A Peek at what Constitutes Worldliness

The word "world" (Greek: Kosmos) appears 185 times in the New Testament: Interestingly enough of those 185 usages St. John uses it 102 times. 78 in his Gospel and 24 in his three Epistles. So clearly, John is the one with the major propensity in the usage of this word.

Something we also need to keep in mind is the way that the Apostle John uses the word "World." John uses the word "world," in at least 10 different ways in his Gospel and his Epistles. So it is important to understand how the word is being use here. Now we I will quickly run through those 10 usages and then move to suggest to consider which usage is being used here.

Before we do that we all know that words can have a range of meaning. And that is what we are exploring here. For example … I might say to my grandchildren, "Don't touch the stove. It is hot." I likewise routinely say to my wife, "Honey, you're a smokin' hot woman." Now clearly "hot" is appropriate in both situations but just as clearly they don't mean the same thing in each usage.

Same with John. The word "world" is always appropriately used but it doesn't always mean the exact same thing.