2. If proof on such an issue were needed by students, the use of the word Kdcr/xos would strik- ingly show the original way in which NT writers handle and apply such terms. Certainly, to the ancients, with the word Kocr/ios the vision of the figure of order would be manifest in thought. Generally speaking, in the NT the ancient concep- tion falls so far into the background as sometimes to vanish. But what the word has lost in one way it has gained in other ways, as will be seen upon a brief examination of its employment generally in NT literature.
It is interestins:, however, to note that, in the transferred applications of the word, this literature follows the lines of classical usage. Thus xitr/xos is used of women's attire (1 P 3-*), of the universe (Ro 120), of the earth (Mt 48 [of. Lk 45 t-?s oixovfj-ivrii] 1626), and of human society (Jn 129). In such illustrations we do not part company with the radical idea of ' order,' but it is only faintlj' made apparent.
In the Synoptics the term is rarely employed, and the student of the AV must be put on his guard against supposing that, in all cases where the tr. ' world ' is used, it stands for /c6<T/ios in the original. In some six cases it stands for aid)!', and in two for ij y^ olKovfiivij. But, as any confusion is sufficiently checked by RVm, the point need not be pursued here. The use of the word, rare as it is in the Synoptics, is largely free from Johannine or Pauline sentiment on the idea. It is difficult to find a passa,ge in them in which the term is used absolutely in malam partem,, as it is found not only in the writings of St. John and St. Paul, but also in those of St. Peter and St. James. In the parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Mt 13-'*-«) the ' world ' appears in no dark or ominous colouring. It is not its cares, but the cares of the age (aiu3v, Mk 4''-'), that choke the word so as to render it unfruitful. When our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount speaks of His disciples as the light of the world (Mk 5"), we find the figure interpreted by the parallel expression which precedes it : 'Ye are the salt of the earth' (Mt S'^). To declare that the
world needs purification and illumination is not a wholesale condemnation of the world. There is in the Synoptics no violence of contrast between it and the Divine society. In its rare occurrences in the Synoptics the world is a sphere in which Christ's disciples live and move and have their being. For them it has its pitfalls (Mt 18^), its characteristic dangers, but nowhere does it appear as wholly or inherently evil.
3. When one turns from the Synoptics to St. John's writings, for here it is impossible to separate his Gospel from his letters, the contrast appears startling. Instead of a rare appearance of the term, we find that it occurs some eighty times in the Gospel, and twenty-two times in the First Epistle (A. Plummer, Com. on the Gospel in Cam- bridge Bible). And with this frequently comes a change in meaning, a change, however, which in the Gospel appears gradual and climactic. For in the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel the term ap- pears with the same lack of colour in which it is painted in the Synoptic Gospels.
The world is indeed seen to be beset by the grave fault of indifference to its OAvn darkness. The light came, but it was not recognized. Yet in this lack of welcome His own were involved (Jn 1", cf. 8^'-). The testimony of the Baptist ad- vances the issue a step farther. His recognition of Jesus as the Lamb of God (pfl-sej implies his recog- nition of the purpose of His mission as the world's Saviour from its sin. Later, our Lord's testimony to Nicodemus informs him of the gracious fact of His love towards the world. His deliberate in- tention in regard to the world was not its condem- nation but its salvation. Life, not death, through Him was the Father's eternal purpose (3^®- ", cf. 442 12^^). Through the type of the manna, our Lord brings Himself, if it may be so expressed, into still closer touch with the world. He is the Bread of heaven which gives life to the world (6^). Later, with more awful explicitness, the bread is identified with His flesh, and its offering is on the world's behalf (v.^^).
So gracious, indeed, are the Lord's utterances in regard to the world, that twice the group of the disciples appeared unable to distinguish themselves from it. They could not understand in the earlier stage of their discipleship why any manifestation of Jesus should not be made on equal terms to the world as to themselves (7^ cf. 14^^). They omitted to see that a manifestation of Himself could be made only through the medium of love. A difference, therefore, not only in point of time but also in degree of training, explains any seeming inconsistency in our Lord's teaching in respect of the attitude of the world towards His own. At an earlier stage He declared that the world could not hate His followers, — there was nothing then to excite hostility either by way of their belief or their love (7^). At a later stage the parting of the ways had come. His own had made their final choice. With the choice came the world's hatred. The persecution which He endured was to be theirs also (15'^"-'*). All turned upon the identity of themselves with Him. This once established. His own exhibited love and obedience. The world was seen as penetrated by hatred and disobedience. In this awful contrast and conflict, victory was assured for His own, and with victory would come its fruit. He was their surety. Peace and triumph were their lot through Him (16^3).