For God so loved the world…

[irishman]

“The world” is taken mostly in a general sense. To many, it is impersonal, and in an abstract tense. We need to personalize it before it becomes meaningful to us; we need to read it as “God so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son for me…” Until we personalize this verse, we will never grasp the beauty of it. You see, “the world” is spoken of in a general sense as well as a personal sense. However, this may not be true in every case; we read of another passage concerning “the world”, (1 Jn. 2:15-17), and those words become all inclusive; they speak of the world’s systems; of governments, and philosophies that prevail as “worldly” and secular in nature, and not personally.

The one (John 3:16) says that “God so loved the world”, while the other (1 John 2:15-17) says to “Love not the world…” Though it sounds contradictory we see the reasoning behind it when we are reminded of the tense in which they both speak. We are to love the people, but hate the worldly systems and humanistic philosophies. Though they both can be destructive, the one speaks of people, and the other of things. God loves the people of the world, individually and collectively; He hates the worldliness of the world, in any shape or form.

this is easily discernible even without knowing the Greek by simply realizing that the Word of God cannot contradict itself! Dr Hyles used to say, "I know a little Greek, and I know a little Hebrew; the Greek runs a Coney Island, and the Hebrew owns a junkyard"

I like his take on that!

Edited June 22, 2010 by irishman

[JerryNumbers]

Great thoughts.
I think some Christians love this world, love this life so much, are enjoying self so much, that they do not want Jesus to come for His own.

[irishman]

Great thoughts.
I think some Christians love this world, love this life so much, are enjoying self so much, that they do not want Jesus to come for His own.

Very true Jerry, It is ironic that we like to call ourselves Pilgrims, and sojourners in this world, but we grab, and fight for everything it has to offer! It is almost as if we depend on the world for our sustenance, and not on Christ!

[JerryNumbers]

Very true Jerry, It is ironic that we like to call ourselves Pilgrims, and sojourners in this world, but we grab, and fight for everything it has to offer! It is almost as if we depend on the world for our sustenance, and not on Christ!

Right on, seems even the Christians are in a race to see how many earthly possessions they can OBtain. While many of them seem to look down on Christians who have less than they yet up to worldly people who have more than they. Most Christians seem to be after social status much more than Christians status.

[irishman]

Right on, seems even the Christians are in a race to see how many earthly possessions they can OBtain. While many of them seem to look down on Christians who have less than they yet up to worldly people who have more than they. Most Christians seem to be after social status much more than Christians status.

Yeah, by the grace of God, let that never be our testimony!

[trailofblood]

A sign of the end times is that 'Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold' but the love of the world is just as hot as it always has been.

Nahum.1:7.