God So Loved The World
Posted March 28, 2005
R____ wrote:
Hi Mike,
I have a question.
Why does God so love the world in Joh 3:16 (Greek: kosmos, Strong’s # 2889) but 1Jn 2:15 tells us to not love the world (kosmos) or the things of the world (kosmos)?
World = Kosmos = system, arrangement or organization.
Does kosmos have two meanings like many words in English do? If not, why would God love the very system he tells us not to love? Is it a wrong translation in Joh 3:16? All the other words that mean kosmos in the New Testament seem to line up except for this one in Joh 3:16.
I would really appreciate if you could clear this up, if it is possible.
Thank you,
R____
Hi R____,
Thank you for your question. No, the Greek word for ‘world,’ the word ‘kosmos,’ does not have two meanings. The world that God loves is the very same world He wants you to hate. The reason you are to hate ‘the world’ is because ‘the world’ is evil and full of darkness. “We are not of the darkness” and are to come “out of the world.” The very first thing you need to realize is that the word ‘world,’ when used by Christ and His apostles, does not generally apply to the uncalled world. It almost always refers to those who claim the name of ‘God’s people.” It almost always is applied to those who claim the name of ‘Christian’
Why then does God tell us that He “loves the world?” The answer to that question is that God has created an evil world from which He has predestined that we, “all in Adam,” would be delivered. Since God has created us all as sinful sinning machines, it is incumbent upon Him, as a loving Father to have a plan and the means to deliver us from the sin we are, and from the transgressions we do. To this end He had a ‘lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” All of mankind was called to be in Christ “before the world began.” To “be in Christ” means we must “come out of” the “marred vessel which was in the Potter’s hand” and be “made a new vessel, as seemed good to the Potter.”
So you see, we must hate the evil which God created for us to hate. Yet He must love all of the sinful creatures who He Himself has “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin.” He loves them because he created them marred in the first place for the express purpose of “making them a new vessel as seems good to the Potter.”
Here are the scriptures:
Joh 12:46 I am come a light into the world [“He came to His own…”], that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness [ This is where God’s ‘called’ but not ‘chosen,’ always are..Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world [ God’s called but not chosen], the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you [ Christ called his apostles out of Israel, His “church in the wilderness.
All of the efforts of Hollywood to the contrary, it was not the Romans who had Christ crucified. It was, at that time and as it is today, God’s people who always have and who always will crucify his elect. “The world” that hated Christ was not the Roman world. No, it was “the church in the wilderness.” It was God’s own people. That is “the world” that “will scourge you in their synagogues.”
Mat 22:14 For many are called [ Gk. – kletos], but few are chosen [ Gk. – eklektos – a contraction of ‘ek‘ – out of, and ‘kletos‘- called].
Be sure to read ‘Strong Delusion’ for more on this subject. God’s elect come out of God’s called.
Continuing with the verses behind all those quotation marks in paragraph 2:
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, t hough thou hast not known me:Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am] the LORD, and there is none else.Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
What this question boils down to is a proper understanding of the complete and total sovereignty of God. If you haven’t yet, then read After The Counsel Of His Own Will.”
I hope you can better understand that while the Potter Himself, can form “vessels for destruction” and still love those earthen vessels, we on the other hand, must be destroyed and ‘made anew.’ As those “vessels made of clay,” we are being conformed to the true ‘Image of His Son.’ As such we are to “Hate the world.”
Mike
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