What Does the Bible Say About the Fallen World?

God created the world, but the world fell into sin and is now under the power of the Devil. With the birth of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God began to spread in the world and spread more and more. Everyone who believes in Jesus belongs to the kingdom of God but remains in the world until the Day of the Lord, the day when Jesus comes again to judge the world and fully establish the kingdom of God and create a new heaven and a new earth. Until then, we Christians are called to separate ourselves from the sin of the world and instead be a light in the darkness by being holy in a fallen and sinful world. To help us, we have the Holy Spirit and each other. As we gather in Christian communities, congregations, we can help each other to put away our sin and instead live in holiness by growing in the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit through Bible study, prayer and fellowship. Through the church, we can also help spread the kingdom of God in the world through mission, evangelism, social service, and compassion.

Bible Verses

“⁹The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹²But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (Jn 1:9–12)

“¹⁹We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (1 Jn 5:19)

“¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 Jn 2:15–16)

“²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Eph 2:2–3)

“⁴You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (Jas 4:4)

“⁶“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” (Jn 17:6)

“¹⁸“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (Jn 15:18–19)

“¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (Jn 17:15–18)

“²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Ro 12:2)

“⁴Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 Jn 4:4)

“¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Pe 2:11)

“¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Jn 3:16–17)

“³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”” (Ac 17:31)

“¹³But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Pe 3:13)

Study Questions

1. How do we avoid being affected by the world in a negative way?
2. Is everything “worldly” sin?
3. What is the significance of a Christian community for personal sanctification?
4. Why didn’t Jesus judge the world the first time he came into the world, but instead waits until his return to do so?
5. How can our church be a “light in the darkness” in a fallen world?

Additional Bible Verses

Gen 1:1, John 1:1-3, 1 Cor 1:21, 1 Cor 6:2, 1 Cor 7:31, 2 Pet 3:10, Rom 8:19-21, 1 Cor 15:24-28, John 17:11-18, Rev 21:1, Col 1:16-17, John 14:30, 1 John 3:1, John 18:36, 2 Cor 10:3, 1 Cor 11:32, John 12:31, 1 John 2:2