The use of kosmos in John’s gospel
One of the important considerations of Christianity is anthropology, which is a study of what makes us human. From the viewpoint of the apostle John what makes us human is summed up in the term world (Greek: kosmos). John uses “world” as a synonym for the creation of “all things” (cf. John 1:3).
“There is another and more typical use of kosmos that occurs in John 1:10: ‘He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.’ The first occurrence of ‘world’ in this passage is neutral; it simply signifies the place where Jesus appeared. The second is positive; the ‘world’ is God’s creation through the word. The third is negative; the world as such rejects God’s revelation in Jesus.”
So, the world in the negative sense defines itself by rejecting or refusing to know Jesus Christ. The world then is opposed to God in the dualism of: God and world. But, in John’s Gospel the dualism of God and world is not absolute: the world was not only created by God, but the world is also the object of his love and salvation (John 3:16–17; 12:46).
As the object of God’s salvation the world stands in a state of alienation and condemnation characterized by five things: darkness (1:5; 12:46), death (5:19–27; 8:37, 44), sin (8:21, 34), slavery (8:34–36), and falsehood (8:44). This portrayal of the world is really a description of the human condition. John is teaching us that the plight of humanity is desperate, and hopeless apart from God’s initiative of salvation through Jesus Christ.
John seems to assume this human condition as a given. For John the human condition is essentially characterized by darkness, death, sin, slavery, and falsehood. John 3:19 states: “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
Into this world of darkness and evil, God sends his Son Jesus Christ in order to save it (3:16–17). So Jesus is not only the light of the world (1:5; 8:12), but also the resurrection and the life (11:25), and the one who has descended from God (3:13). Jesus is the revealer of God who overrules all human expectation and at the same time he is the expected one, the Messiah of Israel, the fulfillment of deep human need and the savior of the kosmos.
Marshall Swindall
Source: Smith, D. Moody. The Theology of the Gospel of John. Cambridge University Press: New York, 1995. (81)