The Capillary Wave: Word Index
- Many confuse the word “world” with the earth under their feet. It may surprise many of you that, that is not at all what this word is in relation too.
There is a lot to this word biblically speaking. Followers of Jesus are told that the world will hate you. Clearly then we are not talking about a lump of earth or rock, as that is not capable of emotion.
With these word index’s I like to look at words from a secular, and biblical perspective to get an overall feel for the word and get the full context of its meaning.
This word: “world” is very important from a biblical perspective due to the statements made in Scripture listed below:
- John 15:18-25, KJV 1611 – If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Clearly being “of” the “world” is not a good thing for those attempting to follow Jesus, but what is the world exactly? It is clearly not what was created in Genesis, as that was the Earth which sustains life.
I like to look at synonymous words to establish a more rounded picture of what is being defined above, so let us examine what “affair” means from the definition above.
So far the synonymous word “affair” ties in nicely and explains further what “world” means. It is the affairs of humans, their business affairs. It also has to do with “rank” and “standing” in civil society.
- The world is made up of countries – see Index Country
Again the above definitions really flesh out what the “world” is. We can now definitively state that the world is:
- Human existence and the affairs of life. Business affairs and legal standing in civil society.
- It concerns your rank, within civil society. Your position within a polity / country, whether that position is one of the three estates of the realm: be it Clergy, Lord, or commoner.
- It is to do with your worldly prosperity and your citizenship within a country / polity.
With the definition of civil and secular it starts to become clearer why worldly things are so bad biblically speaking John 15-25, KJV 1611, because it means that if you are in civil life you belong to the state, under civil law, and are “living in the world” which would be in opposition to God and his commandments: Exodus 20:3, KJV 1611.
Finally, here is part of the definition of World from the Strong’s concordance.
- Strong’s Concordance: Strong’s Concordance number 2889 kosmos: order, the world Original Word: κόσμος, ου, ὁ Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: kosmos Phonetic Spelling: (kos’-mos) Definition: order, the world
Usage: the world, universe; worldly affairs; the inhabitants of the world; adornment.
6. “the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ” (cf. Winer’s Grammar, 26): John 7:7; John 14:27 (); ; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 11:32; 2 Corinthians 7:10; James 1:27; 1 Peter 5:9; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Peter 2:20; 1 John 3:1, 13; 1 John 4:5; 1 John 5:19; of the aggregate of ungodly and wicked men in O. T. times, Hebrews 11:38; in Noah’s time, ibid. 7; with οὗτος added, Ephesians 2:2 (on which see αἰών, 3); εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου and ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (see εἰμί, V. 3rd.), John 8:23; John 15:19; John 17:14, 16; 1 John 4:5; λαλεῖν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, to speak in accordance with the world’s character and mode of thinking, 1 John 4:5; ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, i. e. the devil, John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11; ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ he that is operative in the world (also of the devil), 1 John 4:4; τό πνεῦμα τοῦ κόσμου 1 Corinthians 2:12; ἡ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, 1 Corinthians 1:20 (here G L T Tr WH omit τούτου); 1 Corinthians 3:19. (τά στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου, Galatians 4:3; Colossians 2:8, 20 (see 5 above, and στοιχεῖον, 3 and 4).)
7. “worldly 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”: Galatians 6:14; 1 John 2:16; 1 John 3:17; εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, to be of earthly origin and nature, John 18:36; somewhat differently in 1 John 2:16 (on which see εἰμί, V. 3 d.); κερδαίνειν τόν κόσμον ὅλον, Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36; Luke 9:25; οἱ χρώμενοι τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ (critical text τόν κόσμον; see χράομαι, 2), 1 Corinthians 7:31a; μέριμναν τά τοῦ κόσμου, 33f; φίλος and φιλία τοῦ κόσμου, James 4:4; ἀγαπᾶν τόν κόσμον, 1 John 2:15; νικαν τόν κόσμον, the incentives to sin proceeding from the world, 1 John 5:4f; the obstacles to God’s cause, John 16:33; (cf. ἐλθέτω χάρις καί παρελθέτω ὁ κόσμος οὗτος, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,
From the above definition we can see that worldly affairs are:
- “the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ”
- Of the aggregate of ungodly and wicked men
- To speak in accordance with the world’s character and mode of thinking
- He that is operative in the world (also of the devil)
- “worldly 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”
- To be of earthly origin and nature
- The incentives to sin
- The obstacles to God’s cause