KOSMOS
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 17The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and onlye Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life
What does this Greek word for “world” mean?
Referring to Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words
The meaning in classical Greek derives from the basic sense of order and adornment e.g. “set the table” in Sir 29:26 or “adorn yourself” in Jer 4:30. In the NT the verbal form is used for the “trimming” of the lamps (Mt 25:7) and for adorning women, the home or temple as well as grave monuments (Mt 23:29) and of adorning doctrine (Tit 2:10).
In classical Greek its early use was as (for example) the order of a building or a body of men. From the idea that the universe is ordered, the word came to be applied to the universe itself or the universe of men
And philosophers tell us, Callicles, that communion and friendship and orderliness and temperance and justice bind together heaven and earth and gods and men, and that this universe is therefore called Cosmos or order, not disorder or misrule, my friend. Plato Gorgias 507-508
The Greek cosmos is a perfect unity that integrates individual things into a totality. It is a thing of beauty both aesthetic and mathematical
In the likeness of what animal did the Creator make the world? It would be an unworthy thing to liken it to any nature which exists as a part only; for nothing can be beautiful which is like any imperfect thing; but let us suppose the world to be the very image of that whole of which all other animals both individually and in their tribes are portions. For the original of the universe contains in itself all intelligible beings, just as this world comprehends us and all other visible creatures. For the Deity, intending to make this world like the fairest and most perfect of intelligible beings, framed one visible animal comprehending within itself all other animals of a kindred nature. Are we right in saying that there is one world, or that they are many and infinite? There must be one only, if the created copy is to accord with the original. For that which includes all other intelligible creatures cannot have a second or companion; in that case there would be need of another living being which would include both, and of which they would be parts, and the likeness would be more truly said to resemble not them, but that other which included them. In order then that the world might be solitary, like the perfect animal, the creator made not two worlds or an infinite number of them; but there is and ever will be one only-begotten and created heaven. Plato Timaeus 29
Note I am not putting forward the idea that Plato was some kind of proto-Christian but that his ideas influenced the Greek concept of κόσμος.
Philo of Alexander sought to harmonize Greek thought with Judaism and he made frequent use of the Greek word κόσμος Philo considered that the word applied to the world of ideas as well as things (νοέτος = of the mind as opposed to οὗτος = this). Philo also used the idea of god who is both creator and father of the world. However, he preferred the Greek idea of a world without beginning or end so cannot be regarded as wholly Jewish or Christian in his thinking.
The Greek OT or Septuagint (LXX) uses the word κόσμος as “host of heaven” e.g. Gen 2:1, Is 24:21; “adornment” e.g. Ex 33:5,6; Jer 2:32, Is 49:18.
The Hebrew OT has no specific word for universe preferring “heaven and earth”, or sometimes “all” e.g. Ps 8:6, Is 44:24, though Symacchus (who wrote a Greek version of the OT) uses κόσμος for “earth” in Job 38:4 (“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” replacing אָ֑רֶץ )
However κόσμος is used frequently in Jewish books originally written in Greek e.g. 19 times in Wisdom, 5 times in 2 Macc and 4 times in 4 Macc where it is used in the sense of universe or the world of creatures or men e.g. Wis 10:1 where wisdom protected Adam as the “first formed father of the world”.
According to Kittel, the noun form κόσμος is never used in the sense “order” in the NT and for the sense “adornment” only once in 1 Pet 3:3 (of women). Over half the usage is found in Johannine writings: 78 times in Jn, 22 in 1 Jn, 1 in 2 Jn and 3 in Rev. There are 46 instances in Paul’s writings but only 15 in the synoptic gospels with 5 each in Heb, Jas, 2 Pet, 2 in 1 Pet and 1 in Acts. Jesus prefers the OT phrase “heaven and earth”. There is also the difficult usage in Jas 3:6 where the tongue is decribed as a “world of inqiuity”. Opinions differ on how to best translate this verse.
Apart from the above there are two main NT usages: 1. The universe or sum of all created being and 2 The abode of men, the theatre of history, the inhabited world, the earth.
1. The universe or sum of all created being
This restricted meaning is more or less synonymous with the OT phrase “heaven and earth”
e.g. Ac 17:24
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν κόσμον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, οὗτος οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ὑπάρχων Κύριος οὐκ ἐν χειροποιήτοις ναοῖς κατοικεῖ,
This is a spatial universe which includes all living creatures. The OT view treated the universe and what is in it as separate entities e.g. Rev 10:6 Uniting space and its contents under the label κόσμος comes in verses like Jn 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him
2. The World ( κόσμος ) is of limited duration
The world has a beginning in time e.g. “from the beginning of the world” Mt 24:21 and it is subject to decay (2 Pet 1:4) and is often referred to as “this world” along with “this age” e.g. 1 Cor 1:20. The devil is referred to as the ruler of “this world” e.g. Jn 14:30. God is described as making the world (Ac 17:24) but never Lord or King of the world. Rather he is “King of the ages” (! Tim 1:17) and “Lord of heaven and earth” (Mt 11:25).
The NT avoids using κόσμος for the world to come. In the NT the meaning of “world” is extended beyond the universe as the sum of all created things to mean the world estranged from its Creator. Instead Rev 21:1 refers to the new heaven and new earth. The kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our God (Rev 11:15)
3. The world as the abode of men, the theatre of history, the inhabited world i.e. the earth.
This is the sense in the phrase “kingdoms of the world” which comes in the temptations of Jesus early in the gospels or later to “gain the whole world” i.e. to gain control of everything man can control. The world is also the place where the gospel is to be preached (Mk 16:15). The disciples were called to be the light of the world.
4. The world is the locus of salvation history (1 Jn 4:14).
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Paul sees the spirit of the world and the Spirit of God as opposite in nature (1 Cor 2:12). The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (1 Cor 3:19). The cause of this rift between God and His created world is man’s sin (Rom 5:12) hence the whole world is condemned (1 Cor 11:32). But the true people of God are regarded, in this respect, as separate from the world and will themselves judge the world (1 Cor 6:2). Yet God will reconcile the world to Himself through Christ (2 Cor 5:19). The redeemed world is referred to as the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:24) and is no longer the κόσμος. Saints are hampered by the cares of the world (1 Cor 7:32ff) yet their true life is elsewhere (Col 2:20). Friendship with the world (e.g. covetousness, conflicts) means enmity towards God (Jas 4:4).
The biblical view of κόσμος is brought to fruition in the writings of the Apostle John. Believers are in the world but not of it. The Spirit of God dwells in them and through them the world sees and believes that the Father sent the Son into the world which He loves (Jn 15:18f; 17:14). The world did not know Him through whom it came into being (Jn 1:10). Jesus is described as the light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:5). This is the whole of creation not just the world of men. It was for love of this world that God sent his own son (Jn 3:16). Jesus and the ruler of this world are opposed to each other – the latter offers a false “peace” to humanity (Jn 14:27). The whole world (which God loves) lies under the power of the evil one. In this struggle with the world Jesus overcame the world (Jn 16:33). Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God conquer the world (1 Jn 5:4,5).
The world of 1 Jn 2:15 which believers are commanded not to love, nor to be friendly with, is the world that has rejected Christ. A world with which believers should not be conformed (Rom 12:2) which will eventually pass away (1 Jn 2:17).
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 17The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and onlye Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life
What does this Greek word for “world” mean?
Referring to Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words
The meaning in classical Greek derives from the basic sense of order and adornment e.g. “set the table” in Sir 29:26 or “adorn yourself” in Jer 4:30. In the NT the verbal form is used for the “trimming” of the lamps (Mt 25:7) and for adorning women, the home or temple as well as grave monuments (Mt 23:29) and of adorning doctrine (Tit 2:10).
In classical Greek its early use was as (for example) the order of a building or a body of men. From the idea that the universe is ordered, the word came to be applied to the universe itself or the universe of men
And philosophers tell us, Callicles, that communion and friendship and orderliness and temperance and justice bind together heaven and earth and gods and men, and that this universe is therefore called Cosmos or order, not disorder or misrule, my friend. Plato Gorgias 507-508
The Greek cosmos is a perfect unity that integrates individual things into a totality. It is a thing of beauty both aesthetic and mathematical
In the likeness of what animal did the Creator make the world? It would be an unworthy thing to liken it to any nature which exists as a part only; for nothing can be beautiful which is like any imperfect thing; but let us suppose the world to be the very image of that whole of which all other animals both individually and in their tribes are portions. For the original of the universe contains in itself all intelligible beings, just as this world comprehends us and all other visible creatures. For the Deity, intending to make this world like the fairest and most perfect of intelligible beings, framed one visible animal comprehending within itself all other animals of a kindred nature. Are we right in saying that there is one world, or that they are many and infinite? There must be one only, if the created copy is to accord with the original. For that which includes all other intelligible creatures cannot have a second or companion; in that case there would be need of another living being which would include both, and of which they would be parts, and the likeness would be more truly said to resemble not them, but that other which included them. In order then that the world might be solitary, like the perfect animal, the creator made not two worlds or an infinite number of them; but there is and ever will be one only-begotten and created heaven. Plato Timaeus 29
Note I am not putting forward the idea that Plato was some kind of proto-Christian but that his ideas influenced the Greek concept of κόσμος.
Philo of Alexander sought to harmonize Greek thought with Judaism and he made frequent use of the Greek word κόσμος Philo considered that the word applied to the world of ideas as well as things (νοέτος = of the mind as opposed to οὗτος = this). Philo also used the idea of god who is both creator and father of the world. However, he preferred the Greek idea of a world without beginning or end so cannot be regarded as wholly Jewish or Christian in his thinking.
The Greek OT or Septuagint (LXX) uses the word κόσμος as “host of heaven” e.g. Gen 2:1, Is 24:21; “adornment” e.g. Ex 33:5,6; Jer 2:32, Is 49:18.
The Hebrew OT has no specific word for universe preferring “heaven and earth”, or sometimes “all” e.g. Ps 8:6, Is 44:24, though Symacchus (who wrote a Greek version of the OT) uses κόσμος for “earth” in Job 38:4 (“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” replacing אָ֑רֶץ )
However κόσμος is used frequently in Jewish books originally written in Greek e.g. 19 times in Wisdom, 5 times in 2 Macc and 4 times in 4 Macc where it is used in the sense of universe or the world of creatures or men e.g. Wis 10:1 where wisdom protected Adam as the “first formed father of the world”.
According to Kittel, the noun form κόσμος is never used in the sense “order” in the NT and for the sense “adornment” only once in 1 Pet 3:3 (of women). Over half the usage is found in Johannine writings: 78 times in Jn, 22 in 1 Jn, 1 in 2 Jn and 3 in Rev. There are 46 instances in Paul’s writings but only 15 in the synoptic gospels with 5 each in Heb, Jas, 2 Pet, 2 in 1 Pet and 1 in Acts. Jesus prefers the OT phrase “heaven and earth”. There is also the difficult usage in Jas 3:6 where the tongue is decribed as a “world of inqiuity”. Opinions differ on how to best translate this verse.
Apart from the above there are two main NT usages: 1. The universe or sum of all created being and 2 The abode of men, the theatre of history, the inhabited world, the earth.
1. The universe or sum of all created being
This restricted meaning is more or less synonymous with the OT phrase “heaven and earth”
e.g. Ac 17:24
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν κόσμον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, οὗτος οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ὑπάρχων Κύριος οὐκ ἐν χειροποιήτοις ναοῖς κατοικεῖ,
This is a spatial universe which includes all living creatures. The OT view treated the universe and what is in it as separate entities e.g. Rev 10:6 Uniting space and its contents under the label κόσμος comes in verses like Jn 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him
2. The World ( κόσμος ) is of limited duration
The world has a beginning in time e.g. “from the beginning of the world” Mt 24:21 and it is subject to decay (2 Pet 1:4) and is often referred to as “this world” along with “this age” e.g. 1 Cor 1:20. The devil is referred to as the ruler of “this world” e.g. Jn 14:30. God is described as making the world (Ac 17:24) but never Lord or King of the world. Rather he is “King of the ages” (! Tim 1:17) and “Lord of heaven and earth” (Mt 11:25).
The NT avoids using κόσμος for the world to come. In the NT the meaning of “world” is extended beyond the universe as the sum of all created things to mean the world estranged from its Creator. Instead Rev 21:1 refers to the new heaven and new earth. The kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our God (Rev 11:15)
3. The world as the abode of men, the theatre of history, the inhabited world i.e. the earth.
This is the sense in the phrase “kingdoms of the world” which comes in the temptations of Jesus early in the gospels or later to “gain the whole world” i.e. to gain control of everything man can control. The world is also the place where the gospel is to be preached (Mk 16:15). The disciples were called to be the light of the world.
4. The world is the locus of salvation history (1 Jn 4:14).
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Paul sees the spirit of the world and the Spirit of God as opposite in nature (1 Cor 2:12). The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (1 Cor 3:19). The cause of this rift between God and His created world is man’s sin (Rom 5:12) hence the whole world is condemned (1 Cor 11:32). But the true people of God are regarded, in this respect, as separate from the world and will themselves judge the world (1 Cor 6:2). Yet God will reconcile the world to Himself through Christ (2 Cor 5:19). The redeemed world is referred to as the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:24) and is no longer the κόσμος. Saints are hampered by the cares of the world (1 Cor 7:32ff) yet their true life is elsewhere (Col 2:20). Friendship with the world (e.g. covetousness, conflicts) means enmity towards God (Jas 4:4).
The biblical view of κόσμος is brought to fruition in the writings of the Apostle John. Believers are in the world but not of it. The Spirit of God dwells in them and through them the world sees and believes that the Father sent the Son into the world which He loves (Jn 15:18f; 17:14). The world did not know Him through whom it came into being (Jn 1:10). Jesus is described as the light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:5). This is the whole of creation not just the world of men. It was for love of this world that God sent his own son (Jn 3:16). Jesus and the ruler of this world are opposed to each other – the latter offers a false “peace” to humanity (Jn 14:27). The whole world (which God loves) lies under the power of the evil one. In this struggle with the world Jesus overcame the world (Jn 16:33). Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God conquer the world (1 Jn 5:4,5).
The world of 1 Jn 2:15 which believers are commanded not to love, nor to be friendly with, is the world that has rejected Christ. A world with which believers should not be conformed (Rom 12:2) which will eventually pass away (1 Jn 2:17).
