There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
A researcher is warning “biblical theism much closer to extinction in America” after the results of a new survey found biblical worldview is dwindling at a rapid and disturbing rate.
Listen to the latest episode of CBN’s Quick Start podcast
Dr. George Barna, director of the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University, issued this alert in a statement Tuesday, revealing just 4% of American adults now have a biblical worldview.
This is down from 6% who said the same just months before the pandemic in January 2020, according to Barna’s “American Worldview Inventory.”
“When you put the data in perspective, the biblical worldview is shuffling toward the edge of the cliff,” Barna said in a statement. “As things stand today, biblical theism is much closer to extinction in America than it is to influencing the soul of the nation.”
He said the current proportion of adults with a biblical worldview — individuals he classifies as “Integrated Disciples” — is the lowest he’s observed since beginning his research in the 1990s.
Just 1% of people between 18 and 29 years old hold a biblical worldview, with Barna warning young people are “largely isolated from biblical thought in our society and are the most aggressive at rejecting biblical principles in our culture.”
A worldview is a lens through which humans see the world around them. And Barna and his team have a specific way of defining what, exactly, a Christian worldview entails.
“The biblical worldview (also known as biblical theism) is defined specifically by the CRC as a means of experiencing, interpreting, and responding to reality in light of biblical perspectives,” a statement explains. “A personal understanding of every idea, opportunity, and experience based on the identification and application of relevant biblical principles so that each choice made may be consistent with God’s principles and commands.”
One of the other benchmarks causing concern is the proportion of Americans who don’t necessarily possess a biblical worldview, yet lean in that direction.
These individuals, known as “Emergent Followers,” accounted for 25% of the public three years ago, but in the latest research wave were just 14%, indicating a substantial drop.
CRC noted that the “World Citizen” group — people who hold to some biblical principles but mostly behave in divergent ways — increased from 69% in 2020 to 82% in 2023.
Shepherd’s Conference 2023 is almost here. Take a look back at the top 10 most played sermons from last year’s conference.
1. “Unequally Yoked” by John MacArthur
Believers have different behavior than unbelievers because we have a different nature and live by a different power. We live by faith, unbelievers live by sight. Our identity is different. The Bible reminds us that our identity is as the temple of God, and the temple of God is not meant to be making alliances with enemies of God.
There is nothing we need more than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has the power to transform sinners and make them righteous. It is able to aid us in every circumstance we face. It is sufficient to accomplish what God has promised to do in His church.
As the Gospel transforms individuals, it transforms their families, communities, and nations. We must have full confidence in this Gospel. We must be rooted and grounded in this Gospel. We must preach this Gospel.
Men who are transformed by the Gospel preach the Gospel. When we know the love of God, we can live for Him. We can study, labor, pray, obey, preach, and suffer and not be ashamed, in life or in death.
Knowing God’s love and knowing how immense He is, we can press onward unashamed because He has done it all.
Salvation is a transformation. It involves God taking a heart of stone and turning it into a heart of flesh. In this transformation, God totally renews the inner person. He gives a new heart, new affections, a new law, and a new love. Salvation takes a person from being futile in mind, darkened in understanding, hard-hearted, impure and excluded from the life of God (Eph 4:17-19), and it makes them righteous and holy.
True worshippers are those who have been transformed by God’s sovereign power through salvation. They love the Lord with all of their being and they obey Him to the best of their ability.
6. “Fault Lines: Critical Race Theory” by Voddie Baucham
God demands justice. As those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we’re committed to justice. Biblically defined, justice means the righteous application of the law of God. All our efforts toward seeking justice and righteousness must center around the standards God has defined in His word, not those set by society.
8. “A Message for the Mistreated” by H.B. Charles Jr.
We praise a sovereign God in salvation, and we praise the same sovereign God in the midst of suffering. He is the God who makes all things work together for the good of His children. He has complete authority. What Christians endure in this life is not random, accidental, or haphazard. The worst circumstance is a part of the holy vocation of the child of God.
How do you lead your people in the call to take up their cross and follow after Christ in the way of discipleship? You preach the doctrines of the gospel, not least Christ’s exaltation. Reflecting on the power of God strengthens our relationship with Him.
10. “Triune Salvation: Why the Unity of the Trinity Demands a Definite Atonement”
The Gospel is essentially and fundamentally Trinitarian because the God who saves is Trinitarian, and all that God does is grounded in who He is. All of God’s saving acts are rooted in His Triune being. The Father plans and sends the Son; the Son comes and lives and dies and rises again to atone for sins; and the Spirit renews and regenerates and applies what the Father has planned and the Son has accomplished. Salvation is Trinitarian!
Why is the U.S. economy suddenly deteriorating so rapidly all around us? Well, the short answer is that this downturn is way overdue. For years, our leaders tried to cheat the laws of economics. The Federal Reserve pushed interest rates all the way to the floor, which is something that never would happen in a true free market economy, and they pumped trillions of fresh dollars that they literally created out of thin air into the financial system. Meanwhile, our politicians in Washington were engaging in the greatest debt binge that the world has ever seen. All of this reckless manipulation seemed to work for a while, but many of us warned that it would inevitably create a major inflation crisis, and that is precisely what happened. So now the Fed is aggressively hiking interest rates in a desperate attempt to tame the inflation monster that they helped to create, and higher rates are absolutely crushing economic activity.
At this point, most Americans understand that something has seriously gone wrong, and this is pushing consumer confidence lower.
On Tuesday, we learned that consumer confidence has now fallen for two straight months to start 2023…
U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell for the second straight month in February as Americans’ outlook on the economy tumbled further, showing how persistent inflation is weighing on shoppers amid looming recession fears.
The Conference Board’s latest Consumer Confidence Index released Tuesday declined to 102.9 for this month, slipping from 106.0 in January — which was revised lower. Economists polled by Refinitiv had expected February’s index to tick up to 108.5.
Even more troubling is the fact that Americans seem to be bracing themselves for more economic turbulence as 2023 rolls along.
The Conference Board’s senior director of economics, Ataman Ozyildirim, is warning that U.S. consumers are planning to do far less spending in the months ahead…
“Expectations for where jobs, incomes, and business conditions are headed over the next six months all fell sharply in February,” Ozyildirim reported, noting that “consumers may be showing early signs of pulling back spending in the face of high prices and rising interest rates.”
“Fewer consumers are planning to purchase homes or autos and they also appear to be scaling back plans to buy major appliances,” the economist added. “Vacation intentions also declined in February.”
When Christmas lights go up, home sales typically go down as buyers and sellers take a break.
But this past Christmas, Santa delivered a giant lump of coal to Southern California’s housing market, as well as to real estate agents, lenders, escrow officers and anyone else who gets paid by the transaction.
Closed sales this past January — which reflect deals signed during the holiday season — fell to 9,938, the lowest number of transactions in records dating back 35 years, real estate data firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday, Feb. 28.
As I keep telling my readers, a new housing crash has begun.
US home prices fell for the sixth month in a row in December, as rising mortgage rates pushed prospective buyers out of the housing market, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, released Tuesday.
Sadly, home prices will likely fall quite a bit more in many areas if the Federal Reserve keeps raising rates.
Higher rates are also really hurting the auto industry, and Zero Hedge is reporting that one of the most prominent subprime auto lenders in the entire country has just collapsed…
Well, after a lengthy period in which nothing seemed to happen, suddenly the dominoes are starting to fall, and as Bloomberg reports, used car retailer and subprime auto loan lender, American Car Center, told employees the business was closing its doors, just one day after the company had hoped to pull off a funding Hail Mary by selling a $222 million bond (it failed).
According to Bloomberg, the used car retailer, which targets consumers regardless of their credit history (and thus targets almost entirely subprime borrowers who can’t get a loan elsewhere), said in an email to employees on Friday the firm was ceasing all operations, closing its headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, and that all employees would be terminated by the end of the business day, the people said. It employed about 288 people at its headquarters.
Yes, the dominoes are certainly starting to tumble.
But at least things in the U.S. are still better than they are over in Europe.
Right now, consumers in the UK are literally fighting over cucumbers as the nationwide rationing of fruits and vegetables starts to become extremely painful…
A supermarket shopper has described ‘customers fighting over the last box of cucumbers’ on the first day that Aldi and Tesco imposed rationing on some of its fresh produce. The two retailers announced limits on purchases of certain fruit and vegetables on Thursday.
It followed similar moves from Morrisons and Asda, with four major supermarkets now limiting the number of items people can buy across items such as peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. The temporary measures are in response to a nationwide shortage of some fruit and veg.
A measure of UK grocery price inflation soared to a record high this month — that’s more bad news for consumers already facing a shortage of fruit and vegetables that has led to rationing at major supermarkets.
Grocery prices rose 17.1% in the four weeks to February 19, compared with the same period a year ago, according to data published by Kantar Tuesday. That’s the highest rate of inflation since the data company started tracking it in 2008, and is equivalent to adding an extra £811 ($980) to a household’s average yearly grocery bill.
Unfortunately, what we are facing is a global crisis.
Economic conditions all over the planet will deteriorate in the months ahead, and so I would encourage you to brace yourself for a tremendous amount of economic turbulence.
Because it is coming, and at this point there is nothing that our leaders can do to stop it.
For such a long time, central banks and politicians all over the world tried to cheat the system.
But in the process they made our long-term problems even worse.
Now a moment of reckoning is here, and every man, woman and child on the entire planet will feel the pain.
***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends. Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
U.S. — To avoid any future delays in sending billions of taxpayer dollars and deadly weapons to Ukraine, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has decided to make things easier and give President Zelensky the key to the U.S. Treasury.
“It’s simpler this way. Now Mr. Zelensky can let himself in whenever he wants, and help himself to whatever he needs!” said Yellen. “As a government official, I want to help the government be as efficient as possible. This removes all those unnecessary steps that come between Ukraine wanting money and then getting it! I’m a genius!”
“Zelensky, dear, you just take whatever you need, sweetie!”
Sources say Zelensky has already let himself in the massive, highly secure vault 3 times today, helping himself to wheelbarrows full of coins, gold bullion, and Ashley Biden’s diary. “We thank the American government for the lovely gift of their citizens’ money,” he said. “We promise to put this to good use by killing many Russians and buying lots of cocaine. God bless America!”
At publishing time, Zelensky had already made a return trip after blowing all the cash from his first three trips.
Meet Carlos Renaldo, Jr. Experts believe he has saved over 3.8 billion lives by heroically wearing a mask alone while in the car. Is he a hero – or a superhero? You decide.
For those of you not familiar with this series, there’s an old phrase that goes like this: “What in the World?” It’s a phrase that someone might say after seeing or hearing something that’s surprising, angering or disgusting.
Numerous recent news examples fit this framework as they simply defy, not merely common sense, but common moral sense when viewed from a biblical perspective. Here are some examples:
–The Arizona legislature is considering a piece of legislation known as Senate Bill 1700. This would give parents the opportunity to review books and materials used in the schools for 120 days before they are available to students and to allow parents to request the removal of the books/materials. This concerns books/materials that are lewd or sexual in nature, promote gender fluidity, gender pronouns, or that groom children into normalizing pedophilia. A common sense piece of legislation, right? A group known as “Equality Arizona” described the legislation as “unconstitutional,” “viciously transphobic,” and “anti-LGBTQ”.
–A high school teacher in Washington state suggested that schools should hide information about children from their parents because kids, “are not safe in this nation from their Christo-fascist parents…”
–In a new report, America’s largest teachers union is encouraging educators to bargain for their healthcare coverage to include abortion.
–In a clear example of abortion tourism, an abortion business in New York is offering a new program for women living in pro-life states. The “Out of Town” program brings women from their home state to the abortion facility in Queens, New York.
–At a pro-abortion rally in Minnesota, a United Church of Christ pastor said if you don’t support abortion, your faith is too small.
–Spain has a new animal welfare law that decriminalizes relations with animals because “zoophiles” are just another spectrum on the trans flag.
–A Memphis drag queen is threatening violence if Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee signs a bill that would ban children from attending drag performances.
–A barrage of bills are working their way through the Illinois legislature. One bill would punish parents for transmitting any verbal or visual messages intended to cause emotional distress to their children. To do so could cause the parent to be charged with parental bullying.
Numerous other stories were presented, and listeners provided their input as well, on the latest edition of this special series.
While Biden is working on getting the world into a war with nuclear Russia. Iran is now only days away from making fissile material needed to make a nuke.
The US and the world are now in a very dangerous situation. Joe Biden is threatening war with Russia. Last night drones hit targets within Russia. Russia is at war with Ukraine, and to top it all off, Russia has nukes – lots of them.
Word is now coming out of Israel that Iran, the terrorist nation, is only 12 days away from making fissile material needed for nukes. But don’t worry, the Biden gang doesn’t believe that Iran has the ability to make a nuke yet.
Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in “about 12 days,” a top US Defense Department official said on Tuesday…
While US officials say Iran has grown closer to producing fissile material, they do not believe it has mastered the technology to actually build a bomb.
The Biden Administration is lying again about Iran’s latest actions and trying to blame this on President Trump who got the US out of the insane Iran agreement that allowed Iran to move ahead with its efforts in making a bomb. President Trump got out of the loser deal and put sanctions on Iran which kept the country in check. Now Iran after only two years under the Biden regime can make the material used in nukes in 12 days.
The Biden Administration tried to get back into a deal with Iran by giving them everything they asked for. It didn’t matter because Iran claimed last summer that it had the ability to make a nuke.
Now Iran can make fissile for one nuke in 12 days and it has the ability to build a bomb even though the Biden gang now says they don’t think they do. Who are we to trust?
Open the Books founder Adam Andrzejewski joined The Evening Edit on Tuesday night to discuss Dr. Tony Fauci and the Energy Department’s latest admission that the COVID-19 virus was created in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Andrzejewski discussed how Dr. Fauci’s income increased from $7.6 million to $12.6 million dollars. This was while he put millions of Americans out of work without any concern.
From the interview:
Adam Andrzejewski: We’re letting China get away with too much. And it’s been going on for decades. It’s a Chinese strategy. For example, last fall, our organization at OpenTheBooks.com openthebooks.com, we highlighted the strider technologies report, where up to 150 former employees of the los alamos national lab, our crown jewel national lab, aren’t working in America anymore. They’re working back in China on behalf of the Chinese communist party and against our military national interests…
…We investigated Dr. Fauci because I don’t even think it’s arguable that he is one of the most powerful bureaucrats ever in the history of the country. And obviously, in crafting America’s COVID response during the pandemic, we gave oversight to the Fauci family finances. Here’s what we found, Liz. We found that Dr. Fauci was the most highly compensated federal employee, and he out-earned the president. Last year. He made $480,000. And Mrs. Fauci, Christine Grady, she’s employed as the chief bioethicist at Fauci’s employer, the National Institutes of Health. So while Fauci was crafting national healthcare pandemic policies, she was backstopping those policies through her office on ethics and moral studies. She actually out-earned the vice president of the United States. Now, Dr. Fauci’s retired at the end of the year, and he’s retired on the largest pension in federal history. We estimate that pension at $375,000 a year…
…We’ve researched a 50-page document that empirically shows that as Dr. Fauci’s positions during the Pandemic changed Mrs. Fauci’s positions on ethics studies during the Pandemic changed to match her husband’s positions. And so we’ll be ready in a couple of weeks to release that report. Look, Dr. Fauci’s net worth, we showed that during the Pandemic years of 2019 through 2021, it increased from $7.6 million to $12.6 million. We show exactly how Fauci profited during the Pandemic.
It’s safe to say the pandemic was very, very good to Dr. Tony Fauci.
Your New Dictator | WRETCHED TV Episode 3169 Let’s read some tweets from ACBC, Alan Shlemon, Dr. Dale Johnson, Justin Peters, Living Waters, Darrell B. Harrison, Emeal Zwayne, and Alistair Begg ___
Does anyone out there still believe that the United States is going to be able to avoid a shooting war with Russia? When the war began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky begged our politicians for help, and our politicians did not disappoint him. So far we have poured nearly 200 billion dollars into the war, but Zelensky just keeps asking for more. He wants fighter jets, he wants long-range missile systems, and apparently he also thinks that eventually “the U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters” to fight the Russians.
Zelinsky:
Ukraine needs fresh young Americans to help fight on the ground war.
"The US will have to send their Son's & Daughter's… to WAR…"
In that clip he seems to be addressing a hypothetical scenario that someone has raised.
But obviously a direct military conflict between western forces and Russian forces is something that he has been thinking a lot about.
And obviously if he is able to pull NATO troops into the war that would give him the best chance of winning.
Of course it would also greatly increase the risk of nuclear annihilation.
But Zelensky is not focused on the long-term consequences. His forces are losing ground, and he is starting to get really desperate.
At this point, it appears that the fall of Bakhmut is imminent. According to one soldier that was interviewed by CNN, the situation there “is much worse than officially reported”…
“The situation in Bakhmut is very difficult now. It is much worse than officially reported,” a soldier who didn’t want to be named told CNN on Tuesday. “We should add another 100% difficulty to the official reports. In all directions. Especially in the northern direction, where the orcs [Russians] have made the biggest advance.”
When I wrote about this a few days ago, the operational encirclement of Bakhmut was almost complete.
Now the Russians have gained even more ground, and it won’t be too long before the city is completely encircled physically.
Bakhmut Frontline 28/02/2023 North Heavy fighting rages north of Bakhmut assaults in the directions of Bohdanivka, Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Zaliznyans'ke also assaults south from the northern road. East: Heavy fighting towards the Bakhmutovka river in the residential areas. pic.twitter.com/ReaqbHzv44
At this point, things are going so badly that Zelensky just fired the commander that was in charge of his forces in eastern Ukraine…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday fired a senior military commander helping lead the fight against Russian troops in the country’s embattled east but gave no reason for the move.
In a one-line decree, Zelenskiy announced the dismissal of Eduard Moskalyov as commander of the joint forces of Ukraine, which are engaged in battles in the Donbas region.
The one thing that could slow the Russians down now is the fact that the mud has returned.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region hunkered down in muddy trenches after warmer weather thawed out the frozen ground.
‘Both sides stay in their positions, because as you see, spring means mud. Thus, it is impossible to move forward,’ said Mykola, 59, a commander of a frontline rocket launcher battery, who uses a tablet screen to check coordinates of where to fire.
The spring thaw, known as the rasputitsa, which turns roads into rivers and fields into quagmires, has a history of ruining armies’ movements across Ukraine and western Russia.
But while the mud may cause the action to temporarily slow down on the front lines, leaders on both sides just continue to make moves that will raise tensions even higher.
NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that that is a long term perspective, what is the issue now is to ensure that Ukraine prevail as a sovereign, independent nation, and therefore we need to support Ukraine.
NEW – NATO chief: "Allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance" in the long term.pic.twitter.com/8U6P5nNi3D
Drones that the Kremlin said were launched by Ukraine flew deep inside Russian territory, including one that got within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Moscow, signaling breaches in Russian defenses as President Vladimir Putin ordered stepped-up protection at the border.
Officials said the drones caused no injuries and did not inflict any significant damage, but the attacks on Monday night and Tuesday morning raised questions about Russian defense capabilities more than a year after the country’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
On the other side, it is being reported that the Russians are now actually recruiting Palestinian refugees to fight for them in Ukraine…
A Lebanese government security source has told The Media Line that Palestinians residing in Lebanon have signed up to join the ongoing conflict in Ukraine on behalf of Russia, having been offered a sum of 350 dollars by Russian entities.
The source added that the recruitment effort is being carried out by activists affiliated with the Palestinian embassy in Lebanon.
Most of those enlisting were born after 1969, as those born after this point onwards do not have proper registration with the Lebanese authorities, making it easier to travel for the purpose of participating in the conflict as mercenaries.
Of course both sides have been hiring vast numbers of mercenaries ever since the war began.
At this point, there are fighters from literally dozens of different countries in Ukraine.
It really is a “world war”, and we are getting dangerously close to a point where a peaceful solution will become impossible.
Recently, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev authored an opinion piece entitled “Point Of No Return”. In that piece, he warned that the world is on the brink of the unthinkable…
Of course, one could continue to pump weapons into the neo-fascist Kiev regime and block any opportunity to revive negotiations. Our enemies are doing just that, not wanting to understand that their goals obviously lead to a total fiasco. Lose for everyone. collapse. Apocalypse. When the former life will have to be forgotten for centuries, until the smoky blockages cease to emit radiation.
If Dmitry Medvedev becomes the next leader of Russia when Putin dies, we should all be gravely concerned.
He has made public statements about nuclear weapons over and over again, and I believe that he would not hesitate to use them if he decided that there was no chance of peace with the United States.
But of course our leaders are not taking such threats seriously.
They just keep pushing us even closer to the precipice, and at some point someone could make a really big mistake which would push us over the edge.
***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned) When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends. Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
2:16 John warned against what the body desires, what the eyes itch to see, and what people work hard to acquire. These are not from the Father but from the world.[1]
2:16 desires … pride. Those who love this world (v. 15) are short-sighted; they want to be satisfied and honored now (Luke 6:24–26). In contrast, those who love the Father have a long-term perspective and wait for God’s reward (Luke 6:20–23).[2]
2:16flesh A dichotomy to the Holy Spirit’s work (see note on John 3:6). John is not suggesting that being human is a negative thing; rather, he is referring to worldly values that are unacceptable to God.
For John, a war wages between people’s evil desires (and the desires of evil spiritual powers) and God’s desires (see note on John 1:5). Paul identifies the same conflict and uses the same Greek word to do so (compare note on Gal 5:19–21).
of the eyes A reference to lustful behavior.
arrogance of material possessions Wealth used for the purposes of personal gain demonstrates a selfish view of self-worth. Instead, wealth should be used for the care for others (1 John 3:16–18; compare Rev 3:17).[3]
2:16 In warning against all that is in the world, John does not demonize the whole created order (cf. Gen. 1:31). Rather, he gives examples (desires of the flesh, etc.) of what the believer should guard against. Human desires are part of God’s creation and therefore not inherently evil, but they become twisted when not directed by and toward God.[4]
2:16 all that is in the world. Cf. Jas 4:4. While the world’s philosophies and ideologies and much that it offers may appear attractive and appealing, that is deception. Its true and pervasive nature is evil, harmful, ruinous, and satanic. Its deadly theories are raised up against the knowledge of God and hold the souls of men captive (2Co 10:3–5). lust. John uses the term negatively here for a strong desire for evil things. flesh. The term refers to the sin nature of man; the rebellious self dominated by sin and in opposition to God (Ro 7:15–25; 8:2–8; Gal 5:19–21). Satan uses the evil world system to incite the flesh. eyes. Satan uses the eyes as a strategic avenue to incite wrong desires (Jos 7:20, 21; 2Sa 11:2; Mt 5:27–29). Satan’s temptation of Eve involved being attracted to something beautiful in appearance, but the result was spiritual death (Ge 3:6 “a delight to the eyes”). pride of life. The phrase has the idea of arrogance over one’s circumstances, which produced haughtiness or exaggeration, parading what one possessed to impress other people (Jas 4:16). not from the Father. The world is the enemy of the Christian because it is in rebellion and opposition against God and controlled by Satan (5:19; Eph 2:2; 2Co 4:4; 10:3–5). The 3 openings presented, if allowing access to sin, result in tragedy. Not only must the Christian reject the world for what it is but also for what it does.[5]
2:16the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life: The world is characterized by these three lusts, which have been interpreted as corresponding to the three different ways Eve was tempted in the garden (Gen. 3:6), or the three different temptations Jesus experienced (Luke 4:1–12). However, the correspondences are not close enough to make it certain that John was alluding to either of these. Instead, John was probably making a short list of the different ways believers could be lured away from loving God. The lust of the flesh refers to desires for sinful sensual pleasure. The lust of the eyes refers to covetousness or materialism. The pride of life refers to being proud about one’s position in this world.[6]
2:16.All that is in the world can be summarized under three categories the apostle names here. Taken together they summarize the totality of the allurements of this godless system.
The first is the lust of the flesh, that is, every illicit physical activity that appeals to people’s sinful hearts. These are those things the flesh craves, such as illicit sexual pleasure or addictive drugs.
The second element of the world is the lust of the eyes, that is, whatever is visually appealing but not proper to desire or obtain. The object before the eyes might be a person or thing, but the desire to have it is what is called elsewhere as covetousness.
The pride of life means “the vain display of earthly life.” The Greek word rendered “pride” is alazoneia (arrogance, pretentiousness, or boasting about self, possessions, or accomplishments).
The Revisionists probably maintained that one could freely participate in the activities of the world. They may have argued that since God is its Maker, one was simply using what the Creator had made. But although the physical world is “of God” who created it, the world as a moral system is not. All that is in the world bears the taint of wickedness (cf. 1:5).[7]
2:16. The reason love for the world is incompatible with love for God is that everything in the world … comes not from the Father but from the world. The world thus conceived is a system of values and goals from which God is excluded. In describing “everything in the world,” John specified its contents under three well-known phrases that effectively highlight the world’s false outlook. Men of the world live for the cravings of sinful man. “Cravings” translates epithymia, which is used twice in this verse and once in the next verse. The NIV translates it differently each time: “cravings,” “lust,” “desires.” In the New Testament the word usually, though not always, connotes desires that are sinful. The expression “sinful man” translates the Greek sarx (lit., “flesh”). The phrase refers particularly to illicit bodily appetites. The expression the lust (epithymia) of his eyes points to man’s covetous and acquisitive nature. The boasting of what he has and does paraphrases the Greek hē alazoneia tou biou (lit., “the pretension of human life”), which signifies a proud and ostentatious way of life. (Alazoneia is used only here in the NT.) Christians ought to have nothing to do with such worldly perspectives as these.[8]
16The cravings of sinful man (lit. ‘the lust of the flesh’) points to the gratification of our fleshly desires. The lust of his eyes is the strong desire for what is seen, for the outward form of things; it is the lust after the superficial. The boasting of what he has and does (lit. ‘the boastfulness of life’) is the empty haughtiness of the worldly-minded. (With these three things compare the three things that led Eve to disobey God; Gn. 3:6.) None of these has its origin in God (not from the Father). They are all from the world, that world that is but a passing show on its way to ruin. Everything points to totality: evil is found throughout the world. 17 By contrast, whoever does the will of God lives for ever. Obedience is an important part of eternal life.[9]
2:16. The reason we are not to love the world is that the world’s values are in opposition to God. The cravings of sinful man are the sinful interests and desires that draw us away from God. The lust of [the] eyes refers to sinful desires that corrupt us. The eye is often used as a figure of speech to refer to sinful passions (Matt. 5:28).
When Eve looked at the forbidden fruit, it was “pleasing to the eye.” David’s sin with Bathsheba started when he looked on Bathsheba taking a bath (2 Sam. 11:2). It might be translated, “the desires that originate in what we see.” The boasting of what he has and does refers to the arrogance and pride that can overtake us as we try to “get ahead of the Joneses” and when we rely on ourselves rather than God for our material possessions and worldly positions.
These values are foolish for two reasons. First, they do not come from the Father. Therefore, they interfere with our fellowship with the Father. Second, we are all going to die, and what we are living for will come to nothing. The well-known saying of slain missionary Jim Elliot seems appropriate here: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to get what he cannot lose.”
We might paraphrase this whole passage: “Do not embrace the world’s ways or goods. When you do, it squeezes out your love for God. When you live for ‘getting your own way,’ and for ‘getting everything you want,’ and for ‘looking good compared to others,’ you are not living for God but for the world. This is foolish because it suffocates your relationship with God, and in the end, it will all go up in smoke anyway.”[10]
2:16 “the lust of the flesh” This refers to fallen mankind’s self-seeking attitude (cf. Gal. 5:16–21; Eph. 2:3; 1 Pet. 2:11).
“However, alazoneia, found also in James 4:16, has a more active meaning then mere pride: It denotes arrogance, boastfulness, the conviction of self-sufficiency” (p. 408).
The term life is bios which refers to earthly, physical, temporal life on this planet (what mankind shares with the plants and animals, cf. 3:17).
16. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.
The main thought of verse 16 is this: “everything in the world … comes not from the Father but from the world.” In his epistle, James provides a parallel idea. On the origin of wisdom, James writes, “Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil” (James 3:15). That which has its origin in the world comes not from God but from the devil.
What are the so-called things of the world? John spells them out in three categories: cravings of sinful man, lust of man’s eyes, and boasting of what a person has or does. Of course, this list of tendencies is comprehensive in scope, but not necessarily exhaustive.
Before we discuss these categories, we make the following observations. The first two categories (cravings and lust) are sinful desires; the last (boasting) is sinful behavior. The first two are internal and hidden sins; the last is an external and revealed sin. The first two pertain, to the individual person, the last to the person who is surrounded by people.
a. Cravings
Literally the Greek text has “the desire of the flesh.” The New International Version, however, translates the text as “the cravings of sinful man.” The word desire is used collectively and represents cravings that include sexual desire and covetousness. These cravings are evil because they cause man to disobey God’s explicit command, “You shall not covet” (Exod. 20:17; Deut. 5:21). Moreover, these cravings originate in man’s nature and give birth to sin (James 1:15). Paul writes a similar account of this sinful nature (Gal. 5:16–17), which he says “is contrary to the Spirit.”
b. Lust
John describes this desire as “the lust of [the] eyes.” The eyes are the channels to man’s soul. When man is enticed by lust, his eyes serve as instruments that cause him to transgress and sin. John reflects the sentiments of Jesus (recorded in the Sermon on the Mount), who categorized lustful looking as sin: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).
c. Boasting
John lists the third tendency in words that cannot be translated easily. Translators provide a number of equally valid versions. Here are some representatives:
“The pride of life” (KJV, NKJV, RSV)
“The boastful pride of life” (NASB)
“All the glamour of its life” (NEB)
“The life of empty show” (NAB)
“Pride in possessions” (JB)
“The boasting of what [man] has and does” (NIV)
The reason for these numerous variations lies in two Greek words: “boast” and “life.” The first word means the boasting of a braggart or impostor (compare James 4:16). This boasting may even approach the point of arrogant violence. The second denotes life with respect to actions and possessions. The person who brags about his deeds and goods expresses “lust for advantage and status.”43
The three vices (cravings, lust, and boasting) originate not in the Father but in the world, that is, from the devil. John writes “the Father” to indicate, first, the link with the preceding context (1:2, 3; 2:1, 13, 15) and, second, a reminder that the readers are God’s adopted children. They are sons and daughters of their heavenly Father and do not belong to the world. In a different setting, Jesus voices the same thought. He tells his adversaries, “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God” (John 8:47).[12]
Ver. 16. For 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.The three elements of a worldly life: love of pleasure, the love of knowledge, and the love of power:—What then is the meaning of the phrase “desire of the flesh?” It is the desire which we naturally have to gratify our lower impulses, that animal nature which we share with the brutes, but which in man ought to be under the control of the superior faculty of reason. If we name this desire from its object, rather than from its origin or source, we might call it loosely “the desire of pleasure uncontrolled by a sense of duty.” It is more difficult to ascertain the exact force of the “desire of the eyes.” If taken literally, it would simply stand for a particular form of the desire of the flesh, a more refined and human form of sensual pleasure, the desire of seeing beautiful objects; but I am inclined to think that, so far as this is sensual, it is included under the former head, and that it is more in accordance with Hebrew ideas and with the facts of life to suppose that we have here a quite distinct class of desires, the desires of the intellect. But how, it may be asked, can the desire of knowledge be condemned as characteristic of the world. Knowledge is not dependent on society, like pleasure, and moreover the desire of knowledge is especially commended in the Bible. How then can it be to the discredit of the world, or make its influence more injurious, if it is accompanied by the desire of knowledge? The answer is that neither pleasure nor knowledge is in itself condemned in the Bible. The pleasure which is condemned in the phrase “lust of the flesh,” is, as we have seen, selfish and predominantly sensual, unchecked by higher thoughts and feelings. And so by the “desire of the eyes” is meant primarily not the desire for truth as such, but the desire for a knowledge of the world, knowledge as contrasted not with ignorance and stupidity, but with simplicity, ingenuousness and innocence. How many owe their fall to an impatience of restraint and a curiosity which is attracted to evil rather than to good! How few remember that knowledge no more than pleasure can claim our absolute allegiance! We now come to the third of these worldly lusts, as they are styled in the Epistle to Titus, the “pride,” or as the Revised Version has it, the “vainglory” of life, the desire to make a show, the desire of honour and distinction, which is as naturally characteristic of the active principle within us, as the desire of pleasure is of the passive or sensitive principle. Supposing this to be a generally correct account of St. John’s analysis of the spirit of the world, it is evident that it corresponds with the common division of man’s nature into the feeling, the thinking, and the willing part; the desire of pleasure corresponding to the appetites, the desire of knowledge to the intellect, while ambition, the desire of honour and of power, corresponds to the will. But human life consists in the exercise of these different elements of man’s nature. How is it possible, then, that these gifts of God should be the source of the evil that is in the world? If man were perfect, as God intended him to be, this would not be the case. His various impulses would all work harmoniously together under the control of reason and conscience, enlightened and guided by the Spirit of God himself. But we know that, whatever we may hope for the future, this is far from being the case at present. At present every impulse is a source of danger, because it is not satisfied with doing the work and attaining the end for which it was implanted in our nature, but continues to urge us on where its action is injurious, antagonistic to higher ends and higher activities, and contrary to the will of Him Who made us. It is these blind unruly impulses which constitute the spirit of the world, and are employed by him, who is described as the prince of this world, to band men together in evil, and so build up a kingdom of the world, in opposition to the kingdom of God. St. John implies the unrestrained action of these impulses when he tells us they make up all that is in the world. If we can trust contemporary evidence, the historians and satirists of Rome, no less than Christian writers, the moral condition of society in the imperial city is not too darkly coloured in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. In the catalogue of sin and vice there given, two main lines of evil may be distinguished, which at first sight seem to be very remote from each other, but which are in fact closely allied, being continually associated together in history, as they are in Milton’s famous line, “Lust hard by hate.” Cruelty and profligacy were the most marked characteristics of the Caligulas and the Neros of Rome; they were the notes of that degraded aristocracy, in which even the women, dead to all sense of shame, were also dead to all feeling of pity, and could look on with a horrible delight at the sports in the arena, where gladiators were butchered to make a Roman holiday, and Christians were burnt alive at night in order to light up the chariot races of the emperor. And the profligacy of the capitol was faithfully copied in the provinces. St. Paul’s epistles, with their constant warnings against impurity, show how deeply even the humbler ranks of society, from which the Church was mainly recruited, were infected with this vice of paganism. We see, then, that as regards the desire or lust of the flesh, the state of contemporary society fully bore out St. John’s description of the world. How did the case stand with regard to the second point in his description, the lust of the eyes? Understanding this of the desire of knowledge, we find St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians describing it as the distinctive feature of the Greek as opposed to the Hebrew, that the Greeks seek after wisdom; but “God (he says) hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise”; “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” So St. Luke mentions curiosity, which is merely the undisciplined desire of knowledge, as the chief characteristic of the Athenians, “all the Athenians spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” Ephesus, where St. John is believed to have spent the latter part of his life, was especially noted for the study of curious arts, prying into forbidden things. Lastly, if we ask how far that third constituent of the worldly spirit, ambition, vainglory, the pride of life, was to be found in Paganism at the time of St. John’s writing, we need not look further than the temple of Ephesus, which was held to be one of the wonders of the world; we need only think of the magnificence of the architecture, the splendour of the ceremonial, the frenzied enthusiasm of the multitudes which gathered at the festival of “the great goddess Diana, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” How hard it must have been for the little band of Christians to realise that all this pageantry and power was but an empty show, destined in a few short years to vanish away; to feel that the weakness of God was stronger than men, that “God had chosen the base things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, that no flesh might glory in His presence.” And if this was true of a provincial town like Ephesus, how much more of what was even then known as the eternal city, to which all the wealth and power and greatness, all the art and science and skill of the whole earth was attracted, where one man commanded the lives and fortunes of all, and was worshipped as God on earth, the only God whose worship was obligatory on all. It was such a world-dominion as this, that St. John had in his mind, when he warned his disciples against being dazzled by the vainglory of life, when he spoke of the whole world lying in wickedness, when he encouraged them with the thought that “He that is born of God overcometh the world.” I think that what we have seen to be true of the pagan world of St. John’s day, is also true of all the more marked historical appearances of the worldly spirit. Two such appearances may be especially noticed. One was that period of revolt against the Middle Ages, which preceded and accompanied the Reformation, the other was that period of scepticism which prepared the way for the French Revolution. In both we find the most influential classes of society, those which may be regarded as the truest embodiment of the worldly spirit of their time, characterised by the combination of these three elements, the love of pleasure, the love of knowledge, and the love of power. Enlightenment was the special boast of both eras, and the effect of this enlightenment was to shake off the old-fashioned restraints of religion and morality and give free scope to the selfish instincts, whether in the direction of pleasure or ambition. Cæsar Borgia was the natural outcome of the first era; Napoleon Bonaparte of the second. (J. B. Mayor, M.A.)
Transitoriness of the lust of the flesh:—By “the lust of the flesh” I understand the animal needs and appetites, the physical strength and vigour. There is a period in life when the desires of the flesh exercise immense influence and subtle power over the imagination. They seem to promise illimitable delight and inexhaustible pleasures. The imagination runs through the world and sees everywhere alluring forms which point to intoxicating joys. That is not an unusual experience. It is common to all of us in the heyday of youth and strength, and I only allude to it to ask—Have you considered that this is passing away? Do you know that the gamut of appetite and passion is very limited after all? You can soon reach up and strike the topmost note, and downward and strike the lowest. Do you know that these violent delights have violent ends? They are soon exhausted, and the hungry passion is satiated, and the promise which it made is found a cheat. It is so. It is so if for no other reason than this—because physical life itself fails. Youth is soon gone; manhood is soon passed; old age is soon reached. You are not what you were. Already the keen edge and zest of earthly appetite is blunted. You dislike, perhaps, to admit it, and yet you know in your hearts that the best cup of wine which life has to give you is already drunk, and that life will never prepare again for you the like. (W. J. Dawson.)
The lust of the eyes:—The eye is the portal of innumerable delights. It is “the meeting-place of many worlds.” Through it there stream in upon the mind the vision of beauty, the revelation of sciences, the pomp and pageantry of earthly power, all the bright, shifting splendour of human glory. Have you ever considered that riches appeal mainly to the eye? It is the eye which interprets to a man the stateliness of the house which he has built, the beauty of the gardens which he has laid out, the picture’s charm, the statue’s grace, the horse’s symmetry—in a word, all those costly embellishments with which wealth can adorn life. To the blind man they are nothing. To be blind is to lose almost everything that riches can bestow. Yet, says John, the lust of the eyes, too, is a fading passion which is soon satiated. The first house a man buys looks better and bigger to him than any house he owns afterwards. The first picture a man owns brings him more genuine pleasure than all the others put together. That lust of the eye which desires to add house to house and land to land has a lessening pleasure in its acquisitions. Like the lust of the flesh, after all it is a life of sensation, and all sensation is limited and soon exhausted. You, perhaps, have set your hope in some such direction as this. You desire to be rich; your eye lusts for the luxurious abodes of wealth and the circumstance and state of social greatness. When the lust of the flesh fails, the lust of the eye often develops; and the man who has lost the one frantically tries to recoup himself by flying to the other. But it is vain. The miseries of the idle rich, their ennui, their listlessness, their discontent, their imbecile thirst for new sensations, their perpetual invention of new and artificial joys, remind us how true are the words of John, that the lust of the eyes, too, passes away. (Ibid.)
The pride of life is transitory:—It may signify either the pride of power or the pride of knowledge. 1. Take it, for instance, as the pride of power. Take it in regard to that great and splendid empire with which the apostles were familiar. It seemed built to last for ever. To be a Roman was to be armed with an invincible defence. It was a proud boast which clothed the meanest man with dignity. The tramp of the legions of Rome echoed in every city; the silver eagles were borne in triumph through all the world; its laws had imposed civilisation upon the most barbarous peoples; and its power had crushed nation after nation. There was no sign in John’s day of any overthrow. Yet this solitary man told the truth when he said, not merely that it would pass away, but that it was passing away. He recognised that mysterious law of God, which seems to give to nations their chance and strengthen them with universal victory, and then depose them, lest one good custom should corrupt the world. Egypt, Chaldea, Babylon, Greece, all had had their day, and ceased to be. And so it would be with Rome. We to-day know that it has passed away. 2. And it is true of the pride of knowledge. The noblest pride of life, because the highest, is the pride of knowledge. Yet that, too, is transient. Nothing shifts its boundaries so often. Nothing is so illusive. Nothing passes through such strange and rapid transformations. The knowledge of Galileo would be the ignorance of to-day; and if Isaac Newton were alive now he would have to go to school again. A century, a half-century, a single decade, is often sufficient to thrust the most brilliant discoveries into oblivion. The steam-engine has supplanted the coach; but the steam-engine is already passing away, and in fifty years’ time will be supplanted by some greater and more serviceable power. The telegraph has bound nations together and has made all nations neighbours; but the telephone is becoming its rival, and in another century, and less perhaps, men will hear each other’s whispers round the globe. A thousand illustrations might be given of how knowledge perpetually effaces its past. Nor is this a mournful truth. It is no tolling-bell which announces that the world is passing away. It is rather a trumpet. It means that God’s law is progress: and that is a glorious truth for those who can understand it. (Ibid.)
The worldling’s trinity:—Pleasure, profit, preferment (called here “the lust of the flesh,” &c.) are the worldling’s trinity, to the which he performeth inward and outward worship. (J. Trapp.) What is “the world”?—The world is not altogether matter, nor yet altogether spirit. It is not man only, nor Satan only, nor is it exactly sin. It is an infection, an inspiration, an atmosphere, a life, a colouring matter, a pageantry, a fashion, a taste, a witchery. None of all these names suit it, and all of them suit it. (S. Faber.)[13]
16. If there were some things in the world (in the technical sense in which John uses this phrase) which were from the Father, that is, which owed their origin and existence to him, we might love them. But since everything in the world … comes … from the world, we may not love any of it. John selects for special mention the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does. These appear to him ‘the essential marks of the pagan way of life’ (Dodd). The first describes the desire of our fallen and sinful nature. It may be said to be in the world, because the world, where the devil rules, is the sphere of its free operation. It is noteworthy that within the space of three verses, John mentions the world, the flesh and the devil (14–16). The second seems to indicate temptations which assault us not from within, but from without through our eyes. This is ‘the tendency to be captivated by the outward show of things, without enquiring into their real values’ (Dodd). Eve’s view of the forbidden fruit as ‘pleasing to the eye’, Achan’s covetous sight among the spoil of a ‘beautiful robe from Babylonia’, and David’s lustful looking after Bathsheba as she bathed, are obvious examples (Gen. 3:6; Josh. 7:21; 2 Sam. 11:2). It will include ‘the love of beauty divorced from the love of goodness’ (Law). What the av and the rsv render ‘the pride of life’ (hē alazoneia tou biou) is the most difficult of these three expressions. The niv translates it the boasting of what he (sc. sinful man) has and does. While zōē means ‘life in its essential principle’, bios is ‘life in its present concrete manifestation’ (Westcott). It occurs again in 3:17 in the expression ton bion tou kosmou, translated ‘material possessions’. The alazōn is a braggart (Rom. 1:30; 2 Tim. 3:2; Jas 4:16), ‘a conceited, pretentious humbug’ (Dodd), who seeks ‘to impress everyone he meets with his own non-existent importance’ (Barclay). He boasts of what he has and does. His arrogance relates to his external circumstances, whether wealth or rank or dress; it is a ‘pretentious ostentation’ (Plummer), ‘the desire to shine or outshine others’ in luxurious living (Ebrard).
Some commentators have seen ‘this trinity of evil’ (Plummer, Findlay) exemplified in our Lord’s three temptations in the wilderness, and even in the threefold attraction of the forbidden fruit to Eve (Gen. 3:6). But neither parallel is sufficiently close to suppose a deliberate allusion to be intended. Nor is there a very obvious correspondence between these aspects of the world and the ‘three master vices which occupy a prominent place in ancient and medieval ethics’ (Westcott), namely voluptas, avaritia and superbia. Findlay summarizes John’s three as ‘two lusts and one vaunt, two forms of depravation arising from our needs and one from our possessions—unholy desire for things one has not, and unholy pride in things one has’. Dodd’s summary is ‘base desires, false values, egoism’.[14]
16. The lust of the flesh, or, namely, the lust of the flesh. The old interpreter renders the verse otherwise, for from one sentence he makes two. Those Greek authors do better, who read these words together, “Whatever is in the world is not of God;” and then the three kinds of lusts they introduce parenthetically. For John, by way of explanation, inserted these three particulars as examples, that he might briefly shew what are the pursuits and thoughts of men who live for the world; but whether it be a full and complete division, it does not signify much; though you will not find a worldly man in whom these lusts do not prevail, at least one of them. It remains for us to see what he understands by each of these.
The first clause is commonly explained of all sinful lusts in general; for the flesh means the whole corrupt nature of man. Though I am unwilling to contend, yet I am unwilling to dissemble that I approve of another meaning. Paul, when forbidding, in Rom. 13:14, to make provision for the flesh as to its lusts, seems to me to be the best interpreter of this place. What, then, is the flesh there? even the body and all that belongs to it. What, then, is the lust or desire of the flesh, but when worldly men, seeking to live softly and delicately, are intent only on their own advantages? Well known from Cicero and others, is the threefold division made by Epicurus; for he made this difference between lusts; he made some natural and necessary, some natural and not necessary, and some neither natural nor necessary. But John, well knowing the insubordination (ἀταξία) of the human heart, unhesitantly condemns the lust of the flesh, because it always flows out immoderately, and never observes any due medium. He afterwards comes gradually to grosser vices.
The lust of the eyes. He includes, as I think, libidinous looks as well as the vanity which delights in pomps and empty splendour.
In the last place follows pride or haughtiness; with which is connected ambition, boasting, contempt of others, blind love of self, headstrong self-confidence.
The sum of the whole is, that as soon as the world presents itself, our lusts or desires, when our heart is corrupt, are captivated by it, like unbridled wild beasts; so that various lusts, all which are adverse to God, bear rule in us. The Greek word, βὶος, rendered life, (vita,) means the way or manner of living.[15]
2:16 / The for at the opening of v. 16 indicates that v. 16 is giving a reason for the assertion in v. 15b that love for God and for the world are an impossible contradiction. Why? Because everything in the world (cf. in v. 15 “anything in the world”) has its origin not in the Father but in the world itself. God and the world are an absolute antithesis as sources of value. They stand over against each other like light and darkness, truth and error. The controversy which has pitted the Elder and his remaining loyal band of followers over against the popular false teachers has caused him to see the choices facing Christians in clear black-and-white terms. Just as one must choose which side of the schism one is on, so one must choose whether to serve and love God or the world (cf. Matt. 6:24).
What is everything in the world of which the author is thinking? He defines it in three phrases: the desire (epithymia) of the flesh, the desire (epithymia) of the eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does (lit., “the boasting in the life,” hē alazoneia tou biou). This is the essence of the “worldly” person; it is a way of feeling, looking, and expressing oneself. This approach to life is self-centered: the thoughts, decisions, and activities of everyday life are dominated by the cravings of one’s own “flesh” (sarx; niv, the sinful man), the longings (niv, lust) of one’s own eyes (tev, “what people see and want”), and the personal boasting in material possessions (tou biou; cf. 3:17, where the phrase ton bion tou kosmou, lit., “the life of the world,” means the material possessions of this world, the physical resources which one could use to help people in need).[16]
16 John now proceeds to explain more fully why love for the world is incompatible with love for God. It is because everything in the world is not from God but from the world itself. Its origin lies in the world, viewed as a system organized in opposition to God. The things in the world share in the character of the world. But this is a staggering statement. Surely the world was created by God (Jn. 1:3): how, then, can everything in it be opposed to God and said not to stem from him? Is everything in the world so tainted that the believer is not to desire it? The answer to these questions becomes clear when we consider the kind of specific things which John has in mind. These show that he is thinking of the world insofar as it has become fallen and rebellious, the source of desires which stand in opposition to the love of God. The language may seem exaggerated, but it is timely: anything in the world can become a source of sinful desire, even though it is good in itself. John is here expressing what used to be called “total depravity,” by which is meant not that the world is as bad as it can possibly be but that its badness is universal.
John lists three typical features of the sinful world. The first is “the cravings of sinful man,” literally “the desire of the flesh,” i.e. the desire that comes from the flesh. In itself “desire” is a morally neutral word. It takes on a good or bad connotation from the context, and here it plainly has the latter force. The same is to some extent true of “flesh,” which can mean no more than the substance of which man is made and hence refer to various aspects of human, bodily life. But the fleshly body can be the source of sensual desires and lusts, whether for food and drink or for sexual gratification. It is, therefore, possible to take the phrase here to be a reference to the desire for sensual pleasure, especially sexual desire.35 This would give a contrast with the more “refined” desires which follow in John’s brief list. Certainly the first-century world was noted for its sensuality, and the New Testament writers generally were aware of this fact and warned their readers against it. But it is perhaps more likely that John is here using “flesh” in its Jewish and biblical sense of the nature of man as a whole as a worldly being separated from and opposed to God; for Paul in particular “flesh” designates “the outlook orientated towards the self, that which pursues its own ends in self-sufficient independence of God.” It is the whole nature of sinful man which is comprehended in this phrase, and not merely his bodily, sensual desires. Any and every desire of man in his rebellion against God is what is meant.37 The NIV translation as “the cravings of sinful man” is accordingly justified.
The second feature of the world is the lust of the eyes. The eyes are often the source of desire, and the thought here is of the greed which is aroused by what one sees. One may think particularly of the desire to watch things which give sinful pleasure, as in the case of pornography, or of the tendency to be captivated by outward, visible splendor and show, but more probably the basic thought is of greed and desire for things aroused by seeing them.
The third feature is pride in possessions. The word for “possessions” is literally “life,” a word that can be used of the things that support life (cf. Mk. 12:44). The word “pride” refers to boasting and arrogance, but it conveys a strong hint of the ultimate emptiness of boasting; it means the braggadocio which exaggerates what it possesses in order to impress other people. E. K. Simpson claims that bogus assumption lies at the base of the word, and comments: “When the apostle John abandons, as here, his spare vocabulary for a polysyllabic noun, there must be cogent reasons for his procedure. He is contemplating the unregenerate world as a Vanity Fair, and the full strength of his expression can be brought out only by some such translation as the charlatanry or make-believe of life.”
We may regard the first of these three features as the inclusive concept, filled out in the other two. Selfish human desire is stimulated by what the eye sees and expresses itself in outward show. And this is not from God but from the world, for it expresses a sense of human self-sufficiency and independence from God and of human greed over against the needs of other people (3:17). Clearly all people need possessions, and therefore it cannot be wrong to want and take pleasure in and what God has provided for our needs. But when I begin to desire more than other people, to covet whatever I see, to boast of what I have, and to claim that I am self-sufficient, then my desires have become perverse and sinful, and I stand condemned. John’s teaching stands as a timeless warning against materialism.
Some commentators have seen a parallel to John’s three sinful attitudes in the motives which animated Eve when she yielded to temptation: she saw that the forbidden tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was to be desired to make her wise. The correspondence, however, is not especially close.[17]
16 John has just referred to “loving the world” and to the fact that Christians must not do this. Does this mean Christians are to take a hostile posture toward nonbelievers and isolate themselves from them? And if such is the case, how could John’s remarks be consistent with the teaching of Jesus at John 3:16? To clarify his point, John now specifies the things “of the world” that Christians must avoid. Two issues must be addressed in considering this verse. First, what is the function of the hoti that introduces John’s statement? The NIV, in an effort to remain neutral, translates hoti as “For”: “For everything in the world …” Is this the most natural reading? Second, what does John mean by “the world” here? Is he referring to people, to things, or to something else?
On the first question, the NKJV and NEB treat hoti as an insignificant connective particle, omitting the word in English translation. The NIV, NASB, and NRSV suggest that hoti has causal force, so that the test at v. 15 is valid because nothing in the world is from the Father. It seems, however, that John is once again using hoti to introduce direct discourse, reminding his audience of a familiar slogan about the world. In the light of John’s general posture toward the world, it is reasonable to conclude that slogans similar to the one in v. 16 were used by Johannine preachers to encourage believers to keep themselves separate from worldly things.
What, then, does this slogan suggest about “the world”? Elsewhere in the Johannine literature “the world” clearly refers to people who do not accept Jesus (see Introduction). The description of “the world or anything in the world” offered here, however, suggests that John is thinking of the lifestyle of those who are guided by their instincts rather than the Spirit. He characterizes this lifestyle with three broad statements (translated rather loosely in the NIV): “the lust [epithymia, GK 2123] of the flesh” (NIV, “the cravings of sinful man”); “the lust of the eyes” (NIV, “the lust of his eyes”); and “the pride of life” (NIV, “the boasting of what he has and does”). It seems clear that John is now switching from the objective genitive of v. 15 to the subjective genitive, nominating three sources of “lust” and “boasting” (flesh, eyes, and pride). The “lust of the flesh” is thus “lust which comes from the flesh” or originates with the flesh, i.e., physical desire. The “lust of the eyes” (Rensberger, 74, calls it “an unusual phrase, not clearly related to biblical, Jewish, or general Hellenistic moral teaching”) seems to refer here to a faulty spiritual perception. In a similar way the Johannine Jesus says that the Pharisees are “blind” because they do not accept him (Jn 9:39–41; see also 12:40), and the Synoptic Jesus occasionally uses sight as a metaphor for spiritual judgment (Mt 5:29; 6:22–23; 7:3–5; Lk 11:34). Combined with “lust of the flesh,” “lust of the eyes” describes the faulty moral perception arising from a value system that is not centered on the revelation of God in Jesus. The “pride of life” uses bios (GK 1050) instead of the more typically Johannine zōē (GK 2437), referring specifically to biological life rather than spiritual life (see comment at 1 Jn 1:2). The term bios can also have connotations of material wealth (i.e., “making a living,” “living the good life”), so that the NIV translates the same word as “material possessions” at 3:17. Those who take pride in such things, placing their confidence either in social position or money, are not motivated by the Father’s commands.
Brown, 326, notes that “not the sinful but an absence of the otherworldly is what characterizes the three factors” mentioned here. John expects believers to distinguish themselves from the world, and he concludes that those who are not sufficiently distinct are “not from the Father.” Those whose lives are directed by such lusts cannot truly have love for God within themselves (v. 15). John here touches on a theme, common in the teachings of Jesus, that Christian ethics often contradict natural human intuition.[18]
Because of what the world does
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. (2:16)
The meaning of all that is in the world and is from the world appears in the three qualifying descriptions of sin’s categories. Sin is the dominant reality in the world, and launching from this verse it is helpful to look more extensively at sin, by definition called “lawlessness” (1 John 3:4)—any violation of God’s perfect and holy law. Whereas the law of God encompasses all that is righteous (Pss. 19:7; 119:142; Isa. 42:21; cf. Josh. 1:7–8; Ps. 119:18; Neh. 8:9, 18; Isa. 51:4; Matt. 22:36–40; Acts 28:23; Rom. 3:21; James 1:25), sin encompasses all that is unrighteous (Prov. 24:9; Matt. 15:19; 1 John 5:17; cf. Gen. 6:5).
Although it manifests itself in external actions, the roots of sin go much deeper, embedded in the very fabric of the depraved human heart. Sin permeates the fallen mind, internally defiling the sinner in every aspect of his being (cf. Matt. 15:18–20). Thus, the Old Testament likens sin to a deadly plague (1 Kings 8:38, nkjv) or filthy garments (Zech. 3:3–4; cf. Isa. 64:6). Sin is so foul that God hates it (Prov. 15:9) and sinners hate themselves (Ezek. 6:9) because of their inherent wickedness.
Sin is by nature both rebellious and ungrateful—so much so that if possible it would dethrone God in favor of sinners (cf. Ps. 12:4; Jer. 2:31; 44:17). Its attitude is that of Absalom, who when forgiven by his father, King David, nevertheless immediately plotted to overthrow him (2 Sam. 14:33–15:12). Romans 1:21 says of the ungodly, “Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks” (emphasis added; cf. 2 Tim. 3:2).
Sin is also humanly incurable. Sinners have no capacity in and of themselves to remedy their sin (Rom. 8:7–8; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:1). The prophet Isaiah described Israel’s incurably sinful condition:
Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him. Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil. (Isa. 1:4–6)
Sin is like a terminal illness, or hereditary condition, about which sinners can do nothing in their own strength. God demanded of Israel, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil” (Jer. 13:23; cf. Job 14:4; Matt. 7:16–18).
Finally, sin is universal. David wrote, “They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Ps. 14:3; cf. Isa. 53:1–3; Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 3:10–12; 5:12). Thus all people, left to their own devices, choose to sin:
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19–20; cf. Ps. 7:14; Prov. 4:16; Isa. 5:18; Jer. 9:5)
It is because people are sinful that evil overpowers fallen mankind (cf. Gen. 6:5; John 8:34; Rom. 6:20a), such that all that unregenerate people can think about and do are sinful things, because sin so utterly dominates their minds, wills, and affections. It is because of sin that they are under Satan’s control, as slaves to the prince of darkness (cf. Eph. 2:2). It is because of sin that the unredeemed remain under the wrath of God, destined for eternal hell unless they repent (Ps. 9:17; Matt. 3:7, 10, 12; 7:13; 13:40–42; 25:41, 46; Luke 13:3; John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; 2:5; Col. 3:6; Rev. 6:17; 19:15; 20:11–15). And it is because of sin that people are subject to all the miseries of this life. As Eliphaz the Temanite, one of Job’s friends, remarked, “Man is born for trouble” (Job 5:7a). And Solomon reminded his readers of the emptiness and meaninglessness that sin causes, “I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind” (Eccl. 1:14; cf. vv. 2, 8; Isa. 48:22; Rom. 8:20).
It is also crucial to rightly understand the nature of sin’s origin in human behavior. While it is true that temptation comes from Satan’s system (cf. Eph. 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8–9) through the world, sinful behavior cannot ultimately be blamed on external influences. The sinner himself is responsible for his sinful actions, which spring from his own wicked desires (James 1:13–16). Sin, then, abides in all human hearts, as Jesus clearly taught:
After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (Mark 7:14–23; cf. Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; James 1:13–15)
The Lord’s words illustrate the doctrine of original sin; all sin stems from mankind’s fallen nature, and that nature derives from Adam and Eve’s initial disobedience (Genesis 3; cf. Pss. 51:5; 58:3; Eph. 2:3; 4:17–19; Col. 2:13a). Since then, it has been an integral part of everyone who has lived (Rom. 5:12–21).
Understanding the serious danger sin poses, the apostle John summarized the avenues the world uses to incite sin: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Though briefly stated, those three designations are of profound importance.
The lust of the flesh refers to the debased, ignoble cravings of evil hearts. The flesh denotes humanness and its sinful essence. The word translated lust (epithumia) is a common New Testament term denoting both positive and negative desires (Luke 22:15; Rom. 1:24; Phil. 1:23; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 2:17; 2 Tim. 2:22; Titus 3:3; James 1:14–15; 2 Peter 1:4; cf. Matt. 5:28; Gal. 5:17; Heb. 6:11; James 4:2). Here it refers negatively to the sensual impulses from the world that draw people toward transgressions. The expression lust of the flesh brings to mind primarily sexual sins, but, while they are included in its definition, the phrase is certainly not limited to that meaning.
The base desire of the human heart perverts and distorts all normal desires (Jer. 17:9), sending them into a relentless, slavish pursuit of evil that exceeds the proper limits of what is good, reasonable, and righteous—any attitude, speech, or action that opposes God’s law (cf. Rom. 7:5; 8:7). Those lusts include all the immoral excesses about which Paul warned the Galatians:
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:19–21; cf. Rom. 1:24–32; 1 Cor. 6:9–10)
Those sinful attitudes and actions are primary characteristics of the world system and are irresistibly appealing to the corruption of the unconverted soul.
The world also entices sinners to thoughts and actions contrary to God’s will through the lust of the eyes. Eyes are gifts from God (cf. Prov. 20:12; Eccl. 11:7) that enable people to see His beautiful creation and excellent works (cf. Pss. 8:3–4; 19:1; 33:5; 104:24; Isa. 40:26; Rom. 1:20). However, as they let in light, so they are open windows for temptation to enter; thus sin perverts the use of the eyes (cf. Prov. 27:20; Eccl. 1:8; 4:8) and plunges people into dissatisfaction, covetousness, and idolatry (cf. Pss. 106:19–20; 115:4; Eccl. 5:10). Lot’s wife misused her eyes, and God killed her as a result (Gen. 19:17, 26). Achan plundered the forbidden goods he saw, which also led to his death (Josh. 7:18–26; 22:20). From his rooftop David saw Bathsheba bathing, subsequently committed adultery with her, and paid severely for his sin the remainder of his life (2 Sam. 11:1–5; 12:1–20; Ps. 51:1–17). Because of such potential consequences, it is imperative for believers to guard their eyes (cf. Job 31:1; Ps. 101:3; 119:37). Jesus’ graphic hyperbole underscores the necessity of avoiding the lust of the eyes.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matt. 5:27–29)
The third human element that provides an avenue into the soul for temptation is the boastful pride of life. Such pride is the arrogance (cf. 1 Sam. 2:3; 17:4–10, 41–45; Pss. 10:3; 75:4; Prov. 25:14; Jer. 9:23; Rom. 1:30; James 3:5; 4:16) that arguably motivates all other sin, including the lust of the flesh and eyes, as it seeks to elevate self above everyone else (cf. Ps. 10:2, 4; Prov. 26:12; Dan. 5:20; Luke 18:11–12; Rom. 12:3, 16). Pride is the corruption of the noblest parts of man’s essence (cf. Ps. 10:2–6, 11; Prov. 16:18–19), his rationality and spirit that were created for him by God (Gen. 1:26–27). Instead of accepting that reality with appropriate humility and gratitude to God, sinners exalt themselves and seek fulfillment in things that glorify the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:22–25).
In the flesh (sensuality), humanity functions according to the base desires of animals (cf. Ex. 32:1–9, 19–20, 25). With the eyes (covetousness), individuals seek to have more than others (cf. Luke 12:16–21). Through pride, humanity defies God and arrogantly attempts to dethrone the Sovereign of the universe (cf. Gen. 11:2–4). That threefold matrix of temptation, however, is more than a theological abstraction. Two of the most foundational and pivotal passages in Scripture, Genesis 3:1–7 and Luke 4:1–13, support concretely and historically how Satan has attacked via those avenues.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “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.” 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, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. (Gen. 3:1–7)
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’ ” And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ ” And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you to guard you,’ and, ‘on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:1–13)
In both cases Satan utilized the same threefold temptation to attack his target. Adam and Eve succumbed in Genesis 3:6, plunging the human race into sin: “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, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” The devil appealed to Eve’s desire for food (lust of the flesh), her desire to have something attractive (lust of the eyes), and her desire to have wisdom (pride of life). Adam accepted the same enticements without protest and ate the fruit his wife gave him, and Satan’s kingdom gained its initial foothold on earth.
In the second account, Satan used a similar approach as he sought to derail Jesus’ redemptive mission (cf. Matt. 16:21–23; John 13:21–30). He appealed to the Lord’s humanity (His hunger for bread), His eyes (His appreciation of the world’s splendor), and His perceived pride (His jumping from the temple’s pinnacle would have presumed on God’s protection and gained extra prestige when He landed safely). But all three of the Devil’s sinister approaches were unsuccessful as the Lord refuted each appeal by quoting Old Testament truth (Deut. 8:3; 6:13, 16; cf. 10:20).
It is not surprising, then, to see that the world, under Satan’s leadership, continues to assault sinners through those same three pathways of temptation. The Devil plays on the corruptibility of the fallen human heart to achieve the maximum impact for evil and chaos in the world. But believers are not slaves to the diabolical, corrupt world system (Rom. 6:5–14; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8–9; 1 John 4:1–6). Like their Lord who has redeemed them, they possess the ability to successfully resist the temptations of this world (cf. Rom. 8:1–13; James 4:7).[19]
[1] Yarbrough, R. W. (2017). 1 John. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1995). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Jn 2:16). Lexham Press.
[7] Hodges, Z. C. (2010). The First Epistle of John. In R. N. Wilkin (Ed.), The Grace New Testament Commentary (pp. 1201–1202). Grace Evangelical Society.
[9] Morris, L. L. (1994). 1 John. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1402). Inter-Varsity Press.
[18] Thatcher, T. (2006). 1 John. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 445–446). Zondervan.
[19] MacArthur, J. (2007). 1, 2, 3 John (pp. 85–90). Moody Publishers.
Disobeying God has consequences that often affect others, even into future generations. Listen to Truth For Life as Alistair Begg helps us connect the dots between hostile relationships in Esther’s story and disobedience several generations before.
“Knowing in yourselves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance” — Hebrews 10:34
This is well. Our substance here is very unsubstantial; there is no substance in it. But God has given us a promise of real estate in the gloryland, and that promise comes to our hearts with such full assurance of its certainty that we know in ourselves that we have an enduring substance there. Yes, “we have” it even now. They say, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” but we have our bird in the bush and in the hand, too. Heaven is even now our own. We have the title deed of it, we have the earnest of it, we have the firstfruits of it. We have heaven in price, in promise, and in principle; this we know not only by the hearing of the ear but “in ourselves.” Should not the thought of the better substance on the other side of Jordan reconcile us to present losses? Our spending money we may lose, but our treasure is safe. We have lost the shadows, but the substance remains, for our Savior lives, and the place which He has prepared for us abides. There is a better land, a better substance, a better promise; and all this comes to us by a better covenant; wherefore, let us be in better spirits, and say unto the LORD, “Every day will I bless thee; and praise thy name for ever and ever.”
Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. (2 Kings 22:19)
Many despise warning and perish. Happy is he who trembles at the Word of God. Josiah did so, and he was spared the sight of the evil which the Lord determined to send upon Judah because of her great sins. Have you this tenderness? Do you practice this self-humiliation? Then you also shall be spared in the evil day. God sets a mark upon the men that sigh and cry because of the sin of the times. The destroying angel is commanded to keep his sword in its sheath till the elect of God are sheltered: these are best known by their godly fear and their trembling at the Word of the Lord. Are the times threatening? Does infidelity advance with great strides, and do you dread national chastisement upon this polluted nation? Well you may. Yet rest in this promise: “Thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace: and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.” Better still, the Lord Himself may come, and then the days of our mourning shall be ended.
Is there someone in your life you’re struggling to love?
In other words, is there a person for whom—despite your good intentions, effort, and awareness of how you ought to act—it just seems impossible to muster any affection? Knowing that we should love doesn’t automatically make us adequate for the task. However, being a Christian opens the door for God to enable us by pouring His love into our hearts through His indwelling Spirit (Romans 5:5).
1 John 4:19 says,
“We love, because He first loved us.”
What a relief to know that love is a gift from God and not something we must manufacture within ourselves. What’s more, the love He produces in us is not just for others but also for God Himself. He is aware that we have no resources within ourselves to love Him unless He enables us through His Holy Spirit.
The Lord doesn’t give us a command without providing whatever obedience requires. When we trust Christ as Savior, we receive not only forgiveness of our sins and adoption into God’s family but also the ability to love as He does. In fact, His love in and through us is evidence that we are born of God and know Him (John. 4:7). As we submit, Christ’s life is displayed in us through selfless, sacrificial care for others.
Although the Lord has richly poured His love into our hearts, we have the responsibility to grow in it. Every unlovable person in our life is an opportunity to let God teach us to love (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10). And every time we learn to know Him more intimately through His Word, our adoration of God increases.
Living As Normal In The Shadow Of Impending Catastrophe Much of the world lives in a split reality — divided between normalcy and despair. Most adults understand that at any given time, there are any number of possible calamities bearing down on the earth. Nuclear threats from Russia and/or China could mean disaster tomorrow. Economic meltdown could be only days away. A new plague could hit with more speed and greater impact than the last one.
The Rapture: The Future Tense Of The Gospel And A Message The Church Desperately Needs …Confused believers hear that they will surely die rather than meet Jesus in the air, which directly contradicts the New Testament in passages such as 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The Apostle Paul believed there would be many saints alive at the time of the Rapture, but many preachers today disagree with him on this matter.
Tornadoes leave a trail of destruction in southern Plains, U.S. Several destructive tornadoes touched down in southern Plains on February 26, 2023, resulting in severe damage and power outages. The National Weather Service reported multiple tornadoes throughout the day, with winds of over 177 km/h (110 mph) causing significant damage in Texas.
THOUSANDS Of Canadian Children Are DYING SUDDENLY! Fully Vaxxed & BOOSTED Kids Unexpectedly DROP DEAD Innocent Canadian children have died in the thousands because of the death vaccine…80% of Canadian children have been double vaxxed. Provinces are no longer reporting the number of flu deaths to conceal the surge in vaccine-related fatalities. A murderous regime from around the world has colluded together to kill our children!
Virginia Moves to Ban China From Buying Farmland Virginia will ban foreign adversaries, including China, from buying agricultural land in the commonwealth after legislators in the House of Delegates and Senate recently approved versions of the proposal and sent the measure to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin for his expected signature. The ban would be retroactively effective from Jan. 1.
Satanic Video Game Allows Players to “Activate Blood Alters” and ‘Sacrifice Friends to Demons’ Satanic subliminal messages in video games are no longer hidden. They are out in the open. Video game news site Push Square reported a new game called Deceit 2 will allow players to sacrifice their friends to demons and activate blood alters in order to “tear down the veil of reality”.
Not just ivermectin: New FDA authority to ban off-label uses alarms doctors Doctors are speaking out against a new law that arguably paves the way for the FDA to prohibit treatments for purposes it hasn’t expressly authorized, going far beyond highly politicized subjects such as treating COVID-19 with ivermectin.
The Beatitudes From The Sermon On The Mount Reveal What Life Will Be Like During The Millennial Reign Of King Jesus On The Throne Of David You can take any part of the Bible, Old or New Testament, and find some kind of a spiritual application you can make from it. But when it comes to doctrinal teachings, something that can be applied to born again Christians who are part of the Body of Christ, living in the Church Age, this is where Paul’s command in 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJB) to ‘rightly divide’ the scripture is so very important. The Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount are one of those great passages that have much spiritual benefit to souls living in the Church Age, but cannot be applied doctrinally as you will soon see.
Doctors sue Japanese government for requiring national ID to access medical care The Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association has filed a lawsuit challenging a Ministry of Health order that will require people to use a national identification card instead of health insurance cards to access medical care. The national identification card can be used in the form of a physical ID card or digital ID.
Disobeying God has consequences that often affect others, even into future generations. Listen to Truth For Life as Alistair Begg helps us connect the dots between hostile relationships in Esther’s story and disobedience several generations before.
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