21 - 1Jn 2:15
Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον, μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ· ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν αὐτῷ·
1Jn 2:13-14have laid the foundation of what now follows. Theapostlehas written only on the presuppositionof their estate of Christian life and knowledge as just described: thusresults for the churches the requirement to correspondwiththis presupposition; and thiscanbe only through thehabsolute abnegationof the powerofdarknessandwithdrawal from it. Hitherto theapostlehas spoken positively on the whole;thenegative clauseshavebeenintroduced only fortheclearing of the thought. But now theorderis inverted. No longer is the nature ofκοινωνίατοῦφωτός [“fellowship of light”] the matter of his theme,butthe nature of theσκοτία [“darkness”].Now, in order to warn them againstalland every fellowship with darkness, the author exhibitsin concretothe form in which the darkness presents itself,whereits kingdom is to be found, and thereforeagainst whatthe Christ has to defend Himself. Hence, in theplaceof themoreabstract andgeneralidea of darkness,comesin the more concrete ideaof theκόσμος [“world”],which isthenagain resolved into its elements and further developed.Σκοτία [“darkness”] andκόσμος [“world”] have the samesubstantialcontents;but,whileσκοτία [“darkness”] is theanimating principle,κόσμος [“world”] isthe domainin which thisprincipleworks;and theyare relatedto each other as thesoulandthe body;theκόσμος [“world”] becomesκόσμος [“world”] through theσκοτία [“darkness”] manifesting itself in it.Everything,however, is subjected tothepower of darkness whichgenerally is on earth, sofar asit has not beenrenewedbygrace;thus not only the worldof mankindbelongstotheκόσμος [“world”]; theἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς [“lust of the flesh”], which ispresentlymentioned as anelementoftheκόσμος [“world”], does notalways spring absolutelyfrom man;thewhole region ofcreated things,as described inGen 1:2ff., is subjectedto sin. But, onthe other hand,mankindbelongs also totheκόσμος [“world”], because mankind is absolutely and throughoutentangledin sin. The counterpart of theκόσμος [“world”], as the kingdom of darkness, is that of the light, theβασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ [“kingdom of God”], the limits of which in the divine ordination and its final goal are precisely the same as those of theκόσμος [“world”], that is to say, the whole domain of the creation.
Thus betweenκόσμος [“world”] andβασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ [“kingdom of God”] there isprecisely the same relation as there is in a narrower spherebetween two similar antitheses or counterparts.σῶμα [“body”] towit, is avox media,the corporeity of man purely of itself, apart from the power dominating in it. Butσάρξ [“flesh”] is thatσῶμα [“body”] so far as it is thoroughly penetrated andswayed.by sinful powers; so far as it is, on the other hand, filled with divine energies, it iscalleda newor glorifiedbody. Just so in regard to our present counterpart ideas. Thevox media,which here corresponds to theσῶμα [“body”], isἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, [“the earth and the fullness thereof”] Psa 24:1[LXX 23:1], theκτίσις[“creation”],Rom 8:19.Sofar as this sum of created things is interpenetrated andswayed by the powers of darkness, it is calledκόσμος [“world”]; sofar as it is, on theotherhand, filledandanimated by divine energies, it is called the new heaven anu thenew earth. With the injunction not to loveτὸν κόσμον [“the world”] is connected the further injunction not to loveτὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“the things in the world”].Twoexplanations may be given of this. It were mostobviousto understand by it the objects present in the world, the things which collectively make up the ideaof theκόσμος [“world”]. But that would involve tautology. If it was the apostle’s mind to make emphatic that we should love neither theworld in general nor anything in particular belonging it,the expression chosen would not havebeenappropriatefor that thought; instead ofτὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [ta en tō kosmō,“the things in the world”], itoughtto have beenμηδὲν τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [mēden tōn en tō kosmō,“and not of things in the world”], orsomething like it. However, the following verse makes it quiteimpossible tounderstand byτὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“the things in the world”] the particularobjectsexisting in the world. That is to say,when1Jn 2:16begins withπᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“all that is in the world”], it is manifestthatthisexpressionis equivalent to ourτὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“the things in the world”]:what in the one case is comprehended in the neuter plural is inthe second case reduced to unity by the πᾶν[“all”]. But when we read, further, that theἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς [“desire of the flesh”]and τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν [“of the eyes”], as also theἀλαζονείατοῦβίου [“boastful pride of life”],are theπᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“all that is in the world”],we have given to us a fingerpost for the true interpretation of our expression. Those three terms are obviously not individual objects in the world, but the ethical quality adherent to those objects. It is true thatἐπιθυμία [“desire”] might express not the desire itself, but by metonymy the objects of the desire; yet the additionτῆς σαρκὸς [“of the flesh”], and still moreτῶν ὀφθαλμῶν [“of the eyes”],demands the former meaning; and certainlyἀλαζονεία [“boastful pride”]can only be referred to an ethical subjective quality. Accordingly, we are not permitted to interpret theπᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“all that is in the world”],and by consequenceτὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“the things in the world”],of the objects which constitute the κόσμος [“world”]. As in the expression, “that which is in man,” we may understand not merely the individual attributes that are found in him, but also the characteristic quality which marks and expresses his whole life and nature; so also in our expression, “that which is in the world,” we may understand the element that makes the world to be world, its fundamental determination and inmost nature. And this idea, as it comes out of the context, admirably fits into the context. That which makes the world into the κόσμος [“world”], with the New Testament meaning, is not any one object in it, but the sinful power inhering in all and pervading its collective whole. Thus the apostle says: Love not the world, the whole circle of objects comprised in it; and also love not—theμηδέ[“and not”] is thus as oftenascensivein meaning—that which is in the world as its kernel and pith. The appended clause brings out and makes prominent that which makes the love of the world sin.
Before, however, St. John more closely in1Jn 2:16 defines and specifies the general phraseτὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ [“the things in the world”],he indicates in the second half of1Jn 2:15 how it is that the love of the world cannot accord with the presupposition of a Christian walk which gave him his reason for writing,—that is to say, because the love of the world and the love of God are absolutely incompatible. He says,ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς [“love of the father”]: for internal reasons we may decide against the reading Θεοῦ.This, indeed, appears at the first glance better to correspond with the general wordκόσμος [“world”],and therefore was by some transcriber involuntarily substituted for theπατρός [“father”], which seemed to him without any point of connection. But, in fact,1Jn 2:14 itself, as the fundamental beginning of one section, sprang from the ἐγνωκέναι τὸν πατέρα [“knowledge of the Father”],and it is with allusion to that the apostle here resumes this word: “the fellowship in which I supposed you to exist ye do not then possess; and my letter does not at all apply to you.” Moreover, this reference back to the fundamental idea of1Jn 2:14 establishes clearly that theἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς[“love of the Father”] here does not denote the love of God to us, but our love to God. footnote Septuagint Psa 23:1