World – Kosmos in the Greek New Testament
This word has different meanings depending on
its use. Notice the difference of "world" in John 3:16-17
from 1 John
2:15-17.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NIV)
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 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 world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17, NIV)
The "world" God
showed His supreme love must have a different meaning than the
"world" we should not love. The Greek word, kosmos, means something that is orderly designed.
The Septuagint, the early Greek translation
of the Hebrew Old Testament, seldom uses the word, kosmos, with the meaning world.
The Septuagint translators often used kosmos
for adornment or jewelry (Exodus 33:5).
Our word cosmetic came from
this meaning of kosmos. In Classical Greek it can mean form or fashion. The use of kosmos for world is a philosophical term
for the (orderly) universe. Our word cosmology comes from this meaning of kosmos.
The Septuagint uses the word kosmos
with this meaning to translate the Hebrew word for host as host of heaven (Genesis 2:1).
The Septuagint used the term ge (
) meaning earth, corresponding to Hebrew, erets
(
), rather than
the term kosmos for world.
Both terms can mean land, as
the .
Paul used the term, kosmeo (see above) with the meaning adorn in 1 Timothy 2:9 and Titus 2:10.
This meaning related to the external or cosmetic leads to the negative
meaning for kosmos in 1 John
2:15-17, Romans 12:2, and James 1:27.
With this use, kosmos means
the external superficial world limited by what we can see, hear, and
touch. It relates to the focus and
desires on such things.
Matthew uses it for the people on the earth
in Matthew
5:14, 13:38. Kosmos
has various meanings in the News Testament, sometimes simply meaning the earth
or everything. However, these two meanings in John 3:16-17 and 1 John
2:15-17 show almost an opposite contrast.
©2007 Perry Vernon Webb. You may
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