41 - The Kosmic System: Introduction

The Kosmic System, Intro.; 1 John 2:15

Up to this point John has been positive in his praise of the adolescent believer, but now there is a warning. In verses 14 through seventeen, all addressed to the young men—he doesn't the baby believer again until v. 18.

1 John 2:15 ^NASB "Do not love the world [cosmic system] nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." This begins with a mandate of prohibition and the key word is "love." It is negated by the Greek negative particle mh [mh] which indicates a prohibition. It is a present active imperative of agapao [a)gapaw] and the force of the present imperative is to emphasise an ongoing action, that this action should be a character or habit pattern in the life of the believer. So it is a character prohibition characterised by not loving or not being attracted to the cosmic system. In a present imperative a prohibition can have two implications or nuances. One is to stop loving the world, in which case what you are saying is that you have been loving the world and now you need to stop doing it. You judge from context whether it means that or whether it is just a statement of general principle or habit pattern. The object of the verb here is the world, the kosmos [kosmoj]. It is used in a technical sense of the evil system of thought that Satan has brought into the world in order to try to gain control of mankind and mankind's thinking that he might achieve his goal of demonstrating that he can function as God. The basic meaning of kosmos is order, a regular disposition, arrangement or adornment. It has to do sometimes with a military term for arranging an army in ranks or a battle formation. It was used of the idea of adornment for the adorning of women in their cosmetics. It was also used to speak of the inhabiting world and it also described the thinking, i.e. the orderly arrangement of ideas, values and principles that governed the thinking of men, the thinking of the culture, the thought forms of the society.

Some might say that this appears to be a contradiction because in John 3:16 it says: "For God so loved the kosmos…" But there we have to understand that this word has about five distinct meanings and to understand a passage we have to analyse those meanings. The word can used the created universe and is used that way in John 1:10. It can also refer to the world that is inhabited by mankind and that is the sense of John 3:16. Third, it refers to the organised system of thinking that Satan has developed, including his plans, procedures, strategies and tactics for subverting the human race to his goal and objective; and that is the point in this verse. We are not to love Satan's system.

In 1 John 2:15 the word agapao is used simply to mean attraction, infatuation, involvement. The word "if" is a 3^rd class condition emphasising the volition of the believer: maybe you will and maybe you will not—hypothetical. If he does love the world then the love of the Father is not in him. Here we have an objective phrase which means love for the Father. This reminds us of what John says earlier in this chapter in verses 3-5: "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him." So knowing Him is evidenced by keeping His commandments.

The doctrine of the cosmic system

1. The cosmos in the negative sense describes the entire arrangement and system of thinking arrayed against God by Satan. It has as its primary meaning order, arrangement and adornment. God creates perfection; He is perfect and can create nothing less than perfection, so the entire universe has perfect symmetry, balance and order. He adorns the heavens with the starts and the moon and the sun. Then something happened. In Genesis 1:2 we have chaos where everything is under divine judgment, so it goes from order in v. 1 to disorder in v. 2 because of Satan's fall. The word kosmos in this sense is never used, even in the LXX, in the Old Testament, so when we come to the New Testament we are dealing with new revelation in the progress of revelation. The cosmic system, then, becomes Satan's attempt and strategy to restore order on his terms to the disorder that was created by the Satanic fall.

The cosmos is a vast order or system that Satan has promoted, which conforms to his ideals, aims, and methods. It is civilization now functioning apart from God—a civilization in which none of its promoters really expect God to share, who assign to God no consideration in respect to their projects; nor do they ascribe any causativity to Him. This system embraces its godless governments, conflicts, armaments, jealousies, its education, culture, religions of morality, and pride. It is that sphere in which man lives. It is what he sees, what he employs. To the uncounted multitude it is all they ever know so long as they live on this earth. It is properly styled the satanic system, which phrase is in many instances a justified interpretation of the so-meaningful word, cosmos. It is literally a cosmos diabolicus. – Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol. 2, p 77.

2. Satan is the ruler of the cosmic system. John 12:31 ^NASB "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out." This is a prophecy indicating the defeat of Satan at the cross. John 14:30 ^NASB "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me."
3. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 ^NASB "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world [cosmic system] lies in {the power of} the evil one." Whatever culture it is it has all been affected by Satanic control and influence.
4. Satan as the ruler of the cosmic system was judged on the cross. John 16:11 ^NASB "and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged." The prediction that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict the world, the kosmoj, concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.
5. The cosmic system has its own way of thinking, its own view of ultimate reality. It has its own view of knowledge or truth and how we come to know what is truth—what philosophy calls epistemology; it has its own view of values. It has its own standards for beauty, and that comes under the philosophical study called aesthetics. A key passage for understanding human viewpoint is in 1 Corinthians 2:6 ^NASB "Yet we do speak [Bible doctrine] wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age…" i.e. a term that is used in other passages that is synonymous with kosmoj. Age focuses on the temporal aspect in which the cosmic system operates. What the believer holds to is a wisdom that is not from the source of this age but is 180 degrees opposite the thinking of this age. "… nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; [7] but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery [hitherto unrevealed truth], the hidden {wisdom} which God predestined before the ages to our glory; [8] {the wisdom} which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; [9] but just as it is written (Is. 64:4), "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD [empiricism], AND {which} HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN [rationalism], ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM," i.e. the revelation of God that He has given in the completed canon of Scripture for every believer. [10] "For to us God revealed {them} through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." So this is an operation of God the Holy Spirit.
6. The cosmic system has its own way of thinking, its own approach to truth, to knowledge; but we have a distinct approach. Man has always sought to establish his authority of knowledge apart from revelation. Man is his autonomy, his desire to be independent of God, thinks that he can come to know truth and define truth without reference to God or God's revelation. Scripture says that the ultimate system of knowledge is revelation. Under the umbrella of revelation we can use our reason and experience but the boundaries are set by revelation. The Psalmist said: "In thy light [revelation] I see light [truth]." The starting point is the objective revelation of God and the method is the dependent use of logic and reason. The more we take in the truth of God's Word the more it flushes out the negative, but we have to understand it. Sometimes we have to understand it in a contrast and only when we take the truth of God's Word and contrast it with the deception that the world teaches do we begin to see the truth in its full glory so that we are able to dump the garbage that is in our souls and stick with the truth.