The world and its ways

If someone asked you what you understood by the word 'world' as it's used in the New Testament, what would you say? Perhaps some scriptures might come to mind:

'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.' (John 3:16)

'For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.' (John 3:17)

'You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.' (John 8:23)

Those scriptures come from John's Gospel. John's Gospel and his first letter contain the bulk of the references to the word 'world' in the New Testament. But what does it mean?

The Greek word used (in the majority of cases) is the word kosmos. Its literal meaning is 'orderly arrangement', but by the time the New Testament was written it had come to mean the physical world, its inhabitants, and society—particularly society that is organized independently of God, which is the world that we live in, isn't it?

Worldly people are unspiritual people: people who are engrossed in worldly affairs, particularly in the pursuit of wealth and pleasure. And worldly people act in worldly ways.

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere men?' (1 Corinthians 3:1–4)

Paul told the church at Corinth that they were still worldly; they were still acting in worldly ways. Even though Christians live in the world, we are not to follow the ways of the world; we are not to be worldly people. God has brought us out of the world so we can live for him.

Called out from the world

The Greek word translated 'church' in the New Testament is ekklesia. It comes from a word meaning 'to be called or summoned out from'. God has called and summoned Christians out from the world so we can be his people. That is illustrated symbolically in the Old Testament.

God brought Israel out of Egypt (figuratively the world) so they could belong to him, worship him and obey his laws. When he brought them into the promised land, he told them not to live as the people he was driving out before them lived. 'Don't follow their practices or their ways,' he said. Instead, they were to obey his laws and hold fast to his statutes.

That principle applies to Christians. Even though we live in the world, we're not to follow the ways of the world. Instead, we're to live as God wants us to live and as God instructs us to live.

Not of this world

Jesus told the Jews that they were from below; he was from above. They were of this world; he was not of this world (John 8:23). That is also true of us. Even though we live in the world, we no longer belong to the world (Colossians 2:20). Our citizenship is now in heaven (Philippians 3:20). We are aliens and strangers on the earth (1 Peter 2:11).

Jesus told the Jews that their father was the devil (John 8:44) whereas his Father was God (John 8:54). He also referred to the devil as 'the prince of this world' (John 12:31). The Greek word used means 'ruler, or governor'. The devil rules over the people of this world, influencing their behaviour (Ephesians 2:1–2). People are either in God's kingdom or in Satan's kingdom (Luke 11:17–18); either God is their Father or Satan is their father. There is no middle ground.

Jesus said:

'He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.' (Luke 11:23)

People who are not for Jesus are against Jesus, whether they realize it or not. That is why Christians are expressly forbidden to marry unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14–18). However nice a person may seem, if they are not born-again they are an enemy of God (Romans 5:10). God looks at things from a spiritual standpoint far more than man does, and he does not want his children to become 'one flesh' (Genesis 2:24) with his enemies.

Deliverance

Christians have been delivered from the kingdom of Satan and brought into the kingdom of God. This was symbolized by Israel's exodus from Egypt. When Israel lived in Egypt, Pharaoh was in charge of them. They were slaves to Pharaoh and he did not want to let them go. In the same way, Satan does not willingly surrender his subjects today. God had to perform powerful acts of deliverance to bring his people out from under Pharaoh's control, and God has to perform powerful acts of deliverance to bring us out from under Satan's control: it's a spiritual battle. And even when Pharaoh did let Israel go, he pursued them in an attempt to recapture them (Exodus 14:5–9). That can also happen to Christians.

When people give their lives to Jesus Christ, Satan can try to take them back into his kingdom. There can be long and hard battles fought in the early days of a Christian's walk with the Lord, especially when they've been involved in the occult and Satan has had a big hold on their lives. We need to remember that when we pray for new converts.

Baptism

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (1 Corinthians 10:1–2)

Moses was a type of Christ. God used Moses to deliver his people from the control of Pharaoh, as he uses Jesus to deliver us from the control of Satan. Jesus has come to set the captives free (Isaiah 61:1)!

When Israel passed through the Red Sea it symbolized baptism. The people of Israel were all baptized into Moses (i.e. Jesus) in the cloud and in the sea. Baptism in the sea symbolized baptism by water, but what did baptism in the cloud symbolize? God's presence was in the cloud (Exodus 13:20–22): baptism in the cloud symbolized baptism in the Spirit (Mark 1:7–8).

All of Israel were symbolically baptized by immersion, and with the Spirit, and yet some of them lived sinful lives and perished. That is a warning to Christians today (1 Corinthians 10:6–11).

Baptism took place as the people of Israel left Egypt to follow God. Similarly, baptism by immersion takes place when Christians leave the world and its ways to follow God. It's a powerful event in a believer's life: it symbolizes us cutting ourselves off from our old ways. Our old life is now dead and buried (Romans 6:4) and we rise up a new creation in God to live our lives for him. As Peter says, baptism is a pledge (a solemn promise) to live a good life before God (1 Peter 3:21).

And please note that Pharaoh and his army perished in the waters that Israel were baptized in (Exodus 14:26–28). Do you think that happened by chance? There is a spiritual picture here. Baptism is a powerful weapon to free us from our past and from Satan's hold on our lives. That is why it's so important not only to repent, but also to be baptized (Acts 2:37–38).

Do not go back

God told his people not to go back to Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16). Why was that? Because he'd delivered them from it. When Christians go back into the world (return to their former way of life) it's called backsliding.

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. (1 John 2:15–16)

James put it even more strongly:

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

I don't want to be an enemy of God, do you? So we must put all worldly ways behind us.

I'm not advocating a life of seclusion. We live in the world and we're to mix with the people of the world. Jesus did: he mixed with tax collectors and sinners. However we're not to live as the world does, or to follow its ways; we're to follow God (Matthew 16:24).

Jesus in Egypt

Finally, I find it interesting to note that Jesus was sent to Egypt, a place where God had said his people should not go.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.' (Matthew 2:13)

Surely there was no need for our Lord to go to Egypt. The Father could have sent him elsewhere to take refuge, or simply protected him while he remained in Israel. But to Egypt he went, as his forefathers had done before him.

Matthew 2:15 tells us that this happened to fulfil prophecy:

'When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.' (Hosea 11:1–2)

God regarded Israel as his child, as Jesus was his child, the difference being that Israel was sinful and Jesus was sinless. Our Lord going to Egypt symbolized the fact that he lived in the world, just as we do, and yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus was also baptized, just as Israel was baptized when they left Egypt. There was no need for our Lord to be baptized either. Baptism symbolizes a cleansing from sin (Acts 22:16), and Jesus had never sinned, either while he was in Egypt (a symbol of the world), or at any other time.

John tried to deter him saying: 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' Jesus replied: 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness (Matthew 3:13–15).'

Our Lord, as always, was setting the example for us to follow. If he who knew no sin was baptized to fulfil all righteousness, how much more should we sinners be baptized to fulfil all righteousness.

Michael Graham
December 2004

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