By "the world," I do not mean the material world on the face of which we are living and moving. When I speak of "the world" in this paper, I mean those people who think chiefly of this world’s things, and neglect the world to come—the people who are always thinking more of earth than of heaven, more of time than of eternity, more of body than the soul, more of pleasing man than of pleasing God. It is of them and their ways, habits, customs, opinions, practices, tastes, aims, spirit, and tone, that I am speaking when I speak of "the world." This is the world from which Paul tells us to “Come out and be separate.”

Now "the world," in this sense, is an enemy to the soul. There are three things which a professing Christian must renounce and give up, and three enemies which he must fight with and resist. These three are the flesh, the devil, and "the world." All three are terrible foes, and all three must be overcome if we would be saved. Let us then turn to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. If the texts I am about to quote do not prove that the world is a source of danger to the soul, then there is no meaning in words.

Let us hear what the Apostle Paul says:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." {Ro 12:2}

"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God." {1Co 2:12}

"Christ gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age [world]." {Ga 1:4}

"You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world." {Eph 2:1-2}

"Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me" {2Ti 4:10}

Let us hear what James says:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." {Jas 1:27}

"Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." {Jas 4:4}

Let us hear what John says:

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." {1Jo 2:15-17}

"The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him." {1Jo 3:1}

"They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them." {1Jo 4:5}

"Everyone born of God overcomes the world." {1Jo 5:4}

"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one." {1Jo 5:19}