Worldliness

Worldliness means that which pertains to the world and the ways of the world.  It is a mindset that thinks like the world, talks like the world, responds like the world, and has character traits like the world.  This is utterly dangerous and destructive since “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one [Satan]” (1 John 5:19).

God warns us many times to avoid the world and its evil ways.  For example, John writes, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

The world was originally created by God but this “goodness” has been corrupted by the lust (desire) of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  The lust of the flesh refers to physical pleasure, the lust of the eyes refers to “mental, physical, or aesthetic pleasure,” and the pride of life may refer to “pretentious ostentation which results from not seeing the real emptiness of the things of the world.”[1]

The Greek word is kosmos, which can mean the “present condition of human affairs” that is “in alienation from and opposition to God.”[2]  James warns us to keep ourselves “unstained by the world” (1:27).  He also directly says, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (4:4).  Friendship with the world is here condemned in no uncertain terms!  Paul says that “the world [kosmos] has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).  This indicates a radical separation that comes through the cross.  Satan is called “the ruler of the world” (John 14:30).  We definitely need to guard against the world, the kosmos, that is separated from God and seeks to impose its lifestyle and worldview on the believer.

Consider now the word aion, which means “an age, a period of time” marked by “spiritual or moral characteristics.”[3]  This age is dominated by Satan and the powers of darkness.  It is characterized by immorality, idolatry, and every other sinful attitude and action.  Paul urges his readers, “Do not be conformed to this world [aion], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).  Satan is the “god” of this age [aion] (2 Corinthians 4:4) and he has blinded unbelievers that they may not see the gospel of Christ.

Paul says that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1 Corinthians 3:18), thus we are not to be deceived by this worldly foolishness.  Obviously, this is found as the basis of secular education, especially in the high school years and university level.  Paul says that we “formerly walked according to the course of this world” and according to Satan (Ephesians 2:2).  Interestingly, the apostle uses both Greek words here.  We are not to “walk” or live according to “the course [aiona] or age of this world [kosmou].”

W. E. Vine renders this expression as “the age of this world.”[4]  We have been rescued from this “worldly” perspective. In fact, Christ “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4).  This age, this aion, is an “evil” age, thus we must be saved from it and its condemnation!

Worldliness is an attitude and view, a life-perspective, a world view, and this is manifested in many different ways.  For instance, we find it in

  • Our job or occupation.
  • Our entertainment
  • Our clothing styles
  • Our possessions
  • Our reading material
  • Our use of a computer
  • Our car or truck
  • Our speech
  • Our relationships
  • Our education
  • Our music
  • Our pastimes
  • Our hobbies
  • Our travels
  • Our house
  • Our home furnishings
  • Our food

An attitude of worldliness may be found in all of these areas and they reveal where our heart is.  Is it with the world or with the Lord?  Is it oriented toward the world or toward God’s Word?  Is it in this age—or the heavenly age to come?  Is it filled with the world’s views and values or with God’s views and values?[5]

We can see that we live in an evil age and this age is characterized by desires of the flesh and of the eyes and it is dominated by pride.  We must be on guard at all times lest we fall into Satan’s trap of making us conform to this world and its evil and deceptive ways.  God is the only One who can rescue us from this dreadful enemy of our soul.

 

[1] The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.

[2] W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Expository Dictionary.

[5] The Deadly Peril of the World explores this much more thoroughly.