Peter asked, “Why does it say that God loved the world in John 3:16, and then He tells us not to love the world in 1 John 2:15?”
Have you ever wondered about that?
Often our questions can be answered by reading carefully where the verses appear in the Bible. Since the Bible is God’s Word, He can use it to answer all our questions. Let’s read the whole verse from John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Notice the two italicized words, “world” and “whosoever.” God is telling us here that He loves the “whosoevers” of the world. That’s you and me, the people of this world.
Now let’s look at 1 John 2:1516. Here’s how it reads: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. . . . 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.” If we know the Lord Jesus as our Saviour and God as our Father, this is a warning to us not to love the world. He is not talking here about loving people in the sense that we care about them and want them to be saved from their sins. But rather, we should not love the world or anything in the world that would take away our love for the Lord Jesus or God our Father.
Can you think of some things in this world which might take away your love for the Lord Jesus if you love them?
ML-10/15/1995