F. Exhortation to Avoid Worldliness (2:15-17)

John now speaks of the relation of light-dwellers to the world of darkness and warns against being influenced by it. Perhaps he is recalling Jesus' prayer that his disciples be in the world but not of it (Jn 17:15).

World is a Johannine idiom referring to those who are part of the present age, the world system apart from Christ, humankind organized in rebellion against God. This world lies in darkness (see Jn 1:5; 12:46) and sin.

Do not love carries the idea of attraction to something in order to enjoy it. Why are love of the world and love of God contradictory? The answer is in 2:16 where John refers to the three avenues by which the world satisfies its desires: the unlawful pleasures of sense; the unlawful sights to be seen; the pride (vainglory) that comes from the possession of goods.

The transitory character of this age leads to a third digression in 2:18-27.