"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15) Love not the world. The Hebrew word used to refer to the world in this context is the popular word "kosmon" from where we get the word cosmos. This word in the Greek language means more that its English transliteration implies. The world is an ambiguous term often used figuratively and its meaning can only be deciphered in most cases by understanding the context in which it is being used. It is the same word used in John 3: 16 where the Bible says "For God so loved the world (kosmon)". Without properly understanding the context one will be left to deduce a non-existent contradiction: If God loved the world why are we christian asked not to love the world? Today we explain the various contextual usages of the word "world" with some Greek etymological point of view! .
In the Bible, the world is usually used in various contexts to mean different things. Some of which are discussed below!
a) the earth - the first and most generalistic use of the word "world" is to refer to the planet earth and everything in it which is created by God. Some translations of the Bible (eg: Revised Standard Version) replaces all occurrence of this usage with the word "earth". This usage is imples in the following passages ( Mark 16:15, Romans 1:20)
b) the entire human race, human beings - The term is sometimes used to refer solely to human beings excluding other creatures and the planet itself. This is the second most generalistic use of this word. This usage is usually implied in the positive sense as found in the following scripture (John 3:16, John 8:12)
c) the corrupt system of this world - the word "world" is also used in a derogatory form to refer to the corrupt systems of this world. This corrupt system refers to evil world government, man's inhumanity to man, wickedness and every evil that man had devised and perpetrated on one another over the years. This usage is usually implied when talking about the inventions of satan and his evil influences on people. This is used in the following scriptures (John 16:33, Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:15) Notice that this is the meaning implied by our text!
Speaking about this third usage, the Bible explains further that all that is in the world, or in another way, all that the world comprises of are: the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. This third usage is a single word used to summarize those three things. So when we read this passage we must understand that the world spoken of here is not the earth or the people in it, but the system which promotes lust and pride
To be continued...