Separated From The World: A Command To Holiness For Christian Living
[An Exegetical Study on 1 John 2:15-17]
by Samson Hutagalung

Introduction

Many have said that the letter of John did not demonstrate the features of an epistle as usually used during the first century epistles. Nonetheless the contents of the epistles clearly intended for a local church though John did not mention the name of a particular church.[1] The manner and purpose of the writing was so vivid as to reaffirm the purpose of the gospel. When John wrote his Gospel, the purpose was “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life” (Jn. 20:31). Whereas in this epistle, the purpose was laid as to “that your joy may be full” (1 Jn. 1:4), and “that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 Jn. 5:13). John’s main intention was to encourage the readers to have the confidence of salvation and the full joy that produced by the personal assurance of salvation.[2]

Having laid the foundation, John realized the need of identifying the believers as the beloved and holy ones in the Lord Jesus Christ. John understood the readers were the people whom God chose and separated for Himself with a special purpose. As followers of Christ, believers must follow the standards set by Christ as a regulation to obtain an acceptance before God. The command to have a holy life is absolute (cf. 1 Pt. 1:16). In other words, believers should love holiness and hate wickedness.

John used the term of “kosmov” as referring to wickedness and unholy things. The issue was that during the writing of this epistle there were people who were teaching wrong doctrines; they were false teachers and having the spirit of antichrists. The impacts of their teachings had reached out the community of believers and created confusions.[3] It is therefore the thesis of this paper to ascertain the meaning of the command to love not the world as taught in the passage of 1 John 2:15-17. The immediate context of this passage is 1 John 2:12-14.

The Greek text used will be taken from H Kainh Diaqhkh,[4] the Textus Receptus, on which the King James Version of the English Bible is based.  It is also the author’s belief that this is the most reliable Greek text and a proper understanding of God’s Word is possible only by studying His word from this and not any other version. Where required, references made to the English Bible will be taken from the King James Version. The writer believes that all sixty-six books of the Holy Bible are the verbally and plenarily inspired and preserved Word of God: inerrant, infallible and authoritative in all that it asserts.

The historical-grammatical-canonical method of interpretation will be used for this exegesis. This paper will achieve its goal by presenting the historical background, the larger context of the book, the immediate context of the passage under consideration and then, the exegesis proper. It will thus show that there is a command to love not the world in the present day context and hence the epistle of John is applicable even today. There is therefore absolutely no mistake that it is in the Holy Scripture, for God made and makes and will make no mistakes.

Historical Background

Traditionally John the son of Zebedee was accepted as the author of this epistle.[5] He was the last apostle died during the most advanced stage of Gnosticism.[6] The subtle influence of its teaching had reached the community of believers, persuading them to depart from the true teaching of the Bible. Much confusions in the church occurred during the apostle wrote this epistle. This heretic embraced that matter is evil, thus the human body also had to be evil. This heretic rejected the fact that God could dwell in the human body and that Jesus had a human body but the spirit. It was for this reason that John had to declare the truth at the outset of his epistle as being a true eye witness of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1-4). The damage was so severe, that though this heretic might not be in the church anymore, yet John continued to ground them with the true teaching in order to convince them on the true and right doctrines.

Tenny rightly summaries the teaching of Gnosticsm which existed in the time of John writing the epistle of John:

First John revealed rather sharply three characteristics of Gnosticsm that had serious implications for Christianity: (1) dualism, (2) illumination, (3) rejection of the incarnation. Dualistically, Gnosticsm held that matter was essentially evil and spirit was essentially good. Thus the human body and spirit had no effective contact with each other. Gnostics held that a redeemed soul in a sinful body was therefore not responsible for the deeds of that body. Such dualism led to anti-spiritual compromise on the part of some who professed Christ. . . . Salvation according to the Gnostics came from knowing theories rather than from faith in a Savior.[7]

It was this teaching in view when John wrote his epistle. John exhorted the readers to follow the doctrines they had received and believed, but to reject all facets of Gnostics’ teachings.[8] Thus in order to bring the readers back to the right conviction, it was necessary for them to be reminded to love God (1:5-2:2) and His commandments (2:3-11). On the other hand they were also commanded to test the spirit (4:1-6) and to watch for deceivers (2 Jn. 7-11). The apostle had this desire greatly and urgently but compassionate, appealing them personally to separate from the world ( 2:15-17).

The Context of the Book

The correct teaching is hard to impart and the wrong teaching is hard to dismiss. This could be true to the readers. Though the convinced groups of Gnosticsm had left the community and established their own community ( 2:19), and yet the false teaching had damaged so much and was hard to remove from them. In fact the group still continued to keep in touch the readers community, and “trying to entice them to join the new group” ( 2:26).[9] Barker rightly observed that the false teachers’ denial:

They denied that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God ( 2:22; 5:1, 5). They denied that the Christ had come in the flesh (4:2; 2 Jn. 7). They denied authority of Jesus’ commands (2:4). They denied their own sinfulness (1:8, 10). They denied salvation through the work of Christ (2:2). They denied the absolute demand that believers love one another (2:9). They denied righteous conduct as a requirement of fellowship with God (1:6; 2:29; 3:6, 10). They denied the responsibility to live as Jesus had lived (2:4, 6; 3:7). They denied the nature of the company of believers as a community of fellowship with the Father, with his Son, and with one another (1:3; 2:11). They denied the authority of the writer of Epistles as the proclaimer of the message that had been from the beginning (1:5; 3 John 10). They denied that the members of the community who did not follow them were in the truth ( 2:20-21).[10]

Having described the beliefs of the false teachers, the apostle responded as to encourage the true believers in Christ Jesus. He desired to develop their understanding on the Scripture as the basis of their beliefs. Perhaps there were members of the community who still inclined to the teachings of those false teachers. Therefore, in the first chapter, he reminded the readers on the account of the life of Jesus Christ while he was on earth and John himself was an eye witness (1:1-4), and commanded them to have fellowship with God (1:5-10). In chapter two, he reminded to love God’s commandment (2:1-11) and to love not world ( 2:12-17) and to be aware of antichrist ( 2:18-29). Chapter three was an encouragement to do right things (3:1-10), love the brethren ( 3:11-18) and having confident ( 3:19-24). Chapter four was the command to test every spirit (4:1-1-6) and to continue abiding in God (4:7-12). Last chapter was about asking God ( 5:13-17) and knowing the Word of God ( 5:18-21).[11]  The main discussion of this paper would be chapter two as a command for Christians to love not or to separate from the world.  

The Immediate Context

The apostle just mentioned the purpose of writing this epistle and appealing to the readers to have a right fellowship with God (1 John 1). The first part of chapter two, he stated that believers must love God’s commandment for God’s Word has power to lead and direct believers to holiness. Sin does not have power against those believers who love God and keep His commandments (2:1-11). But if any believer falls into sins, believers can obtain genuine forgiveness when confession offered to God (1:9) and the Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins and our advocate with the Father (2:1-2). The second part was the command to separate from the world because of its sinful lust that is on contrary to holiness ( 2:15-17). However John had much to say concerning the sinfulness of the world and its system power that leads to destruction. In fact John acknowledges that the antichrist will use the world and its lust as a means to draw people away from God but doing the things he desires.

It is absolutely necessary for believers to separate themselves from the world for the world is passing away together with its worldly lust (2:17). Barker rightly said,

This warning was addressed to the community against the seduction of the world ( 2:15), against the present antichrist ( 2:18), and against false spirits and false prophets ( 3:22; 4:1-2). Reminders to the members of their anointing ( 2:20) as being sufficient to enable them to remain in God ( 4:13) are provided as well as promises that belong to them as the children of God (3:1). Jesus Christ as the epitome and example of love to the community becomes a critical theme ( 3:16-18) just as the proclamation that God himself is love ( 4:16), that love derives from him, and that the Christian life is lived in him ( 4:12-13) are also critical themes. Again and again the letter returns to the primary confession that Jesus is the Christ, the one who has come in the flesh and has overcome the world. He is the true God and eternal life ( 5:20).[12]

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Exegetical Resources

• An Exegetical Study of the Epistle of Jude
• A Command To Holiness For Christian Living