Do not love the world?

[Tom317]

*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. *[1 John 2:1517 RSV-CE]

How do you interpret the passage above and are there similar verses to it?

 

[myfavoritmartin]

*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. *[1 John 2:1517 RSV-CE]

How do you interpret the passage above and are there similar verses to it?

I think this is a warning much similar to the one Jesus gave to the rich man when he suggested he sell everything and pick up his cross…
Here are some correlating verses, I know there are more…

rom 12:2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
jas 4:4You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?
Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Rom 13:14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to
gratify the desires of the sinful nature
Pro 27:20 Death and Destruction [a] are never satisfied,
and neither are the eyes of man.

Remember that our Lord lets us have false Idols so they will fail us!!!

 

[Mintaka]

I talked about this in another thread. Sometimes, in the Bible, “love” means “love more than God” and “hate” means “love less than God”. It’s a figure of speech.

Never love the world or any person or thing more than God. But remember that God Himself called His creations “very good”. Not as good as God, of course – hardly anything at all, compared to Him. But still, “very good” works from God’s own Hand.

 

[Tom317]

So, are we to despise the world, be nuetral to it, or love it so long as we do not love it as much as we love God?

If a Catholic Christian group advocates “loving the world,” do you consider that a healthy Christian focus?

 

[petra]

So, are we to despise the world, be nuetral to it, or love it so long as we do not love it as much as we love God?

If a Catholic Christian group advocates “loving the world,” do you consider that a healthy Christian focus?

I think it is helpful to differentiate the many ways the word “world” is used. The “world” can mean the world population of people, God’s creation (nature), or the world system that is a result of fallen humanity. When we are told not to love the world, we are not to love the world system of putting self first and pursuing every pleasure—this system we should despise. However, God’s creation is good, so we can appreciate and marvel at nature. And we can certainly love people. But we should love nothing above God.

 

[DesertBrother]

I talked about this in another thread. Sometimes, in the Bible, “love” means “love more than God” and “hate” means “love less than God”. It’s a figure of speech.

Never love the world or any person or thing more than God. But remember that God Himself called His creations “very good”. Not as good as God, of course – hardly anything at all, compared to Him. But still, “very good” works from God’s own Hand.

This is all true, but I also think whenever He spoke about “the world”, he was most often referring to the “world of men”, not the so much the earth or God’s creation.

The world of men is made up of all the things men find important, but as far as eternity goes are useless and vain. Ambition, reputation and social status, wealth, fashion, etc. Many of us make idols out of pleasure, comfortable living, success, talents, and just about anything you can think of. All the things that will be taken away from us at the moment of death. I think this is what Jesus meant when He said “this world is passing away.”.

 

[myfavoritmartin]

This is all true, but I also think whenever He spoke about “the world”, he was most often referring to the “world of men”, not the so much the earth or God’s creation.

The world of men is made up of all the things men find important, but as far as eternity goes are useless and vain. Ambition, reputation and social status, wealth, fashion, etc. Many of us make idols out of pleasure, comfortable living, success, talents, and just about anything you can think of. All the things that will be taken away from us at the moment of death. I think this is what Jesus meant when He said “this world is passing away.”.

This is a good summary Desert brother…
It in simple terms is flesh vs spirit

 

[Tantum_ergo]

But we have to be careful that we do not turn this into a ‘flesh bad, spirit good’ extremism. For we are, after all, creatures of both flesh and spirit, and our bodies as well as our souls will rise on the last day when the trumpet shall sound and in the blink of an eye we shall be changed.

I think that rather than ‘flesh v. spirit’ I would see it more as not-God-focused v. God-focused. If we are God-focused, we live in the world but doing everything for God, even if we are poor in material things, weak in body, or suffering in spirit. Whereas if we are not-God-focused we live in the world paying no attention to God and get swayed back and forth by desires that are not of God–we become greedy, selfish, slothful, angry, envious, prideful and lustful.

 

[myfavoritmartin]

But we have to be careful that we do not turn this into a ‘flesh bad, spirit good’ extremism. For we are, after all, creatures of both flesh and spirit, and our bodies as well as our souls will rise on the last day when the trumpet shall sound and in the blink of an eye we shall be changed.

I think that rather than ‘flesh v. spirit’ I would see it more as not-God-focused v. God-focused. If we are God-focused, we live in the world but doing everything for God, even if we are poor in material things, weak in body, or suffering in spirit. Whereas if we are not-God-focused we live in the world paying no attention to God and get swayed back and forth by desires that are not of God–we become greedy, selfish, slothful, angry, envious, prideful and lustful.

Fair points…
Being a fundy as I am I wish to attach more scripture…

Romans 6:
19I put this in human terms because you are weak** in your natural selves.** Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in** Christ Jesus our Lord.**

 

[Tom317]

Thank you for the wonderful responses.

I am still left with a sense of not being sure. It seems to me that God has made it clear we are not to love the world, yet there are several ways to look at it…

 

[lak611]

The world refers to the sinful, fallen nature. The powers of this world would be the devil. A good counterpoint would be Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth consumes, nor thieves break in an steal. For where thy treasure is, there also will they heart be.” (Douay-Rheims Version)

 

[Tom317]

So, loving the world is not good, correct?

 

[ALLFORHIM]

So, loving the world is not good, correct?

You should hate what the world stands for. Think about our society(USA anyway)we live in. We can have anything we want, do anything we want, treat people any way we want. Our freedom is never ending(so to speak).
The world says it is ok to sleep with your boyfriend as long as you practice safe sex.

The world says it is ok to gamble and get drunk as long as you dont drive.

The world says women have to look perfect or they are less of a person.

The world say we have to have the nice car, house, go to the best schools or we are somehow less deserving.

The world says it is ok for gays to get married because we cant discriminate against them.

The world says it is ok to get an abortion in the first trimester because they are not a person until I dont know when.

Do you see where I am going with this. That is what we are not to love about the world. The screwy moral and value system. We are also not to love money-which probably ties into much of the above in some way or another.

Us Christians need to be different and stand out like a light in the darkness. We need to say to the world–“You know what that is not right because God said so”. That is hard because when you do that you will get labeled. We all want to fit in.

I myself have been called a Jesus Freak by some friends and I say yep and thank you. They are still my friends BTW

 

[Tom317]

You should hate what the world stands for. Think about our society(USA anyway)we live in. We can have anything we want, do anything we want, treat people any way we want. Our freedom is never ending(so to speak).
The world says it is ok to sleep with your boyfriend as long as you practice safe sex.

The world says it is ok to gamble and get drunk as long as you dont drive.

The world says women have to look perfect or they are less of a person.

The world say we have to have the nice car, house, go to the best schools or we are somehow less deserving.

The world says it is ok for gays to get married because we cant discriminate against them.

The world says it is ok to get an abortion in the first trimester because they are not a person until I dont know when.

Do you see where I am going with this. That is what we are not to love about the world. The screwy moral and value system. We are also not to love money-which probably ties into much of the above in some way or another.

Us Christians need to be different and stand out like a light in the darkness. We need to say to the world–“You know what that is not right because God said so”. That is hard because when you do that you will get labeled. We all want to fit in.

I myself have been called a Jesus Freak by some friends and I say yep and thank you. They are still my friends BTW

I agree, yet your points add-up to the fact that '“loving the world” is not a good thing, and we should in a certain way despise the world.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

I agree, yet your points add-up to the fact that '“loving the world” is not a good thing, and we should in a certain way despise the world.

Yeah but not the people in it. We are called to love them no matter what sin they are committing or trying to get others to commit. Although I have a hard time with this regarding terrorists. I just do not have Agape love like God.
I hope what I mentioned helps you at all.

 

[Tom317]

Yeah but not the people in it. We are called to love them no matter what sin they are committing or trying to get others to commit. Although I have a hard time with this regarding terrorists. I just do not have Agape love like God.
I hope what I mentioned helps you at all.

Yes, it helps. Tanx…