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← J.C. Ryle

1 João 2

J.C. Ryle · Citado em PreceptAustin

1 João 2:15

Ryle - Happy, indeed, is that Christian who can be in the world — and yet not of the world; who can do his duty in it — and yet not be conformed to it; who can pass through it unmoved by … its smiles or its frowns, its flattery or its enmity, its open opposition or its hurtful ridicule, its sweets or its bitters, its gold or its sword! When I think what the world is, and see what harm it has done and is doing to souls, I do not wonder that Scripture warns against loving it. Resolve to be very thorough, very decided, very watchful, very careful about the state of your soul. (In the world--and yet not of the world) (See also John Angell James' An inundation of worldliness) John Angell James - Christ is … the supreme object of a true Christian's love, the chief source of his felicity, the highest end of his life. The first object of a Christian's desire, pursuit and expectation—is the salvation of his soul. Our great business on earth—is to fit for heaven. Our main concern in time—is to prepare for eternity. The world is, indeed, a very dangerous foe to the believer. To very, very many, it is the most destructive one. They are not so likely to be subdued by 'open vice' as by worldly-mindedness. Worldliness is the sin of the age, and has deeply infected the church of Christ. Puritan preacher Thomas Watson (ca 1620-1686) warns us about the deadening effect of the love of the world on our spiritual health by asking a question… How may we keep up the briskness and fervor of grace, in times of apostasy? Answer: Let us beware of having our hearts (cp Pr 4:23-note) too much linked to the world. The world damps zeal—as earth chokes the fire. We are bid to love our enemies (Mt 5:44-note); but the world is such an enemy as we must not love, "Do not love the world or anything in the world." (1 John 2:15). The world bewitches with her blandishments (allurements, enticements, charms), and kills with her silver darts! He who is a Demas—will be a Judas (cp 2Ti 4:10+, Jn 6:71, Jn 12:4, Jn 13:2, Jn 18:2,5, Lk 22:48, Mt 27:3)! A lover of the world will, for a piece of money, betray a holy cause, and make shipwreck of a good conscience (1Ti 1:19). (The Great Gain of Godliness) I do not say lay aside the use of the world— but the love of the world, Thomas Watson in his exhortation regarding our heavenly race (cp He 12:1+; He 12:-) observes that the world is "a golden weight which has hindered many and made them lose their race (cp 1Co 9:24, 25, 26, 27, 2Ti 2:5+). "Demas has deserted me, because he loved this present world!" 2Ti 4:10+. So far as the world is a weight, throw it off. I do not say lay aside the use of the world—but the love of the world, 1Jn 2:15. When the golden dust of the world is blown in men's eyes, it blinds them so that they cannot see their race. (The Heavenly Race) Henry Law - The world ("Gleanings from the Book of Life") The world forges chains to bind its captives. The world is confessedly the enemy of God- "The friendship of the world is enmity with God." The exhortation is clear, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15 The power of this tyrant is mainly in its fascinating arts. The world coaxes, it entices, it allures. The world presents attractive baits. The world shows its votaries decked in enchanting guise. The world presents goblets filled to the brim with intoxicating draughts. The world points to the merry laugh and noisy revelries of its infatuated crowds. The world uses ridicule and scorn to deter those who venture to prefer another path. Frightful are its triumphs! How many have fallen slain at its feet! How many throng the cells of hell, enticed and ruined by its fascinations! From this enemy Jesus makes the believer free. He sends His Holy Spirit, and then the enslaving chain is broken. He tears the deceiving mask from the world's features, and shows its native hideousness. He exposes … its hollow insipidity, its utter emptiness, its thorough insufficiency to give real peace. The believer sees that all its ways lead to disappointment and to shame. He mourns the folly of ever yielding to its poor fallacies Congregational preacher John Angell James (1785-1859) writes that for believers the antidote for the love of the world is our love for Christ (cp 2Co 5:14-note)… Christ is… the supreme object of a true Christian's love, the chief source of his felicity, the highest end of his life. The first object of a Christian's desire, pursuit and expectation—is the salvation of his soul. Our great business on earth—is to fit (ourselves) for heaven (cp 1Ti 4:7, 8-note). Our main concern in time—is to prepare for eternity (cp Eph 5:16 KJV-note)… The world is, indeed, a very dangerous foe to the believer. To very, very many, it is the most destructive one. They are not so likely to be subdued by 'open vice' as by worldly-mindedness… Worldliness is the sin of the age, and has deeply infected the church of Christ… "If any man loves the world," says the apostle, in a passage which ought to ring through all Christendom, and make the ears of millions tingle, and their hearts to palpitate with fear and alarm—"If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." What is the world? Not merely open sin and vice, profligacy, idolatry, infidelity, heresy! Oh no, the world contains many things besides the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life—things more decent, more innocent, more rational, more commendable than these vile objects. Everything on earth, however fair, laudable and excellent in itself, everything besides God, is the world. Your business is the world, your family is the world; your house and comfortable home are the world, the wife of your bosom, the children whom God has given you, are the world. "What! then," you exclaim, "are we not to love these?" Yes, in proper degrees—but not more than God. You are not to seek from them your highest happiness. You are not to be more solicitous to secure them than heaven. It is of a 'supreme love' the apostle speaks. How plain is this from our Lord's exposition and summary of the law, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your mind, and soul, and strength." (Mk 12:30) How still more explicit from the other words of Christ, "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Mt 10:37. Christian professors, there is need to have these solemn, yet righteous, demands sent with a voice of thunder into your places of business and scenes of domestic comfort. You have need to be told that all this engrossing solicitude about business; all this eager haste to be rich; all this ambition to add house to house, and field to field; all this taste for elegance, show and fashion; all this competition for name and fame, which leads to a neglect of salvation, to departure from God, to indifference to heaven, is the love of the world, which is incompatible with the love of the Father; and not less so that supreme and exclusive concern about domestic enjoyment, that taste for fashionable amusements, or even that more refined and simple love of home-bred delights, which still leaves out God, salvation, heaven and eternity. Here, here, I repeat, is your peril. WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS Here the enemy with which you have to do battle. It is not vice, I say, it is not profligacy, it is worldly-mindedness. Do we not see mere professors throwing themselves wholly—body, soul, and spirit … into their trade, into the cherished objects of their ambition, into their entire devotedness to a worldly life. In these things, and for them, they live! These things … bind round and overgrow their heart, stifle all serious thoughts, smother all heavenly desires… The road that leads to destruction is broad enough to comprise many parallel paths. And there is one path crowded with professors of religion, walking in company, with cheerful appearance, and elegant attire, and elastic step—but still walking to perdition! Oh, yes, there is a way 'through the church'—a decent, flowery, down-hill way to eternal destruction, and there are many who take that road! (CHRISTIAN HOPE) Every intentional sin will be to your happiness as water to the fire. It will quench your joy. Puritan theologian Richard Baxter (1615-1691) in his chapter Hindrances to a Heavenly Life on Earth warns that "LIVING IN ANY KNOWN SIN is a great impediment to a heavenly life. If this be your situation, I dare say that heaven and your soul are strangers. These beams in your eye (Mt 7:4+) will not let you look to heaven. They will be a cloud between you and God. When you attempt to study eternity and gather refreshment from the life to come, your sin will look you in the face and say, "These things do not belong to you." How can you take comfort from heaven when you take so much pleasure in the lusts of the flesh? Every intentional sin will be to your happiness as water to the fire. It will quench your joy. It will disable you, so that you can no more ascend in divine meditation than a bird can fly with clipped wings. We surely need to pray daily, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Mt. 6:13-note).....AN EARTHLY MIND is another hindrance to be avoided. When the heavenly believer is rejoicing in hope of the glory to come, perhaps you are blessing yourself with thoughts of worldly prosperity. You are rejoicing in hopes of earthly success. When he is comforting his soul with the views of Christ, of angels and saints, with whom he shall live forever; you are comforting yourself with your money, and in thinking of the advancement of your family. Your earthly mind may coexist with church membership and formal religious activities, but it cannot coexist with heavenly contemplation. Keep worldly matters as loose as a light jacket, that you may take it off whenever you can; but let God and heaven be next to your heart. Ever remember, that "the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (Jas 4:4-note). "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1John 2:15). This is plain speaking, and happy is he who faithfully receives it. (From his book THE SAINTS EVERLASTING REST) THOMAS WATSON ON THE WORLD The Puritan writer Thomas Watson (1669) has these words regarding the world… It is a part of our Christian profession—to fight under Christ's banner—against the world. The world is a flattering enemy. It shows its golden apple. It is given to some—as a snare. Take heed of being drowned in the world's luscious delights! It must be a strong brain that can bear heady wine. He had need have a great deal of wisdom and grace, who knows how to maintain a great estate. Riches often send up intoxicating fumes, which make men's heads giddy with pride. It is hard to climb up the hill of God—with too many golden weights! The world shows its two breasts of pleasure and profit —and many fall asleep with the breast in their mouth! The world never kisses us—except with an intention to betray us. The world is a silken halter. The world is no friend to grace; it chokes our love for heavenly things—the earth puts out the fire. Naturally we love the world. Too many are wedded to their money—they live together as man and wife. O let us take heed of being entangled in this pleasing snare! Many who have escaped the rock of scandalous sins—yet have sunk in the world's golden quicksands! The sin is not in using the world—but in loving it. "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1John 2:15) Believers are called out of the world. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." (John 17:16). They are in the world—but not of it. A true saint is crucified in his affections, to the world, (Gal. 6:14). He is dead to the honors and pleasures of it. What delight does a dead man take in pictures or music? Jesus Christ gave Himself "to redeem us from this present evil world." (Galatians 1:4) Living fish swim against the stream. We must swim against the world, else we shall be carried down the stream, and fall into the dead sea of hell! The world is DECEITFUL. Our Savior calls it, "The deceitfulness of riches." (Mt 13:22, cp Lk 8:14, Mk 4:18,19). The world promises happiness—but gives weariness. It promises us Rachel—but gives us bleary-eyed Leah (Ed: Her name means "weary")! The world promises to satisfy our desires—but only increases them. The world gives poisoned pills—but wraps them in sugar! The world is POLLUTING. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: … to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." It is called filthy lucre—because it makes men so filthy! Men will damn themselves to get the world. Ahab would have Naboth's vineyard, though he swam to it in blood. The world is PERISHING. "The world and its desires pass away." (1Jn 2:17-note) The world is like a flower—which withers while we are smelling it! (Excerpt from Watson's book The Christian Soldier) See A W Pink's NONCONFORMITY Thomas Watson warns believers that… We may hold the world as a posy in our hand—but it must not lie too near our heart (cp Pr 4:23-note)! We may use it as an inn where we take a meal—but it must not be our home. Perhaps these secular things steal away the heart too much. Godly men are sometimes weighed down with an overabundance of temporal things, and drunk with the luscious delights of prosperity. And having spotted their silver wings of grace, and much defaced God's image by rubbing it against the earth—the Lord, to recover them from this, hides His face in a cloud. This eclipse has good effects—it darkens all the glory of the world, and causes it to disappear. (The WORST things) John Mason spares on words warning that… If the world is our portion here, hell will be our portion hereafter. Be not proud of riches but afraid of them, lest they be as silver bars to barricade the way to heaven! As you love your souls, beware of the world! It has slain its thousands and tens of thousands! What ruined Lot's wife? The world! (Lk 17:32, 33, Ge 19:17, 26, Lk 17:32) What ruined Judas? The world! (Jn 12:4, 5, 6, Mt 26:14, 15, 16, Mt 27:5, Ac 1:16, 17, 18, 19, 20) What ruined Simon Magus? The world! (Ac 8:18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24) What ruined Demas? The world! (2Ti 4:10+) (John Mason's Spiritual Sayings) Thomas Watson asks us… Consider how UNWORTHY it is for a Christian to have his heart set upon the world. It is unworthy of his soul. The soul is dignified with honor, it is a noble coin that has a divine impress stamped upon it; it is capable of communion with God and angels; now it is too far below a man to spend the affections and energies of this heaven-born soul, upon drossy things. It is as if one should embroider sackcloth with gold, or set a diamond in clay. It is unworthy of his profession. 'Are you seeking great things for yourself?" Jer 45:5. What! you Baruk? you who are a godly man? a Levite? Oh, how sordid is it for him that has his hope in heaven—to have his heart upon the earth! It is just as if a king should leave his throne—and follow the plough; or as if a man should leave a golden mine—to dig in a gravel pit. The lapwing has a crown on her head—and yet feeds on dung. A fit emblem of those who have a crown of profession on their head—yet feed with eagerness on these things below. Christians should deny themselves—but not undervalue themselves; they should be humble—but not base. If Alexander would not exercise at the Olympics, it being too far below him; shall they then who are the holy seed, the heirs of glory—disparage themselves by too eager pursuit after these contemptible things? "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Col 3:1-note, Col 3:2-note. (A Christian on Earth, Still in Heaven) You can't love God and the world by James A. La Belle "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." James 4:4 It is my firm conviction that worldliness is destroying the church of Jesus Christ. The church is more and more becoming . . . like the world, indistinguishable from the world, pursuers of the world, lovers of the world. Our relationship with Jesus Christ is hardly more than an appendage or appendix to our busy, worldly lives. We are no longer distinguished as separate, consecrated, pilgrims, sojourners, or holy unto the Lord; instead, we have . . . eyes full of the world, hearts in love with the world, ears attentive to the world, lips filled with worldly speech, hands filled with worldly things, feet comfortable with worldly paths, and bodies no longer ready to depart and be with Jesus since that would mean giving up the world. There is a heaven to be won and a hell to be shunned, and all those who have no visible, practical, transforming, determinative, self-denying, world-abhorring love for Jesus Christ — will be anathema at His coming! THE SECRET SIN OF LOVING THE WORLD Joseph Alleine (1671) in his famous treatise Alarm to the Unconverted classified a predominant love of the world with his list of 12 "secret sins" (secret sins on earth are open scandal in heaven). Let us all read Alleine's words with open hearts and minds, and ask God to search us and know our hearts, trying us and knowing our anxious thoughts, that His Spirit might point out anything in us that is offensive to God and then lead us in the path of everlasting life, now and unto the day of eternity in Christ Jesus, Amen. (cp Ps 139:23, 24-notes) SECRET sinners. And now I imagine many will begin to bless themselves, and think all is well, because they cannot be reproached with these grosser evils. But I must tell you that there is another sort of unsanctified people, who carry their mark not in their foreheads—but more secretly and covertly. These frequently deceive themselves and others, and pass for good Christians, when they are all the while unsound at heart. Many pass undiscovered until death and judgment bring all to light. These self-deceivers seem to come even to heaven's gate with confidence of their admission, and yet are turned away at last (Mt 7:22-note). I beseech you deeply to lay to heart and firmly retain this awakening consideration—that multitudes perish by the hand of some secret sin, that is not only hidden from others—but from lack of observing their own hearts—is hidden even from themselves. A man may be free from open pollutions, and yet die at last by the hand of some unobserved iniquity; and there are these twelve hidden sins, through which souls go down by numbers into the chambers of eternal death. These you must search carefully for, and take them as black marks wherever they are found, revealing a graceless and unconverted state; and as you love your lives, read carefully with a holy jealousy of yourselves, lest you should be the people concerned… The predominant love of the world... is the sure evidence of an unsanctified heart. (Secret Sin #8) The predominant love of the world. This is the sure evidence of an unsanctified heart. 'If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him' (1 John 2:15). But how often does this sin lurk under the fair cover of profession. Yes, such a power of deceit is there in this sin that many times, when everybody else can see the man's worldliness and covetousness, he cannot see it himself—but has so many excuses and pretenses for his eagerness after the world, that he blinds his own eyes and perishes in his self-deceit! How many professing Christians are there, with whom the world has more of their hearts and affections than Christ, 'who mind earthly things', and thereby are evidently after the flesh, and likely to end in destruction (Ro 8:5+; Phil 3:19+). Yet ask these men, and they will tell you confidently they prize Christ above all; for they do not see their own earthly-mindedness for lack of a strict observance of the workings of their own hearts. Did they but carefully search, they would quickly see that their greatest satisfaction is in the world, and that their greatest care and main endeavor are to get and secure the world—which are the certain signs of an unconverted sinner. May the professing part of the world take earnest heed lest they perish by the hand of this sin unobserved. Men may be, and often are, kept off from Christ as effectually by the inordinate love of lawful comforts, as by the most wicked lives. (Take a moment to read all 12 of the secret sins - Alarm to the Unconverted) Love not the world: its smiles, its hopes May lure you on; But cup of joy, and dream of bliss Will soon be gone. Those dreams will fade, as mist in morn, Those hopes will die; And in that cup of seeming joy Deep sorrows lie. Love not the world: it, with its lusts, Must pass away; Its pleasures sweet, its hopes so bright, Must all decay. Its glories, too, must have an end, Must pale and die, And all its empty bubbles burst; They're Satan's lie. But he who does the will of God, Will forever live, And drink the streams of Heaven's delights, Which Christ will give. He'll weep no more on that blessed shore: No marvel this, For joys well up, and fill his cup; Naught, naught but bliss. Dear fellow pilgrim in the path, Look up! Look on! There waits above, a home of love, Where Christ is gone. And pleasures bright, in courts of light Shall ever be, Throughout a happy, long and blessed Eternity. J. C. Philpot in his devotional Daily Portions has the following entry on 1Jn 2:15… "Do not love the world or anything in the world." This is a very wide sentence. It stretches forth a hand of vast grasp. It places us, as it were, upon a high mountain, such as the Lord stood upon when tempted of Satan, and it says to us, "Look around you--now there is not one of these things which you must love." It takes us, again, to the streets of a crowded city; it shows us shop windows filled with objects of beauty and ornament; it points us to all the wealth and grandeur of the rich and noble, and everything that the human heart admires and loves. And having thus set before us, as Satan did before our Lord upon the high mountain, the kingdoms of the world, it says, not as he did, "All this will I give you," but, "All this I take from you. None of these things are for you. You must not love one of these glittering baubles; you must not touch one of them, or scarcely look at them, lest, as with Achan (Josh 7:20, 21, 25), the golden wedge and the Babylonish garment should tempt you to take them and hide them in your tent." The precept takes us through the world as a mother takes a child through a bazaar, with playthings and ornaments on every side, and says, "You must not touch one of these things." In some such similar way the precept would, as it were, take us through the world, and when we had looked at all its playthings and its ornaments, it would sound in our ears, "Don't touch any one of them; they are not yours; not for you to enjoy, not for you even to covet." Can anything less than this be intended by those words which should be ever sounding in the ears of the children of God, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world?" J. C. Philpot. Daily Portions ILLUSTRATION - Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. An eagle, flying over a valley of ice, discovered a carcass, upon which it descended, and feasted so long, that its wings became frozen to the ice. In vain it struggled to mount upward: a vivid emblem of worldly desires. If you will go to the banks of a little stream, and watch the flies that come to bathe in it, you will notice, that, while they plunge their bodies in the water, they keep their wings high out of the water; and, after swimming about a little while, they fly away with their wings unwet through the sunny air. Now, that is a lesson for us. Here we are immersed in the cares and business of the world; but let us keep the wings of our soul, our faith, and our love, out of the world, that, with these unclogged, we may be ready to take our flight to heaven. John

1 João 2:17

Ryle - The possession of the whole world, and all that it contains — will never make a person happy. Its pleasures are false and deceptive! Its riches, rank, and honors, have no power to satisfy the heart! So long as we have not got them — they glitter, sparkle, and seem desirable. The moment we have them — we find that they are empty bubbles, and cannot make us feel content. And, worst of all, when we possess this world's good things to the utmost bound of our desire — we cannot keep them! Death comes in and separates us from all our property forever! Naked we came upon earth, and naked we go forth — and of all our possessions, we can carry nothing with us. Such is the world, which occupies the whole attention of thousands! Such is the world, for the sake of which millions are every year destroying their souls! (We find that they are empty bubbles!) Passing away (3855) (parago from para = beside, by + ago = lead) means literally to pass alongside or to pass by. Thayer writes that parago has two senses in the NT (1). transitive, (cf. para = beside); a. to lead past, lead by. b. to lead aside, mislead; to lead away. c. to lead to; to lead forth, bring forward. (2). intransitive, a. to pass by, go past (Mt 20:30, Mk 2:14, 15:21, Mk 1:16) b. to depart, go away: (Jn 8:59) Metaphorically, to pass away, disappear: (1Co 7:31, Ps 144:5, in the passive voice with this same sense 1Jn 2:8, 17) Thus in the present context parago means essentially to go out of existence or cease to exist. John used parago with this same sense earlier in this letter writing "On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining." (1Jn 2:8) Parago - 10 uses in the NT… Matthew 9:9 And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he rose, and followed Him. Matthew 9:27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" NET Bible note: Have mercy on us is a request for healing. It is not owed to the men. They simply ask for God's kind grace. There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42–49]). (NET Bible) Matthew 20:30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" Mark 1:16+ And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. NET Bible note: This is a parenthetical comment by the author. Mark 2:14+ And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he rose and followed Him. NET Bible note: The tax booth was a booth located on the edge of a city or town to collect taxes for trade. There was a tax booth in Capernaum, which was on the trade route from Damascus to Galilee and the Mediterranean. The “taxes” were collected on produce and goods brought into the area for sale, and were a sort of “sales tax” paid by the seller but obviously passed on to the purchaser in the form of increased prices (L&N 57.183). It was here that Jesus met Levi (also named Matthew [see Matt 9:9]) who was ultimately employed by the Romans, though perhaps more directly responsible to Herod Antipas. It was his job to collect taxes for Rome and he was thus despised by Jews who undoubtedly regarded him as a traitor. (NET Bible) Mark 15:21 And they pressed into service (conscripted) a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross. NET Bible note: Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Mt 27:26, Mk 15:15, Jn 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently He was unable to bear the cross Himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. (NET Bible) John 9:1 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. NET Bible note: Since there is no break with John 8, Jesus is presumably still in Jerusalem, and presumably not still in the temple area. The events of John 9 fall somewhere between the feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2) and the feast of the Dedication (John 10:22). But in the author’s narrative the connection exists - the incident recorded in chap. 9 (along with the ensuing debates with the Pharisees) serves as a real-life illustration of the claim Jesus made in 8:12, I am the light of the world. This is in fact the probable theological motivation behind the juxtaposition of these two incidents in the narrative. The second serves as an illustration of the first, and as a concrete example of the victory of light over darkness. One other thing which should be pointed out about the miracle recorded in John 9 is its messianic significance. In the OT it is God himself who is associated with the giving of sight to the blind (Ex4:11, Ps 146:8). In a number of passages in Isa 29:18, 35:5, 42:7 it is considered to be a messianic activity. (NET Bible) 1 Corinthians 7:31+ and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away. 1 John 2:8+ On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him (Jesus Christ) and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. NET Bible note: The reference to the darkness…passing away and the true light…already shining is an allusion to John 1:5, 1:9, and 8:12. Because the author sees the victory of light over darkness as something already begun, he is writing Jesus’ commandment to love one another to the readers as a reminder to (1) hold fast to what they have already heard (see 1Jn 2:7) and (2) not be influenced by the teaching of the opponents. (NET Bible) 1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. Parago - 9 times in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX) - 1Sa 16:9, 10; 20:36; 2Sa 15:18; Ezra 9:2; Neh 2:7; Ps 129:8; 144:4; Eccl 11:10. There is one use of parago that is similar to John's use in 1Jn 2:17… Psalm 144:4 Man is like a mere breath. His days are like a passing (Lxx = parago) shadow. (NET Bible note: Hebrew = "his days [are] like a shadow that passes away," that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. Cp Ps 102:11-Spurgeon's note)

1 João 2:17

Ryle asks… What shall I say of the things of this world, which people appear to think so valuable—money, houses, land, clothes, fine food and drink, learning, honors, titles, pleasures, amusements, and the like? I say that they are all really worthless! What I mean is this, that if you suppose they are in themselves able to make you really happy—you are woefully deceived! If any person could have just as much as he wished of every earthly good thing—he would still find in a very short time that he was not one whit happier than before! I dare say you think I am mistaken—but let me tell you that many a rich man has tried the experiment, and can bear witness that the case is so! Many a one could tell you that he seeks out everything which money can purchase, he passes his life in a constant round of amusement and excitement, going from one pleasure to another. And yet he must confess that happiness and peace of mind have been like a shadow—always before his eyes but never within his grasp! I say that all the things of the world are perishable! Surely, dear friends, this cannot require any evidence. You must have seen with your own eyes that none of the things I have mentioned are sure, lasting, permanent, incorruptible, and to be depended on! Money and property may be lost! Health may fail! Friends may be deceitful! And unless we can make a covenant with death and hell, we ourselves may suddenly be cut off in the midst of our days—and hurried to our final judgment! "Why waste your money on what really isn't food? Why work hard for something that doesn't satisfy?" Isaiah 55:2 (J. C. Ryle, "Profit and Loss") J C Philpot paints a picture of "passing away"… How really empty and worthless are all human cares and anxieties, as well as all human hopes and pleasures—when viewed in the light of a vast and endless eternity! In twenty years, today's price of oil will probably mean little to you. But it will matter much whether your soul is in heaven or hell. When the cold winds are whistling over your grave, or the warm sun resting on it—what will it matter whether sheep sold badly or well at the market? Could we realize eternal things more, we would be less anxious about temporal things. It is only our unbelief and carnality which fetter us down to the poor things of time and sense. (Letters) Ryle alludes to the world which is passing away writing that… Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue." (14:1, 2). There is hope of a tree, if is be cut down, that it will sprout again—but "man dies and wastes away, yes, man gives up the Spirit, and where is he?" Such is the world! "The world and its evil desires are passing away! But the person who does God's will lives forever!" 1 John 2:17 (PROFIT AND LOSS) J R Miller - "The man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:17 God's will is always the best; it is always divine love. A stricken wife, standing beside the coffin of her husband, said to a friend: "There lies my husband, my only earthly support, my most faithful human friend, one who has never once failed me; but I must not forget that there lies also the will of God, and that that will is perfect love." By faith she saw good and the blessing, in what appeared to her, to be the wreck of all her happiness. But truly the good and the blessing are in every dark providence which comes into the life of God's child. Our Father never means us harm in anything he does or permits. His word is, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you . . . thoughts of peace." They are like the soap-bubbles which little children blow! George Everard, "Up High!" 1884 "The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever!" 1 John 2:17 There is nothing in the world in which we can glory. Its possessions, its pleasures, its pomp and show, its praise and flattery - what are they? They are like the soap-bubbles which little children blow, glittering for a moment with blue and golden rays, and then bursting, and they are gone! "Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun!" Ecclesiastes 2:11 J C Philpot discusses the fugitive, transitory things of this world which is passing away… There is a reality in true religion, and indeed, rightly viewed, a reality in nothing else. For every other thing passes away like a dream of the night, and comes to an end like a tale that is told. Now you cannot say of a thing that passes away and comes to an end that it is real. It may have the appearance of reality—when in fact it is but a shadow. Money, jewels, pictures, books, furniture, securities—are transitory. Money may be spent, jewels be lost, books be burnt, furniture decay, pictures vanish by time and age, securities be stolen. Nothing is real but that which has an abiding substance. Health decays, strength diminishes, beauty flees the cheek, sight and hearing grow dim, the mind itself gets feeble, riches make to themselves wings and flee away, children die, friends depart, old age creeps on—and life itself comes to a close. These fugitive, transitory things are then mere shadows. There is no substance, no enduring substance in them. They are for time, and are useful for a time. Like our daily food and clothing, house and home—they support and solace us in our journey through life. But there they stop—when life ends they end with it. But real religion—and by this I understand the work of God upon the soul—abides in death and after death, goes with us through the dark valley, and lands us safe in a blessed eternity. It is, therefore, the only thing in this world of which we can say that it is real! (RICHES OF PHILPOT) Philpot - Compared with spiritual and eternal blessings, we see how vain and empty are all earthly things. What vain toys! What idle dreams! What passing shadows! We wonder at the folly of men in hunting after such vain shows--and spending time, health, money, and life itself, in a pursuit of nothing but misery and destruction! We care little for the opinion of men as to what is good or great--but much for what God has stamped His own approval upon, such as … a tender conscience, a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a humble mind, a separation from the world, a submission to His holy will, a meek endurance of the cross, a conformity to Christ's suffering image, and a living to God's glory. (Ref) C H Spurgeon exhorts us to… Hate the world, value its treasure at a cheap price, estimate its gems as nothing but fakes, and its strength as nothing but dreams. Do not think that you will lose any pleasure, but rather remember the saying of that early Church leader Chrysostom… Despise riches, and you will be rich; despise glory, and you will be glorious; despise injuries, and you will be a conqueror; despise rest, and you will gain rest; despise the earth, and you will gain heaven! (Ref) Related Resources: Redeem the Time How, then, shall I spend this short life J C Ryle reminds us in view of (2Co 4:18, 1Co 7:31, 1Jn 2:17) that… We live in a world where all things are temporary and passing away. We are all "going, going, going," whether high or low, rich or poor, old or young. We are all going—and shall soon be gone! What is our life? It is a vapor! (Jas 4:14+, Jas 1:10-note, Job 7:6,7 9:25,26; 14:1,2 Ps 39:5-note, Ps 89:47-note, Ps 90:5, 6, 7-note; Isa 38:12; 1Pe 1:24-note) So soon passes it away, and we are gone! Humbling and painful as these truths may sound, it is good for us to realize them and lay them to heart. The houses we live in, the homes we love, the riches we accumulate, the professions we follow, the plans we form, the relations we enter into, they are only for a time. The things you live for now are all temporary and passing away. The pleasures, the amusements, the recreations, the merry-makings, the profits, the earthly callings, which now absorb all your heart, and drink up all your mind, will soon be over. They are poor ephemeral things which cannot last. Oh, do not love them not too much! Do not grasp them too tightly! Do not make them your idols! You cannot keep them, and you must leave them! William Tiptaft (1803-1864) rightly asks… What is this world, and all things in it, if a man does not have God for his friend? All things around us remind us that we are nothing better than grass, and are like a fleeting shadow. And if we are void of saving grace, awful is our state, whether we feel it so or not. But we find that the Lord must make us view things in their true colors. And if He favors us with a few breathings after the 'heavenly manna', it will stop us from so earnestly seeking that 'bread which perishes'. The world is a great enemy! It contains so many snares and baits so suitable to our carnal appetite! We are surrounded with everything that is trying to fasten our hearts to earthly things. And if we were to have no crosses, and no enjoyment and comfort in spiritual things, we would be endeavoring, still more than we are, to find our happiness in earthly things. Matthew Meade (The Almost Christian) observes… What pains do children take to scrape and roll the snow together to make a snowman. But soon after it is done, the heat of the sun dissolves it, and it comes to nothing. The greatest treasures of worldly people are but snowmen! When death and judgment come, they melt away, and come to nothing! (See Also John Wesley's sermon The Almost Christian) Richard Baxter has the following word regarding the "World" in his chapter entitled The Suburbs of Heaven- If there is such a wonderful rest remaining for us, why don't we think about it more? Has the eternal God provided us such a hope, and promised to take us up to dwell with Himself; and is it not worth thinking about? Do we believe this, and yet forget it and neglect it? Why does God condemn earthly-mindedness and command, "Set your affection on things above"? (Col. 3:2+). If God says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world" (1 John 2:15), why then do we make earth our principal concern? Where is the Christian whose concentration is really on his rest? What is the matter—are we so full of joy that we need no more? I urge you, reader, to bend your soul to study eternity. Busy it about the life to come. Make such meditation your habit. Bathe your soul in heaven's delights; and if your backward soul begins to drag its feet and your thoughts wander, call them back. Hold them to their work. Don't put up with their laziness. When you have, in obedience to God, tried this work, and kept a guard on your thoughts until they are accustomed to obey; then you will find yourself in the suburbs of heaven. Then the life of Christianity will be a life of joy. (From the 191 page book The Saints Everlasting Rest) Farrar - See all things, not in the blinding and deceitful glare of the world’s noon, but as they will seem when the shadows of life are closing in. At evening the sun seems to loom large on the horizon, while the landscape gradually fades from view; and then the sunset reveals the infinitude of space crowded with unnumbered worlds, and the firmament glows with living sapphires. Even so, let the presence of God loom large upon the narrow horizon of your life, and the firmament of your souls glow with the living sapphires of holy thoughts. Ah! try now to look at the world and its allurements as they will seem in the last hour; to look at unlawful pleasure as it shall then seem, not only a disappointing, but a depraving and an envenomed thing; to look at the small aims of ambition as they shall seem when they have dwindled into their true paltriness.

1 João 2:24

Ryle: We are meant to learn, secondly, from these verses, that there are false Christians as well as true ones. There are "branches in the vine" which appear to be joined to the parent stem, and yet bear no fruit. There are men and women who appear to be members of Christ, and yet will prove finally to have had no vital union with Him. There are myriads of professing Christians in every Church whose union with Christ is only outward and formal. Some of them are joined to Christ by baptism and Church-membership. Some of them go even further than this, and are regular communicants and loud talkers about religion. But they all lack the one thing needful. Notwithstanding services, and sermons, and sacrament, they have no grace in their hearts, no faith, no inward work of the Holy Spirit. They are not one with Christ, and Christ in them. Their union with Him is only nominal, and not real. They have "a name to live," but in the sight of God they are dead. Christians of this stamp are aptly represented by branches in a vine which bear no fruit. Useless and unsightly, such branches are only fit to be cut off and burned. They draw nothing out of the parent stem, and make no return for the place they occupy. Just so will it be at the last day with false professors and nominal Christians. Their end, except they repent, will be destruction. They will be separated from the company of true believers, and cast out, as withered, useless branches, into everlasting fire. They will find at last, whatever they thought in this world, that there is a worm that never dies, and a fire that is not quenched. (John 15 - J. C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospels) NET Note on John 15:2: The Greek verb airō can mean “lift up” as well as “take away,” and it is sometimes argued that here it is a reference to the gardener “lifting up” (i.e., propping up) a weak branch so that it bears fruit again. In Johannine usage the word occurs in the sense of “lift up” in Jn 8:59 and Jn 5:8-12, but in the sense of “remove” it is found in Jn 11:39, 11:48, 16:22, and Jn 17:15. In context (theological presuppositions aside for the moment) the meaning “remove” does seem more natural and less forced (particularly in light of Jn 15:6, where worthless branches are described as being “thrown out” - an image that seems incompatible with restoration). One option, therefore, would be to understand the branches which are taken away (Jn 15:2) and thrown out (Jn 15:6) as believers who forfeit their salvation because of unfruitfulness. However, many see this interpretation as encountering problems with the Johannine teaching on the security of the believer, especially John 10:28-29. This leaves two basic ways of understanding Jesus’ statements about removal of branches in Jn 15:2 and Jn 15:6: (1) These statements may refer to an unfaithful (disobedient) Christian, who is judged at the judgment seat of Christ “through fire” (cf. 1 Cor 3:11-15). In this case the “removal” of Jn 15:2 may refer (in an extreme case) to the physical death of a disobedient Christian. (2) These statements may refer to someone who was never a genuine believer in the first place (e.g., Judas [Jn 13:26-30] and the Jews who withdrew after Jesus’ difficult teaching in Jn 6:66), in which case Jn 15:6 refers to eternal judgment. In either instance it is clear that Jn 15:6 refers to the fires of judgment (cf. OT imagery in Ps 80:16 and Ezek 15:1-8). But view (1) requires us to understand this in terms of the judgment of believers at the judgment seat of Christ. This concept does not appear in the Fourth Gospel because from the perspective of the author the believer does not come under judgment; note especially Jn 3:18, 5:24, 5:29. The first reference (Jn 3:18) is especially important because it occurs in the context of Jn 3:16-21, the section which is key to the framework of the entire Fourth Gospel and which is repeatedly alluded to throughout. A similar image to this one is used by John the Baptist in Mt 3:10, “And the ax is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Since this is addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming to John for baptism, it almost certainly represents a call to initial repentance. More importantly, however, the imagery of being cast into the fire constitutes a reference to eternal judgment, a use of imagery which is much nearer to the Johannine imagery in Jn 15:6 than the Pauline concept of the judgment seat of Christ (a judgment for believers) mentioned above. The use of the Greek verb menō in Jn 15:6 also supports view (2). When used of the relationship between Jesus and the disciple and/or Jesus and the Father, it emphasizes the permanence of the relationship (John 6:56, 8:31, 8:35, 14:10). The prototypical branch who has not remained is Judas, who departed in Jn 13:30. He did not bear fruit, and is now in the realm of darkness, a mere tool of Satan. His eternal destiny, being cast into the fire of eternal judgment, is still to come. It seems most likely, therefore, that the branches who do not bear fruit and are taken away and burned are false believers, those who profess to belong to Jesus but who in reality do not belong to him. In the Gospel of John, the primary example of this category is Judas. In 1 John 2:18-19 the “antichrists” fall into the same category; they too may be thought of as branches that did not bear fruit. They departed from the ranks of the Christians because they never did really belong, and their departure shows that they did not belong. (John 15) Ray