Worlds Apart – John 17: 16

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

By my count, the word “world” is used fifty-seven times in John’s gospel alone. Fifty-seven! When Jesus uses the term it seems to mean something different than when us earthlings use the term. In today’s verse, Jesus once again refers to the world as something apart from the … world.

What do I mean by the world being apart from the world?

The way Jesus uses the word, the disciples are not part of the world. Yet we know that from a human perspective that until they died they still lived in the world. In yesterday’s verse, Jesus says, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” So Jesus uses the word “world” two mean two different things. One world they remain a part of, the other world they are not part of. Or as Jesus puts it, they are “not of the world.”

As usual, Jesus grammar is telling. He sees things differently than the rest of us humans. What does he mean, “…not of the world?”

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