1 John 2:15-28_Do not love the world!

18/5/25

Scripture

1 John 2

Questions

Do not love the world

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, ¹⁶ because everything that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world.

1. What does John mean by “the world” in this passage?¹

2. What are the three things John lists as being “in the world”?²

3. Why does John warn against loving the world?³

¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and its desire, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

4. What is the promise God has given to those who remain in the Son and the Father?⁴

Departure of the false teachers

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist⁵ is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.

5. What was the quick check for antichrists?⁶

²⁰ And you have a χρῖσμα from the Holy One, and you all know.

6. What assurance does John give to believers regarding the truth?⁷

²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because every lie is not of the truth. ²² Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

7. What behaviour identifies “antichrists”?⁸

²⁴ As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise which he himself promised us: eternal life. ²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning the ones who are trying to deceive you.

²⁷ And as for you, the χρῖσμα which you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone teach you. But as his χρῖσμα teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you reside in him.

8. What assurance does John give to believers regarding the truth?⁹

God’s children

²⁸ And now, little children, remain in him, so that whenever he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming. ²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.

9. What does John urge believers to do in light of Christ’s eventual return?¹⁰

10. How does John describe those who do what is right?¹¹

More

BibleProject Guide: The Books of 1-3 John

1. John uses “the world” [ο κόσμος] to refer to the corrupted world order which is opposed to God, not the material creation itself.

2. The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the arrogance of material possessions.

3. Because loving the world is incompatible with loving the Father; the world and its desires are passing away, but those who do God’s will remain forever.

4. Eternal life.

Antichrist (ἀντίχριστος, against Christ; others, instead of Christ [see below], a term which has received a great variety of interpretations. Although the word Antichrist is used only by the Apostle John (Epist. i and ii), yet it has been generally applied also (1) to the “Little Horn” of the “King of Fierce Countenance” (Dan. 7 and 8); (2) to the “false Christ” predicted by our Saviour (Matt. 24); (3) to the “Man of Sin” of St. Paul (2 Thess.); and (4) to the “Beasts” of the Apocalypse (Rev. 13, 17).

5. John M’Clintock and James Strong, “Antichrist,” in Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880), 254.

6. The separated from the church, i.e. became heretics.

7. He says believers have a χρῖσμα from the Holy One [the Spirit] and know the truth. In other words we are χριστόι like the prophets, priests and kings of the OT.

8. Those who deny that Jesus is the Christ and deny the Father and the Son; and, again, they leave the Christian community, showing they were not truly of it.

9. He says believers have a χρῖσμα, i.e. have received the Holy Spirit, and know the truth. Again, we are prophets, priests and kings.

10. To remain in Jesus so they may have confidence and not be put to shame at his coming.

11. He says everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by God. They are sons of God.