God loved the world in this particular way that he gave us his only Son (cf. Jn 3:16). As the Gospel of John proceeds, “the world” takes on a more sinister meaning, namely those who oppose Jesus and reject his message, so that during the Last Supper Jesus speaks of “the prince of this world” (J 16:11) , namely the devil. The world will hate his disciples just as it hated Jesus, because they do not belong to the world (Jn 15:18). The disciples gathered with Jesus at the Last Supper and his disciples of every age are Jesus' “own people”, those that he has always loved and loved unto the end (Jn 13:2). So in his First Letter John admonishes us not to love this passing world, for nothing that the world has to offer could ever come from the Father (1Jn 2:16).

In the midst of these warnings, John does not leave us without hope, for the “prince of this world” is already being condemned (Jn 16:11) and this world is passing, just like the darkness (1Jn 2:8), which is a characteristic of the world as it lies in the power of the Evil One (1Jn 5:19)