1 John 2:15

1 John 2:15 in other versions

• King James Version (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.
• New International Version (NIV)Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Context of 1 John 2:15

13I’m writing to you, fathers, because you know Christ who has existed from the beginning. I’m writing to you, young people, because you have won the victory over the evil one. 14I’ve written to you, children, because you know the Father. I’ve written to you, fathers, because you know Christ, who has existed from the beginning. I’ve written to you, young people, because you are strong and God’s word lives in you. You have won the victory over the evil one. Don’t love the world and what it offers. Those who love the world don’t have the Father’s love in them. 16Not everything that the world offers—physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles—comes from the Father. It comes from the world, and 17the world and its evil desires are passing away. But the person who does what God wants lives forever.

1 John 2:15 word by word

Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν αὐτῷ·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
• notμήmē · notG3361
• the worldὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the worldκόσμοςkosmos · worldG2889
• neitherμηδέmēde · norG3366
• inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• Ifἐάνean · ifG1437
• any manτιςtis · oneG5100
• the loveἀγάπηagapē · loveG26
• the Fatherπατήρpatēr · fatherG3962
• isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• notοὐou · noG3756
• himαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846

Cross-references for 1 John 2:15

• 1 John 4:5These people belong to the world. That’s why they speak the thoughts of the world, and the world listens to them.
• 1 John 5:4because everyone who has been born from God has won the victory over the world. Our faith is what wins the victory over the world.
• John 15:19If you had anything in common with the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But you don’t have anything in common with the world. I chose you from the world, and that’s why the world hates you.
• Romans 12:2Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect.
• Galatians 1:10Am I saying this now to win the approval of people or God? Am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.
• Ephesians 2:2You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God.
• Colossians 3:1Since you were brought back to life with Christ, focus on the things that are above—where Christ holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne.
• 1 Timothy 6:10Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief.
• Matthew 6:24“No one can serve two masters. He will hate the first master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth.
• Luke 16:13“A servant cannot serve two masters. He will hate the first master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
• James 4:4You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that love for this ⌞evil⌟ world is hatred toward God? Whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.
• 1 John 3:17Now, suppose a person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need. How can God’s love be in that person if he doesn’t bother to help the other believer?

Commentaries on 1 John 2:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15Love not the world - Though these several classes were so well acquainted with Divine things, and had all tasted the powers of the world to come: yet so apt are men to be drawn aside by sensible things, that the Holy Spirit saw it necessary to caution these against the love of the world, the inordinate desire of earthly things. Covetousness is the predominant vice of old age: Ye fathers, love not the world. The things which are in the world, its profits…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15Love not the world - The term “world” seems to be used in the Scriptures in three senses: (1)As denoting the physical universe; the world as it appears to the eye; the world considered as the work of God, as a material creation. (2)the world as applied to the people that reside in it - “the world of mankind.” (3)as the dwellers on the earth are by nature without religion, and act under a set of maxims, aims, and principles that have reference only to this…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-17Verses 15-17 The things of the world may be desired and possessed for the uses and purposes which God intended, and they are to be used by his grace, and to his glory; but believers must not seek or value them for those purposes to which sin abuses them. The world draws the heart from God; and the more the love of the world prevails, the more the love of God decays. The things of the world are classed according to the three ruling inclinations of depraved…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15-17The world is a morally evil system that is under the influence of Satan and is opposed to God and to Christ’s kingdom on this earth (2:16; 3:1; 4:4; 5:19; John 12:31; 15:18; Ephesians 6:11–12; James 4:4). The world appeals to people’s fleshly desires and turns them away from God. People who belong to the world in this way need God to rescue them from it.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1515. Love not the world--that lieth in the wicked one (1Jo 5:19), whom ye young men have overcome. Having once for all, through faith, overcome the world (1Jo 4:4; 5:4), carry forward the conquest by not loving it. "The world" here means "man, and man's world" [Alford], in his and its state as fallen from God. "God loved [with the love of compassion] the world," and we should feel the same kind of love for the fallen world; but we are not to love the world…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 John 2:15

• Commandments
• Covetousness
• God
• Love
• Righteous
• Worldliness
• Young Men

In the dictionaries

• Acknowledge
• Advocate
• Enmity
• Lie
• Stumble
• John, the Epistles of
• Love
• will of God
• world, worldly

Commentaries on 1 John 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings