God loved the world. Should we?

[tonychanyt]

John 3:

16 For God so loved the world [G2889] that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 2:

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

Pulpit Commentary:

Love not the world. Obviously, both "love" and "the world" are used in a different sense in John 3:16, where it is said that "God loved the world." The one love is selfish, the other unselfish. In the one case "the world" means the sinful elements of human life, in the other the human race. It is most important to distinguish the different meanings of κόσμος in the New Testament.

Right, κόσμος-world was polysemantic. BDAG:
① that which serves to beautify through decoration, adornment, adorning
② condition of orderliness, orderly arrangement, order
③ the sum total of everything here and now, the world, the (orderly) universe
④ the sum total of all beings above the level of the animals, the world
⑤ planet earth as a place of inhabitation, the world
⑥ humanity in general, the world
⑦ the system of human existence in its many aspects, the world
ⓑ the world, and everything that belongs to it, appears as that which is hostile to God, i.e. lost in sin, wholly at odds w. anything divine, ruined and depraved
⑧ collective aspect of an entity, totality, sum total

G2889 could carry a positive, negative, or neutral connotation.

James 4:

4 Friendship with the world means enmity against God.

God loved the world. Should we?

God loved ⑥-humanity. We should also. But we should not love the ⑦ⓑ-depraved-world.

 

[awstar]

God loved the world. Should we?

God "so" loved the world. God loved the world in a very particular way. A way in which we are not able to. God loved the world in the same way as: Matthew 13:44. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

When the treasure is eventually removed from the field, the man will love the field not so much.