KJV: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
YLT: Love not ye the world, nor the things in the world; if any one doth love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,
Darby: Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him;
ASV: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
ἀγαπᾶτε | love |
Parse: Verb, Present Imperative Active, 2nd Person Plural Root: ἀγαπάω Sense: of persons. |
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κόσμον | world |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: κόσμος Sense: an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government. |
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μηδὲ | nor |
Parse: Conjunction Root: μηδέ Sense: and not, but not, nor, not. |
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τὰ | the things |
Parse: Article, Accusative Neuter Plural Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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κόσμῳ | world |
Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Singular Root: κόσμος Sense: an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government. |
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τις | anyone |
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: τὶς Sense: a certain, a certain one. |
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ἀγαπᾷ | should love |
Parse: Verb, Present Subjunctive Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἀγαπάω Sense: of persons. |
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ἀγάπη | love |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular Root: ἀγάπη Sense: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence. |
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τοῦ | of the |
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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Πατρὸς | Father |
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: προπάτωρ Sense: generator or male ancestor. |
Greek Commentary for 1 John 2:15
Prohibition with μη mē and the present active imperative of αγαπαω agapaō either stop doing it or do not have the habit of doing it. This use of κοσμος kosmos is common in John‘s Gospel (John 1:10; John 17:14.) and appears also in 1 John 5:19. In epitome the Roman Empire represented it. See it also in James 4:4. It confronts every believer today. [source]
Third-class condition with εαν ean and present active subjunctive of αγαπαω agapaō (same form as indicative), “if any keep on loving the world.”The love of the Father (η αγαπη του πατρος hē agapē tou patros). Objective genitive, this phrase only here in N.T., with which compare “love of God” in 1 John 2:5. In antithesis to love of the world. [source]
Objective genitive, this phrase only here in N.T., with which compare “love of God” in 1 John 2:5. In antithesis to love of the world. [source]
See on John 1:9. [source]
The phrase occurs only here in the New Testament. It means love towards the Father, yet as generated by the Father's love to man. Compare 1 John 3:1. See on love of God, 1 John 2:5. [source]
This means more than that he does not love God: rather that the love of God does not dwell in him as the ruling principle of his life. Westcott cites a parallel from Philo: “It is impossible for love to the world to coexist with love to God, as it is impossible for light and darkness to coexist.” Compare Plato. “Evils, Theodorus, can never pass away; for there must always remain something which is antagonist to good. Having no place among the gods in heaven, of necessity they hover around the earthly nature, and this mortal sphere. Wherefore we ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like Him is to become holy and just and wise” (“Theaetetus,” 176). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 John 2:15
Originally, order, and hence the order of the world; the ordered universe. So in classical Greek. In the Septuagint, never the world, but the ordered total of the heavenly bodies; the host of heaven (17:3; Isaiah 24:21; 40:26). Compare, also, Proverbs href="/desk/?q=pr+17:6&sr=1">Proverbs 17:6, and see note on James 3:6. In the apocryphal books, of the universe, and mainly in the relation between God and it arising out of the creation. Thus, the king of the world (2 Maccabees 7:9); the creator or founder of the world (2 Maccabees 12:15). In the New Testament: 1. In the classical and physical sense, the universe (John href="/desk/?q=joh+17:5&sr=1">John 17:5; John 21:25.; Romans 1:20; Ephesians 1:4, etc.). 2. As the order of things of which man is the centre (Matthew 13:38; Mark 16:15; Luke 9:25; John 16:21; Ephesians 2:12; 1 Timothy 6:7). 3. Humanity as it manifests itself in and through this order (Matthew 18:7; 2 Peter 2:5; 2 Peter 3:6; Romans 3:19). Then, as sin has entered and disturbed the order of things, and made a breach between the heavenly and the earthly order, which are one in the divine ideal - 4. The order of things which is alienated from God, as manifested in and by the human race: humanity as alienated from God, and acting in opposition to him (John 1:10; John 12:31; John 15:18, John 15:19; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:15, etc.). The word is used here in the classical sense of the visible creation, which would appeal to the Athenians. Stanley, speaking of the name by which the Deity is known in the patriarchal age, the plural Elohim, notes that Abraham, in perceiving that all the Elohim worshipped by the numerous clans of his race meant one God, anticipated the declaration of Paul in this passage (“Jewish Church,” i., 25). Paul's statement strikes at the belief of the Epicureans, that the world was made by “a fortuitous concourse of atoms,” and of the Stoics, who denied the creation of the world by God, holding either that God animated the world, or that the world itself was God. [source]
Lit. of our Lord. For a similar use of the genitive, see John 5:42; 1 John 2:5, 1 John 2:15; Acts 9:31; Romans 1:5; Romans 3:18, Romans 3:22, Romans 3:26, etc. Connect with hope only. [source]
Compare Acts 17:28. See note on 1 John 2:15. [source]
Rev., rendering the perfect tense more closely, hath the love of God been perfected. The change in the form of this antithetic clause is striking. He who claims to know God, yet lives in disobedience, is a liar. We should expect as an offset to this: He that keepeth His commandments is of the truth; or, the truth is in him. Instead we have, “In him has the love of God been perfected.” In other words, the obedient child of God is characterized, not by any representative trait or quality of his own personality, but merely as the subject of the work of divine love: as the sphere in which that love accomplishes its perfect work. The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ the love of God, may mean either the love which God shows, or the love of which God is the object, or the love which is characteristic of God whether manifested by Himself or by His obedient child through His Spirit. John's usage is not decisive like Paul's, according to which the love of God habitually means the love which proceeds from and is manifested by God. The exact phrase, the love of God or the love of the Father, is found in 1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, in the undoubted sense of the love of God to men. The same sense is intended in 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 3:16, though differently expressed. The sense is doubtful in 1 John 2:5; 1 John 3:17; 1 John 4:12. Men's love to God is clearly meant in 1 John 2:15; 1 John 5:3. The phrase occurs only twice in the Gospels (Luke 6:42; John 5:42), and in both cases the sense is doubtful. Some, as Ebrard, combine the two, and explain the love of God as the mutual relation of love between God and men. It is not possible to settle the point decisively, but I incline to the view that the fundamental idea of the love of God as expounded by John is the love which God has made known and which answers to His nature. In favor of this is the general usage of ἀγάπη lovein the New Testament, with the subjective genitive. The object is more commonly expressed by εἰς towardsor to. See 1 Thessalonians 3:12; Colossians 1:4; 1 Peter 4:8. Still stronger is John's treatment of the subject in ch. 4. Here we have, 1 John 4:9, the manifestation of the love of God in us ( ἐν ἡμῖν ) By our life in Christ and our love to God we are a manifestation of God's love. Directly following this is a definition of the essential nature of love. “In this is love; i.e., herein consists love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us ” (1 John 4:10). Our mutual love is a proof that God dwells in us. God dwelling in us, His love is perfected in us (1 John 4:12). The latter clause, it would seem, must be explained according to 1 John 4:10. Then (1 John 4:16), “We have known and believed the love that God hath in us ” (see on John 16:22, on the phrase have love ). “God is love;” that is His nature, and He imparts this nature to be the sphere in which His children dwell. “He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.” Finally, our love is engendered by His love to us. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In harmony with this is John 15:9. “As the Father loved me, I also loved you. Continue ye in my love.” My love must be explained by I loved you. This is the same idea of divine love as the sphere or element of renewed being; and this idea is placed, as in the passage we are considering, in direct connection with the keeping of the divine commandments. “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love.”-DIVIDER- This interpretation does not exclude man's love to God. On the contrary, it includes it. The love which God has, is revealed as the love of God in the love of His children towards Him, no less than in His manifestations of love to them. The idea of divine love is thus complex. Love, in its very essence, is reciprocal. Its perfect ideal requires two parties. It is not enough to tell us, as a bare, abstract truth, that God is love. The truth must be rounded and filled out for us by the appreciable exertion of divine love upon an object, and by the response of the object. The love of God is perfected or completed by the perfect establishment of the relation of love between God and man. When man loves perfectly, his love is the love of God shed abroad in his heart. His love owes both its origin and its nature to the love of God. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The word verily ( ἀληθῶς ) is never used by John as a mere formula of affirmation, but has the meaning of a qualitative adverb, expressing not merely the actual existence of a thing, but its existence in a manner most absolutely corresponding to ἀλήθεια truthCompare John 1:48; John 8:31. Hath been perfected. John is presenting the ideal of life in God. “This is the love of God that we keep His commandments.” Therefore whosoever keepeth God's word, His message in its entirety, realizes the perfect relation of love. [source]
Rev., correctly and literally, and this. According to the proper reading the verb stands first in order ( ἐστὶν αὕτη ), with emphasis, not merely as a copula, but in the sense “there exists this as the message.” For a similar use of the substantive verb, see 1 John 5:16, 1 John 5:17; 1 John 2:15; John 8:50. [source]