1 John 3:16; 1 John 5:19
All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world
And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): We have here the Christian view of the surrounding world. I need not, I suppose, remind you that John learned from Jesus to use that phrase ‘the world,’ not as meaning the aggregate of material things, but as meaning the aggregate of godless men. If you want a modern translation of the word, it comes very near a familiar one with us nowadays, and that is “Society”—the mass of people that are not of God.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): “The whole world lieth in wickedness,” or, as it should read, “in the wicked one,” that is, Satan.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Under the term world, the Apostle no doubt includes the whole human race. By saying that it lieth in “the wicked one,” he represents it as being under the dominion of Satan.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The men of the world, the greater part of the inhabitants of it, are as they were when they came into it, not being born of God; these are addicted to sin and, wickedness; the bias of their minds is to it, they are set upon it, and give themselves up to it, are immersed in it, and are under the power of it: or “in the wicked one,”―Satan, “the god of this world,” 2 Corinthians 4:4; they are under his influence, and led according to his will, and they are governed by him, and are at his beck and command; and this is known by sad experience.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Do not the actions, tempers, propensities, opinions and maxims of all worldly men prove and illustrate this?
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: You have only to look around you to see that.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Look around, and see what are the dispositions and habits of all around us. Are not all “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” Ephesians 2:3, without affecting anything higher than the gratification of their own corrupt appetites?
ADAM CLARKE: Yes―their actions are opposed to the law of God; their conversations shallow, and false; their contracts forced, interested, and deceitful; their quarrels puerile, ridiculous, and ferocious; and their friendships hollow, insincere, capricious, and fickle―all the effect of their lying in the arms of the wicked one; for thus they become instinctive with his own spirit: and because they are of their father the devil, therefore his lusts they will do.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): Yea, as Christ is said to be in us, and we in Christ mutually; so of the world it is said, that the devil is in them, and that they are in the devil.
CHARLES SIMEON: If we would have our judgment still more according to truth, let us look within our own hearts, and see what horrible abominations are harboured there. We know nothing of others, but by their words and actions: but we have a juster criterion within our own bosoms: we may search into our own thoughts and desires; we may discern the base mixture that there is in all our motives and principles of action—Yes, in our own hearts there is an epitome of all the evil that is in the world: and, if we know any thing of ourselves, we shall stand amazed that God should look upon such a world as this, and give His only dear Son to save those who so richly merited His hottest indignation…And who is it that has made the difference between you? Must you not say, “By the grace of God I am what I am?”
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: The solemn alternative opens before every one of us―either I am “of God,” or I am “in the wicked one.” Now, the more a man is conscious that he himself, by faith in Jesus Christ, has passed into the family of God, and possesses the life that comes from Him, the more keen will be his sense of the evil that lies round him, and of the contrast between the maxims and prevalent practices and institutions and ways of the world, and those which belong to Christ and Christ’s people. So the more we feel the sharp contrast between the blessedness of the Divine life which we believe ourselves to possess, and the darkness and evils of the world that lies around us, the more we should sorrow, and the more we should sympathize, and the more should succour be ours. Look on the world as Christ looked on it. There must be no contempt; there must be no self-righteousness; there must be no pluming ourselves on our own prerogatives. There must be a sorrow caught from Him, and a tenderness of pity, like that which forced itself to His eyes as He gazed across the valley at the city sparkling in the sunshine, or such as wrung His heart when He looked upon the multitude as sheep without a shepherd.
CHARLES SIMEON: Look around you and see how many even of your own friends and relatives are yet in bondage to their sins; whilst you have been delivered with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Work for the deliverance of your brethren from the alien tyrant. Notice the difference between the two clauses in the text. “We are of God;” that is a permanent relation. “The world lieth in the wicked one;” that is not necessarily a permanent relation. The world is not ‘of ’ the wicked one; it is “in” him, and that may be altered―“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil,” 1 John 3:8; and for that purpose He has called us to be His servants. Brethren, for ourselves let us remember that we cannot better help the world to get away from the alien tyrant that rules it, than by walking in the midst of men, with the aureola of this joyful confidence and certitude around us.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Let us be His witnesses. Let us testify from our own experience.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): No man can look around upon a world like this without sorrow if he possesses the Spirit of Christ. Yet we are made to rejoice as we think of the goodness of the Lord.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Our eyes are far too apt to look below, or to look within, or to look around, but it is wisdom on our part to look up. There is always something blessed to see upward, especially when we look up to Him who dwells in the highest heavens—our Father, our Saviour, our Comforter. There is little down here that is worth looking at, but there is everything for our comfort when we look up.
