1 John
1Jo 2:15-17 - Love Identifies the Person
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. 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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1Jo 2:15-17)
Before we begin our investigation of this lesson, we need to remind ourselves of a major premise in John's writings, indeed in New Testament writings. Love does not relate to emotion or affection alone, but to action. In John particularly it relates to a consistent course of action. Thus in the opening sentence of this lesson, to love the world does not mean simply to view it with fondness. Rather it means to follow that magnetic attraction with actions described in the passage as love toward the world. You see that distinct clue in the last sentence of the passage. He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. John does not build the believer's abiding on a sentimental emotion, but on conduct. We may describe or view our sentimental affections as we wish, but our true identity grows out of our conduct, not out of our emotions. This simple, but profound, truth unlocks several passages in John's writings for our reflection and edification.
Perhaps conduct begins with affection or appetite, but John takes the issue beyond the mental state to actual conduct. Sometimes we cloud the difference between mental activity and actions. Have you ever heard anyone quote the passage from the Sermon on the Mount regarding a lustful look toward a member of the opposite sex as being fully as sinful as the act itself? Make no mistake, the lustful look is sin, but it does not spread the sin-disease to those around you, including the object or innocent family members. There is nothing in the Sermon on the Mount to require this conclusion. Jesus did not say it was equal in degree, but that it was equally sin. He said those words in a culture of amazing hypocrisy. For example, first century Jewish history records this practice. A man plans to leave home for several days on business. As he traveled to the city, he could write out a "letter of divorce" against his wife and keep it in his private possession. During his time in the city he could visit prostitutes or have affairs at his pleasure. Then as he traveled back home, he could revoke the divorce letter and return home to his "wife," smugly telling himself that he had not sinned against her. After all, she was not his "wife" during the time he conducted these affairs in the city. Jesus confronted this external hypocritical sin in His Sermon on the Mount teaching. What prompted the man to write out the temporary divorce letter? It was lust in his heart. The simple piece of paper did not erase the sin in his heart. He was not free of guilt at all. Given the contextual setting of that lesson, it is far more likely that Jesus had this kind of attitude in mind than a fleeting lustful thought, quickly captured and dismissed with no subsequent action to accompany it.
When John wrote this warning against loving the world, he intended a love that joins emotional attraction to the world with actual conduct that fulfills it. This combination of attitude and action clarifies his follow-up statement. If a person "loves" the world, combines appetite with consumption, lust with fulfilling sin, the love of God, actual conduct that honors God, cannot dwell in him. It is a moral and ethical impossibility! How can a person give full expression to his sinful appetite and at the same time give full expression to his godliness that curbs and controls that appetite? Western Christians often create an inconsistent schizophrenic faith by overemphasizing their "two natures." They occasionally imply that they are helpless victims of their two natures, their sinful depraved nature and their righteous saved nature. According to this description, the two natures are at war and the individual is the helpless victim torn between them with no escape. This view grows out of a false interpretation of Scripture, somewhat too convenient to receive credible rating from solid Biblical truth applied to life. True enough, the Christian possesses two natures, but Scripture never makes anyone the helpless victim caught between them. That view of Ro 7:1-25, for example, altogether ignores the greater context and actually makes the opposite point to the one Paul intended in the lesson. We cannot honor God by a constant shallow verbal pledge of allegiance while our conduct repeatedly gives space to the evil one more than to God. This whole mindset ignores the Bible doctrine of repentance and transformed lives. Being "transformed by the renewing of your minds" does not mean constantly complaining about your habitual sins. It means overcoming those sins and replacing them with habits of godliness!
A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, interprets lust of the flesh as "lust felt by the flesh." It describes a sinful craving that appeals to an organ or appetite identified with flesh, the physical body. Then "lust of the eyes" describes a sinful craving that appeals to the mind or the imagination. As a brief, perhaps oversimplified, example, sexual appetites illustrate lust of the flesh, for they appeal to the sexual appetite of the physical body. And perhaps a consuming desire for promotion on the job, a desire that causes you to justify walking over fellow-workers in immoral or unethical actions, illustrates the lust of the eyes.
John interestingly adds a third category to his comprehensive list, but he does not specifically associate the word lust to it, the pride of life. Throughout the Bible we discover pride, false self-absorbed pride, as a dangerous and attractive enticement. It "goes before destruction." It personifies the devil's stumbling block. It certainly relates to this sinful appetite John calls lust, but it does so in a distinctly different form. You most often see it in Christians when they try to put on phony external images before other people, especially other Christians. To view them at first glance, you would think they were nearly perfect. Often as you contemplate this person's impact on you, it causes you to feel inferior and sub-standard as a Christian. You feel that you simply cannot live up to their near-perfect righteousness. In a subtle way they may actually want to leave this reaction with you. They are actually filled with lust for this false appearance of greater godliness than they actually deserve, and they are willing to make you feel like worn out dirt to accomplish their objective. You will seldom if ever witness this person openly confessing to personal faults. They will often blame others for their problems. But the lust for appearance chokes their spirituality and motivates them to do just about anything to leave the impression that they are the super-Christians in the crowd and you are the left-over remnant, a shell of a Christian.
When confronted directly with their sinfulness, these people will react with hostility and denial. If possible, they will simply gloss it over and convince you that your concerns are ill founded. Their spouse is surely the most godly person on earth. Their children never gave them a moment's trouble from birth to adulthood. They serve in the only ideal career. Your concerns, when you see the tell-tale evidence of anything less than perfect in their life, are simply not correct. And then when specific sin surfaces in their world, they are well prepared with long pointing fingers that justify blaming someone or something other than themselves. They must maintain that phony image at all cost!
Take a careful look at this person. We've all met such a person somewhere in our Christian experience. The most dominant indicator of the problem is exactly as John labels it, pride. But behind pride you will discover a lust for image and the approval of others altogether sufficient to put this sin in the lust category.
How does John view these sins, all three categories? They do not come from the Father, but from the world! God doesn't approve of phony self-righteous appearances any more than He approves of sexual lust! All these sinful outlooks grow out of allegiance to the world, and not out of service or obedience to the Father.
What is the final outcome of these sinful worldviews? The world passes away and the lust thereof. At its very best, this world and all its false images and appetites are temporary. They will not last! The person who sold his/her soul to sexual appeal and physical beauty will grow old and lose that physical appeal. The person who craves any promotion that gives him/her advantage and image over others will reach the "Peter principle" at which their incompetence and frightening humanness become apparent for all to see. And the person who worked so hard to live behind that phony image of superior Christian perfection will sooner or later fall and reveal their sinfulness. All such conduct is doomed to failure!
But he that doeth, keeps on doing, the will of God abides for ever. This sentence does not describe occasional or convenient Christianity, but robust godliness. God will preserve and honor the authentic Christian. Where will we invest our reputations and life work?
1Jo 2:20-23 - What do you Know...How do you Know it?