Quoted by W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Apostle John: Studies in His Life and Writings (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1946), 266–67.
64. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 85.
65. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal, 207.
66. Law, The Tests of Life, 152.
67. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 86.
68. Law, The Tests of Life, 154.
69. E.g., B. F. Westcott, The Epistles of St. John (3d. ed., 1892; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1966), 66.
70. Law, The Tests of Life, 154, n. 1.
71. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles, 45–46; cf. Burdick, The Letters of John, 181, n. 22.
72. Plummer, The Epistles of St. John, 54.
73. As told by S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., “Squandered Love and the Abiding Life: 1 John 2:15–17, ” (cassette tape, Dallas: Believers Chapel, 1988).
74. Thomas Chalmers, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” in 20 Centuries of Great Preaching, 13 vols., eds. Clyde E. Fant, Jr. and William M. Pinson (Waco: Word Books, 1971), 3:312.
75. Law, The Tests of Life, 153.
76. Robert Burns, “Tam O’Shanter,” in The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1900), 99–100.
77. Cf. Dale Moody, The Letters of John (Waco: Word, 1970), p. 47.
78. Henry F. Lyte, “Abide with Me,” Hymn # 462 in Hymns of Truth and Praise.