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 who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one. 14I have written to you who are God’s children because you know the Father. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning. I have written to you who are young in the faith because you are strong. God’s word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one. Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live 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 4:5Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them.
• 1 John 5:4For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
• John 15:19The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.
• Romans 12:2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
• Galatians 1:10Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.
• Ephesians 2:2You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
• Colossians 3:1Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
• 1 Timothy 6:10For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
• Matthew 6:24“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
• Luke 16:13“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
• James 4:4You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
• 1 John 3:17If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that 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