Identifying the cosmic system, part 1; John 15:19; .

Title: Identifying the cosmic system, part 1; John 15:19; .

 

John 15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

 

John 15:19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you

 

It is stated here that the world can either love or hate.

 

 “love” is phileo which is a love of attraction, rapport, and affection.

 

The preposition translated “of” is the Greek word ek and it means from.

 

 “If you were from the kosmos (but you are not - meaning the positive believer)”

 

Every believer is snatched out of the world at the moment of salvation, but without doctrine the believer will continue to think like the world system rather than coming out from it and standing up to it, and so he will continue to receive affection from the system.

 

Life is definitely rockier when the believer separates from the world and stands up to it by standing up for God’s plan of grace. The positive believer does not compromise doctrine or grace, even in the face of great opposition from those who in ignorance think only of the flesh and only conform to the system of the world.

 

The positive believer is released from a system that he continues to live in the midst of as an alien and so he will be opposed and so he must stand firm and not compromise.

 

EPH 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins [pre-salvation],

 

EPH 2:2 in which you formerly walked [lifestyle] according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 

 “course” - aivw,n[aion] = age or era: the time period that you lived in the cosmos from birth to the day of your salvation.

 

The word for course is aion which is the word for age or era and in this context it refers to whatever age of the kosmos that you lived in. Let’s say you were born again at age 25, then for 25 years you were in an age or course of the world system. That age had its characteristics depending on what society and time period you were in. If you were in NY during the 80’s your cosmic experience would have been different than if you were in a small town in middle America during the 40’s. However, there would be more similarities than appears on the surface.

 

Of all the time periods that unbelievers have been trapped in this cosmos that is ruled by the prince of the power of the air the main or underlying component of the system are a tremendous mass of compiled thoughts, opinions, speculations, hopes, impulses, objectives, aspirations, trends, and panaceas that remove God and which form the entire scope of Satanic doctrine for ruling.

 

The cosmos is ruled by satan, Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor 4:4; EPH 6:12; 1 John 5:19; REV 20:2-3.

 

EPH 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind [physical and intellectual stimulation], and were by nature children of wrath [judgment from God], even as the rest.

 

Don’t forget that there are hundreds of forms of lust and satan has a system that attempts to fulfill them all, physical and intellectual.

 

EPH 2:4 But [contrast to the predicament of fallen man living in an evil system] God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 

This is the love for the all people trapped in the cosmos, John 3:16. After salvation this love, now toward the justified believer in Christ, will never diminish in quantity or quality and the believer will never be separated from it, no matter how much he fails. God will love you the same in reversionism as He would in super-grace maturity status. He loves without strings.

 

Since you were not saved by your good works then you cannot be lost by your bad works!

 

EPH 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 

EPH 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,

 

The believer’s position “in Christ” raises him far above the cosmos, EPH 2:6.

 

The phrase “in Him” and “in Christ” are mentioned 129 times in the NT in reference to the believer’s position in Christ.

 

EPH 2:7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

God’s love to all who are lost becomes an everlasting monument of His mercy, from today through all of eternity.

 

The future ages that will show the consistency of God’s mercy and in eternity where the testimony and witness of God’s mercy will be on every corner, in every word spoken, and in every movement stands here in great contrast to the “course” or age of this world system, as stated in verse 2.

 

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 

 “grace” and “faith” are both feminine nouns. “that” is a neuter pronoun and therefore doesn’t refer to either of the nouns, but the entire plan of God’s deliverance as not being from you.

 

EPH 2:8 “Now you see by the grace you have been permanently saved through faith; even this [salvation or all deliverance] not out from the source of you: the free gift is from the source of God.” (corrected translation)

 

EPH 2:9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

 

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship [handiwork], created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 

Notice the use of the verb walk, peripateo, which means walk-about or lifestyle.

 

EPH 2:2 in which you formerly walked [lifestyle] according to the course of this world

 

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship [handiwork], created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 

A believer is freed from the cosmos and if he exploits the surpassing riches of God’s grace in time then he will truly stand apart from the cosmos system of thinking.

 

And this makes for a great contrast in the term for ages or eras in reference to what is occurring in time. There is the age of the world in verse 2 and the ages to come in verse 7 in which the surpassing riches of His grace stands as an eternal testimony to His mercy.

 

A believer can resort back to the old age and the old walking and if he does he will be affectionately loved by the world while being under the discipline of God.

 

By doing the contrary and exploiting God’s surpassing riches of grace the world and those in the system of the world remove their affection and they substitute hate.

 

John 15:19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you

 

Hate manifests itself in many ways. Violence, anger, and sins of the tongue are the obvious ones, but self-pity, depression, futility, loss of vigor are also manifestations of the result of hatred. Hatred gives an initial strength or energy burst from arrogance but it then sucks the life out of the one who hates. Hatred, like anger or like any highly emotional sin cannot be sustained and so there is a withdrawal or crash that leads to more subtle sins.

 

Believers inexplicably will hate their lives and the details of life because of the ignorance that is in them. This saps their strength and then they turn to chemicals (which causes more depression in the end), sublimation for lust fulfillment, self-pity, depression, loss of energy, stress, anxiety, misery, etc.

 

Hate also produces fear and vice versa. Fear is another great sin that drains the life out of anyone. No one is immune from these sins.  

 

Since the output of the kosmic system is love and hate the emphasis is on the people involved in the system.

 

The object of their love are their own; those who have a certain level of agreement with their system of thinking.

 

The object of their hate are elected ones, “I chose you out of the world.” Chose is a technical doctrinal word for election in Christ, a subject that we have already studied.