The world as described in the New Testament is taken too lightly in practice so a clearer understanding is required. This New Testament concept has eternal impact for (at least) these reasons:

• • The New Testament concept of ‘the world’ differs from popular and scholarly use.
  • Historical theology has named it one of our fundamental enemies:  the flesh, the world and the devil. 
  • it hinders or exhonorates one’s life at the final judgement seat when Jesus compares one’s detailed, life-long obedience to the standard of God’s will, law and love;
  • We humans are all born into this ‘world’ so we discover it and normalize it. However, only when one is spiritually born through the gospel of Jesus Christ do we grow spiritually aware to counter “the world’s” slavery.  
  • it overlaps with other fundamental spiritual categories (e.g., human ontology, sin);
  • The world is fundamentally a spiritual order that has a ruler, Satan, rules (e.g., deception, lust, pride), outcomes (e.g., spiritual death), rewards, risks, dangers that are directed towards its final, eternal punishment and death from God. 
  • it requires spiritual discernment to properly understand its biblical meaning. It is a mistake to focus on evil alone, the best way to discover the rudimentary principles of the world is to experience the holiness of its opposite, the Triune God, especially the Holy Spirit, central to the Kingdom of God. 

 

This is the approach taken on this website to understanding the word ‘world’ in the King James Version New Testament:

• Methodology. The analytical tools used for this topic.
• Bibliometrics. Where and how many times is this word used in the biblical text
  • Concordance Bibliometric Findings
• Data. All verses that include the word ‘world’.
• Coding. Categorizing the data.
• Results. Full summary; Executive summary; Many topics
• Practicum. So what? What do we do with this knowledge?