Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: Compassion Ministries, Mentor's Guide, MG16

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D O I N G J U S T I C E A N D L O V I N G M E R C Y : C O M P A S S I O N M I N I S T R I E S

In 1 John (see John, Letters of) and John’s Gospel, where more than half of the occurrences of kosmos in the NT occur, the focus is no longer on the world perceived as creation, but now the emphasis lies upon the world as people who have turned away from God to deceit and delusion. . . . 1 John depicts a sharp dichotomy between two sides, the world’s and God’s. The two are diametrically opposed, and his auditors must choose between the world and God. The world is considered apostate fromGod, and the whole point of John’s rhetoric is to urge full loyalty to God: “We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5.19); “they are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world and the world listens to them” (1 John 4.5). The believer is not to “love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him” (1 John 2.15). Because the things of God and the people of God are in sharp opposition with the world, believers are not to be perplexed that the world “hates” them (1 John 3.13). Sinfulness originates from and belongs to this world and is to be avoided (1 John 2.16–17; cf. 1 John 4.3–5, 9). Similarly Ignatius sharply exhorts, “Do not talk about Jesus Christ while you desire the world” (Ign. Rom. 7.1). Even though the world is characterized in so many negative ways in the Johannine writings, there is hope for it because Christ was sent “as the savior of the world” (1 John 4.14), and whoever has faith in him will be victorious in overcoming the opposition of the world (1 John 5.4–5). It is worthwhile to compare this distinctive emphasis with the Fourth Gospel’s characterization of the world as a place under God’s mercy (e.g., John 3.16–17; 12.47), though still in opposition to the truth (John 15.18–19), and Johannine believers are rescued “from the world” (John 17.6; cf. John 17.11) to which they are sent back (John 17.18). 1 John uses “world” sometimes in a sense that encompasses the entire sphere of people outside the church. This is how false teachers can be identified: they no longer side with the church but “have gone out into the world” (1 John 4.1). Since they are “of the world” they no longer should be heeded or trusted (1 John 4.5; cf. 2 John 7). ~ B. J. Dodd. “World.” Dictionary of the Later New Testament and its Developments . R. P. Martin, ed. (electronic ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Because of this remarkably dialectical relationship between the world and the Church, believers have wrestled with how ought we to correctly view the Church’s