Our relationship with the world

God said that we were to be in the world but not of the world. What does that mean?

This is the question pondering in my mind at the moment. What does it mean to be in the world but not of the world. What is the definition of theGod said that we were to be in the world but not of the world. What does that mean?

This is the question pondering in my mind at the moment. What does it mean to be in the world but not of the world. What is the definition of the world? Is the world simply consists of culture, languange and the list of entertainments that the people likes, or is it something else?

This is how the word "the world" is used in the NT:
Mat 13:37-39: He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Mat 4:8: Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
Mat 4:14-15: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
Mat 18-7-8: Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.
Luke 21:26:Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken
John 3:19:This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
John 6:33:For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
John 15:19: If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong tothe world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
John 7:19: I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
John 17:11-19:I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified..

Those are a few taken from the gospels itself. From these verses, we can draw some of the following conclusion:
- the world - is made by God and is within His power
- the world is evil
- the world is where God reveals His plan to us
- the world is where we are
- the world is what we are a part of
- we are sent to be in the world and minister in it
- Jesus died for the sins of the world
- Jesus came to give life to the world
- the world hates Christ and His children and persecute them
- Jesus was in the world

I still need to ponder more about these facts alone... world? Is the world simply consists of culture, languange and the list of entertainments that the people likes, or is it something else?

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