In It, But Not of It. Huh?

Doesn’t Jesus, at times, say things in the Gospel writings that make you scratch your head and say, “What?” One of those verses for me is found in John 15:18-21, where he’s telling His disciples,

“If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose  you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name because they do not know the one who sent me.”

Holy Bible. John 15:18-21

I imagine the disciples grimly glancing at one another thinking, “Is Rabbi losing it? Do not belong to the world? Chose us out of the world? Jesus, we’re standing right here in your midst, in this place? What are you talking about?” This is a valid thought because I too questioned Jesus’ words here until I dug deeper into the context of the text.

Unbeknownst to the disciples, Jesus was preparing them for his departure and the culmination of the crises he was about to endure. In other words, events for Jesus and they were about to “hit the fan.” The Matthew Henry Commentary (1706) confirms this by stating, “It is generally agreed that Christ’s discourse in this and the next chapter was at the close of the last supper, the night in which he was betrayed, and it is a continued discourse, not interrupted as that in the foregoing chapter was; and what he chooses to discourse of is very pertinent to the present sad occasion of a farewell sermon.”

The word “world” used here is a Greek word, kosmos. Walter Elwell (1997) explains that “The biblical concept of the world falls into five categories: the physical world, the human world, the moral world, the temporal world, and the coming world. Most scholars agree that here, “world” refers to “the Moral World, [which] includes people indifferent or hostile to God, the God-hostile environment generally, and in the widest sense, corruption and evil summed up under the general term “the world… If the people of the world can be spoken of as “the world” in a neutral sense, “the world” can also refer to the subclass of indifferent and hostile people who reject God and his ways… Because of the world’s hostility to God, it is full of corruption (2 Peter 1:4 ) and stands as a symbol of corruption. One cannot be friendly with the evil world and love God at the same time (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17 ).”

Additionally, Thayer and Smith (n.d.) in The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon explain kosmos as, “denoting an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government; the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ… world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly… the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, etc., which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ.” It goes on to suggest how kosmos “is probably from the base komizo (kom-id’-zo), a verb meaning, to care for, take care of, provide for; to take up or carry away in order to care for and preserve; to carry, bear, bring to, to carry away for one’s self, to carry off what is one’s own, to bring back.” These definitions suggest how the order, arrangement, affairs, world systems, ways of governing or establishing ownership, and its people who are indifferent and hostile to God constitute the world Jesus has called us out of. When thinking further on His saying of being “not of the world,” understand the word “of” expresses the relationship between a part and a whole. The prepositional phrase “of the world” then clearly shows us the view Christ wants us to have regarding our living here on earth–in the sense of operating in its way, toward its agenda, we are no longer a part. The role Christians who follow Christ now play in the world in relationship to the whole, in fact, should be quite unique, different, and odd or foreign as we show forth God.

Interestingly, Jesus equates the disciples with Himself and the hatred they would experience because of their association with Him. They needed to shift their thinking from seeing themselves, not as comrades with the world but as opponents to it. Jesus did not regard them from a worldly point of view (2 Cor. 5:16-17). Isn’t that great!  John Gill’s Exposition on the Bible (n.d.) confirms how, “After our Lord had signified how much he loved his disciples and what great things he had done for them; he faithfully acquaints them with the world’s hatred of them, and what they must expect to meet with from that quarter, and says many things to fortify their minds against it…” So, you see, this disassociation with the world has everything to do with our (now) following Jesus. Just as they hated Him, He exhorts, they will hate them.  Is this happening today in Christ’s Church, or are we “in” with the world and being treated well? Stop complaining about how they’re treating you on the job; there’s something in your spirit that bothers them. Don’t worry about not being invited to join the lunchtime group; your conversation doesn’t blend in with theirs. Rejoice, Jesus says here. Isn’t that counterintuitive to the world? I wonder how many of those kids and young adults are Christians, who are providing interviews about the bullying and rejection they’re experiencing on social media or at school; they may not even recognize it’s because of Jesus in them.

Gill explains this further, saying, “If ye were of the world,” the text says, meaning, “Belong[ing] to the world, were of the same spirit and principles with it, and pursued the same practices. But because ye are not of the world, once they were, being born into it, brought up in it, had their conversation among the men of it, were themselves men of carnal, worldly, principles and practices; but being called by Christ, and becoming his disciples, they were no more of it; and as he was not of the world, so they were not of it, though they were in it. Jesus goes on to say, but I have chosen you out of the world: which designs not the eternal election of them, but the separation of them from the rest of the world in the effectual calling, and the designation of them to his work and service. Therefore the world hateth you, and since it was upon that account, they had no reason to be uneasy, but rather to rejoice; seeing this was evidence of their not belonging to the world, and of being chosen and called by Christ out of it.”

We will conclude here and continue this discussion next month, as it is a lot to digest and meditate upon. Surely, this is one of Jesus’s controversial sayings that some may have never heard taught. Many may find it difficult to accept and live by because it goes directly to the core of the state of affairs of the world we live in. It clearly shows there should not be an expectation of comradery with it or acceptance Christians should seek from it because it is opposed to God; we should expect hatred and trouble to come for what we believe and preach. This means we must scrutinize things in our world and be discerning of people and philosophies to see if they align with God’s nature or point of view. We shouldn’t just jump in and join social, political, or cultural marches, movements, or protests. We can’t always agree with and support organizations that promote a way of life that is contrary to God’s way. Finally, these scriptures settle, for me, how because of my acceptance of Christ in my life, He no longer sees me from a worldly perspective. Jesus sees me up there as seated right with Him in the heavenly realm. If He sees me in this way, He treats me in this way. So, too, should we view and treat our fellow believers. Wow!

Be blessed until next time. 🙂

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References

Elwell, Walter A. (1997). Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. “Entry for ‘World.'”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible (n.d.). John 17. Retrieved from https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/john-17-13.html

Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete). (1706). John 15. Retrieved from https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/john/15.html.

Thayer and Smith (n.d.). “The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon.” Greek Lexicon entry for ‘Komizo.’