He said to them,
“Go into
all the world
and preach the gospel
to all creation.
And it-had-said unto-them,
Having-been-traversed-of
into to-the-one to-a-configuration to-along-all
ye-should-have-heralded to-the-one to-a-goodly-messagelet
unto-all unto-the-one unto-a-creating.
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς
Πορευθέντες
εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἅπαντα
κηρύξατε τὸ εὐαγγέλιον
πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει
John 3:16
For God so loved
the world
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish
but have eternal life
unto-the-one-this therefore it-excessed-off-unto, the-one a-Deity, to-the-one to-a-configuration,
as-also to-the-one to-a-Son to-the-one to-alone-kindreded it-gave, so all the-one trusting-of into to-it
lest it-might-have-had-destructed-off,
other it-might-hold to-a-lifing to-aged-belonged.
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς
τὸν κόσμον
ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν,
ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν
μὴ ἀπόληται
ἀλλὰ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
World - κόσμον - Kosmon
- an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government
- ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars,'the heavenly hosts', as the ornament of the heavens. 1 Pet. 3:3
- the world, the universe
- the circle of the earth, the earth
- the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human race
- the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God,
- and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ
- world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly: the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting,
- stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ
- any aggregate or general collection of particulars of any sort
- the Gentiles as contrasted to the Jews (Rom. 11:12 etc) of believers only, John 1:29; 3:16; 3:17; 6:33; 12:47, 1 Cor. 4:9; 2 Cor. 5:19
Hence, coming from the last post, kosmon (to-a-configuration) and aion (Unto-an-age) simply refers to "world" and there is much depth to aion while we are more familiar with the kosmon conceptulisation of the world. Definition #9 of kosmon is the general preconception of many contemporary Christians that has led to the stigmatisation of "the world".
As a collective (kosmon) and at a very personal level, faith has become a direct connect between me and my God. Institution-led conditioning is challenging the thing I hold the closest and despite facing the threat of separation, it is liberating yet sorrowful that I feel strongly to hold on to this pursuit of truth, hoping and praying that there will be coherence.
5 comments:
Yeah, we should preach the gospel, live out the gospel wherever we are!. To share with those who don't know Christ, who is living the World and is of the world. As when we become believers, we are separated from the world and its sinful nature. " Don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God " . james 4:4 ( this means doing as the world does, the Holy Spirit helps us )
Noelle, this is an interesting take. In recent days, I am finding that even in a Christian circle, friendship or relationship, acceptance of mutual pathways of faith can be quite problematic! :S
It is funny that James 4:4 begins with the phrase "You adulterous people"! (NIV)
This now has got me hooked! So as I read further, the NIV version had summarised and transcribed the above phrase from the Greek word moichalis {moy-khal-is'}, being the:
"intimate alliance of God with the people of Israel was likened to a marriage, those who relapse into idolatry are said to commit adultery or play the harlot"
This is the more suitable address when we are refering to verse 4:4 as a rebuke towards "those who relapse into idolatry".
Our conceptualisation of "the world" may also encapsulate the circle of believers that we agree and disagree with. James 4:4 addresses "world" as Kosmon, and it would be useful to further explore the entire context of the chapter as it would be improbable and scripturally incoherent if we were not to be friends with the world. If not why did God so loved the world (Kosmon) in the first place??
Verse 5 and beyond brings things to a tighter context - promoting a sense of orientation towards God.
and the point of that is?
i guess the whole gist of it is that God loves us all, even while we were still sinners, He died for us. So us being a Believer and knowing of the treasure found in Christ, we should share it with all of the world!:)
So we were all playing harlotry before we know Christ, living in our sinful nature. Separated from God. No communion with Him. But Jesus represents the New Adam, and The Church represents His bride. So you can see that, once we are a Believer we no longer want to even live in the world and play by its rules in a way. We would rather choose to " live is Christ, die is gain"
i don't know if you understand what i mean. Or perhaps we are talking different things !! LOL.
Heyy
The point of that refers to the reason behind my inquisition of the two verses in my blogpost. I feel that any form of revelation from the bible has to endure some tenure of reflection before truth can be applied. This is why I am still thinking deeply about them.
Before I engage the bible, I am learning to survey its context. This is beginning to be very important to me as if these words were prompted from divine inspiration, I have to capture the gist of the message accurately. This is where I can be responsible towards understanding the bible more.
Hence, as much as your words bring joy to me, I feel that we have to examine James 4:4 in accordance to how the author (and more importantly God) intended it to be. This is because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. We have to rever these words before jumping into conclusion.
http://www.theopedia.com/Epistle_of_James
James wrote to Jewish Christians who had been scattered throughout the Mediterranean world because of persecution.
In their hostile surroundings they were tempted to let intellectual agreement pass for true faith. Therein lies the reason why the author of James said "friendship with the world is enmity with God".
It would most probably have been the case that Jewish Christians across the Roman-ruled continent had been engaging environments that were highly influenced by Greek and Roman intellectuals, so much so that faith is eclipsed and ruled by other beliefs. This is why the author cautioned that going too deep in communion with intellect may deter faith.
This is what "world" means as I read it.
For me, when we are separated from the world, the freedom that comes with Christ is that conscience that intellect cannot rival. It is not as if that the God views the world as an enemy; He loved the world - John 3:16.
With such an insight, then our faith can begin to help us proceed further in our pursuit of Christ, undeterred by the distortion that the world has painted.
I hope my explanation helped!
In a way, it is also saying you can't mix worldly wisdom and faith. it won't work! But when you become a Christian, it is a battle. Between your old self and your new self found in Christ. It is a battle. But you have to make sure to put on Christ and not depend even on your own intellect or other wisdom of men.
Somehow i believe even the most ' dumb ' person on earth with no education may understand God's Word all because He has fully surrendered Himself to Christ. God made the foolishness on this earth wise :)
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