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 am writing to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that you have conquered the evil one. 14I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one. 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, 16because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains 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 4:5They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world’s perspective and the world listens to them.
• 1 John 5:4because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith.
• John 15:19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.
• Romans 12:2Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
• Galatians 1:10Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ!
• Ephesians 2:2in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience,
• Colossians 3:1Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
• 1 Timothy 6:10For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.
• Matthew 6:24“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
• Luke 16:13No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
• James 4:4Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.
• 1 John 3:17But whoever has the world’s possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person?

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