Love not the world] The 'world' here is not the world of nature, nor the world of humanity which 'God so loved' (John 3:16). It means all in the present order of things which appeals to the soul as an object of desire apart from and in rivalry to God.

16. All that is thus antagonistic to God is summed up under three heads, the separate avenues through which the world-spirit reaches the soul. While the classification is hardly exhaustive, as a category covering all kinds of evil it is very comprehensive, and corresponds to the three elements which appear in the temptation of Eve (Genesis 3:6) and in the temptation of our Lord (Luke 4:3).

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