In 1 John 2, we come to a packed chapter with a key section on now being Christian involves not loving “the world”.
1. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world
John starts, in verses 1 to 2, with a reminder of the core of Christianity – that Jesus, who was without sin, died as an atoning sacrifice for us. Atonement is, according to the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible:
In Christian thought, the act by which God and man are brought together in personal relationship. The term is derived from Anglo-Saxon words meaning “making at one,” hence “at-one-ment.” It presupposes a separation or alienation that needs to be overcome if human beings are to know God and have fellowship with him.
John writes:
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
God’s unlimited love provided an unlimited atonement, able to save the whole world. It is enacted for all who freely choose, aided by God’s grace and calling, to respond in belief and repentance to God’s love.
2. Don’t hate others
In verses 9 to 11, John talks about the problem of hating others in their church community. He says (NIV): “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.”
It’s an echo of the Old Testament teaching from Leviticus 19:
Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so that you will not share in their guilt.
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD.
But the section of the letter is complicated because John is also talking about pseudo-Christians who may claim to follow Jesus but do whatever they like. We can assume John has a group of people in mind – Colin G. Kruse in the Biblical Theology Study Bible refers to them as secessionists who “claim to know God while not keeping his commands”.
3. The world and its desires will pass away
1 John 2:15-17 provides a really important, difficult message for Christians. It says:
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives for ever.
David Jackman, in The Message of John’s Letters, says:
Sometimes the world is seen as an organized system of human civilization and activity which is opposed to God and alienated from him. It represents everything that prevents man from loving, and therefore obeying, his creator.
That’s a completely different use of the term “world” from the natural world, created by God, with humans created to be image reflectors of the inventor of the universe. That’s why the New Testament also tells us that “God so loved the world”. It’s the same word with two different meanings.
4. Christians have an anointing from God
John writes:
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
The term anointing has this flavour of ritual. In the Old Testament, kings, priests and prophets were among those anointed “to signify holiness, or separation unto God”. Now, as Christians, we are specially anointed with the Holy Spirit as we pursue holiness.