1 John 2:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See 1 Jn 2:15. We have already said that by the world the Apostle means wicked people, just as the Lord said to the disciples: "You are not of the world, as I am not of the world" (Jn 15:19; Jn 17:16). The father of this world, that is, of worldly sensuality and disorder, is the devil. Therefore the Lord also says to the Father concerning His disciples: "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil" (Jn 17:15). That is, from the world of which the Apostle elsewhere says, in 1 Jn 5:19, that it lies in evil. Another explanation.

Let us not love the world and the things in the world. For the things in the world are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are the three.

Let no one say: “The things in the world were made by God, namely heaven and earth, the sea, the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the adornments of heaven.

What adornments has the sea? All living things that swim. What adornments has the earth? Animals, trees, and birds. All these are in the world, and God made all these.

Why then should I not love what God has made?”

Let the Spirit of God be in you, that you may see that all this is good (Gen 1:31). But woe to you if you love the creature and abandon the Creator.

Are all creatures beautiful in your eyes? How much more beautiful is He who made them all.

Be attentive, beloved. Comparisons can give us instruction. Let Satan not steal upon you with his usual words: “You are well placed among God's creatures. Why did He create all this, if not for your good?”

Then men yield to intoxication, perish, and forget their Creator. Using the creature not moderately but greedily, they neglect the Creator.

Of such people the Apostle says: “They worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Rom 1:25).

God does not forbid you to love these things, but He forbids you to love them by placing blessedness in them. Value and praise them in such a way that you give love to the Creator.

It is as if, brothers, a bridegroom gave a ring to his bride, and she, receiving the ring, loved it more than the bridegroom who gave it.

Could such a soul not be condemned for adultery because of attachment to the ring, though she loved what the bridegroom gave?

She did indeed love what her bridegroom gave her. Yet if she said, “This ring is enough for me; I no longer wish to see the bridegroom,” what would she be?

Who would not turn away from such madness? Who would not condemn the soul of an adulteress?

Instead of a man, you love gold. Instead of the bridegroom, you love the ring. If you love the ring instead of the bridegroom, then he gave you the ring not for betrothal, but for estrangement.

For the bridegroom gave her the ring as a pledge of love, so that in the ring she would love him.

So too God gave you all these things. Love Him who created them. He wants to give you more as well: Himself, who created all these things.

But if you love all these things, even though they were created by God, and neglect the Creator, and love the world, can your love not be reckoned adulterous?

For the world means not only this work created by God, heaven and earth, the sea, and all things visible and invisible. The inhabitants of the world are also called the world.

So too a house means both the walls and the inhabitants of the walls. Sometimes we praise a house and blame its inhabitants.

Sometimes we say, “A beautiful house,” because it is marble and has luxurious paneled ceilings. At other times we say, “A beautiful house: no one is treated unjustly there, there is no theft in it, no one is oppressed.”

Then we are praising not the walls, but the inhabitants of the walls. Yet we call both by the name house.

All lovers of the world, because they dwell in the world with love for it, are called the world. Those whose heart is above dwell in heaven, though in the flesh they walk on earth.

Therefore all lovers of the world are called the world. They have only these three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

They desire only to eat, drink, lie together, and give themselves to similar pleasures. Is it impossible to keep measure in these things?

When it is said, “Do not love this,” is it said that they should not eat, drink, or beget children? That is not what is said.

Rather, measure must be kept for the sake of the Creator. These things must not bind you to themselves by love. You must not love with delight what you ought to possess with usefulness.

Yet you can be tested only by being presented with a choice between two possibilities: do you want righteousness or profit?

“I have nothing to live on, nothing to eat, nothing to drink.” But what if you can obtain this only at the price of unrighteousness?

Is it not better to love what cannot be lost than to commit unrighteousness? You see the gain of gold, but you do not see the loss of faith.

In this, as John says, is the lust of the flesh, that is, desire for those things that pertain to the flesh, such as food, the marriage bed, and other such things.

And the lust of the eyes. By the lust of the eyes he means every kind of curiosity.

How far does curiosity extend? It is in spectacles, theaters, diabolical rites, sorcery, and magic. All this is curiosity.

Sometimes it tempts even the servants of God, and they want to do something like miracles, to test whether God will obey them in the working of miracles.

This is curiosity, in other words, the lust of the eyes. It is not from the Father.

If God has granted it, work miracles. He gave you this ability so that you might use it. But this does not mean that whoever has not worked miracles will not belong to the Kingdom of God.

When the Apostles rejoiced that demons were subject to them, what did the Lord say to them? “Do not rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

He wanted the Apostles to rejoice in the same thing in which you also ought to rejoice. For woe to you if your name is not written in heaven.

Is it woe to you because you do not raise the dead? Is it woe to you because you do not walk on the sea? Is it woe to you because you do not cast out demons?

If such power is given you, use it with humility, not in pride. For the Lord said of certain false prophets that they would perform signs and wonders.

Therefore let there be no pride of life in you. The pride of life is self-exaltation. It is when a man wants to boast of honors, and seems great to himself by wealth or by some other power.

Thus there are these three passions, and no other source of human desires can be found: only the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life.

By these three the devil tempted the Lord. The Lord was tempted by the lust of the flesh when the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread,” after the Lord hungered from fasting.

But how did He repel the enemy and thereby teach the soldier to fight? Attend to what He said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Mt 4:3-4; Deut 8:3).

He was tempted by the lust of the eyes in the desire for a miracle, when the devil said to Him: “Cast Yourself down, for it is written, He shall command His angels concerning You, to bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone” (Mt 4:6).

The Lord withstood the tempter. If He had worked a miracle, it might have seemed that He had either yielded or done it from curiosity.

Certainly He worked miracles as God when He willed, but in order to heal the infirm. If He had worked a miracle then, one might have thought that He merely wanted to display a miracle.

So that men would not think this, hear what He answered: “Depart from Me, Satan, for it is written: You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Mt 4:7; Deut 6:16).

That is, if I do this, I shall tempt God. He said what He wanted to teach you to say.

When the enemy suggests to you, “What sort of man are you? What kind of Christian are you? Have you performed even one miracle? Have the dead risen through your prayers? Have you healed the fevered?

If you were worth anything, you would perform some miracle,” then answer and say: “It is written: You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

I will not tempt God, as though I belonged to God only if I perform a miracle, and did not belong to Him if I do not. What then of His words: Rejoice that your names are written in heaven?” (Lk 10:20).

When was the Lord tempted by the pride of life? When the devil lifted Him up to a height and said, “All this I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

By the exaltation of earthly kingship he wanted to tempt the King of the ages. But the Lord, who made heaven and earth, trampled down the devil.

What is remarkable in the Lord's overcoming the devil? Rather, He answered the devil in the way He wanted to teach you to answer: “It is written: You shall fear the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve” (Mt 4:9-10; Deut 6:13).

Holding to this, you will escape desire for the world. Not having desire for the world, you will not be subjected to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life.

You will prepare a place for the love that is to come, that you may love God. For if love of the world is in your heart, the love of God will not be there.

Hold fast rather to the love of God, so that as God is eternal, you also may abide forever. For every man is such as his love is.

Do you love the earth? You will be earth. Do you love God? What shall I say? That you will be god? I do not dare say this on my own.

Let us hear Scripture: “I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High” (Ps 81:6).

Therefore, if you want to be gods and sons of the Most High, do not love the world or the things in the world.

For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are not from the Father, but from the world, that is, from men who have loved the world.

And the world passes away, and its lust. But he who does the will of God abides forever, as God abides forever.

“All that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 Jn 2:16).

In these words the three indicated passions are named. The lust of the flesh signifies worshipers of lower pleasures. The lust of the eyes signifies the curious. The pride of life signifies the proud.

Therefore the man assumed by Truth Himself is shown that he must beware a threefold temptation.

“Command,” says the tempter, “that these stones become bread.” But this one and only Teacher answers: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:3-4).

Thus He showed that the desire for pleasure must be conquered, so that one does not yield even to hunger.

But the one who could refuse the lust of the flesh might perhaps be caught by the vainglorious desire for temporal dominion. Therefore all the kingdoms of the world were shown to Him, and He was told: “All these I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”

To this the answer was: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” (Mt 4:9-10). Thus pride was trampled down.

Meanwhile the final bait of curiosity was also put into use. The tempter urged Him to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple for no other reason than to make some trial.

But Christ was not overcome, and He gave an answer that lets us understand that attempts to investigate the divine visibly are not needed for the knowledge of God.

“You shall not tempt,” He says, “the Lord your God” (Mt 4:7).

Therefore the one who is inwardly nourished by the word of God does not seek pleasure in this wilderness.

The one who is devoted to God alone does not seek vainglory on the mountain, that is, in earthly exaltation.

The one who gives himself to the eternal vision of the unchangeable Truth does not rush down from the summit of this body, that is, through the eyes, in order to know lower things.

Thus this desire, which is not from the Father but from the world, becomes sharper and more burning in a man. The sharper it becomes, the more patient each person becomes in bearing every hardship and suffering for the sake of what he desires.

Therefore this love of the world, which contains universal desire toward the world, is the common fornication everywhere. Because of it, sin is committed in one's own body.

The saints turn the eyes of their heart with the greatest liveliness toward the contemplation of the radiance of God's glory. They cannot bear even the fleeting shadows of fleshly thoughts, and they turn away from everything that draws the mind's gaze from this light. The blessed Apostle, wishing to instill such a disposition in all, says: "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of this world. And the world passes away, and its desire, but he who does the will of God abides forever." Therefore the saints turn away from everything worldly that is in the world.

These definitions point to every kind of vice.

How, then, did the saints put themselves to death? They loved neither the world nor the things in the world. Renouncing the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16), that is, love of pleasure, love of money, and vainglory, they took up the cross and followed Christ. They crucified the world to themselves and themselves to the world (Gal 6:14).

The properties of the world, the flesh, and blood. “All that is in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of this world” (1 Jn 2:16).

I. The manifestation of flesh and blood appears, first, when something is regarded as true and good on the basis of habit alone. Many follow, approve, and retain what they received with the milk of infancy, or what they see practiced by the majority.

Yet reason, and constant experience as well, assure us that we grow accustomed not only to what is good, but almost still more to what is bad. Therefore judgment established on habit alone befits animals more than a rational creature.

The world is nothing other than "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 Jn 2:16). All this is contained in the heart. It must all be driven out of the heart, so that the heart may be illumined, because the world and the spiritual illumination of the heart are opposed to one another. One must go out so that the other may dwell there. The more the world departs, the more the heart will be illumined.

More particularly, the Apostle defines what this world is in verse 16: the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. Here he names those states of soul, or passions, that are aroused by the objects of the world. By this he shows that inanimate and animate objects themselves are not unclean. Rather, their improper use, and the sight of them with impure thoughts, makes them an occasion of sin (Mt 5:28) and makes them unclean. Woman is a beautiful creation of God, yet even one impure look at her can lead a man to sin (Mt 5:28). Wine is innocent, says the Wise One, but drunkenness is blameworthy (Prov 20:1). Thus the desire of the flesh is born. Another desire is the desire of the eyes, that is, every sinful craving to see, know, and experience.

In the world everything is opposed to what God requires and loves. The basic principles by which worldly life moves, or is governed, are not love for God, for creation, and for man’s own holiness. They are desire in its threefold form: the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the desire of the mind, or the pride of life.

The desire of which the Apostle John speaks here is what, in the usage of the holy Apostle Paul, is generally called sinfulness. It is the evil, sinful disposition of man’s corrupted nature after the Fall; see especially Rom 7:7 and following, with parallels.

Turning again to all, the Apostle implores Christians to keep away from the vain and sinful world. In that world everything proceeds from self-love with its threefold desires: of the flesh, of the eyes, and of pride. These are subdivided into an endless multitude of passions and sins that lead to death. Here again one hears the spirit of the Lord's farewell discourse about the world lying in evil (see Jn 15:19; Jn 18:14-15). "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" says the holy Apostle James (Jas 4:4). But the enemies of the Lord will not stand in His judgment (see Ps 2:12). The very enticements of desire that move men to crimes are not eternal. Finally, this whole world itself is not eternal.

What fleshly desires mean in the apostolic instruction can be understood from these very words, though not fully. Desire is a wish, but not every wish is desire. Desire is, as it were, willing after willing. It is a wish stretched beyond the limits of natural desire, passionate and not governed by law, order, or moderation. Fleshly desire properly means the disordered wish for bodily, sensual pleasures, in opposition to abstinence, sobriety, and chastity. The Apostle James writes: desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin (Jas 1:15). From this one must conclude that desires are as manifold as sins are manifold.

The world is self-love made material, or the totality of its offspring in persons and actions. For St. John the Theologian divides all that is in the world into three classes: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16).

This means that everything there is moved by the action of these three passions. The world is the arena where the activity of the sinful will unfolds in all its breadth.

Each of these primary passions, in turn, unfolds into many others filled with its spirit and character. They set their seal both on all man's powers and on all his activity. Thus they complicate his passionate condition and multiply the passions.

The lust of the flesh is the insatiable desire for pleasures. It is the unceasing search for objects capable of delighting the inward and outward senses of the soul.

It compels a man to set his own enjoyment as his sole aim, to live for his own pleasure, and to direct everything he encounters and undertakes toward this end.

The variety of particular inclinations arising from it depends both on the objects of pleasure and on the organs by which pleasure is tasted.

From pleasures of taste arise fondness for delicacies, drunkenness, and gluttony. From sexual passions arises dissoluteness in its various forms. From the organs of movement arise distraction or laziness.

From the soul's senses arise sinful love and dreamy sensuality through imagination, and the like. Its chief offspring are gluttony, fornication, sloth, amusements, and diversions.

Whoever is possessed by this passion is compelled by it to act everywhere according to its quality. It impresses its spirit upon everything.

With regard to religion and the knowledge of God, lovers of pleasure do not deeply receive the truths of divine knowledge into the heart. This happens because of their characteristic light-mindedness and their almost exclusive turning outward.

Therefore these truths remain fruitless, since they have no root. They also undergo strong inward attacks from inclinations turned toward another order.

This latter circumstance inevitably places a man devoted to pleasures in a state of indifference toward the truths of faith. Or, still worse, it casts him into doubt about them.

In the worship of God, such people need a pleasant sacred action. In churches they seek not the glory and honor of God, but the delight of hearing and sight.

Even in inward worship of God, they chiefly seek sweet movements of the heart and summon them with effort. For this reason they fall away in time of temptation (Lk 8:13), when one must suffer inward or outward sorrows for the truth.

They are enemies of the Cross. Their god is the belly (Phil 3:18).

With regard to himself, the lover of pleasure is wholly occupied with pleasures, and only present pleasures at that. He says within himself: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (Is 22:13; 56:12; 1 Cor 15:32; Wis 2:6).

He does not even think about the future. Therefore he gives no heed to the consequences of his life, even when they are already beginning, and even when sickness, poverty, or dishonor suddenly meet him.

His soul is held in contempt. Only the body is fed abundantly (Tit 1:12; 1 Tim 5:6). Therefore you will find in him neither precise and stable concepts, nor firm rules of life.

In his actions and thoughts he is driven like dust by the wind. He is a stranger to solid, constant, strenuous, and long-lasting occupations. Therefore he can offer nothing from himself that might outlive him.

With regard to others, he is no better. True, he is reluctant to offend others personally, because this may be accompanied by unpleasantness.

Yet anyone unlike him in character, and not ready to share his deeds, is not only alien to him but an enemy.

Let necessity only arise, and he is ready for every injustice: deceit, failure to keep his word, false promises, and cunning snares.

He has an inclination toward friendship, but usually his friends are not chosen according to true worth, and they do not last long.

In conversation there is a desire to show politeness, but with it come barbs, witticisms, mockery, and sometimes shamelessness.

Little good comes from such people in domestic or civil life. Strictly speaking, they are capable neither of commanding nor of obeying as they should.

A lover of pleasure as father, husband, master, or superior is worst of all. Children, wife, household, and those entrusted to him perish.

The cause of all this is negligence that has become akin to him, and false meekness or indulgence, because correction is often accompanied by unpleasantness.

Among inferiors of every kind there is usually no rebellious resistance, but almost always murmuring, slowness, and laziness. In general, they are hearers rather than doers of the law (Jas 1:22).

Gain is the insatiable desire to have. It is the search for and acquisition of things under the appearance of usefulness, only so that one may say of them: they are mine.

The objects of this passion are many: a house with all its parts, fields, servants, and chiefly money, because by it everything can be obtained. Some, however, are attached exclusively to silver and gold.

Therefore this passion may be seen chiefly in two forms: love of money and love of acquisition, or possessiveness.

Judged by its use, under the influence of vainglory it appears as pomp. Under pride and lust for power, it appears as worldly shrewdness that seeks to seize all trade into its own hands. Under foolishness, it appears as miserliness.

Tormenting care, envy, fears, sorrow, and grief continually accompany this passion.

The title proper to the man possessed by it is self-interested. He will not take a step unless it brings him advantage. Everything touched by his hand, word, or thought pays him tribute.

Then, when a thing has entered his domain, he says: Mine forever. This exclusiveness of possession, decisive and heartfelt, draws a kind of fence around his things and drives everyone else away.

With regard to religion, he has no time to know God. Therefore he holds faith as he heard and received it, and as he can imagine it with a soul heaped over with sensory things.

Most of all he is inclined toward superstition, anthropomorphism, and idolatry. His strong and exclusive love for things makes his inward worship of God suspect, for the Lord says that one cannot serve God and mammon (Mt 6:24).

Therefore he is directly called an idolater (Eph 5:5; Col 3:5; Mt 19:22; Job 31:24; Ps 118:36). He seems to honor God, but not with the heart.

He honors Him by something outward, and only in expectation of increased profits, or from fear of losing and desire to preserve what he has.

Therefore he is inclined toward outward worship and loves wealth and magnificence in it. When direct paths are lacking, the passion for acquisition sometimes leads him to magic and other absurdities (1 Tim 6:9).

With regard to himself, the covetous man displays the appearance of certain virtues. He seems thrifty, but is miserly. His labor and sleeplessness are only for gain. His abstinence from pleasures and enjoyments is only so as not to spend.

Strictly speaking, he has no care either for soul or body. He sacrifices himself to things.

Care gives him no time to enjoy what he has acquired, and therefore there is no peace in his soul. If misfortune occurs, he is ready to fall into despair, easily loses his reason, and becomes mad. Sometimes he lays hands on himself.

With regard to others he is inhuman, envious, treacherous, faithless, and litigious. He does not like to do good freely, unless his vainglory overcomes him. He knows no close friendship.

There is no injustice upon which the greedy man will not resolve, as Judas showed in himself (Mt 26:15). From him come theft, sacrilege (Josh 7:1; Acts 5:1), murders, and betrayals.

The lover of gain is an unfit member of house, society, and Church (Prov 15:27, 29; 2 Kgs ch. 5; 1 Tim 3:3; Phil 2:20-21; 1 Pet 5:2).

Inferiors among them are usually submissive, diligent, and labor in order somehow to put away a penny. Yet they are inclined to deceive a master or superior, to steal something for themselves, and to cover their tracks.

They immediately abandon them as soon as they are in any misfortune.

Superiors, or those ruling in any form, are worse than anything in their negligence and carelessness toward others. They have no concern for anyone, neither for truth nor for people.

Such a superior is not loved, because he always wants somehow to hold back a penny. Therefore people are unfaithful to him and seek in every way to outwit him.

In his house he keeps everyone poorly, as he does himself. He leaves his children and whole household without attention. Thus coarseness and ignorance become established.

Pride is the insatiable desire for exaltation. It is the strenuous search for objects through which one might stand above all others.

Self-love is most evident here. Here it is as if in its own person, for here all concern is for one's own I.

The first and most inward offspring of pride is self-conceit, according to which all others are considered lower than ourselves. Even those who far surpass us are, in comparison with us, not very important.

When it breaks outward, pride begins to seek objects that exalt, and it changes according to them.

When it rests on insignificant objects, for example on bodily strength, beauty, clothing, kinship, or something else, it is vainglory. When it turns toward degrees of honor and glory, it is lust for power and ambition.

When it takes delight in rumor, talk, and people's attention, it is love of glory.

In all these forms, except perhaps self-conceit, pride is also accompanied by self-will, disobedience, self-confidence, reliance on oneself, pretension, contempt for others, ingratitude, envy, and anger reaching revenge and remembrance of wrongs.

Its chief branches may be reckoned envy with hatred, and anger with remembrance of wrongs.

In the word of God the proud are also called high-minded (Rom 11:20; 12:16; 1 Tim 6:17; Is 14:13), puffed up (1 Tim 6:4), lofty-hearted (Deut 8:14; 17:20; Ezek 28:2), and contemptuous (Lk 18:9, 11; Gal 5:26).

The man who exalts himself above all in his heart is, with regard to religion and the knowledge of God, the most dangerous man. He is capable of falling into the very abyss of impiety.

Because of his inclination to separate himself from others, he either invents for himself or easily accepts newly invented opinions distinguished by some elevation and strangeness.

Often, to show that he differs from the common people, he rejects the most evident truths, such as the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and the like.

Therefore such people are rightly considered inventors of heresies (1 Tim 6:4-10). In general, his characteristic contentiousness and stubbornness in accepted opinions are very unfavorable to truth.

In outward worship of God he loves stiffness, brilliance, and artificiality. In inward worship he loves strain, loftiness, and abstraction. In prayer he loves lofty verbosity. In the manifestation of piety he loves oddity.

Everything is his own way, not as with others. He can also adopt every form of divine service for glory and vainglory, and turn them into means of satisfying his lust for power, as Jeroboam did (1 Kgs 12:28-29).

Abstinence, industriousness, thrift, patience, and constancy give him the appearance of being a strict fulfiller of his duties toward himself, but only the appearance.

For all these are intermediate virtues, not essential ones. Their value therefore depends on the spirit with which they are undertaken and maintained.

It is true that he cares more about the education of his soul. But for what purpose and in what spirit? In order to shine, or else to maintain the glory of learning, or his own glory and that of his rank.

For this reason he occupies himself chiefly with what is praised in his time. But he is irascible, quarrelsome, and gives himself no rest. Because of this he soon exhausts his strength and acquires illnesses.