Here's the question: What in the world is the “world?”
I used to hear this illustration.
To be in the world but not of the world is like a boat in water. There is no problem when the boat is in the
water. The problem occurs when the water
gets in the boat. That can be a helpful
illustration, but it came with some problems. Churches tended to make their own lists of
things that they considered “water in the boat.”
What was created was essentially a list of laws. However some reaction
to this created an equal and opposite problem: no laws!
The by-word was grace. The
extremes were created because we really didn’t understand biblical worldliness.
So the question remains, “What in the
world is the ‘world’?”
James writes: “Religion
that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans
and widows in their affliction, and
to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27, ESV). What does he mean by the word “world”? A.H. Strong teaches us that the word “world”
is translated from the Greek word: κόσμος [pronounced kos·mos].[1] This word can have several
applications. Here are four of them:
1.
It can mean the created order as used in Acts 17:24 (ESV), “ 24 The God who made the world and everything in
it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man.”
2.
It can also mean humanity in general as used in John 3:16 (ESV) 16
“For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but
have eternal life.”
3.
It
includes people who are unsaved as in John 15:18 (ESV) 18 “If the world hates you, know that
it has hated me before it hated you.
4.
It also refers to something that is spiritually wrong.
It is this fourth meaning that James refers to. We see it clearly identified in Christ’s
prayer in John 17:
“I have given them your word, and the
world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the
world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them
from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world,
so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:14–18, ESV)
The “world” [meaning unsaved humanity] hates Christians because they are not part of the “world” [the spiritual sphere they live in]. Christ asks the Father not to take them [the disciples] out of the world [created order] but to keep them from the Evil One. They are not part of the spiritual world sphere, just as Christ is not part of that dimension; but He was sent into the world of humanity so He sends believers into the world of humanity.
So what does it mean to “not be part of the world?” Or what does it mean to “not let the water into the boat?
To be continued .......
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