Essentials Of The Christian Life / Part 4

Series – October 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Essentials Of The Christian Life

Part 4The World And Separation From It

In the Greek language, in which the New Testament was originally written, there are three different words which are translated “world” in the King James Version. They are:

• Aion – meaning “an age, time, dispensation.”
• Kosmos – meaning “order, form, fashion, arrangement.”
• Oikoumene – meaning “the habitable earth or land.”

The majority of the Bible verses speaking about the world have reference to the world order and system which Satan has built up – kosmos – on the material earth. The Christian is called to walk in separation from this world system. This meaning of “world” is the focus of our article.

Satan, Its Prince And God
In John 12:31 (KJV) and 14:30 the Lord spoke of Satan as “the prince of this world” (kosmos), and in Ephesians 2:2 we are told that “in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” The course and order of the world system we are surrounded by is after Satan, who is its ruler and is the prince of the evil powers of the air that work in the unsaved.

Second Corinthians 4:4 speaks of Satan as “the god of this world” (aion), and in Galatians 1:4 we read of “this present evil world” (aion). Because Satan is its head and god, and has built up its great system and orders its course, it is an evil world or age in which we live. “The whole world lies in the wicked one” (1 Jn. 5:19 JND).

The Character Of The World System
In 1 John 2:15-17 we are told, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world [kosmos]. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (KJV).

Here we have clearly set forth the character of all that is in the world which Satan has built up. Everything in it appeals to one or the other of the three lusts of fallen man’s evil nature – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the pride of life. When Satan tempted Eve and Christ, he appealed to these three lusts (see Gen. 3:6; Mt. 4:1-10). Eve responded and sinned, but Satan found in Christ no response to his temptations, for there was no sinful nature in Him. The things in the world system are not of God our Father and will pass away. They appeal to our evil nature, which we are to reckon as dead with Christ. Therefore the Christian must walk in separation from Satan’s evil world and all its enticement if he is to have a happy and victorious Christian life.

The things of this world system, which Satan would get us occupied and taken up with, are temporal, for time, and will pass away. “The world languisheth and fadeth away” (Isa. 24:4), “but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 Jn. 2:17). The new nature, which the Christian is to walk after, does not love Satan’s evil world; it loves God the Father and seeks to please Him. Also, since the world is not of the Father but after Satan, the Christian, with a divine nature, does not desire to walk after the things of this evil world and cannot be happy in any fellowship with it. Therefore the apostle said, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (v.15). A true Christian is not characterized by love for the world.

The World Crucified Christ
When the Lord Jesus came into the world He had created, the world (kosmos) knew Him not (Jn. 1:10). Later Jew and Gentile, religious and irreligious, united together in rejecting and crucifying Him. The title put on His cross was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, the languages of the religious world, the learned world and the political world of that day. Thus the whole world system united in rejecting their Creator and crucifying Him.

In speaking of the wisdom of God in 1 Corinthians 2:8, the apostle said, “Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” The princes of this world are spoken of as ignorant of Christ – who is the wisdom of God – and as those who crucified Him.

In John 15:18-25 the Lord spoke of the world’s hating Him, His Father and His own without a cause. This attitude of the world toward Christ and God is still the same; it has never repented of the terrible crime of crucifying Christ. Therefore this world system is stained with the blood of God’s beloved Son, and the Christian who loves the Lord must walk in separation from it if he would be true to His rejected Savior.

The Cross Separates Us From The World
Seeing that the world gave Christ the cross of rejection and crucifixion, how then can the Christian love or be one with it? Friendship with such a world is enmity with God, as James 4:4 tells us: “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” The apostle Paul said that by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the world was crucified unto him and he unto it (Gal. 6:14). The cross of Christ should stand as an impassable and immovable barrier between the world and the Christian – as that which forever separates him from it.

The Christian Is Not Of The World
In John 15:19 the Lord said, “Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” The Lord has chosen us out of this world system, and in saving our souls we were “delivered ... from the power of darkness,” from Satan’s kingdom of this evil world, and “translated ... into the kingdom of [the Father’s] dear Son” (Col. 1:13). Our citizenship and associations of life are in heaven (Phil. 3:20). The Christian belongs to a different world and kingdom of which Christ is the center and circumference, and therefore he is not of this present evil world system.

The Christian is in the world but not of it. He is like a ship in the water. The ship is made for the water and to be useful in it, but if the water gets in the ship it will soon sink. Likewise with a Christian; he is to be useful to the Lord and the precious souls in the world, but the world which he is in must not get into his heart. If it does, he will make shipwreck of the faith (1 Tim. 1:19).

Hence, the Lord prayed in John 17:15-16, “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The Lord’s desire and prayer for His own is that they may be kept from the evil of the world system so they might truly and practically be “not of the world.” May we, then, dear Christian reader, keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” (Jas. 1:27) in answer to our Lord’s desire and prayer.

A Separate People
The Lord wants His people separated unto Himself, walking apart from this evil world. This is the way the new nature of the believer goes and the way the indwelling Spirit leads us. Being a vital essential of the Christian life, no child of God can prosper in his soul or really enjoy Christ and his heavenly inheritance if he is not walking in practical separation from the spirit and course of this present evil world.

God’s people throughout the Bible and in every age were called on to be a separated people unto the Lord. The following Scriptures emphasize this:

• Exodus 33:16 – “For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.”
• Leviticus 20:24 – “But I have said unto you, ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.”
• Ezra 10:11 – “Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do His pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land.”
• Nehemiah 9:2 – “And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.”

“Ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine” (Lev. 20:26) is a typical example of God’s call to His people of old, and to us today, to walk in separation from the world and those who are not His.

No Unequal Yokes With Unbelievers
If one would walk in separation from the world, he or she cannot be unequally yoked with those who are unbelievers. Second Corinthians 6:14 gives definite instructions: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” When two are yoked together they are to pull and work together as one. But how can a Christian walk together with an unbeliever? They are as different as light and darkness. To be yoked together thus is an unequal and unhappy yoke. Therefore, any business, religious or marriage yoke of Christians with unbelievers is an unequal yoke with the world and is to be shunned, being very harmful to one’s Christian life and testimony. Many believers have not heeded the above instruction and have found to their great sorrow how such unequal yokes have made them suffer and have hindered them in their Christian life.

Watch Your Companionships
What leads to unequal yokes with the world is the first step of companionship with the world, with the unsaved. Therefore it is most important that Christians be very careful as to their friendships and associations. The psalmist said, “I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts” (Ps. 119:63). Make the Lord Jesus your chief companion, and all those who love and fear Him and keep His word your friends and companions. We are affected by the company we keep. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33). “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Prov. 13:20). If a believer has companionship with those who are of the world and love its evil course, he will soon be worldly minded and mixed up with the world system.

Having considered what has been presented in this section, we trust the reader will see that separation in every way from this present, evil world system is a vital essential of the Christian life. One cannot enjoy the abundant life in Christ if friendship with the world is practiced. Separation from the world should be the natural result of communion with Christ, and walking in the Spirit and after the new nature. Devotedness to the Savior and the enjoyment of Him is the spring and power for separation from the world. May we know more of it in living power.

By Raymond K. Campbell

Look for Part 5 of this Series next month.