Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
All Commentaries on 1 John 2:15 Go To 1 John 2
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
All these things, my brethren,— because we have known That which is from the beginning, because we are strong, because we have known the Father,— do all these, while they in a manner commend knowledge, not commend charity? If we have known, let us love: for knowledge without charity saves not. Knowledge puffs up, charity edifies. 1 Corinthians 8:1 If you have a mind to confess and not love, you begin to be like the demons. The demons confessed the Son of God, and said, What have we to do with You? Matthew 8:29 and were repulsed. Confess and embrace. For those feared for their iniquities; love ye Him that forgives your iniquities. But how can we love God, if we love the world? He prepares us therefore to be inhabited by charity. There are two loves: of the world, and of God: if the love of the world inhabit, there is no way for the love of God to enter in: let the love of the world make way, and the love of God inhabit; let the better have place. You loved the world: love not the world: when you have emptied your heart of earthly love, you shall drink in love Divine: and thenceforth begins charity to inhabit you, from which can nothing of evil proceed. Hear therefore his words, how he goes to work in the manner of one that makes a clearance. He comes upon the hearts of men as a field that he would occupy: but in what state does he find it? If he finds a wood, he roots it up; if he finds the field cleared, he plants it. He would plant a tree there, charity. And what is the wood he would root up? Love of the world. Hear him, the rooter up of the wood! Love not the world, (for this comes next,) neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15
You have heard that if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Let not any say in his heart that this is false, brethren: God says it; by the Apostle the Holy Ghost has spoken; nothing more true: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Would you have the Father's love, that you may be joint-heir with the Son? Love not the world. Shut out the evil love of the world, that you may be filled with the love of God. You are a vessel; but as yet you are full. Pour out what you have, that you may receive what you have not. Certainly, our brethren are now born again of water and of the Spirit: we also some years ago were born again of water and of the Spirit. Good is it for us that we love not the world, lest the sacraments remain in us unto damnation, not as means of strengthening unto salvation. That which strengthens unto salvation is, to have the root of charity, to have the power of godliness, not the form only. 2 Timothy 3:5 Good is the form, holy the form: but what avails the form, if it hold not the root? The branch that is cut off, is it not cast into the fire? Have the form, but in the root. But in what way are you rooted so that you be not rooted up? By holding charity, as says the Apostle Paul, rooted and grounded in charity. Ephesians 3:17 How shall charity be rooted there, amid the overgrown wilderness of the love of the world? Make clear riddance of the woods. A mighty seed you are about to put in: let there not be that in the field which shall choke the seed. These are the uprooting words which he has said: 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. 1 John 2:15
