SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:16
Porque todo lo que hay en el mundo que es la concupiscencia de la carne, y la concupiscencia de los ojos, y la soberbia de la vida, no es del Padre, mas es del mundo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 John 2:16
Verse 16. For all that is in the world] All that it can boast of, all that it can promise, is only sensual, transient gratification, and even this promise it cannot fulfill; so that its warmest votaries can complain loudest of their disappointment. The lust of the flesh] Sensual and impure desires which seek their gratification in women, strong drink, delicious viands, and the like.
Lust of the eyes] Inordinate desires after finery of every kind, gaudy dress, splendid houses, superb furniture, expensive equipage, trappings, and decorations of all sorts.
Pride of life] Hunting after honours, titles, and pedigrees; boasting of ancestry, family connections, great offices, honourable acquaintance, and the like.
Is not of the Father] Nothing of these inordinate attachments either comes from or leads to God. They are of this world; here they begin, flourish, and end. They deprave the mind, divert it from Divine pursuits, and render it utterly incapable of spiritual enjoyments.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 16. For all that [is] in the world , &c.] This is the sum of the evil things in the world; or these following are the objects of sin in the world, or about which wicked men are conversant; even such as are carnal or grateful to the flesh, visible to the eye, and belong to this vain life, or serve to fill with pride and vanity; or these are the main things, which men that love the world most highly value and esteem: the lust of the flesh ; by which is meant, not lust in general, or concupiscence, the corruption of nature, which is the fountain of all sin, or indwelling sin, the flesh, or that corrupt principle which lusts against the Spirit; nor the various lusts of the flesh, fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, and which are many, and are also called worldly lusts; but some particular one, a lust of the body, as the Syriac version reads; either the lust of uncleanness, which includes all unchaste desires, thoughts, words, and actions, fornication, adultery, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts; and which make up a considerable part of the all that is in the world: or else intemperance in eating and drinking, gluttony and drunkenness, excess of wine, surfeitings, rioting, and revellings, and all the sensual pleasures of life, by which the carnal mind, and the lusts of it, are gratified; whereby the soul is destroyed, the body is dishonoured, and a wound, dishonour, and reproach brought on the character, not to be removed; for which reasons the world, and the things of it, are not to be loved: the next follows, the lust of the eyes : after unlawful objects, and may design unchaste and lascivious looks, eyes full of adultery, and whereby adultery is committed; (see Matthew 5:28); but then this falls in with the other, unless that be confined to intemperance; rather then this may intend a sinful curiosity of seeing vain sights, and shows, with which the eye of man is never satisfied, ( Ecclesiastes 1:8); and against which the psalmist prays, ( <19B937> Psalm 119:37), or rather the sin of covetousness is here designed, the objects of which are visible things, as gold, silver, houses, lands, and possessions, with which riches the eyes of men are never satisfied, and which sin is drawn forth and cherished by the eyes; and indeed a covetous man has little more satisfaction than the beholding his substance with his eyes, and in which he takes much sinful pleasure; (see Ecclesiastes 4:8 5:11); and what a poor vain empty thing is this! therefore, love not the world, since this is a principal thing in it: as is also the pride of life ; by which seems to be meant, ambition of honour, of chief places and high titles, as in the Scribes and Pharisees, ( Matthew 23:6,7), or of grand living, for the word signifies not so much life as living; living in a sumptuous, gay, luxurious, and pompous manner, in rich diet, costly apparel, having fine seats, palaces, and stately buildings, and numerous attendance; all which is but vanity and vexation of spirit; (see Ecclesiastes 2:1,3-8,11). The Syriac and Arabic versions read, the pride of the age; and every age has some peculiar things in which the pride of it appears. Now neither of these is of the Father ; of God the Father, as the Ethiopic version reads; the things which are desired and lusted after are of God, but not the lust itself; God is not the author of sin, nor is it agreeable to his will: but is of the world ; of the men of it, and agreeable to their carnal minds; and is a reason why things of the world are not to be loved by the saints, who are not of it, but chosen and called out of it; and besides, all these things are mean, base, vile, and contemptible, and unworthy of their love and affection.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 15-17 - The things of the world may be desired and possessed for the uses an purposes which God intended, and they are to be used by his grace, an to his glory; but believers must not seek or value them for thos purposes to which sin abuses them. The world draws the heart from God and the more the love of the world prevails, the more the love of God decays. The things of the world are classed according to the thre ruling inclinations of depraved nature. 1. The lust of the flesh, or the body: wrong desires of the heart, the appetite of indulging all things that excite and inflame sensual pleasures. 2. The lust of the eyes: the eyes are delighted with riches and rich possessions; this is the lust of covetousness. 3. The pride of life: a vain man craves the grandeur and pomp of a vain-glorious life; this includes thirst afte honour and applause. The things of the world quickly fade and die away desire itself will ere long fail and cease, but holy affection is no like the lust that passes away. The love of God shall never fail. Man vain efforts have been made to evade the force of this passage by limitations, distinctions, or exceptions. Many have tried to show ho far we may be carnally-minded, and love the world; but the plai meaning of these verses cannot easily be mistaken. Unless this victor over the world is begun in the heart, a man has no root in himself, but will fall away, or at most remain an unfruitful professor. Yet thes vanities are so alluring to the corruption in our hearts, that withou constant watching and prayer, we cannot escape the world, or obtai victory over the god and prince of it.
Greek Textus Receptus
οτι 3754 παν 3956 το 3588 εν 1722 τω 3588 κοσμω 2889 η 3588 επιθυμια 1939 της 3588 σαρκος 4561 και 2532 η 3588 επιθυμια 1939 των 3588 οφθαλμων 3788 και 2532 η 3588 αλαζονεια 212 του 3588 βιου 979 ουκ 3756 εστιν 2076 5748 εκ 1537 του 3588 πατρος 3962 αλλ 235 εκ 1537 του 3588 κοσμου 2889 εστιν 2076 5748
Vincent's NT Word Studies
16. All (pan). Not all things severally, but all that is in the world collectively, regarded as a unit.
The lust (h epiqumia). See on Mark iv. 19.
Of the flesh. Sensual appetite. The desire which resides in the flesh, not the desire for the flesh. For this subjective usage of the genitive with lust, see John viii. 44; Rom. i. 24; Apoc. xviii. 14. Compare 1 Pet. ii. 11; Tit. ii. 12. The lust of the flesh involves the appropriation of the desired object. On the flesh, see on John i. 14.
The lust of the eyes. This is included in the lust of the flesh, as a specific manifestation. All merely sensual desires belong to the economy which "is not of the Father." The desire of the eyes does not involve appropriation. It is satisfied with contemplating. It represents a higher type of desire than the desire of the flesh, in that it seeks mental pleasure where the other seeks physical gratification. There is thus a significant hint in this passage that even high artistic gratification may have no fellowship with God. The pride of life (h alazoneia tou biou). Rev., vainglory. The word occurs only here and Jas. iv. 16, on which see note. It means, originally, empty, braggart talk or display; swagger; and thence an insolent and vain assurance in one's own resources, or in the stability of earthly things, which issues in a contempt of divine laws. The vainglory of life is the vainglory which belongs to the present life. On biov life, as distinguished from zwh. life, see on John i. 4.
Of the Father (ek tou patrov). Do not spring forth from the Father. On the expression einai ejk to be of, see on John i. 46. "He, therefore, who is always occupied with the cravings of desire and ambition, and is eagerly striving after them, must have all his opinions mortal, and, as far as man can be, must be all of him mortal, because he has cherished his mortal part. But he who has been earnest in the love of knowledge and true wisdom, and has been trained to think that these are the immortal and divine things of a man, if he attain truth, must of necessity, as far as human nature is capable of attaining immortality, be all immortal, for he is ever attending on the divine power, and having the divinity within him in perfect order, he has a life perfect and divine" (Plato, "Timsaeus," 90).
