‘Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and its desire, but he who does the will of God abides for ever.'
This is possibly to be seen as continuing the address to the young men, although also applying to all. It is they who will be most vulnerable to it. It is not a direction not to love mankind, for God's general benevolence was towards mankind (John 3:16) and the need to love one's neighbour was a well established principle (Mark 12:30-33; Romans 13:8-10). Rather the world that is in mind is that which lies in the Evil One (1 John 5:19), that which he rules and controls (Matthew 4:8-9) and deceives. These young men have overcome the Evil One. And it is by means of the activities of the world without God that he will try to win them back. Therefore they must beware.
The ‘world' that is in mind is the world and its ways, its aims, its ambitions, its desires and its pleasures. That is what they are to beware of. It is not to avoid the world totally, for they must live in it, but to beware of loving it, of being caught up in it and its ways. The Christian is to be in the world but not of the world, salt which counters the world's putrefaction, light which serves to counter the world's darkness.
So having concentrated on what they are to set their hearts on, the knowing of the Father, the knowing of the One ‘Who is from the beginning, the knowing of the Word of God, the receiving of forgiveness with all its implications of walking in the light, John now turns their thoughts to what they should not seek to ‘know', the world and its ways. Indeed love for the world in this sense would demonstrate that they neither loved the Father, nor were filled with the Father's love, for it is contrary to all God's requirements.
‘The love of the Father is not in him.' The Father's love is directed at His children (1 John 3:1) and enters into them, and the result is that they love what He loves. And what the world loves is not what He loves. The world is going in a different direction. The Father loves righteousness, truth, purity, selflessness, consideration for others, compassion. This is the opposite of what the world loves. And thus the one who loves the world reveals by that fact that the Father's love is not in him. We cannot love God and mammon,
And why is this? Because what the world rejoices in and craves is the exact opposite to what is of the Father. It craves power, control, position, satisfaction of its desires, illicit sex, greed, gluttony, wealth and more wealth, continuing self-satisfaction, earthly glory, none of which are of the Father, and it grows more and more careless as to how it obtains them. For its aims are totally selfish, and, while even sometimes seeming noble, regardless of God. There is little in them of true self-giving. It controls and manipulates. It revels while others starve. It is the world which is God-dismissing, which takes little notice of God's will, indeed scoffs at it.
The meaning of the loving of the world is defined in three ways, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the vain glory of life. The first signifies the misuse of wine, wealth, women and song and other human pleasures, where human desires have become prominent and require satisfaction (in John ‘flesh' signifies being human rather than being particularly sinful - John 1:12; John 1:14; John 3:6), the second the glittering prizes of wealth and honour and fame and position, where the eye is fixed on earthly things and earthly goals, and the third the desire to control and govern in their own name, to be someone, and yet all for their own purposes. Thus they make gods of pleasure, prestige and power. Such attitudes are the direct opposite of all that God is. They symbolise the direct rejection of God's requirements and law, for the point is that they control men's decisions and direct men's lives and lead them into every kind of wickedness, and every form of manipulation, all of which is contrary to God's commandments. The thought of loving God and their neighbour as themselves is the last thing that they have in mind.
But, warns John, these things are not only unsatisfying, they are passing. The world and its desires, as will darkness (1 John 2:8), will inevitably pass away, sometimes more quickly than we anticipate. They are temporary and not lasting. In contrast those who know God and walk with Him achieve what is permanent. They seek what God wills. They use their wealth for good and for God so as to gain treasure in Heaven and not status on earth (Luke 16:9). They look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18). They take ‘pride' in pleasing God. And he who thus seeks and does the will of God will continue for ever. And the logical contrast is that those who love and follow ‘the world' will not live for ever. By their ways they forfeit eternal life.
‘He who does the will of God abides for ever.' In John's Gospel it is Jesus who repeatedly states that He has come to do the will of the Father who sent Him (John 4:34; John 5:30; John 6:38). This involved considering heavenly aims and not earthly aims, and yet doing so in a way that was very much a part of this earth, and resulted in Jesus' obedience to the will of God in fulfilling His moral demands and even to the point of death. In the same way in 1 John the author stresses obedience to the will of God by His people, and this by walking and conducting their lives even as He walked (1 John 2:6). Thus while their eyes are to be fixed on heavenly things and not earthly things, and they are citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20) and are to seek to further Heaven's interests and not to be passionately taken up with their own interests in the world, they are to do so as people living in the world. There is no though of withdrawing from the world or losing touch with the world. The will of God involves right moral behaviour in the world.
‘Abides for ever.' In John 8:35 Jesus affirmed that the ‘son' remains in the household forever, and in John 12:34 declared that the Messiah will remain forever. Thus those who dwell in God's household and who follow the Messiah will also remain forever. Compare John 8:51, “I tell you the solemn truth, if anyone obeys my teaching, he will never see death.” Thus the one who is doing the will of God has undying life, and by his obedience which reveals his true faith may be assured that he will live forever (1 John 5:13).
The three fold description of the ways of the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the vainglory of life compare interestingly with the temptation in the Garden of Eden. ‘The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (as one of the elohim).' Again the contrast was with the will of God. The choice was obedience to God or sampling that which while attractive was forbidden because of its effects. The same parallel comes in the temptations of Jesus. The desire for bread by a hungry man, the seeing of all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in a moment of time, and finally the vainglorious hurling of Himself from the Temple to demonstrate that He was the favoured of God. And again the contrast was with the will of God. Where Man first failed, Jesus triumphed, and John now calls on His people to triumph in the same way.