Generally, people feel only the damage of sin, but not that of the world, because sin is against morality, whereas the world does not oppose morality but God Himself. Man is destitute of the concept of God; he has only a moral concept within him. For this reason he has a little knowledge concerning sin, that which is against morality, and is conscious of its contamination. But as for the world, which is in opposition to God, he has no knowledge of it, neither is he conscious of its usurpation. For example, a drunkard-licentious, wanton and lustful, fearing neither God nor man-is considered immoral and condemned by men. But if someone is daily occupied with poetry and recitation and steeped in literature, being completely indifferent to the things of God and unwilling to be gained by Him, men will praise him, having no feeling that he is usurped by literature. This is due to the fact that men neither know God nor have the concept of God, and therefore are ignorant of Satan’s usurpation of man by the world.
Finally, the scope of sin differs from the scope of the world. The field of the world is much larger than that of sin. Sin refers to all matters that are immoral and in opposition to the moral law of God, whereas the world includes all men, activities and things which are outside of God. We cannot say that everything outside of God is sin. However, we can say that everything outside of God may become the world. Within the many things of the world, sin is only a part. The world includes sin, but sin does not include the world. Sin may not necessarily be the world, but in the world there certainly is sin.
A person may commit sin and not necessarily be possessed by the world. However, all who are possessed by the world are certainly contaminated by sin. For example, Adam sinned and fell into sin, but he did not fall into the world. Therefore, he was one who was only corrupted by sin, but not usurped by the world. The world began with Cain. Lamech, one of Cain’s descendants, was both a polygamist and a murderer. He was one who was usurped by the world and sinned as well.
Similarly, when Abraham was living in a tent in Canaan, he had not fallen into the world. Therefore, it was not necessary for him to commit sin. But when he went down to Egypt, falling into the world, it became necessary for him to lie and commit sin. This also proves that sin is not necessarily the world, but that the world certainly includes sin. Once we fall into the world, we cannot avoid committing sin.
When we see the differences between sin and the world, we will perceive that the world’s damaging scope is greater, its harmful effect more serious, and its opposition to God more hostile than that of sin. Because the world is in direct opposition to God Himself, it has become God’s enemy. Sin is contrary to God’s law and His procedure, that is, His righteousness, whereas the world is contrary to God Himself and His divine nature, that is, His holiness. Sin opposes the law of God, and the world opposes God Himself. For this reason the Bible states that the friendship of the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15). When calling people to follow Him, the Lord stressed the fact that man should forsake houses, lands, brothers, sisters, parents, wife, children, etc. (Matt. 10:37; 19:29; Mark 10:29; Luke 18:29). These constitute our human life and are the various terms of the world. If a man desires to follow the Lord, he must forsake these worldly things, because they will possess him.
Sin is the primitive, superficial, and initial step of the fall. The world is the final, serious and last step of the fall. Many people stress only victory over sin, but the Bible stresses even more the overcoming of the world (1 John 5:4). We need even more to overcome the world. If we desire to grow in life and be gained by the Lord, we must make an effort to deal with the world that enslaves us.
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