1 John 2:15-17 warns believers not to set their affections on the world or its desires, because love for the world is incompatible with love for the Father. John identifies three main areas of temptation: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. These are impulses that originate not from God but from a fallen order opposed to Him. In contrast to the world, which is passing away along with its lusts, the one who does the will of God abides in what endures forever.
1 John 2:15-17 teaches that believers must not set their love on the world and its passing lusts, because such desires do not originate from the Father, and only the one who does the will of God abides forever while the world and its cravings are fading away.
The letter of 1 John is written to believers telling them how to experience the fullness of eternal life in this life and maximize their joy (1 John 1:2-4).
In the previous section (1 John 2:12-14), John addressed all believers as “little children,” reminding them that they have been forgiven of theirs sins by virtue of receiving the Gift of Eternal Life. John then addressed three subsets of believers:
Fathers, who have known Jesus from the beginning;
Young Men, who are strong in Jesus and have His word abiding in them;
Children, who because of Jesus know the Father.
The order in which John first addressed these three groups—fathers, then young men, then children—is from most mature to least mature in Christ. The messages John gives to all believers and then to each group of believers in 1 John 2:12-14 may also serve as an outline of the content of 1 John 1:5 - 2:29.
1 John 1:5 - 2:2 and its discussion about sin may correspond to the message John gave to all believers (the “little children”) and how their sins have been forgiven 1 John 2:12.
1 John 2:3 - 2:11 and its discussion of knowing God and keeping His commandment from the beginning corresponds to John’s message to the spiritually mature believers (the “fathers”) who have known Him who was from the beginning (1 John 2:13a, 2:14a).
1 John 2:15-17 (this passage) and its discussion about the lusts of this world correspond to John’s messages to the believers who are encountering temptations and trials (the “young men”) who are strong and have the word of God abiding in them and who have overcome the evil one (1 John 2:13b, 2:14b).
1 John 2:18-27 and its discussion about who the Father is not, contrasted with who He really is, corresponds to John’s message to new believers (the “children”; in Greek, “paidia”—infants) that they know the Father (1 John 2:13c).
In this section of scripture (1 John 2:15-17), John appears to address the young men of 1 John 2:13-14 who are strong because the word of God abides in them and who are actively engaged in the struggle to overcome the temptation of the world.
John gives these young men an instruction to help them resist the temptations they are facing, and, in doing so, overcome the world.
The instruction John gives them is: Do not love the world nor the things in the world (v 15a).
John immediately follows his instruction with three reasons or proofs for why this advice is sound.
These reasons are:
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (v 15b).
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (v 16).
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever (v 17).
This commentary will discuss each of these reasons to shun the love of the world. But first we will discuss what John means by his instruction to believers to not love the world nor the things in the world. John speaks to those who are actively engaged in resisting temptation and in spiritual warfare, and is equipping them with a perspective they can choose that will aid them in their quest to make choices that are life-giving and that lead to joy.
John’s Instruction: Do not love the world nor the things in the world.
John’s instruction to believers who are strong and have God’s word abiding in them (1 John 2:14b) is: Do not love the world nor the things in the world (15a).
This is the first imperative command John has issued in this letter. To this point, all the instruction and call to action has been indirect, deduced, or inferred.
There are three key terms to this command: (1) the verb love, and the direct objects (2) the world and (3) the things in the world.
The Greek verb that is translated as love in this verse (and throughout 1 John) is the verb ἀγαπάω (G25—pronounced: “a-ga-pa-ō”). Agapaō is the verbal form of the Greek noun: ἀγάπη (G26—pronounced: “a-gap-é”).
These terms can be translated as “affection,” “good will,” and “love,” but what agapé-love describes is the choice each person makes about what they will sacrificially give, invest, or submit themselves to. Agapé-love is a choice. We decide who or what we will agapé-love. We decide to whom or to what we will value, serve, and/or seek approval from.
It is natural for us to agapé-love only ourselves (which as we will see is what the world expects of us). Paul describes agapé-love that is choosing to be Christ-centered and serve the best interest of others. He provides examples by way of a list of actions that go against our natural affections (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
Just as John says making good choices lead to the fullest experience of joy in life, Paul says that it is only actions motivated by agapé-love that profit us (1 Corinthians 13:3). In Paul’s context, he tends to emphasize future benefit, thinking primarily of the judgment seat of Christ, where believers receive rewards based on their deeds (1 Corinthians 3:11-17, 9:24-27, 2 Corinthians 4:17, 5:10). As we will see, John’s focus tends to be more on current benefit, but he notes that this benefit continues forever.
The greatest commandments are about what we agapé-love. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to agapé-love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And He said the second greatest commandment is to agapé-love our neighbor as welove ourselves (Mark 12:29-31).
The entire Law of Moses and the Prophets are encapsulated in these two commands (Mattthew 22:40, Galatians 5:14). As followers of Jesus, we are to agapé-love our neighbor (Luke 10:25-37) and we are to agapé-love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Previously in this letter, John has emphasized the centrality of Jesus’s commandment to agapé-love one another as He has loved us (1 John 2:7-11). But here John is instructing us to not agapé-love the world nor the things in the world.
The reason these commands about what we should love and not love are given to us is because we can agapé-lovethings that lead us away from God and to our own destruction. This is because what we love is a matter of choice.
The Greek term that is translated as world is a form of the noun κόσμος (G2889—pronounced: “kahs-mahs”). The English word “cosmos” is derived from κόσμος. Depending on context, κόσμος can describe the created universe, humanity, the physical earth, or the fallen creation and its evil, self-serving direction under the influence of Satan.
In the context of 1 John 2:15,the world refers to values, priorities, and ambitions that operate in rebellion against God and are under the influence of the evil one (1 John 5:19). The world is the moral and spiritual evil that exalts self, autonomy, pride, and temporary pleasure over obedience, humility, and fellowship with the Father.
And the things in the world refers to the things that the world lusts after. In the next verse John describes the things the world lusts after as the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life (v 16).
Jesus describes Satan as “the ruler of this world” (John 16:11). The world is filled with the ways of Satan. Satan’s core attitude is to ascend above God—to supplant God’s ways with his own (Isaiah 14:12-14). Satan’s temptation of Eve was to lure her into believing she could make better choices with knowledge independent of obedience to God and His ways. His temptation of Jesus was to get Jesus to act on His own, apart from complete dependence on the Father.
Satan’s core attitude is that of pride. Pride seeks to elevate over others, and to exploit others. We can see this in passages like Habakkuk 2:4, where pride is presented as the opposite of faith. Faith is believing God’s ways are for our best, and following them as a result of that faith. This leads to righteousness, which is walking in alignment with God’s ways and His design for us. Pride is a self-centric belief that we know what is best for ourselves, apart from God. It leads to destruction, of ourselves as well as others.
As followers of Jesus, we are not to value Satan’s domain nor thethingsthe world cares about. We are not to give the world affection. We are not to seek approval from the world. We are not to serve the world. We are not to give the world a place in our hearts. We are not to agapé-lovethe worldnor the things in the world by choosing to follow in any of the world’s ways.
As followers of Jesus, we are to love God. We are to seek first His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Instead of seeking the honors of this world and the approval of men, which mean little in God’s eyes, Jesus redirects His followers to seek heavenly treasure that will never fade or be destroyed (Matthew 6:20). We are to lovethe things God loves. And what God loves most in this world is people.
John’s instruction to believers to not agapé-lovethe worldnor the things in the world means that he does not want them to do three things:
Believers should not serve the world’s lusts
Believers should not seek approval from the world
Believers should not value the things which the world says are good
1. Believers should not serve the world’s lusts.
Agapé-love in action is serving and seeking the person or thing we love’s best interest or desires—we serve what we choose to agapé-love.
When we agapé-love the world, we enslave ourselves and sacrifice our energies and resources to serve the world’s lusts. This choice leads to our own destruction. This is graphically described in Romans 1:24, 26, 28 where Paul notes a progression of destruction from refusing to follow God and His ways. It describes God’s “wrath” as being poured out on such unrighteousness by giving us over to these lusts. They become our master. Lust gives way to addiction which leads to a loss of mental faculties; our mental health deteriorates.
This progression is observable as a natural consequence of giving in to lusts, with examples including addiction to substance abuse or pornography. When we seek to exploit material things or other people to satisfy our own passions the inevitable result is self-harm.
When we agapé-love God we serve and obey Him (John 14:15, 15:10). This includes obeying Jesus’s commandment to love one another (John 13:34) which entails selflessly seeking their best interest (Philippians 2:3-4). The way we love and obey God is to love and serve one another.
When we agapé-love one another, we selflessly give of our energies and resources to serve their best interest. When we do so, we live out God’s design for us. So, paradoxically, we gain when we give. John’s advice is exceedingly practical.
2. Believers should not seek approval from the world.
We seek approval from what we choose to agapé-love.
When we agapé-love the world we seek approval from the world. And the world hates God. The world’s approval is fickle, because the world’s goal in giving approval is to gain control. The purpose of gaining control is to exploit. The world only approves of those who oppose themselves to God and who feed its lusts. In the world system, everyone is promised power to extract from others but inevitably become enslaved themselves (Romans 6:16).
When we agapé-love God we seek His approval and rewards. In this lifetime, seeking God’s approval requires faith in Him (Hebrews 11:6). It takes faith that Jesus’s ways are for our best to cease our pursuits of the world and to take up our cross and follow Him. To agapé-love God is to surrender our lives for His sake (Luke 9:23-26). It is through such surrender that our greatest joy and reward is found.
When we agapé-love one another as Jesus loves us, as He commanded us to, we do not seek approval from those we love, but rather, we seek approval from God. Jesus did not seek approval from those He loved. Jesus sought approval from His Father. Jesus loved us out of obedience to His Father.
We are to love others because we love God and we seek His approval. This is one reason why, even though the two greatest commandments (love God; love others) are interdependent, loving God is the greatest commandment. It is from our choice to love God that all other loves should flow.
Our true reward for loving other people comes from God, not necessarily from the people themselves. The reward we receive for trusting God to love other people is the Prize of Eternal Life.
In this lifetime, the Prize of Eternal Life includes:
Having a peace that surpasses all understanding. (Philippians 4:7)
In the life to come, the Prize of Eternal Life includes:
Hearing “well done, good and faithful servant” and being rewarded with great responsibility in God’s kingdom (the “joy” of our Master), (Matthew 25:21)
3. Believers should not value the things which the world says are good.
When we agapé-love the world we value the things that the world says are good. The world is deceitful in what it claims to be worthwhile. Not only are the things the world values evil and destructive, the things the world prizes will quickly fade. It is folly to value things that are worthless and that harm us. And it is foolish to exchange a lasting experience of life in the pursuit of things that are temporary (Luke 9:23-24).
When we agapé-love God, we value the things which God values. In this world, God values people. God lovingly created each person in His own immortal image. We are to love one another, because God loves everyone (John 3:16,1 John 4:11).
When we agapé-love one another, we value the personhood of others, their freedom, and their best interest. We seek their best interest, without regard to whether they reward us with a return of affection.
After instructing believers, Do not love the world nor the things in the world, John explains three reasons why they should not love the world.
John’s First Reason Believers Should Not Love the World: Broken Fellowship
The first reason John tells believers why they should not love the world is because: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (v 15b).
John’s instruction: Do not love the world nor the things in the world, is based on the core principle: we cannot love God and love the world at the same time.
Accordingly, this principle means that we cannot agapé-love God if and as we agapé-love the world.
John frames this principle as a conditional statement,
The condition is: If anyone loves the world.
The outcome of this condition is: the love of the Father is not in him.
This conditional statement describes the heart of the one who loves theworld and how anyone who loves the world does not love God.
The expression the love of the Father refers to the loving and harmonious fellowship faithful followers of Jesus share with God the Father. Anyone who agapé-loves the world is not seeking harmony and fellowship with God.
This conditional statement does not describe the Father’s love for anyone who loves the world and/or who does not love Him. The Fatherloves everyone unconditionally. The Father’s heart for His children who love the world and who do not love Him is depicted in the character of the father in Jesus’s “Parable of the Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11-32).
The principle that we cannot love both the world and love God goes back to the Law of Moses.
Moses informed the children of Israel of this principle in his departing message to them:
“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live…”
Near the end of his life, Joshua reiterated this principle at Shechem:
“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
Jesus also taught this principle:
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13—see also Matthew 6:24)
We cannot serve both the darkness and the Light. We cannot be aligned with the world and at the same time be aligned God. God’s love does not have a place in our hearts if our hearts lovethe world and value the things of this world that are so opposed to God. Said another way, we cannot have fellowship with God and the world at the same time. We must choose one or the other. One of John’s primary aims in this letter is to equip believers to make choices that lead them to enjoy fellowship with God and one another (1 John 1:3).
If God’s love is to animate us and be in us, we must despise what the world says is good and trust and prize what God says is good—which is loving other people. It is in loving other people that gives us fellowship both with God and with others, which makes our joy complete (1 John 1:3-4).
The world, under the influence of Satan is opposed to God. And Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan and rid the world of his toxic reign (1 John 3:8). The world loves darkness because its deeds are evil (John 3:19). The world hates the Light and those who are in the Light (John 3:20, 15:18-21). “God is Light and in Him, there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Because God and the world are opposed to each other, with each valuing opposite things—and because agapé-love is a based on a decision to value, seek approval from, and serve—it is therefore impossible to love both God and the world at the same time. Believers must choose whom they will agapé-love, and that is a binary choice. Believers must decide whom they will value, seek approval from, and serve: God or the world. “A little of each” is choosing the world.
While John warns believers donot love the world, James likens a believer who tries to love both God and the world at the same time as an adulteress:
“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
Believers are members of Christ’s church. And the church is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). Therefore, as believers, we are exhorted to be devoted to God as faithful spouses are to each other. A spouse has made a commitment and vow to faithfulness. To try and love two husbands (God and the world) would be adultery.
One of these husbands, God, is a true and good husband who always seeks our best interest. The other is a false and faithless husband, who seeks to exploit us until we lose all value in his eyes.
Jesus is a faithful husband to us, His bride. Jesus laid down His life, so that we might live. The world is a faithless husband who promises us life, but gives us only pain and death. The world deceitfully promises life and happiness, but the true rewards of the world are death and corruption (Mathew 7:14, 1 Timothy 6:9,Romans 6:16, 22-23).
In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul uses the illustration of slave and master to contrast the world and God. He warns the Romans to consider who they want to be their master. Because we serve and obey the will of whom we agapé-love, we will either be slaves to sin (theworld) or we will be slaves to God. Paul asks the Roman believers:
“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)
Paul then praises and thanks God that through Christ we have been freed from the master of sin who gives us death, and for having been freed from sin how we have become slaves to righteousness and life (Romans 6:17-18). Because of Jesus, we can choose to love and follow Him and experience life and harmony in fellowship with God, instead of loving the world and experiencing sin and death.
The world says it is good to serve yourself and try and get ahead of others. One becomes great in the eyes of the world by lording it over others, and in the world’s faulty view, the greatest person is whomever has the means or power to lord it over the most people (Matthew 20:25). But Jesus taught His disciples that true greatness is found in serving others and that the greatest among them would be the best servant of all (Matthew 20:26-28).
As John tells “you young men” who are engaged in the trials of life (1 John 2:13-14) that they cannot love God and love the world at the same time, he is not saying they cannot love more than one person or thing simultaneously. (For instance, we can love both our spouse and children at the same time). But some of the things that we love require that we serve them above all else and/or make them exclusive.
God and the world are ultimate, incompatible masters that demand our whole being. They demand our whole hearts and all our devotion. Whichever of these we love will be our true master. There are only two choices. To choose “me” is to choose the world.
Therefore, if we want to serve God and be in fellowship with Him, loving the world will get in the way. If anyone try to love both God and love the world, their hearts will be like the soil among the thorns in Jesus’s “Parable of the Sower” (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23) as “the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22b).
John’s Second Reason Believers Should Not Love the World: Incompatibility
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (v 16).
The second reason John tells believers why they should not love the world is because the lusts and ambitions of the world do not come from the Father. The world and the Father desire opposite things.
John uses the expression For all that is in the world to sum up all the world’s lusts and ambitions. All that is in the world is a functional synonym for the fallen human condition and its twisted desires, as it is separated from God.
The word that is translated as lust is the Greek noun: ἐπιθυμία (G1939—pronounced: “epi-thu-mi-ah). As a noun, it is almost always used in the New Testament to refer to an evil or base desire, like something deceitful (Ephesians 4:22), defiling (2 Peter 2:10), or controlling (1 Peter 1:14). However, its verbal counterpart in Greek—“epithumeō”(G1936)—is regularly used both as simple and or righteous desire (Matthew 13:17,Luke 17:22, 22:15) and as an evil desire (Matthew 5:28,Acts 20:33).
Paul says in Galatians that the flesh “epithumeōs” against the Spirit and the Spirit “epithumeōs” against the flesh (Galatians 5:17). Context determines whether the lust/passionate desire is honorable, sinful, or neutral.
A sinful lust is a controlling desire that elevates your own needs above the needs of others.
A sinful lust is a craving that seeks immediate gratification apart from God’s will. Paradoxically, our deepest desire is really to follow God, while our initial action is to follow the flesh (Galatians 5:17). John is showing believers how to tap into that deep desire by choosing perspectives that are true and choosing actions that are life-giving.
In the context of 1 John 2:16, the term lust is used to describe sinful cravings and desires.
John describes all that is in the world through three expressions:
the lust of the flesh;
and the lust of the eyes;
and the boastful pride of life…
These three categories may refer to the three sources of evil that tempt us into sin and away from God. This commentary will describe each temptation in great detail below (under their own headings), but first here is a brief description of each category of temptation.
The lust of the flesh describes our sin nature—our flesh. Our flesh is fallen, out of alignment with God’s good design, and disorients us away from God. The lust of the flesh refers to the temptations that arise within our hearts and from our sin nature. James asserts that it is this inner lust that is the true source of temptation (James 1:14).
The lust of the eyes describes the pattern of sin from the world. The lust of the eyes is the worldly culture that accepts and honors sin and hates God and His standards of righteousness. The lust of the eyes refers to the cultural temptations to conform to and receive affirmation from this world rather than to live like Jesus and become transformed into His godly character.
The boastful pride of life describes the evil desire to control everything. It is the ambition to rule in the world as a tyrant. Satan has this ambition and applies it to the entire world. For most individuals, this pride manifests as a desire to control and exploit others. The boastful pride of life is a demonic perspective that “me,” my desires, and my life is the only thing that matters. The boastful pride of life is the temptation to dethrone God, exalt oneself above others, and control them in order to satisfy one’s own appetites.
No appeals derived from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the boastful pride of life come from God. The cravings are evil. They are not from the Father, but rather, they are from the world. Because these cravings come from the world, a world that is opposed to and hates God, followers of God (those who love Him) should not obey these lusts and ambitions.
John’s depiction of the human condition and its susceptibility to temptation dates all the way back to the fall. We see the three elements of theworld —the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life—present in the serpent’s temptation of Eve in Genesis 3.
The serpent tempted Eve:
“You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4b-5)
Then Eve considered the serpent’s temptation:
““When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise…” (Genesis 3:6a)
Eve seeing that the fruit was “good for food” (Genesis 3:6) is an appeal to thelust of the flesh.
Eve seeing that the fruit was a “delight to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6) is an appeal to thelust of the eyes.
Eve believing that the fruit would make her “like God” (Genesis 3:5) and seeing that the fruit was “desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6) is an appeal to the boastful pride of life.
Sadly, Eve was captivated by the allure of these lusts, and she sinned, along with her husband:
“…she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6b)
Each of Satan’s three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness also appear to correspond to the trio of temptations John describes here in verse 16.
The devil’s tempting of Jesus to turn the stones into bread when He was hungry appealed to the lust of the flesh. (Matthew 4:1-3,Luke 4:1-3)
The devil’s showing Jesus the riches and glory of all the kingdoms of the world that He would inherit if He worshiped Satan appealed to the lust of the eyes. (Matthew 4:8-9,Luke 4:5-7)
The devil’s tempting Jesus to prove His significance by throwing Himself off the temple appealed to theboastful pride of life. (Matthew 4:5-6,Luke 4:9-11)
In both Genesis and Matthew, this trio of lusts is used in conjunction with a twisting of the word of God to tempt Eve and Jesus. The serpent won over Eve’s suspicion by calling into question what God really said, but Jesus corrected the devil’s temptation by quoting scripture back to him in its proper context.
One of the most powerful ways to combat temptation and overcome evil is by hiding God’s word in your heart and entrusting yourself to follow it. Indeed, John told “the young men” who are in the midst of spiritual temptation that they are strong because “the word of God abides in you” (1 John 2:14). James says the way to overcome our inner passions that lead us to sin and death is to set them aside and replace them with “the word implanted” (James 1:21).
Below is a more detailed explanation of the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life
Each explanation is marked by a boldfaced underlined heading according to John’s description. Readers of this commentary can act according to their preferences by choosing to dive into one or more of these detailed sections, or scroll past them to the heading: “John’s Third Reason Believers Should Not Love the World”
The Lust of the Flesh
The lust of the flesh largely describes sinful cravings and temptations that arise within ourselves, and from our own fallen human nature.
The term that is translated as flesh is the Greek noun σάρξ (G4561— pronounced: “sarx”). “Sarx”/flesh can refer to our physical body or it can refer to our fallen, self-centered sin nature that resists God and prioritizes personal appetite over obedience (Galatians 5:16-17). In this context, flesh refers to humanity’s fallen and/or sin nature or our bodily appetites and emotional impulses.
The lust of the flesh often indicates sinful and sensuous cravings that typically have to do with our bodily appetites or desires.
The devil first tempted Jesus through His fleshly desire for food when he told Him to turn the stones into bread after forty days of fasting (Matthew 4:2-3). Jesus did not have a sin nature because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Therefore, He did not inherit Adam’s fallen nature the way the rest of humanity has (Romans 5:12).
But Jesus did have bodily appetites and emotions (Matthew 4:2, 26:37-38, John 4:6, 19:28). And Jesus was tempted to sin as a way to satisfy the bodily cravings and lustof the flesh and yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
The lust of the flesh describes desires that would include sexual immorality, drunkenness, or gluttony.
Lust of the flesh can also include emotional cravings like comfort, ease, revenge, rage, or self-pity. Jesus was tempted by the emotion of grief to find another way to redeem humanity that did not involve the agony and humiliation of the cross (Matthew 26:37-39). But, as with all temptation, Jesus overcame (Revelation 3:21).
Sexual immorality fits within the category of lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:19,Matthew 5:28), but the expression is wider than sexuality alone. Paul uses “flesh” (σάρξ) to describe the self-centered nature that opposes the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17), and the “deeds of the flesh” include not only sexual sins, but also jealousy, anger, disputes, drunkenness, and envy (Galatians 5:19-21).
The deeds or fruits/outworkings of the flesh described in Galatians 5:19-21 have in common behaviors that stem from self-seeking and self-focus. For example, immorality seeks pleasure by exploiting others. Sorcery seeks power over others. Strife and disputes are vehicles to divide and conquer, a means of seeking control. All these behaviors are improper, twisted, fallen means to accomplish desires God placed within our design.
Sexual desires come fromGod and are holy when pursued within the confines of the Father’s good design—which is a loving marriage between a husband and wife. Sexual desire becomes lust of the flesh when it is pursued outside of God’s design, in a self-gratifying way. Sinful sexual desires are not from the Father, but rather are from the world. Sexual union within God’s design cements oneness. Sexual union outside God’s design exploits and extracts.
Whenever a believer is driven by a desire that says, “I must have this now,” regardless of whether it honors God or harms others, that impulse reflects the lust of the flesh.
The lust of the flesh is fundamentally an urge or inner demand that an emotional appetite rule the heart instead of the Spirit. It seeks satisfaction through temporary pleasure rather than trusting God for lasting joy. This is why Paul exhorts believers to:
“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” (Romans 13:14)
Theflesh promises satisfaction if we appease its lust. But in reality, it produces bondage (Romans 6:16). When we follow our flesh and give into its lust, we become slaves to our own desires. This leads to addiction, which enslaves us under our appetites. Slavery to our own desires and addictions destroys us and demands that we sacrifice every good thing in our lives to feed our cravings. Addiction is self-enslavement. This in turn leads to a loss of mental capacity; we stop being able to tell what is good for us (Romans 1:28).
It is only through Jesus that we are liberated from our addictions. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). And it is by following His Spirit that we regain control of ourselves, and become free to make life-giving choices (Galatians 5:13). One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control instead of flesh-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
The Lust of the Eyes
If the lust of the flesh refers to temptations that originate from inward evil desires within ourselves (our flesh), the lust of the eyes refers to temptations that arise from what we see within our fallen environment—the world.
The lust of the eyes refers to sinful desire that is awakened through what we observe in the world and this present age. The lust begins with outward attraction then moves to become an inward appetite. It is the craving to possess, acquire, or experience something because it appears desirable, impressive, or pleasurable.
This craving is awakened when we see something and think, “I want that,” even when possessing it would dishonor God. A biblical example we are given is King David observing Bathsheba from his rooftop (2 Samuel 11:2). Satan’s world is expert at presenting death as life. John exhorts believers to recognize the deception and avoid the adverse consequences that result from falling into it.
The lust of the eyes is the outward-directed craving that competes with devotion to the Father by captivating the heart through sight. The eyes are the gateway through which external influences capture the heart. The lust of the eyes tempts the heart to measure goodness by appearance or the worldly opinion rather than by God’s word. It awakens the lust of the flesh.
The lust of the eyes describes sinful desires that tempt us by what we see in the world and this present age. This lust is more than simply noticing and being attracted to evil in the world. The lust of the eyes is allowing the evil we encounter to infiltrate our hearts and minds to shape our perspective and orient our values away from God’s wisdom and will.
In the time from Adam and Eve’s exile from the Garden of Eden until the restoration of the Messianic Kingdom, human beings live in a cultural environment that is hostile to God. The world and this present age that humans live in are a powerful influence as to what we regard as good, true, and beautiful.
John bids us: Do not love the world. If we love the world, we will adopt the world’s perspective. Adopting the world’s perspective means that we allow what we see in the world to dictate and govern desires. When this happens, we are ruled by the lust of the eyes which leads to destruction.
Instead of loving the world, we are to:
“Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)
This means that if we delight in and loveGod, we will adopt His perspective and desire His will and the things that He says are good for us. God and His word will govern our desires, telling us which desire to follow and which to set aside. As we submit our desires to God, we follow Him by faith which leads to life.
Paul bids believers: “Do not be conformed to [the perspective and/or values] of this world [literally ‘age’]” (Romans 12:2). As believers, we are to walk by faith adopting His perspective and desires for our lives instead of walking by the sight of what our eyes see in the world (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Because believers still live within this present age, we are not immune to the world’s influence. And unless we choose to walk by faith and not by sight, we will succumb to the world’s perspective through the lust of the eyes.
The culture of the world is opposed to the culture of Jesus and His kingdom.
Culture, within any human grouping, is a set of values that are enforced through what is honored and what is dishonored. The world’s standards of what is honorable and shameful stand in direct opposition to God’s standards of what is honorable and shameful. The world’s standards are largely under the influence of Satan and therefore opposed to God. For example, the world honors power and status while God honors those who humble themselves (1 Peter 5:6).
The lust of the eyes includes the cultural pressures and visual temptations of a world and/or age that glorifies wealth, status, luxury, sensuality, and self-expression. It feeds on comparison and dissatisfaction.
One form of the lust of the eyes is the desire for riches, sometimes called, “materialism,” which is the belief that “what I don’t have will make me happy.” Materialism tells us that fulfillment comes from acquiring more. Instead of being content in the Father’s provision, the heart begins to measure worth by possessions, image, or opportunity.
Materialism causes us to value the accumulation of earthly goods more than people. It takes “I-thou” relationships for “I-it relationships.” God loves people and His highest command (except for loving Him) is to love other people.
Thelust of the eyes often manifests in coveting. Coveting is wanting what belongs to someone else. Coveting is a sin (Exodus 20:17). Through the lust of the eyes we can covet someone’s wealth, social status, job, spouse, or family. This lust can even lead us to covet someone else’s righteousness and relationship with God. Anything that we see as desirable in someone else is covetable through the lust of the eyes.
There is an element of covetousness and greed and the lust of the eyes in Satan’s temptation of Jesus when the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and promised them to Him, if only Jesus would bow down and worship him instead of God (Matthew 4:8-9). Thus, the temptations are often combined; what we see triggers inner desires which feed inner egos. Jesus overcame this temptation, just as He overcame all temptations (Matthew 4:10-11).
Another form of the lust of the eyes is desire for status and respect from the world.
This craving seeks recognition, influence, and approval from humans. It is the longing to be noticed, applauded, and elevated in the eyes of others. Instead of finding identity in being known and loved by the Father, the heart begins to measure its worth by reputation, platform, titles, or public affirmation. This pursuit tempts believers to shape their beliefs and behavior according to what gains admiration instead of what pleases God.
It values visibility over faithfulness and human applause over obedience to God. This form of the lust of the eyes is being a people-pleaser over a God-pleaser. This pursuit of human approval can lead us into acting shamefully to seek the world’s depraved applause (Romans 1:24-32). It can also lead us to become a self-righteous hypocrite who performs good works and virtue-signals to be seen and honored as a good person within a religious community (Matthew 23:6-7, 13-33).
Jesus overcame the temptation to seek the approval of humans who wondered at His miracles:
“But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25)
Jesus strongly rebuked Peter when Peter suggested that He not follow through with His Father’s plan to be crucified, telling His disciple: “you are not setting your mind on God’s interest’s, but man’s” (Matthew 16:21-23,Matthew 16:23b is quoted).
Whether it is materialism, or seeking human approval over God’s approval, or any other form, the lust of the eyes produces greed, envy, and covetousness.
Jesus warned, “Be careful, and be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15), which is why He taught that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Paul bids Roman believers: “Do not be conformed to [the values] of this world [literally ‘age’]” (Romans 12:2).
The lust of the eyes deceives our hearts to evaluate life by appearance rather than by truth. It tempts us to conform to the visible patterns of the world rather than to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). It subtly shifts our focus from eternal realities to temporary attractions (Colossians 3:1-2).
At its core, the lust of the eyes is driven by dissatisfaction and comparison. It constantly scans the horizon for something better, newer, more impressive, or more gratifying, more titillating. Instead of being content in the Father’s provision, it stirs envy and materialism, pulling believers toward accumulation, admiration, or visual stimulation that promises fulfillment but cannot deliver it.
The way we overcome the lust of the eyes is by choosing to walk by faith that God, as our designer, knows what is best for us. We can believe His word by choosing to adopt His perspective, and by choosing to agapé-loveGod, delight in Him, and honor Him above all else. We overcome the lust of the eyes by following the greatest commandment of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:28-30).
The Boastful Pride of Life
If the lust of the flesh arises from within and the lust of the eyes is stirred by what we see in the world around us, the boastful pride of life describes the arrogant posture of the heart that puts supreme confidence in itself and seeks to elevate itself above God and tyrannize others.
This inner attitude manifests as a thought along the lines of “Only I know what is best for me.” This thought pattern is innate, but sorely misguided. We can observe this in children, who insist “they know best” when what we know is that if they had their own way they would get run over or drown. The same is true for us, as children, in the moral realm. Our Father knows what is in our true best interest.
As will soon be explained, the boastful pride of life is both a foolish perspective and a demonic desire.
The Greek expression that is translated as the boastful pride of life is ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου. This phrase comes from two descriptive terms:
ἀλαζονεία (G212—pronounced: “al-ad-zon-í-a”)
βίου which is a form of βίος (G979—pronounced: “bios”)
The Greek noun, “aladzonía,” means arrogant, empty boasting.
The blueletterbible.com defines it as “an insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power and resources and shamefully despises and violates divine laws and human rights”; and also as “an impious and empty presumption which trusts in the stability of earthly things.”
After reminding his readers “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6), and that their life is but a vapor (James 4:14), James strongly denounces “aladzonía” when he writes: “you boast in your arrogance [‘aladzonía’]; all such boasting is evil” (James 4:16).
The Greek noun, “bios” is one of several Greek terms that is translated as “life.” The English word “biology,” the study of living organisms, is derived from “bios.”
The more common Greek terms the New Testament uses to describe “life” are the Greek words “zoé” and “psuché.” “Zoé” typically describes a person’s spiritual life or the whole of their life, while “psuché” describes their inner life, their essential/core self. “Psuché” is sometimes translated as “soul.”
“Bios” is used to specifically describe one’s physical life and aspects that pertain to one’s physical wellbeing. “Bios” describes our organic, biological life or lifespan that began in the womb and ends when our bodies expire. The New Testament often uses “bios” to describe the earthly goods or wealth that sustain our physical life or make life comfortable or pleasurable (Mark 12:4,Luke 8:14, 15:12, 1 John 3:17).
Whether describing our organic life, or our physical life-span, or our earthly wealth, “bios,” by its very nature, is temporal and has an expiration date. This is why placing supreme confidence in anything that is confined or limited to “bios” is empty boasting: “aladzonía.” Nothing of “bios” will last.
It is folly and arrogant to place one’s supreme trust and confidence in the ambitions of this life (“bios”) because it will not endure. That is why the pride of life (“bios”) is called boastful (“aladzonía”). No matter how great one’s “bios” may seem to be right now or hope to become, it will all soon be gone. The folly of boasting in one’s “bios” is the very point John makes in the next verse when he writes: The world is passing away, and also its lusts (v 17).
The boastful pride of life is not only a foolish perspective; it is also demonic.
The boastful pride of life is the tyrannical ambition to rule through coercion, to control outcomes, to shape reality around one’s own desires. At its core, the boastful pride of life is not only a loud confidence in one’s own importance, possessions, power, or control. Godcreated humans to rule, but in service. The desire for coercive, exploitative, and extractive rule is an example of a proper desire that is twisted by sin and the Fall of Man.
The boastful pride of life is a dissatisfaction with what one has and who they are. It breeds an insatiable desire to have, become, and control more than what God says is good. The boastful pride of life is a blasphemous, self-exalting spirit that says, “I am the most important person and deserve what I want.”
This pride, as John says, is not fromthe Father. It is from the world and the ruler of this world and age, the devil, the one whom Jesus called “the father of lies” (John 8:44).
The boastful pride of life reflects the same rebellious impulse that led Satan to seek to exalt himself above God (Isaiah 14:13-14). It is the demonic desire to control everyone in our surroundings and bend all to our own satisfaction and pleasure.
In practice, the boastful pride of life is the temptation to dethrone God and live as though we are sovereign over our own lives and accountable to no one. Rather than seeking to be accountable to God, we seek to make others accountable to us.
The intended scope of one’s boasts or pride of life may scale large or small but it does not change the fact that it is evil. Whether a person wishes to control a single individual in a particular relationship or dominate the world does not make this desire more acceptable in the sight of God. Neither does it change the evil nature of its source.
Jesus said the religious leaders who abused their position to selfishly exploit those they were supposed to lead were “of [their] father the devil” (John 8:44).
Ultimately, the boastful pride of life reflects the demonic perspective that “me,” my desires,” and “my life” are supreme. It is the temptation to control rather than trust, to exalt oneself rather than glorify God. The boastful pride of life is the temptation to control rather than trust and to exalt oneself rather than humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, trusting that He will exalt us in due time (1 Peter 5:6).
The boastful pride of life despises acknowledging our dependence on God and His call to serve one another in love. The boastful pride of life values dominance over humble service. It seeks to extract rather than to invest.
The devil tempted Jesus with the boastful pride of life in the wilderness when:
“the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.’” (Matthew 4:5-6a)
The devil then quoted scripture and claimed that it said that God would protect the Messiah from harming Himself. So, if He jumped off and was unharmed, then everyone in Jerusalem would know that He was the Messiah. Satan inferred that the people would recognize Jesus as the Messiah and exalt Him.
Satan’s point was “Why not do this in a manner that gets the result you want?” Instead of crucifying Him, they would crown Him. Had Jesus succumbed to this temptation He would have disobeyed God and possibly avoided the suffering of the cross which was a part of God’s will for Him. It was through the “suffering of death” that Jesus restored the right of humanity to reign as servant leaders, in harmony with God and one another (Hebrews 2:5-9). God’s plan included the redemption of the world. Satan’s plan sought immediate power.
This Satanic temptation of Jesus to perform a stunt and gain premature exaltation, outside of God’s leading and will, is the boastful pride of life. It is an application of “I can find a better way to do this.”
Also embedded in the devil’s temptation were doubts of God’s goodness and trustworthiness. If the angels were to protect His foot from striking a stone (Matthew 4:6) why was God leading Him to the cross? This was another application of “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1).
Jesus trusted God instead of the devil and He overcame the devil’s temptation of the boastful pride of life by relying on God’s word (Matthew 4:10-11).
Jesus’s disciples James and John (and their mother) may have fallen into this temptation when they asked Jesus to be exalted on His right and left hand in His kingdom, which means they sought political power, seeking to be elevated above the other disciples (Matthew 20:20-21).
The “aladzonía” of “bios,” the boastful pride of life, has no place in God’s kingdom. Jesus redirected His disciples’ ambition to be great from a short-sighted, worldly standard to His eternal standard.
Jesus first acknowledged the world’s standard and said it was unfitting for His disciples:
“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you…’” (Matthew 20:25-26a)
The world’s standard is the boastful pride of life. To “lord over” is to control and extract. Then Jesus replaced the world’s standard with the truth:
“but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave…” (Matthew 20:26b-27)
Then Jesus gave Himself and His own actions as a proof and example of what true greatness is:
“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)
The world and its boastful pride of life values prominence over humility and recognition over faithfulness. It measures greatness by visibility and status rather than by obedience to God and service to others.
An antidote to the boastful pride of life is humility before God and love for others.
Humility is the willingness to seek and embrace reality as it is. Given our severe limitation in knowing, as finite humans, our only path to really know reality comes through believing God. God’s knowledge is rooted in an infinite omniscience. This is why scripture asserts that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).
The Bible also says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The way we overcome the boastful pride of life is by humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6), acknowledging Him as Lord. 1 Peter 5:6 also promises that if we will humble ourselves, God will exalt us “at the proper time.” Of course that “time” will be chosen by God, not us, which is another opportunity to exercise faith.
We can have the humble attitude of Jesus who did not cling to His rights, but emptied Himself and submitted His life unto death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8). He trusted God unto death, and God exalted Him above all names (Philippians 2:9-11). The path to exaltation is not empty boasting but submission to God and service to others in love.
Selflessly serving others in love—especially those who cannot repay you in earthly terms—is the opposite of the boastful pride of life.
Jesus said that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also (Matthew 6:21).
If we agapé-love the world we will seek its empty treasure—the boastfulpride of “bios.” But if we agapé-love God, we will seek His treasure and we will love what He loves, which is people. And if we treasure other people then we will be inclined to serve them. And God will see our service to them and reward us according to our love for them and faithfulness to His commandment (Matthew 25:40).
True life (“zoé”) is found in submitting to the Father and allowing Him alone to be enthroned in our heart. We can then walk in the Spirit and through Him serve others in agapé-love, choosing to seek their best. If we do this, we will have fellowship with God and one another, and joy, which is the fruit of experiencing eternal life in this lifetime (1 John 1:2-4).
True life (“zoé”) is not found in exalting ourselves or the boastful “bios” of life, but in laying down our life (“psuché”) for Jesus’s sake (Luke 9:24). The minute we lose our life/soul (“psuché”), all that our earthly “bios” has acquired is gone. True life (“zoé”) is found in submitting to the Father and allowing Him alone to be enthroned in our hearts and through serving others in love. It is through following Jesus that we can acquire true riches that last (Revelation 3:18).
John’s Third Reason Believers Should Not Love the World: Futility
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever (v 17).
The third reason John tells believers why they should not love the world is because both the worldand its lusts will not last; they are passing away. Seeking a lasting benefit from something so temporal is an act of futility. John contrasts the mortality of this worldand itslusts with the everlasting life and joy of those who love God by doing His will.
John states that it is not only the world that is fading away, but also its lusts. The things that we lust after in the world—that which will serve our flesh, eyes, and pride—will not go with us into eternity. We think that what we see in front of us is what is real and lasting. But really, all that the world offers as being real is simple a passing vapor of reality. We will find that what is the most real is that which will carry into eternity.
John reminds us, the world is passing away. It will not last forever. Therefore, we would do well to follow Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
We do not want our hearts to be with treasures that will disappear. We want our hearts to be with God and live forever with Him.
The Bible is clear that this present world is temporary and will one day be no more. The psalmist declares the earth and the heavens will be changed like a garment (Psalm 102:25-26, see also Hebrews 1:10-12). Isaiah predicts “the sky will be rolled up like a scroll” and that the stars “will also wither away like a leaf withers on the vine” (Isaiah 34:4).
John writes: the worldis passing away. The Greek tense John uses for the verb that is translated as is passing away is present-continuous. This tense indicates that the passing of this world is already in progress.
John adds: and also its lusts. This means all that this world lustsfor is passing away. Everything the world desires and lustsfor is already fading and will inevitably pass away and be no more. Even the lusts themselves will pass away and will no longer exist when this world is no more.
The Apostle Peter says something similar when he writes “the elements will be destroyed with an intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). The fact that all of the earth’s “works will be burned up” means that nothing produced or accomplished by our “bios”-life in and for this world will endure.
Because nothing we accomplish in and for this world that is already passing away will endure, it is unwise to love and invest in this world according to its empty and boastful standards of greatness.
Note: not investing in the world according to its standards of greatness does not mean that God’s people should not invest in people, society, or technology that improves the wellbeing of people. God’s people are to promote human flourishing. But our ultimate hope should be in God and doing His will—which includes creatively exercising dominion over the earth for human flourishing. Our ultimate hope should not be in what we build or accomplish or the approval of this world.
John’s thoughts about the world, and also its lusts passing away add to what John wrote earlier when he said: “the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shinning” (1 John 2:8). The “true Light” (1 John 2:8) is Jesus, the Son of God.
And later in 1 John 3:8, John writes that “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus’s sinless life, His redeeming death on the cross, and His resurrection were the beginning of the end for sin and darkness, this world and allits lusts. The Son of God entered this world to redeem humanity from its destruction and into eternal life with Him in the new heaven and the new earth.
After making the point that the world and its lusts are passing and will pass away, John contrasts the end of the world and itslusts with the eternal life believers can have in God.
but the one who does the will of God lives forever (v 17b).
The conjunction—but—signals a contrast between the world’s passing away with everlasting abiding of the one who does the will of God.
There are two descriptive terms in this statement:
the one who does the will of God
lives forever
The first descriptive term in this statement is the one who does the will of God.
The one who does the will of God describes a believer who chooses to do what God commands by faith. They choose a perspective that God’s ways are for their best, that God’s ways lead to a true and lasting experience of life, and then they make choices and live according to that perspective.
The one who does the will of God is the one who, by definition, does something. Also, by definition, the thing he does is the will of God.
In the context of 1 John 2,the will of God is what God wants His “little children” (believers) (1 John 2:1, 12) to do; and the will of God is expressed in His commandments and His word.
The core commandment of God which John focuses on in this epistle is Jesus’s commandment to love one another as He loves His disciples (John 13:34, 15:12, 15:17, 1 John 2:7). So, in the context of 1 John, the willof God is loving one another as Jesus loves us.
Therefore, the one who does the will of God obeys Jesus’s command to agapé-love one another as He loves us.
The second descriptive term in the statement but the one who does the will of God lives forever is: lives forever.
The Greek verb that is translated in this verse as lives is a form of the word “menō.” “Menō” is one of the three terms John frequently uses to describe the experience of eternal life in 1 John. “Menō” is most often translated as “abide” or “abides” in 1 John. “Menō” means to make something your home.
The Greek expression that is translated as forever is εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (“eis ton aiōna”). This expression literally means “into or throughout the age(s).”
Considering this Greek expression and the verb “menō,” a more descriptive translation of John’s statement lives forever might be “abides/dwells with God throughout the ages and into eternity.”
The one who does the will of God dwells with and/or abides with Godforever. He is like the sheep of Psalm 23 who has made the LORD his shepherd. The one who does the will of God can say:
“Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” (Psalm 23:6)
Therefore, the one who does the will of God, i.e. the one who keeps His commandment by loving one another as Jesus loves us, lives in God’s protection and abides with God forever.
Unlike the world, and its lusts, and its works (2 Peter 3:10) which will be burned up and pass away, both the one who does God’s will and his works will endure forever. Once they are gone, the works of the world will lose their meaning and significance. But because of Jesus and His resurrection and our new life in Him, the efforts, labor, toil, and works of the one who does God’s will are not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). It is only by abiding in Jesus, the Vine, that we can perform God’s will and accomplish anything of eternal value (John 15:4-5).
The world, and also its lusts will come to an end, but God’s eternal kingdom will endure forever into the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1).
Two Additional Thoughts about the one who does the will of God lives forever
There are two additional thoughts worth sharing and explaining before we conclude this commentary on 1 John 2:15-17.
The first is that this one is a believer who has received the Gift of Eternal Life. It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). We cannot abide in Jesus, replicate His agapé-love for one another, and produce His fruit, if we do not first believe in Him.
However, this does not mean that we can discern who has the Gift of Eternal Life and/or has “truly” believed in Jesus based on their agapé-like actions. No one receives or maintains the Gift of Eternal Life based on their works; they receive the Gift by God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
People can fake their behavior and/or do good things in their own power and for their own name. But any good we do in our own power and/or for our name have no eternal value. Jesus warned His disciples against imitating His righteousness for our own sake because we will not be rewarded by our Father, but will have already received our reward in full (Matthew 6:1-2, 5-6). Behavior or actions are not a litmus for whether other people have received the Gift of Eternal Life; only God knows the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
John’s expression means that in order to truly do the will of God we must agapé-love and serve one another from the heart. True righteousness comes from the heart. See The Bible Says’ commentary for Matthew 5:20-48. Again, only God knows the heart. Further, Jesus warns us that when we judge others, God will apply that standard to judge us (Matthew 7:1-2).
Our salvation from hell to heaven and our assurance in this salvation is not determined by our behavior. It is determined by a simple faith to look on Jesus in the hope that His death and resurrection can save us from the penalty of our sin (John 3:14-16).
The question 1 John 2:17 raises is not whether we have truly believed, but whether we truly love one another.
John’s statement the one who does the will of God is similar to Jesus’s remark:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7:21)
And John’s statement the one who does the will of God lives forever implies what Jesus said to Nicodemus about being born again and His kingdom:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)
The Gift of Eternal Life is gifted by grace alone and it is received on the basis of faith in Jesus. The Prize of Eternal Life is rewarded to those who follow God and overcome life’s trials by faith.
To experience the Prize of Eternal Life, which includes entering God’s kingdom and abiding with Him, one must first receive the Gift of Eternal Life by believing in Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah, and one must do the will of God—which is loving others with mercy and service.
The second and final remaining thought to explain about John’s statement but the one who does the will of God lives forever is that John may be telling believers who are strong and actively engaged in spiritual struggles of this world, how to grow into spiritually mature leaders who know God deeply.
In other words, the one who does the will of God is a believer who is growing from being a child, into being a father.
In 1 John 2:13-14, the apostle addressed three subsets of believers: fathers, young men, and children. The path for “children” to become “young men” and “young men” to become “fathers” is by doing the will of God.
Fathers (1 John 2:13-14) is a familial term that represents long established believers who know God deeply. Young men (1 John 2:13-14) describes believers who are actively engaged in overcoming the lusts of this world. And children (1 John 2:13) represent believers who are immature and/or have recently been born into God’s family.
The path from child to father is the path of spiritual maturity. And the way to grow in maturity is to follow God’s will. The purpose of “children” doing God’s will (1 John 2:13) is to grow into “young men” (1 John 2:13-14). The purpose of young men doing God’s will is to grow into “fathers” (1 John 2:13-14).
As was also explained in The Bible Says commentary for 1 John 2:12-14, Chapter 2 of 1 John is likely outlined according to the messages John has for each of these groups.
1 John 2:1-2 and 2:28 corresponds to the message John has for “little children” (in Greek “teknia”) which refers to all believers in 1 John 2:12.
1 John 2:3-11 corresponds to the message John has for “fathers,” who are spiritually mature believers in 1 John 2:13-14.
1 John 2:15-17 corresponds to the message John has for “young men,” who are spiritually engaged believers who are striving to overcome all that is in the world in 1 John 2:13-14.
1 John 2:18-27 corresponds to the message John has for “children” (in Greek “paidia”) who are immature and/or new believers, in 1 John 2:13).
John’s final message to the young men but the one who does the will of God lives forever loops back to his message to the fathers in 1 John 2:3-11.
1 John 2:3-11 describes both what it means to do God’s will and the benefits of experiencing eternal life in Him:
“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3)
This means we intimately know (“ginōskō”) God, as we keep His commandments and do God’s will. The main way believers get to know God in this lifetime is by overcoming the trials in this world by faith in Him. It takes living and active faith that works to “ginōskō” God intimately in this lifetime.
“Young men” (1 John 2:13-14) grow into “fathers” who have known Him from the beginning (1 John 2:13-14) by keeping God’s commandments by faith,
“whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.” (1 John 2:5)
This means God’s love flowing from Him, through us, and to others as we keep His word/do God’s will.
“Young men” grow into “fathers” by keeping His word and agapé-loving one another instead of agapé-loving the world:
“the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:6)
This means we are abiding (“menō”) and making our home in God’s fellowship as we imitate Jesus who perfectly kept God’s commandments/will by trusting His Father and loving others.
“Young men” can become “fathers” who abide in Him by walking with the same faith and love for one another that Jesus had when He walked this earth,
“Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.” (1 John 2:7)
This is John’s way of referring to Jesus’s commandment to love one another as He has loved them (John 13:34, 15:12, 17). Loving one another is God’s will for all believers. And it is the decisive characteristic and action that distinguishes a disciple of Jesus.
If young men do not love others, they will not spiritually grow into fathers,
“The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.” (1 John 2:10)
This means the one who does God’s will/keeps Jesus’s command to love one another abides (“menō”) and makes his home in the Light with God.
Fathers are those who abide/menō and have made their home in God’s Light by loving one another. Young men are to abide/menō and make their home in the Light with God by loving one another.
All of 1 John 2:3-11 depicts what it looks like when one does the will of God and it describes the intimacy and love we enjoy when we make Him our home.
In the next section of 1 John (1 John 2:18-21), John begins his message to the immature and/or new believers who have been recently born into God’s family and become His children.
1 John 2:15-17
Do Not Love the World
15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
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1 John 2:15-17 meaning
1 John 2:15-17 teaches that believers must not set their love on the world and its passing lusts, because such desires do not originate from the Father, and only the one who does the will of God abides forever while the world and its cravings are fading away.
The letter of 1 John is written to believers telling them how to experience the fullness of eternal life in this life and maximize their joy (1 John 1:2-4).
In the previous section (1 John 2:12-14), John addressed all believers as “little children,” reminding them that they have been forgiven of theirs sins by virtue of receiving the Gift of Eternal Life. John then addressed three subsets of believers:
The order in which John first addressed these three groups—fathers, then young men, then children—is from most mature to least mature in Christ. The messages John gives to all believers and then to each group of believers in 1 John 2:12-14 may also serve as an outline of the content of 1 John 1:5 - 2:29.
In this section of scripture (1 John 2:15-17), John appears to address the young men of 1 John 2:13-14 who are strong because the word of God abides in them and who are actively engaged in the struggle to overcome the temptation of the world.
John gives these young men an instruction to help them resist the temptations they are facing, and, in doing so, overcome the world.
The instruction John gives them is: Do not love the world nor the things in the world (v 15a).
John immediately follows his instruction with three reasons or proofs for why this advice is sound.
These reasons are:
This commentary will discuss each of these reasons to shun the love of the world. But first we will discuss what John means by his instruction to believers to not love the world nor the things in the world. John speaks to those who are actively engaged in resisting temptation and in spiritual warfare, and is equipping them with a perspective they can choose that will aid them in their quest to make choices that are life-giving and that lead to joy.
John’s Instruction: Do not love the world nor the things in the world.
John’s instruction to believers who are strong and have God’s word abiding in them (1 John 2:14b) is: Do not love the world nor the things in the world (15a).
This is the first imperative command John has issued in this letter. To this point, all the instruction and call to action has been indirect, deduced, or inferred.
There are three key terms to this command: (1) the verb love, and the direct objects (2) the world and (3) the things in the world.
The Greek verb that is translated as love in this verse (and throughout 1 John) is the verb ἀγαπάω (G25—pronounced: “a-ga-pa-ō”). Agapaō is the verbal form of the Greek noun: ἀγάπη (G26—pronounced: “a-gap-é”).
These terms can be translated as “affection,” “good will,” and “love,” but what agapé-love describes is the choice each person makes about what they will sacrificially give, invest, or submit themselves to. Agapé-love is a choice. We decide who or what we will agapé-love. We decide to whom or to what we will value, serve, and/or seek approval from.
It is natural for us to agapé-love only ourselves (which as we will see is what the world expects of us). Paul describes agapé-love that is choosing to be Christ-centered and serve the best interest of others. He provides examples by way of a list of actions that go against our natural affections (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
Just as John says making good choices lead to the fullest experience of joy in life, Paul says that it is only actions motivated by agapé-love that profit us (1 Corinthians 13:3). In Paul’s context, he tends to emphasize future benefit, thinking primarily of the judgment seat of Christ, where believers receive rewards based on their deeds (1 Corinthians 3:11-17, 9:24-27, 2 Corinthians 4:17, 5:10). As we will see, John’s focus tends to be more on current benefit, but he notes that this benefit continues forever.
The greatest commandments are about what we agapé-love. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to agapé-love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And He said the second greatest commandment is to agapé-love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:29-31).
The entire Law of Moses and the Prophets are encapsulated in these two commands (Mattthew 22:40, Galatians 5:14). As followers of Jesus, we are to agapé-love our neighbor (Luke 10:25-37) and we are to agapé-love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Previously in this letter, John has emphasized the centrality of Jesus’s commandment to agapé-love one another as He has loved us (1 John 2:7-11). But here John is instructing us to not agapé-love the world nor the things in the world.
The reason these commands about what we should love and not love are given to us is because we can agapé-love things that lead us away from God and to our own destruction. This is because what we love is a matter of choice.
The Greek term that is translated as world is a form of the noun κόσμος (G2889—pronounced: “kahs-mahs”). The English word “cosmos” is derived from κόσμος. Depending on context, κόσμος can describe the created universe, humanity, the physical earth, or the fallen creation and its evil, self-serving direction under the influence of Satan.
In the context of 1 John 2:15, the world refers to values, priorities, and ambitions that operate in rebellion against God and are under the influence of the evil one (1 John 5:19). The world is the moral and spiritual evil that exalts self, autonomy, pride, and temporary pleasure over obedience, humility, and fellowship with the Father.
And the things in the world refers to the things that the world lusts after. In the next verse John describes the things the world lusts after as the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life (v 16).
Jesus describes Satan as “the ruler of this world” (John 16:11). The world is filled with the ways of Satan. Satan’s core attitude is to ascend above God—to supplant God’s ways with his own (Isaiah 14:12-14). Satan’s temptation of Eve was to lure her into believing she could make better choices with knowledge independent of obedience to God and His ways. His temptation of Jesus was to get Jesus to act on His own, apart from complete dependence on the Father.
Satan’s core attitude is that of pride. Pride seeks to elevate over others, and to exploit others. We can see this in passages like Habakkuk 2:4, where pride is presented as the opposite of faith. Faith is believing God’s ways are for our best, and following them as a result of that faith. This leads to righteousness, which is walking in alignment with God’s ways and His design for us. Pride is a self-centric belief that we know what is best for ourselves, apart from God. It leads to destruction, of ourselves as well as others.
As followers of Jesus, we are not to value Satan’s domain nor the things the world cares about. We are not to give the world affection. We are not to seek approval from the world. We are not to serve the world. We are not to give the world a place in our hearts. We are not to agapé-love the world nor the things in the world by choosing to follow in any of the world’s ways.
As followers of Jesus, we are to love God. We are to seek first His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Instead of seeking the honors of this world and the approval of men, which mean little in God’s eyes, Jesus redirects His followers to seek heavenly treasure that will never fade or be destroyed (Matthew 6:20). We are to love the things God loves. And what God loves most in this world is people.
John’s instruction to believers to not agapé-love the world nor the things in the world means that he does not want them to do three things:
1. Believers should not serve the world’s lusts.
Agapé-love in action is serving and seeking the person or thing we love’s best interest or desires—we serve what we choose to agapé-love.
When we agapé-love the world, we enslave ourselves and sacrifice our energies and resources to serve the world’s lusts. This choice leads to our own destruction. This is graphically described in Romans 1:24, 26, 28 where Paul notes a progression of destruction from refusing to follow God and His ways. It describes God’s “wrath” as being poured out on such unrighteousness by giving us over to these lusts. They become our master. Lust gives way to addiction which leads to a loss of mental faculties; our mental health deteriorates.
This progression is observable as a natural consequence of giving in to lusts, with examples including addiction to substance abuse or pornography. When we seek to exploit material things or other people to satisfy our own passions the inevitable result is self-harm.
When we agapé-love God we serve and obey Him (John 14:15, 15:10). This includes obeying Jesus’s commandment to love one another (John 13:34) which entails selflessly seeking their best interest (Philippians 2:3-4). The way we love and obey God is to love and serve one another.
When we agapé-love one another, we selflessly give of our energies and resources to serve their best interest. When we do so, we live out God’s design for us. So, paradoxically, we gain when we give. John’s advice is exceedingly practical.
2. Believers should not seek approval from the world.
We seek approval from what we choose to agapé-love.
When we agapé-love the world we seek approval from the world. And the world hates God. The world’s approval is fickle, because the world’s goal in giving approval is to gain control. The purpose of gaining control is to exploit. The world only approves of those who oppose themselves to God and who feed its lusts. In the world system, everyone is promised power to extract from others but inevitably become enslaved themselves (Romans 6:16).
When we agapé-love God we seek His approval and rewards. In this lifetime, seeking God’s approval requires faith in Him (Hebrews 11:6). It takes faith that Jesus’s ways are for our best to cease our pursuits of the world and to take up our cross and follow Him. To agapé-love God is to surrender our lives for His sake (Luke 9:23-26). It is through such surrender that our greatest joy and reward is found.
When we agapé-love one another as Jesus loves us, as He commanded us to, we do not seek approval from those we love, but rather, we seek approval from God. Jesus did not seek approval from those He loved. Jesus sought approval from His Father. Jesus loved us out of obedience to His Father.
We are to love others because we love God and we seek His approval. This is one reason why, even though the two greatest commandments (love God; love others) are interdependent, loving God is the greatest commandment. It is from our choice to love God that all other loves should flow.
Our true reward for loving other people comes from God, not necessarily from the people themselves. The reward we receive for trusting God to love other people is the Prize of Eternal Life.
In this lifetime, the Prize of Eternal Life includes:
(John 17:3, 1 John 2:3)
(John 15:11, 1 John 1:4)
(1 John 1:3, 1:7)
(1 John 4:16)
(Philippians 4:7)
In the life to come, the Prize of Eternal Life includes:
(Matthew 25:21)
(Matthew 8:11, Luke 22:29-30)
(Romans 2:6-7, 1 Peter 5:4)
(2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 3:21, 21:7)
3. Believers should not value the things which the world says are good.
When we agapé-love the world we value the things that the world says are good. The world is deceitful in what it claims to be worthwhile. Not only are the things the world values evil and destructive, the things the world prizes will quickly fade. It is folly to value things that are worthless and that harm us. And it is foolish to exchange a lasting experience of life in the pursuit of things that are temporary (Luke 9:23-24).
When we agapé-love God, we value the things which God values. In this world, God values people. God lovingly created each person in His own immortal image. We are to love one another, because God loves everyone (John 3:16, 1 John 4:11).
When we agapé-love one another, we value the personhood of others, their freedom, and their best interest. We seek their best interest, without regard to whether they reward us with a return of affection.
After instructing believers, Do not love the world nor the things in the world, John explains three reasons why they should not love the world.
John’s First Reason Believers Should Not Love the World: Broken Fellowship
The first reason John tells believers why they should not love the world is because: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (v 15b).
John’s instruction: Do not love the world nor the things in the world, is based on the core principle: we cannot love God and love the world at the same time.
Accordingly, this principle means that we cannot agapé-love God if and as we agapé-love the world.
John frames this principle as a conditional statement,
This conditional statement describes the heart of the one who loves the world and how anyone who loves the world does not love God.
The expression the love of the Father refers to the loving and harmonious fellowship faithful followers of Jesus share with God the Father. Anyone who agapé-loves the world is not seeking harmony and fellowship with God.
This conditional statement does not describe the Father’s love for anyone who loves the world and/or who does not love Him. The Father loves everyone unconditionally. The Father’s heart for His children who love the world and who do not love Him is depicted in the character of the father in Jesus’s “Parable of the Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11-32).
The principle that we cannot love both the world and love God goes back to the Law of Moses.
Moses informed the children of Israel of this principle in his departing message to them:
“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live…”
Near the end of his life, Joshua reiterated this principle at Shechem:
“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
(Joshua 24:15)
Jesus also taught this principle:
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
(Luke 16:13—see also Matthew 6:24)
We cannot serve both the darkness and the Light. We cannot be aligned with the world and at the same time be aligned God. God’s love does not have a place in our hearts if our hearts love the world and value the things of this world that are so opposed to God. Said another way, we cannot have fellowship with God and the world at the same time. We must choose one or the other. One of John’s primary aims in this letter is to equip believers to make choices that lead them to enjoy fellowship with God and one another (1 John 1:3).
If God’s love is to animate us and be in us, we must despise what the world says is good and trust and prize what God says is good—which is loving other people. It is in loving other people that gives us fellowship both with God and with others, which makes our joy complete (1 John 1:3-4).
The world, under the influence of Satan is opposed to God. And Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan and rid the world of his toxic reign (1 John 3:8). The world loves darkness because its deeds are evil (John 3:19). The world hates the Light and those who are in the Light (John 3:20, 15:18-21). “God is Light and in Him, there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Because God and the world are opposed to each other, with each valuing opposite things—and because agapé-love is a based on a decision to value, seek approval from, and serve—it is therefore impossible to love both God and the world at the same time. Believers must choose whom they will agapé-love, and that is a binary choice. Believers must decide whom they will value, seek approval from, and serve: God or the world. “A little of each” is choosing the world.
While John warns believers do not love the world, James likens a believer who tries to love both God and the world at the same time as an adulteress:
“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
(James 4:4)
Believers are members of Christ’s church. And the church is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). Therefore, as believers, we are exhorted to be devoted to God as faithful spouses are to each other. A spouse has made a commitment and vow to faithfulness. To try and love two husbands (God and the world) would be adultery.
One of these husbands, God, is a true and good husband who always seeks our best interest. The other is a false and faithless husband, who seeks to exploit us until we lose all value in his eyes.
Jesus is a faithful husband to us, His bride. Jesus laid down His life, so that we might live. The world is a faithless husband who promises us life, but gives us only pain and death. The world deceitfully promises life and happiness, but the true rewards of the world are death and corruption (Mathew 7:14, 1 Timothy 6:9, Romans 6:16, 22-23).
In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul uses the illustration of slave and master to contrast the world and God. He warns the Romans to consider who they want to be their master. Because we serve and obey the will of whom we agapé-love, we will either be slaves to sin (the world) or we will be slaves to God. Paul asks the Roman believers:
“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”
(Romans 6:16)
Paul then praises and thanks God that through Christ we have been freed from the master of sin who gives us death, and for having been freed from sin how we have become slaves to righteousness and life (Romans 6:17-18). Because of Jesus, we can choose to love and follow Him and experience life and harmony in fellowship with God, instead of loving the world and experiencing sin and death.
The world says it is good to serve yourself and try and get ahead of others. One becomes great in the eyes of the world by lording it over others, and in the world’s faulty view, the greatest person is whomever has the means or power to lord it over the most people (Matthew 20:25). But Jesus taught His disciples that true greatness is found in serving others and that the greatest among them would be the best servant of all (Matthew 20:26-28).
As John tells “you young men” who are engaged in the trials of life (1 John 2:13-14) that they cannot love God and love the world at the same time, he is not saying they cannot love more than one person or thing simultaneously. (For instance, we can love both our spouse and children at the same time). But some of the things that we love require that we serve them above all else and/or make them exclusive.
God and the world are ultimate, incompatible masters that demand our whole being. They demand our whole hearts and all our devotion. Whichever of these we love will be our true master. There are only two choices. To choose “me” is to choose the world.
Therefore, if we want to serve God and be in fellowship with Him, loving the world will get in the way. If anyone try to love both God and love the world, their hearts will be like the soil among the thorns in Jesus’s “Parable of the Sower” (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23) as “the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22b).
John’s Second Reason Believers Should Not Love the World: Incompatibility
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (v 16).
The second reason John tells believers why they should not love the world is because the lusts and ambitions of the world do not come from the Father. The world and the Father desire opposite things.
John uses the expression For all that is in the world to sum up all the world’s lusts and ambitions. All that is in the world is a functional synonym for the fallen human condition and its twisted desires, as it is separated from God.
The word that is translated as lust is the Greek noun: ἐπιθυμία (G1939—pronounced: “epi-thu-mi-ah). As a noun, it is almost always used in the New Testament to refer to an evil or base desire, like something deceitful (Ephesians 4:22), defiling (2 Peter 2:10), or controlling (1 Peter 1:14). However, its verbal counterpart in Greek—“epithumeō”(G1936)—is regularly used both as simple and or righteous desire (Matthew 13:17, Luke 17:22, 22:15) and as an evil desire (Matthew 5:28, Acts 20:33).
Paul says in Galatians that the flesh “epithumeōs” against the Spirit and the Spirit “epithumeōs” against the flesh (Galatians 5:17). Context determines whether the lust/passionate desire is honorable, sinful, or neutral.
A sinful lust is a controlling desire that elevates your own needs above the needs of others.
A sinful lust is a craving that seeks immediate gratification apart from God’s will. Paradoxically, our deepest desire is really to follow God, while our initial action is to follow the flesh (Galatians 5:17). John is showing believers how to tap into that deep desire by choosing perspectives that are true and choosing actions that are life-giving.
In the context of 1 John 2:16, the term lust is used to describe sinful cravings and desires.
John describes all that is in the world through three expressions:
These three categories may refer to the three sources of evil that tempt us into sin and away from God. This commentary will describe each temptation in great detail below (under their own headings), but first here is a brief description of each category of temptation.
The lust of the flesh describes our sin nature—our flesh. Our flesh is fallen, out of alignment with God’s good design, and disorients us away from God. The lust of the flesh refers to the temptations that arise within our hearts and from our sin nature. James asserts that it is this inner lust that is the true source of temptation (James 1:14).
The lust of the eyes describes the pattern of sin from the world. The lust of the eyes is the worldly culture that accepts and honors sin and hates God and His standards of righteousness. The lust of the eyes refers to the cultural temptations to conform to and receive affirmation from this world rather than to live like Jesus and become transformed into His godly character.
The boastful pride of life describes the evil desire to control everything. It is the ambition to rule in the world as a tyrant. Satan has this ambition and applies it to the entire world. For most individuals, this pride manifests as a desire to control and exploit others. The boastful pride of life is a demonic perspective that “me,” my desires, and my life is the only thing that matters. The boastful pride of life is the temptation to dethrone God, exalt oneself above others, and control them in order to satisfy one’s own appetites.
No appeals derived from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the boastful pride of life come from God. The cravings are evil. They are not from the Father, but rather, they are from the world. Because these cravings come from the world, a world that is opposed to and hates God, followers of God (those who love Him) should not obey these lusts and ambitions.
John’s depiction of the human condition and its susceptibility to temptation dates all the way back to the fall. We see the three elements of the world —the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life—present in the serpent’s temptation of Eve in Genesis 3.
The serpent tempted Eve:
“You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
(Genesis 3:4b-5)
Then Eve considered the serpent’s temptation:
““When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise…”
(Genesis 3:6a)
Sadly, Eve was captivated by the allure of these lusts, and she sinned, along with her husband:
“…she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
(Genesis 3:6b)
Each of Satan’s three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness also appear to correspond to the trio of temptations John describes here in verse 16.
(Matthew 4:1-3, Luke 4:1-3)
(Matthew 4:8-9, Luke 4:5-7)
(Matthew 4:5-6, Luke 4:9-11)
Jesus overcame all three of these temptations by quoting the Law of Moses (Matthew 4:4, 4:7, 4:10-11, Luke 4:4, 4:8, 4:12-13).
In both Genesis and Matthew, this trio of lusts is used in conjunction with a twisting of the word of God to tempt Eve and Jesus. The serpent won over Eve’s suspicion by calling into question what God really said, but Jesus corrected the devil’s temptation by quoting scripture back to him in its proper context.
One of the most powerful ways to combat temptation and overcome evil is by hiding God’s word in your heart and entrusting yourself to follow it. Indeed, John told “the young men” who are in the midst of spiritual temptation that they are strong because “the word of God abides in you” (1 John 2:14). James says the way to overcome our inner passions that lead us to sin and death is to set them aside and replace them with “the word implanted” (James 1:21).
Below is a more detailed explanation of the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life
Each explanation is marked by a boldfaced underlined heading according to John’s description. Readers of this commentary can act according to their preferences by choosing to dive into one or more of these detailed sections, or scroll past them to the heading: “John’s Third Reason Believers Should Not Love the World”
The Lust of the Flesh
The lust of the flesh largely describes sinful cravings and temptations that arise within ourselves, and from our own fallen human nature.
The term that is translated as flesh is the Greek noun σάρξ (G4561— pronounced: “sarx”). “Sarx”/flesh can refer to our physical body or it can refer to our fallen, self-centered sin nature that resists God and prioritizes personal appetite over obedience (Galatians 5:16-17). In this context, flesh refers to humanity’s fallen and/or sin nature or our bodily appetites and emotional impulses.
The lust of the flesh often indicates sinful and sensuous cravings that typically have to do with our bodily appetites or desires.
The devil first tempted Jesus through His fleshly desire for food when he told Him to turn the stones into bread after forty days of fasting (Matthew 4:2-3). Jesus did not have a sin nature because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Therefore, He did not inherit Adam’s fallen nature the way the rest of humanity has (Romans 5:12).
But Jesus did have bodily appetites and emotions (Matthew 4:2, 26:37-38, John 4:6, 19:28). And Jesus was tempted to sin as a way to satisfy the bodily cravings and lust of the flesh and yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
The lust of the flesh describes desires that would include sexual immorality, drunkenness, or gluttony.
Lust of the flesh can also include emotional cravings like comfort, ease, revenge, rage, or self-pity. Jesus was tempted by the emotion of grief to find another way to redeem humanity that did not involve the agony and humiliation of the cross (Matthew 26:37-39). But, as with all temptation, Jesus overcame (Revelation 3:21).
Sexual immorality fits within the category of lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:19, Matthew 5:28), but the expression is wider than sexuality alone. Paul uses “flesh” (σάρξ) to describe the self-centered nature that opposes the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17), and the “deeds of the flesh” include not only sexual sins, but also jealousy, anger, disputes, drunkenness, and envy (Galatians 5:19-21).
The deeds or fruits/outworkings of the flesh described in Galatians 5:19-21 have in common behaviors that stem from self-seeking and self-focus. For example, immorality seeks pleasure by exploiting others. Sorcery seeks power over others. Strife and disputes are vehicles to divide and conquer, a means of seeking control. All these behaviors are improper, twisted, fallen means to accomplish desires God placed within our design.
Sexual desires come from God and are holy when pursued within the confines of the Father’s good design—which is a loving marriage between a husband and wife. Sexual desire becomes lust of the flesh when it is pursued outside of God’s design, in a self-gratifying way. Sinful sexual desires are not from the Father, but rather are from the world. Sexual union within God’s design cements oneness. Sexual union outside God’s design exploits and extracts.
Whenever a believer is driven by a desire that says, “I must have this now,” regardless of whether it honors God or harms others, that impulse reflects the lust of the flesh.
The lust of the flesh is fundamentally an urge or inner demand that an emotional appetite rule the heart instead of the Spirit. It seeks satisfaction through temporary pleasure rather than trusting God for lasting joy. This is why Paul exhorts believers to:
“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
(Romans 13:14)
The flesh promises satisfaction if we appease its lust. But in reality, it produces bondage (Romans 6:16). When we follow our flesh and give into its lust, we become slaves to our own desires. This leads to addiction, which enslaves us under our appetites. Slavery to our own desires and addictions destroys us and demands that we sacrifice every good thing in our lives to feed our cravings. Addiction is self-enslavement. This in turn leads to a loss of mental capacity; we stop being able to tell what is good for us (Romans 1:28).
It is only through Jesus that we are liberated from our addictions. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). And it is by following His Spirit that we regain control of ourselves, and become free to make life-giving choices (Galatians 5:13). One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control instead of flesh-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
The Lust of the Eyes
If the lust of the flesh refers to temptations that originate from inward evil desires within ourselves (our flesh), the lust of the eyes refers to temptations that arise from what we see within our fallen environment—the world.
The lust of the eyes refers to sinful desire that is awakened through what we observe in the world and this present age. The lust begins with outward attraction then moves to become an inward appetite. It is the craving to possess, acquire, or experience something because it appears desirable, impressive, or pleasurable.
This craving is awakened when we see something and think, “I want that,” even when possessing it would dishonor God. A biblical example we are given is King David observing Bathsheba from his rooftop (2 Samuel 11:2). Satan’s world is expert at presenting death as life. John exhorts believers to recognize the deception and avoid the adverse consequences that result from falling into it.
The lust of the eyes is the outward-directed craving that competes with devotion to the Father by captivating the heart through sight. The eyes are the gateway through which external influences capture the heart. The lust of the eyes tempts the heart to measure goodness by appearance or the worldly opinion rather than by God’s word. It awakens the lust of the flesh.
The lust of the eyes describes sinful desires that tempt us by what we see in the world and this present age. This lust is more than simply noticing and being attracted to evil in the world. The lust of the eyes is allowing the evil we encounter to infiltrate our hearts and minds to shape our perspective and orient our values away from God’s wisdom and will.
In the time from Adam and Eve’s exile from the Garden of Eden until the restoration of the Messianic Kingdom, human beings live in a cultural environment that is hostile to God. The world and this present age that humans live in are a powerful influence as to what we regard as good, true, and beautiful.
John bids us: Do not love the world. If we love the world, we will adopt the world’s perspective. Adopting the world’s perspective means that we allow what we see in the world to dictate and govern desires. When this happens, we are ruled by the lust of the eyes which leads to destruction.
Instead of loving the world, we are to:
“Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
(Psalm 37:4)
This means that if we delight in and love God, we will adopt His perspective and desire His will and the things that He says are good for us. God and His word will govern our desires, telling us which desire to follow and which to set aside. As we submit our desires to God, we follow Him by faith which leads to life.
Paul bids believers: “Do not be conformed to [the perspective and/or values] of this world [literally ‘age’]” (Romans 12:2). As believers, we are to walk by faith adopting His perspective and desires for our lives instead of walking by the sight of what our eyes see in the world (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Because believers still live within this present age, we are not immune to the world’s influence. And unless we choose to walk by faith and not by sight, we will succumb to the world’s perspective through the lust of the eyes.
The culture of the world is opposed to the culture of Jesus and His kingdom.
Culture, within any human grouping, is a set of values that are enforced through what is honored and what is dishonored. The world’s standards of what is honorable and shameful stand in direct opposition to God’s standards of what is honorable and shameful. The world’s standards are largely under the influence of Satan and therefore opposed to God. For example, the world honors power and status while God honors those who humble themselves (1 Peter 5:6).
The lust of the eyes includes the cultural pressures and visual temptations of a world and/or age that glorifies wealth, status, luxury, sensuality, and self-expression. It feeds on comparison and dissatisfaction.
One form of the lust of the eyes is the desire for riches, sometimes called, “materialism,” which is the belief that “what I don’t have will make me happy.” Materialism tells us that fulfillment comes from acquiring more. Instead of being content in the Father’s provision, the heart begins to measure worth by possessions, image, or opportunity.
Materialism causes us to value the accumulation of earthly goods more than people. It takes “I-thou” relationships for “I-it relationships.” God loves people and His highest command (except for loving Him) is to love other people.
The lust of the eyes often manifests in coveting. Coveting is wanting what belongs to someone else. Coveting is a sin (Exodus 20:17). Through the lust of the eyes we can covet someone’s wealth, social status, job, spouse, or family. This lust can even lead us to covet someone else’s righteousness and relationship with God. Anything that we see as desirable in someone else is covetable through the lust of the eyes.
There is an element of covetousness and greed and the lust of the eyes in Satan’s temptation of Jesus when the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and promised them to Him, if only Jesus would bow down and worship him instead of God (Matthew 4:8-9). Thus, the temptations are often combined; what we see triggers inner desires which feed inner egos. Jesus overcame this temptation, just as He overcame all temptations (Matthew 4:10-11).
Another form of the lust of the eyes is desire for status and respect from the world.
This craving seeks recognition, influence, and approval from humans. It is the longing to be noticed, applauded, and elevated in the eyes of others. Instead of finding identity in being known and loved by the Father, the heart begins to measure its worth by reputation, platform, titles, or public affirmation. This pursuit tempts believers to shape their beliefs and behavior according to what gains admiration instead of what pleases God.
It values visibility over faithfulness and human applause over obedience to God. This form of the lust of the eyes is being a people-pleaser over a God-pleaser. This pursuit of human approval can lead us into acting shamefully to seek the world’s depraved applause (Romans 1:24-32). It can also lead us to become a self-righteous hypocrite who performs good works and virtue-signals to be seen and honored as a good person within a religious community (Matthew 23:6-7, 13-33).
Jesus overcame the temptation to seek the approval of humans who wondered at His miracles:
“But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”
(John 2:24-25)
Jesus strongly rebuked Peter when Peter suggested that He not follow through with His Father’s plan to be crucified, telling His disciple: “you are not setting your mind on God’s interest’s, but man’s” (Matthew 16:21-23, Matthew 16:23b is quoted).
Whether it is materialism, or seeking human approval over God’s approval, or any other form, the lust of the eyes produces greed, envy, and covetousness.
Jesus warned, “Be careful, and be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15), which is why He taught that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Paul bids Roman believers: “Do not be conformed to [the values] of this world [literally ‘age’]” (Romans 12:2).
The lust of the eyes deceives our hearts to evaluate life by appearance rather than by truth. It tempts us to conform to the visible patterns of the world rather than to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). It subtly shifts our focus from eternal realities to temporary attractions (Colossians 3:1-2).
At its core, the lust of the eyes is driven by dissatisfaction and comparison. It constantly scans the horizon for something better, newer, more impressive, or more gratifying, more titillating. Instead of being content in the Father’s provision, it stirs envy and materialism, pulling believers toward accumulation, admiration, or visual stimulation that promises fulfillment but cannot deliver it.
The way we overcome the lust of the eyes is by choosing to walk by faith that God, as our designer, knows what is best for us. We can believe His word by choosing to adopt His perspective, and by choosing to agapé-love God, delight in Him, and honor Him above all else. We overcome the lust of the eyes by following the greatest commandment of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:28-30).
The Boastful Pride of Life
If the lust of the flesh arises from within and the lust of the eyes is stirred by what we see in the world around us, the boastful pride of life describes the arrogant posture of the heart that puts supreme confidence in itself and seeks to elevate itself above God and tyrannize others.
This inner attitude manifests as a thought along the lines of “Only I know what is best for me.” This thought pattern is innate, but sorely misguided. We can observe this in children, who insist “they know best” when what we know is that if they had their own way they would get run over or drown. The same is true for us, as children, in the moral realm. Our Father knows what is in our true best interest.
As will soon be explained, the boastful pride of life is both a foolish perspective and a demonic desire.
The Greek expression that is translated as the boastful pride of life is ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου. This phrase comes from two descriptive terms:
The Greek noun, “aladzonía,” means arrogant, empty boasting.
The blueletterbible.com defines it as “an insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power and resources and shamefully despises and violates divine laws and human rights”; and also as “an impious and empty presumption which trusts in the stability of earthly things.”
After reminding his readers “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6), and that their life is but a vapor (James 4:14), James strongly denounces “aladzonía” when he writes: “you boast in your arrogance [‘aladzonía’]; all such boasting is evil” (James 4:16).
The Greek noun, “bios” is one of several Greek terms that is translated as “life.” The English word “biology,” the study of living organisms, is derived from “bios.”
The more common Greek terms the New Testament uses to describe “life” are the Greek words “zoé” and “psuché.” “Zoé” typically describes a person’s spiritual life or the whole of their life, while “psuché” describes their inner life, their essential/core self. “Psuché” is sometimes translated as “soul.”
“Bios” is used to specifically describe one’s physical life and aspects that pertain to one’s physical wellbeing. “Bios” describes our organic, biological life or lifespan that began in the womb and ends when our bodies expire. The New Testament often uses “bios” to describe the earthly goods or wealth that sustain our physical life or make life comfortable or pleasurable (Mark 12:4, Luke 8:14, 15:12, 1 John 3:17).
Whether describing our organic life, or our physical life-span, or our earthly wealth, “bios,” by its very nature, is temporal and has an expiration date. This is why placing supreme confidence in anything that is confined or limited to “bios” is empty boasting: “aladzonía.” Nothing of “bios” will last.
It is folly and arrogant to place one’s supreme trust and confidence in the ambitions of this life (“bios”) because it will not endure. That is why the pride of life (“bios”) is called boastful (“aladzonía”). No matter how great one’s “bios” may seem to be right now or hope to become, it will all soon be gone. The folly of boasting in one’s “bios” is the very point John makes in the next verse when he writes: The world is passing away, and also its lusts (v 17).
The boastful pride of life is not only a foolish perspective; it is also demonic.
The boastful pride of life is the tyrannical ambition to rule through coercion, to control outcomes, to shape reality around one’s own desires. At its core, the boastful pride of life is not only a loud confidence in one’s own importance, possessions, power, or control. God created humans to rule, but in service. The desire for coercive, exploitative, and extractive rule is an example of a proper desire that is twisted by sin and the Fall of Man.
The boastful pride of life is a dissatisfaction with what one has and who they are. It breeds an insatiable desire to have, become, and control more than what God says is good. The boastful pride of life is a blasphemous, self-exalting spirit that says, “I am the most important person and deserve what I want.”
This pride, as John says, is not from the Father. It is from the world and the ruler of this world and age, the devil, the one whom Jesus called “the father of lies” (John 8:44).
The boastful pride of life reflects the same rebellious impulse that led Satan to seek to exalt himself above God (Isaiah 14:13-14). It is the demonic desire to control everyone in our surroundings and bend all to our own satisfaction and pleasure.
In practice, the boastful pride of life is the temptation to dethrone God and live as though we are sovereign over our own lives and accountable to no one. Rather than seeking to be accountable to God, we seek to make others accountable to us.
The intended scope of one’s boasts or pride of life may scale large or small but it does not change the fact that it is evil. Whether a person wishes to control a single individual in a particular relationship or dominate the world does not make this desire more acceptable in the sight of God. Neither does it change the evil nature of its source.
Jesus said the religious leaders who abused their position to selfishly exploit those they were supposed to lead were “of [their] father the devil” (John 8:44).
Ultimately, the boastful pride of life reflects the demonic perspective that “me,” my desires,” and “my life” are supreme. It is the temptation to control rather than trust, to exalt oneself rather than glorify God. The boastful pride of life is the temptation to control rather than trust and to exalt oneself rather than humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, trusting that He will exalt us in due time (1 Peter 5:6).
The boastful pride of life despises acknowledging our dependence on God and His call to serve one another in love. The boastful pride of life values dominance over humble service. It seeks to extract rather than to invest.
The devil tempted Jesus with the boastful pride of life in the wilderness when:
“the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.’”
(Matthew 4:5-6a)
The devil then quoted scripture and claimed that it said that God would protect the Messiah from harming Himself. So, if He jumped off and was unharmed, then everyone in Jerusalem would know that He was the Messiah. Satan inferred that the people would recognize Jesus as the Messiah and exalt Him.
Satan’s point was “Why not do this in a manner that gets the result you want?” Instead of crucifying Him, they would crown Him. Had Jesus succumbed to this temptation He would have disobeyed God and possibly avoided the suffering of the cross which was a part of God’s will for Him. It was through the “suffering of death” that Jesus restored the right of humanity to reign as servant leaders, in harmony with God and one another (Hebrews 2:5-9). God’s plan included the redemption of the world. Satan’s plan sought immediate power.
This Satanic temptation of Jesus to perform a stunt and gain premature exaltation, outside of God’s leading and will, is the boastful pride of life. It is an application of “I can find a better way to do this.”
Also embedded in the devil’s temptation were doubts of God’s goodness and trustworthiness. If the angels were to protect His foot from striking a stone (Matthew 4:6) why was God leading Him to the cross? This was another application of “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1).
Jesus trusted God instead of the devil and He overcame the devil’s temptation of the boastful pride of life by relying on God’s word (Matthew 4:10-11).
Jesus’s disciples James and John (and their mother) may have fallen into this temptation when they asked Jesus to be exalted on His right and left hand in His kingdom, which means they sought political power, seeking to be elevated above the other disciples (Matthew 20:20-21).
The “aladzonía” of “bios,” the boastful pride of life, has no place in God’s kingdom. Jesus redirected His disciples’ ambition to be great from a short-sighted, worldly standard to His eternal standard.
Jesus first acknowledged the world’s standard and said it was unfitting for His disciples:
“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you…’”
(Matthew 20:25-26a)
The world’s standard is the boastful pride of life. To “lord over” is to control and extract. Then Jesus replaced the world’s standard with the truth:
“but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave…”
(Matthew 20:26b-27)
Then Jesus gave Himself and His own actions as a proof and example of what true greatness is:
“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
(Matthew 20:28)
The world and its boastful pride of life values prominence over humility and recognition over faithfulness. It measures greatness by visibility and status rather than by obedience to God and service to others.
An antidote to the boastful pride of life is humility before God and love for others.
Humility is the willingness to seek and embrace reality as it is. Given our severe limitation in knowing, as finite humans, our only path to really know reality comes through believing God. God’s knowledge is rooted in an infinite omniscience. This is why scripture asserts that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).
The Bible also says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The way we overcome the boastful pride of life is by humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6), acknowledging Him as Lord. 1 Peter 5:6 also promises that if we will humble ourselves, God will exalt us “at the proper time.” Of course that “time” will be chosen by God, not us, which is another opportunity to exercise faith.
We can have the humble attitude of Jesus who did not cling to His rights, but emptied Himself and submitted His life unto death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8). He trusted God unto death, and God exalted Him above all names (Philippians 2:9-11). The path to exaltation is not empty boasting but submission to God and service to others in love.
Selflessly serving others in love—especially those who cannot repay you in earthly terms—is the opposite of the boastful pride of life.
Jesus said that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also (Matthew 6:21).
If we agapé-love the world we will seek its empty treasure—the boastful pride of “bios.” But if we agapé-love God, we will seek His treasure and we will love what He loves, which is people. And if we treasure other people then we will be inclined to serve them. And God will see our service to them and reward us according to our love for them and faithfulness to His commandment (Matthew 25:40).
True life (“zoé”) is found in submitting to the Father and allowing Him alone to be enthroned in our heart. We can then walk in the Spirit and through Him serve others in agapé-love, choosing to seek their best. If we do this, we will have fellowship with God and one another, and joy, which is the fruit of experiencing eternal life in this lifetime (1 John 1:2-4).
True life (“zoé”) is not found in exalting ourselves or the boastful “bios” of life, but in laying down our life (“psuché”) for Jesus’s sake (Luke 9:24). The minute we lose our life/soul (“psuché”), all that our earthly “bios” has acquired is gone. True life (“zoé”) is found in submitting to the Father and allowing Him alone to be enthroned in our hearts and through serving others in love. It is through following Jesus that we can acquire true riches that last (Revelation 3:18).
John’s Third Reason Believers Should Not Love the World: Futility
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever (v 17).
The third reason John tells believers why they should not love the world is because both the world and its lusts will not last; they are passing away. Seeking a lasting benefit from something so temporal is an act of futility. John contrasts the mortality of this world and its lusts with the everlasting life and joy of those who love God by doing His will.
John states that it is not only the world that is fading away, but also its lusts. The things that we lust after in the world—that which will serve our flesh, eyes, and pride—will not go with us into eternity. We think that what we see in front of us is what is real and lasting. But really, all that the world offers as being real is simple a passing vapor of reality. We will find that what is the most real is that which will carry into eternity.
John reminds us, the world is passing away. It will not last forever. Therefore, we would do well to follow Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-21)
We do not want our hearts to be with treasures that will disappear. We want our hearts to be with God and live forever with Him.
The Bible is clear that this present world is temporary and will one day be no more. The psalmist declares the earth and the heavens will be changed like a garment (Psalm 102:25-26, see also Hebrews 1:10-12). Isaiah predicts “the sky will be rolled up like a scroll” and that the stars “will also wither away like a leaf withers on the vine” (Isaiah 34:4).
John writes: the world is passing away. The Greek tense John uses for the verb that is translated as is passing away is present-continuous. This tense indicates that the passing of this world is already in progress.
John adds: and also its lusts. This means all that this world lusts for is passing away. Everything the world desires and lusts for is already fading and will inevitably pass away and be no more. Even the lusts themselves will pass away and will no longer exist when this world is no more.
The Apostle Peter says something similar when he writes “the elements will be destroyed with an intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). The fact that all of the earth’s “works will be burned up” means that nothing produced or accomplished by our “bios”-life in and for this world will endure.
Because nothing we accomplish in and for this world that is already passing away will endure, it is unwise to love and invest in this world according to its empty and boastful standards of greatness.
Note: not investing in the world according to its standards of greatness does not mean that God’s people should not invest in people, society, or technology that improves the wellbeing of people. God’s people are to promote human flourishing. But our ultimate hope should be in God and doing His will—which includes creatively exercising dominion over the earth for human flourishing. Our ultimate hope should not be in what we build or accomplish or the approval of this world.
John’s thoughts about the world, and also its lusts passing away add to what John wrote earlier when he said: “the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shinning” (1 John 2:8). The “true Light” (1 John 2:8) is Jesus, the Son of God.
And later in 1 John 3:8, John writes that “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus’s sinless life, His redeeming death on the cross, and His resurrection were the beginning of the end for sin and darkness, this world and all its lusts. The Son of God entered this world to redeem humanity from its destruction and into eternal life with Him in the new heaven and the new earth.
After making the point that the world and its lusts are passing and will pass away, John contrasts the end of the world and its lusts with the eternal life believers can have in God.
but the one who does the will of God lives forever (v 17b).
The conjunction—but—signals a contrast between the world’s passing away with everlasting abiding of the one who does the will of God.
There are two descriptive terms in this statement:
The first descriptive term in this statement is the one who does the will of God.
The one who does the will of God describes a believer who chooses to do what God commands by faith. They choose a perspective that God’s ways are for their best, that God’s ways lead to a true and lasting experience of life, and then they make choices and live according to that perspective.
The one who does the will of God is the one who, by definition, does something. Also, by definition, the thing he does is the will of God.
In the context of 1 John 2, the will of God is what God wants His “little children” (believers) (1 John 2:1, 12) to do; and the will of God is expressed in His commandments and His word.
The core commandment of God which John focuses on in this epistle is Jesus’s commandment to love one another as He loves His disciples (John 13:34, 15:12, 15:17, 1 John 2:7). So, in the context of 1 John, the will of God is loving one another as Jesus loves us.
Therefore, the one who does the will of God obeys Jesus’s command to agapé-love one another as He loves us.
The second descriptive term in the statement but the one who does the will of God lives forever is: lives forever.
The Greek verb that is translated in this verse as lives is a form of the word “menō.” “Menō” is one of the three terms John frequently uses to describe the experience of eternal life in 1 John. “Menō” is most often translated as “abide” or “abides” in 1 John. “Menō” means to make something your home.
The Greek expression that is translated as forever is εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (“eis ton aiōna”). This expression literally means “into or throughout the age(s).”
Considering this Greek expression and the verb “menō,” a more descriptive translation of John’s statement lives forever might be “abides/dwells with God throughout the ages and into eternity.”
The one who does the will of God dwells with and/or abides with God forever. He is like the sheep of Psalm 23 who has made the LORD his shepherd. The one who does the will of God can say:
“Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
(Psalm 23:6)
Therefore, the one who does the will of God, i.e. the one who keeps His commandment by loving one another as Jesus loves us, lives in God’s protection and abides with God forever.
Unlike the world, and its lusts, and its works (2 Peter 3:10) which will be burned up and pass away, both the one who does God’s will and his works will endure forever. Once they are gone, the works of the world will lose their meaning and significance. But because of Jesus and His resurrection and our new life in Him, the efforts, labor, toil, and works of the one who does God’s will are not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). It is only by abiding in Jesus, the Vine, that we can perform God’s will and accomplish anything of eternal value (John 15:4-5).
The world, and also its lusts will come to an end, but God’s eternal kingdom will endure forever into the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1).
Two Additional Thoughts about the one who does the will of God lives forever
There are two additional thoughts worth sharing and explaining before we conclude this commentary on 1 John 2:15-17.
The first is that this one is a believer who has received the Gift of Eternal Life. It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). We cannot abide in Jesus, replicate His agapé-love for one another, and produce His fruit, if we do not first believe in Him.
However, this does not mean that we can discern who has the Gift of Eternal Life and/or has “truly” believed in Jesus based on their agapé-like actions. No one receives or maintains the Gift of Eternal Life based on their works; they receive the Gift by God’s grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
People can fake their behavior and/or do good things in their own power and for their own name. But any good we do in our own power and/or for our name have no eternal value. Jesus warned His disciples against imitating His righteousness for our own sake because we will not be rewarded by our Father, but will have already received our reward in full (Matthew 6:1-2, 5-6). Behavior or actions are not a litmus for whether other people have received the Gift of Eternal Life; only God knows the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
John’s expression means that in order to truly do the will of God we must agapé-love and serve one another from the heart. True righteousness comes from the heart. See The Bible Says’ commentary for Matthew 5:20-48. Again, only God knows the heart. Further, Jesus warns us that when we judge others, God will apply that standard to judge us (Matthew 7:1-2).
Our salvation from hell to heaven and our assurance in this salvation is not determined by our behavior. It is determined by a simple faith to look on Jesus in the hope that His death and resurrection can save us from the penalty of our sin (John 3:14-16).
The question 1 John 2:17 raises is not whether we have truly believed, but whether we truly love one another.
John’s statement the one who does the will of God is similar to Jesus’s remark:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”
(Matthew 7:21)
And John’s statement the one who does the will of God lives forever implies what Jesus said to Nicodemus about being born again and His kingdom:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
(John 3:5)
The Gift of Eternal Life is gifted by grace alone and it is received on the basis of faith in Jesus. The Prize of Eternal Life is rewarded to those who follow God and overcome life’s trials by faith.
To experience the Prize of Eternal Life, which includes entering God’s kingdom and abiding with Him, one must first receive the Gift of Eternal Life by believing in Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah, and one must do the will of God—which is loving others with mercy and service.
The second and final remaining thought to explain about John’s statement but the one who does the will of God lives forever is that John may be telling believers who are strong and actively engaged in spiritual struggles of this world, how to grow into spiritually mature leaders who know God deeply.
In other words, the one who does the will of God is a believer who is growing from being a child, into being a father.
In 1 John 2:13-14, the apostle addressed three subsets of believers: fathers, young men, and children. The path for “children” to become “young men” and “young men” to become “fathers” is by doing the will of God.
Fathers (1 John 2:13-14) is a familial term that represents long established believers who know God deeply. Young men (1 John 2:13-14) describes believers who are actively engaged in overcoming the lusts of this world. And children (1 John 2:13) represent believers who are immature and/or have recently been born into God’s family.
The path from child to father is the path of spiritual maturity. And the way to grow in maturity is to follow God’s will. The purpose of “children” doing God’s will (1 John 2:13) is to grow into “young men” (1 John 2:13-14). The purpose of young men doing God’s will is to grow into “fathers” (1 John 2:13-14).
As was also explained in The Bible Says commentary for 1 John 2:12-14, Chapter 2 of 1 John is likely outlined according to the messages John has for each of these groups.
John’s final message to the young men but the one who does the will of God lives forever loops back to his message to the fathers in 1 John 2:3-11.
1 John 2:3-11 describes both what it means to do God’s will and the benefits of experiencing eternal life in Him:
“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”
(1 John 2:3)
This means we intimately know (“ginōskō”) God, as we keep His commandments and do God’s will. The main way believers get to know God in this lifetime is by overcoming the trials in this world by faith in Him. It takes living and active faith that works to “ginōskō” God intimately in this lifetime.
“Young men” (1 John 2:13-14) grow into “fathers” who have known Him from the beginning (1 John 2:13-14) by keeping God’s commandments by faith,
“whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.”
(1 John 2:5)
This means God’s love flowing from Him, through us, and to others as we keep His word/do God’s will.
“Young men” grow into “fathers” by keeping His word and agapé-loving one another instead of agapé-loving the world:
“the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
(1 John 2:6)
This means we are abiding (“menō”) and making our home in God’s fellowship as we imitate Jesus who perfectly kept God’s commandments/will by trusting His Father and loving others.
“Young men” can become “fathers” who abide in Him by walking with the same faith and love for one another that Jesus had when He walked this earth,
“Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.”
(1 John 2:7)
This is John’s way of referring to Jesus’s commandment to love one another as He has loved them (John 13:34, 15:12, 17). Loving one another is God’s will for all believers. And it is the decisive characteristic and action that distinguishes a disciple of Jesus.
If young men do not love others, they will not spiritually grow into fathers,
“The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”
(1 John 2:10)
This means the one who does God’s will/keeps Jesus’s command to love one another abides (“menō”) and makes his home in the Light with God.
Fathers are those who abide/menō and have made their home in God’s Light by loving one another. Young men are to abide/menō and make their home in the Light with God by loving one another.
All of 1 John 2:3-11 depicts what it looks like when one does the will of God and it describes the intimacy and love we enjoy when we make Him our home.
In the next section of 1 John (1 John 2:18-21), John begins his message to the immature and/or new believers who have been recently born into God’s family and become His children.