See also: Worldliness
Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
Worldliness is the inordinate love of the world—the affections, values, and pursuits of the present evil age—in opposition to the love of God; a heart and life conformed to the spirit of the world rather than transformed by the Spirit of God. The ‘world’ (kosmos) in this ethical sense does not mean the created order, which is good, nor the people of the world, whom we are to love and seek, but the whole system of human life as it is organized in rebellion against God—its godless values, its idols, its priorities, its way of thinking and living that leaves God out. John defines it: ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.’ James states the antithesis starkly: ‘know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.’ Worldliness is not chiefly a matter of particular external activities—though it shows itself in conduct—but of the heart’s love, treasure, and conformity. It may take coarse forms (the obvious lusts and vanities) or refined and respectable ones (the love of money, status, comfort, approval, and security that animates so much ‘respectable’ life). Its essence is that the world, rather than God, captures the affections, governs the priorities, and shapes the mind. The cure is not mere external withdrawal (monasticism, which only takes the worldly heart into the cloister) but the transformation of the heart: a love for the Father that displaces the love of the world, a setting of the affections on things above, a being crucified to the world and the world to us by the cross of Christ, and the renewing of the mind that refuses to be conformed to this age. The believer lives in the world but is not of it, sent into it as Christ was, yet not partaking of its spirit—using the world without abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines WORLDLINESS as a predominant passion for obtaining the goods of this world; covetousness; addictedness to gain and temporal enjoyments.
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WORLDLINESS, n. — A predominant passion for obtaining the good things of this life; covetousness; addictedness to gain and temporal enjoyments; an excessive love of the present world and its concerns.
WORLDLY, a. — 1. Secular; temporal; pertaining to this world or life, in contradistinction to the life to come. 2. Devoted to this life and its enjoyments; bent on gain.
📖 Key Scripture
1 John 2:15-16 — "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
James 4:4 — "...know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Romans 12:2 — "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Galatians 6:14 — "...by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Worldliness is itself the corruption—and it deceives most where it is most refined, hiding behind respectability so that the love of money, comfort, status, and approval passes unnoticed as the worldliness it is.
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Worldliness is itself the corruption—the conformity of the Christian’s heart and life to the spirit of the present evil age—and its great danger is its subtlety, for it deceives most effectively where it is most refined and respectable. The cruder forms of worldliness—drunkenness, debauchery, open vanity—are easily recognized and condemned. But worldliness in its respectable dress often passes entirely unnoticed: the love of money that drives a comfortable middle-class life, the craving for status and the approval of men, the idolatry of family or career or security, the absorption in entertainment and ease, the quiet assumption that this life and its goods are what truly matter. These are worldliness no less than the gross forms—indeed more dangerously, because they wear the mask of normality and even of virtue, and the worldly Christian may congratulate himself on avoiding the obvious sins while his heart is wholly captured by the world.
Scripture pierces beneath the external to the heart’s love and treasure: ‘if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ The two loves cannot coexist; the friendship of the world is enmity with God. The cure is not mere external withdrawal, for monasticism and legalistic separation only carry the worldly heart into the cloister, exchanging one set of idols for another while the love of the world remains. The true remedy is the transformation of the heart and mind: a love for the Father that displaces the love of the world, the affections set on things above where Christ is, the mind renewed and refusing to be conformed to this age, and the believer crucified to the world by the cross of Christ. So transformed, the Christian lives in the world without being of it—sent into it to serve and witness, using its goods without idolizing them, loving its people without loving its spirit—knowing that the fashion of this world passeth away, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Worldliness loves what is passing; the wise believer sets his heart on what abides.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The error is the love of the kosmos (the world-system in rebellion against God), whose fashion (schēma) passes away—friendship with it being enmity (echthra) with God.
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['Greek', 'G2889', 'kosmos', 'world (the world-system opposed to God)']
['Greek', 'G2889', 'kosmikos', 'worldly, pertaining to the world']
['Greek', 'G4976', 'schēma', 'fashion, form (the fashion of this world passeth away)']
['Greek', 'G2189', 'echthra', 'enmity (friendship of the world is enmity with God)']
Usage
"Worldliness is the inordinate love of the world—its values and pursuits—in opposition to the love of the Father."
"Worldliness deceives most where it is refined: the love of money, status, and comfort passes unnoticed as worldliness."
"The cure is not external withdrawal but a transformed heart—crucified to the world, affections set on things above."