Post by Josh on Oct 21, 2007 20:01:16 GMT -8
It's a major theme of 1 Peter that we, as Christians, are in some sense "aliens and strangers in this world".
Though the word for 'world' (kosmos, in greek) can simply mean the earth or the habitations of humanity, the New Testament authors often use the term "world" in a negative sense when they are describing the systems of this world (the powers, principalities, and evil spiritual forces) that are contrary to the nature and will of God.
Or, try this expanded definition from the KJ Lexicon:
World (kosmos): the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ
Here are just some verses which involve the word "world" in this negative sense:
Matthew 16:26a
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
John 15:18-19
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
John 17:14-16
I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Romans 12:2a
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
1 Corinthians 2:12a
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God...
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Colossians 2:20
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 4:4
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 5:4
for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Still, we all might agree that there are things in human culture which aren't at odds or hostile to the Truth of God's revelation in Jesus. God, in fact, has planted seeds of truth in all cultures just waiting to be recognized.
I would submit that we must ask some important questions about the culture around us:
In what ways should the Church stand out from the larger culture around us?
In what ways should the Church fight the larger culture around us?
In what way can the Church transform with the larger culture around us?
In what ways should the Church work with the larger culture around us?
Stand out, fight, transform, and work with are the active verbs here.
Might we each have different answers for these questions? It's quite possible, but I think it's important that we engage each other in discussion of particular answers- discuss, debate, etc.. in order to arrive at the best answers for this time and place and, ultimately, in conformity to Scripture.
Though the word for 'world' (kosmos, in greek) can simply mean the earth or the habitations of humanity, the New Testament authors often use the term "world" in a negative sense when they are describing the systems of this world (the powers, principalities, and evil spiritual forces) that are contrary to the nature and will of God.
Or, try this expanded definition from the KJ Lexicon:
World (kosmos): the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ
Here are just some verses which involve the word "world" in this negative sense:
Matthew 16:26a
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
John 15:18-19
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
John 17:14-16
I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Romans 12:2a
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
1 Corinthians 2:12a
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God...
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Colossians 2:20
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 4:4
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 5:4
for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Still, we all might agree that there are things in human culture which aren't at odds or hostile to the Truth of God's revelation in Jesus. God, in fact, has planted seeds of truth in all cultures just waiting to be recognized.
I would submit that we must ask some important questions about the culture around us:
In what ways should the Church stand out from the larger culture around us?
In what ways should the Church fight the larger culture around us?
In what way can the Church transform with the larger culture around us?
In what ways should the Church work with the larger culture around us?
Stand out, fight, transform, and work with are the active verbs here.
Might we each have different answers for these questions? It's quite possible, but I think it's important that we engage each other in discussion of particular answers- discuss, debate, etc.. in order to arrive at the best answers for this time and place and, ultimately, in conformity to Scripture.
