The World in the Gospel of John

The World in the Gospel of John

John 3:16–17, 19

Excerpt

In the Gospel of John, the world is the object of God’s salvation in Christ (3:16; 12:47). Moreover, it is his creation through Christ (1:3, 10). Yet the world apart from Christ stands under judgment (16:8-11), hating Jesus’ followers, who have been separated from the world and are not of the world (17:16). The dualism between God, Christ, and the disciples, on the one hand, and the world, on the other, is described in terms of a sharp antinomy. Disciples are urged to have nothing to do with the world, especially not to love it (1 John 2:15-17). At the same time, Jesus has explicitly not prayed for disciples to be taken out of the world (John 17:15). Even in the Fourth Gospel, the world continues to be God’s, in creation and salvation. It is the same world that Matthew has in view as he portrays the risen Jesus sending his disciples to make disciples of all nations (28:19) or Luke as Jesus informs the disciples that they shall be witnesses from Jerusalem to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). 

Achtemeier, Paul J., Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature.Harper’s Bible dictionary 1985 : 1142. Print.