Saints,
we need a clear understanding about how we should relate to this world we
inhabit. The Apostle John states in John 3:16, “ For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”, whereas this same
John writes in 1 John 2:15, “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.” And James, the brother of our Savior states
for the record in James 4:4, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is
enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes
himself an enemy of God”, calling those who befriend the world adulterers.
These passages pose a dichotomy which can only be understood if we understand
the “world” God loved is a different world then the world He commands us not to
love. God loved the perfect world He created but hates the corrupted sinful world
humanity turned it into through willful disobedience. We must take care to keep
the distinction between God’s perfect original creation and man’s twisted sin-laden
representation of it, when we study scriptures. We should, as Randy Acorn recommends,
add the worlds “as it is now, under the curse” whenever a passage is referring
to the world after the fall of mankind. For Example:
For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...
Do
not love the world, as it is now, under the curse, or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, as it is now, under the curse, the love of the
Father is not in him.
Adulterers
and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world, as it is now,
under the curse, is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of
the world, as it is now, under the curse, makes himself an enemy of God.
And
do not be conformed to this world, as it is now, under the curse, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.
For
the wisdom of this world, as it is now, under the curse, is foolishness with
God.
We know that we are of God,
and the whole world, as it is now, under the curse, lies under the sway of the wicked one.
For the form of this world, as it is
now, under the curse, is passing away.
GOD
HATES THE WORLD
AS
IT IS NOW, UNDER THE CURSE
AND
WE SHOULD TOO
(1
Jn. 2:15; James 4:4; Jn. 3:16; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 3:19, 7:31; Jn. 5:19)
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