In John 17:14-16 the Lord Jesus, speaking to God the Father, says this about His followers:
‘14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’ (ESV)
There are a few points that need to be made immediately about this passage.
First, in verses 14 and 16 Jesus is explicit that His followers ‘are not of the world’, and He clearly approves of them not being of the world.
Second, in v. 15 He tells His Father that He is not asking Him to take His followers out of the world. This obviously implies that His followers are in the world and that this is where they should be.
Third, the Holy Spirit inspired this passage to help Christians throughout the Christian era, and it would be a big mistake to limit what it says to Jesus’ followers who were on earth at the time He spoke these words. Instead, we can be sure that what the passage says also applies to Christians living at any time since.
If we sum up these points, then, we can say confidently that it is the will of God for Christians today to be in the world but not of it.
So what does it mean to be in the world? And what does it mean not to be of the world? Let’s take each of these questions in turn.
In the world
As far as being in the world is concerned, I would suggest that the main idea is that Christians need to be in quite close contact with non-believers who live in the world. Rather than isolating ourselves, we should be people who live lives and speak words that can be seen and heard by those around us as a means of drawing them to Jesus Christ.
We find this sort of thinking in Matthew 5:14-16, where Jesus teaches:
‘14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.’ (ESV)
Verse 16 shows that letting our light shine is about letting people see our good deeds. And this verse is also clear that the goal of letting people see our good deeds is that God will be glorified.
Another passage that is relevant here is 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, where the apostle Paul writes:
‘9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.’ (ESV)
Although Paul is about to go on in the following verses to say that Christians should keep away from people claiming to be believers who are unrepentant of various sins, in verses 9 and 10 he is clear that we should not keep away from unrepentant sinners who make no claim to Christian faith.
In fact, in Acts 19:31 Luke even says that Paul had ‘friends’ among the provincial officials of the Roman province of Asia. Importantly, no one could possibly have become a provincial official in Asia unless he supported the idolatrous temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was in Asia. So, reading between the lines, Paul must have had friends who were serious idolaters. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they would have been his close friends, but they are still called his friends.
The combined weight of these passages suggests that it is always or at least almost always a bad move for Christians to live in some sort of isolated community, detached from society. Instead, we should be out there, living shoulder to shoulder with non-believers. This seems to be the main idea of what it means to be in the world.
I would also say that in any way that doesn’t involve us compromising on our values, we should live lives that are the same as the lives of non-Christians in the societies in which we find ourselves. We should do what our culture does except in areas where we think our culture is offensive to God.
The more similar our lives are to those of our neighbours, the more easily we will be able to build bridges with them.
Not of the world
As far as not being of the world is concerned, this is essentially about how followers of Jesus are aligned with God over against godless people. And this difference is perhaps most noticeable in the values of each group.
We should be in no doubt that in every part of the world, the value system of most people is a million miles from Christian values.
In Luke 16:15 the Lord Jesus even goes so far as to say:
‘For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.’ (CSB)
This doesn’t mean that literally everything that the majority of people admire is revolting to God. But it does mean that a great many things are.
Take money as one example. Everywhere in the world we can find huge numbers of people chasing after money, hoping to gain satisfaction from it. Wealthy people are treated with awe, and wealthy countries are admired.
This is a tragic deception. God is not impressed one tiny bit by wealth, whether of a person or a country. This whole way of thinking is like some sort of dazzling light show that has no substance to it.
Or take the pursuit of pleasure. Vast numbers of people channel their efforts into gaining as much self-centred pleasure as they can, whether in sexual relationships or by other forms of self-indulgence.
This is another road to nowhere. It is true that God created pleasure, and in many contexts God-honouring pleasure is not a bad thing. However, when it is treated as a goal to be pursued without reference to Him, it is very harmful.
As another example, we can think of prestige. For many people, it is extremely important that others think highly of them. They will go to great lengths to impress people, and they love nothing more than to see the looks of respect on people’s faces at their achievements.
Again, this is a chasing after the wind.
What impresses God is a set of qualities that is vastly different from the above. What He wants to see in human beings is morally upright qualities and values, and especially love, both love for God and love for other people.
Mark 12:28-34 tells us that on one occasion a Jewish scribe asked Jesus what the most important commandment in the Law of Moses was. We might have expected Jesus to reply with some cryptic or indirect statement as He sometimes does when He is questioned elsewhere in the Gospels. But on this occasion the reply was direct and to the point:
‘29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”’ (ESV)
This is what God wants to see. This is what it means not to be of the world, when people pursue love, firstly for God and secondly for other people.
A renewed commitment
Writing this article has encouraged me to renew my own commitment to being both of the things I have talked about. I want to be thoroughly in the world, and I also want to be thoroughly not of the world.
I would encourage readers of the article to join me in renewing their own commitment to these things.
‘14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’ (ESV)
There are a few points that need to be made immediately about this passage.
First, in verses 14 and 16 Jesus is explicit that His followers ‘are not of the world’, and He clearly approves of them not being of the world.
Second, in v. 15 He tells His Father that He is not asking Him to take His followers out of the world. This obviously implies that His followers are in the world and that this is where they should be.
Third, the Holy Spirit inspired this passage to help Christians throughout the Christian era, and it would be a big mistake to limit what it says to Jesus’ followers who were on earth at the time He spoke these words. Instead, we can be sure that what the passage says also applies to Christians living at any time since.
If we sum up these points, then, we can say confidently that it is the will of God for Christians today to be in the world but not of it.
So what does it mean to be in the world? And what does it mean not to be of the world? Let’s take each of these questions in turn.
In the world
As far as being in the world is concerned, I would suggest that the main idea is that Christians need to be in quite close contact with non-believers who live in the world. Rather than isolating ourselves, we should be people who live lives and speak words that can be seen and heard by those around us as a means of drawing them to Jesus Christ.
We find this sort of thinking in Matthew 5:14-16, where Jesus teaches:
‘14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.’ (ESV)
Verse 16 shows that letting our light shine is about letting people see our good deeds. And this verse is also clear that the goal of letting people see our good deeds is that God will be glorified.
Another passage that is relevant here is 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, where the apostle Paul writes:
‘9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.’ (ESV)
Although Paul is about to go on in the following verses to say that Christians should keep away from people claiming to be believers who are unrepentant of various sins, in verses 9 and 10 he is clear that we should not keep away from unrepentant sinners who make no claim to Christian faith.
In fact, in Acts 19:31 Luke even says that Paul had ‘friends’ among the provincial officials of the Roman province of Asia. Importantly, no one could possibly have become a provincial official in Asia unless he supported the idolatrous temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was in Asia. So, reading between the lines, Paul must have had friends who were serious idolaters. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they would have been his close friends, but they are still called his friends.
The combined weight of these passages suggests that it is always or at least almost always a bad move for Christians to live in some sort of isolated community, detached from society. Instead, we should be out there, living shoulder to shoulder with non-believers. This seems to be the main idea of what it means to be in the world.
I would also say that in any way that doesn’t involve us compromising on our values, we should live lives that are the same as the lives of non-Christians in the societies in which we find ourselves. We should do what our culture does except in areas where we think our culture is offensive to God.
The more similar our lives are to those of our neighbours, the more easily we will be able to build bridges with them.
Not of the world
As far as not being of the world is concerned, this is essentially about how followers of Jesus are aligned with God over against godless people. And this difference is perhaps most noticeable in the values of each group.
We should be in no doubt that in every part of the world, the value system of most people is a million miles from Christian values.
In Luke 16:15 the Lord Jesus even goes so far as to say:
‘For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.’ (CSB)
This doesn’t mean that literally everything that the majority of people admire is revolting to God. But it does mean that a great many things are.
Take money as one example. Everywhere in the world we can find huge numbers of people chasing after money, hoping to gain satisfaction from it. Wealthy people are treated with awe, and wealthy countries are admired.
This is a tragic deception. God is not impressed one tiny bit by wealth, whether of a person or a country. This whole way of thinking is like some sort of dazzling light show that has no substance to it.
Or take the pursuit of pleasure. Vast numbers of people channel their efforts into gaining as much self-centred pleasure as they can, whether in sexual relationships or by other forms of self-indulgence.
This is another road to nowhere. It is true that God created pleasure, and in many contexts God-honouring pleasure is not a bad thing. However, when it is treated as a goal to be pursued without reference to Him, it is very harmful.
As another example, we can think of prestige. For many people, it is extremely important that others think highly of them. They will go to great lengths to impress people, and they love nothing more than to see the looks of respect on people’s faces at their achievements.
Again, this is a chasing after the wind.
What impresses God is a set of qualities that is vastly different from the above. What He wants to see in human beings is morally upright qualities and values, and especially love, both love for God and love for other people.
Mark 12:28-34 tells us that on one occasion a Jewish scribe asked Jesus what the most important commandment in the Law of Moses was. We might have expected Jesus to reply with some cryptic or indirect statement as He sometimes does when He is questioned elsewhere in the Gospels. But on this occasion the reply was direct and to the point:
‘29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”’ (ESV)
This is what God wants to see. This is what it means not to be of the world, when people pursue love, firstly for God and secondly for other people.
A renewed commitment
Writing this article has encouraged me to renew my own commitment to being both of the things I have talked about. I want to be thoroughly in the world, and I also want to be thoroughly not of the world.
I would encourage readers of the article to join me in renewing their own commitment to these things.
