This verse serves to show why love for the world and love for God cannot go together.

All that is in the world takes up “the things in the world” (verse 15) but emphasizes it by adding all. The three following phrases are given not as an exhaustive enumeration but by way of characteristic examples of “all that is in the world.”

The lust of the flesh, or ‘what the flesh lusts after (or desires, or is hungry for)’: this expression includes sexual desires and sensuality, but its reference is not restricted to this (as is shown, for example, by Gal 5.16-24).

The Greek term translated as lust may have the meaning of “longing.” In cases like the present one and verse 17, however, it is used in an unfavorable sense, ‘sinful longing,’ ‘to desire what is unlawful’.

Flesh is, again, a term with various shades of meaning. The principal ones are: (1) the soft substance of which the body is composed (as in Luke 24.39); (2) body (as in Heb 9.10); (3) man, compare “all flesh” in the sense of “all men” (as in Luke 3.6); (4) the physical, corporeal nature and existence of man, with all restrictions inherent in the fact that he and his emotions are “only human” (as in 1 John 4.2; 2 John 7); and (5) human nature and existence, ruled by sin and bearing the consequences of sin (as in Rom 8.5 and in the present verse).

As with world the use of one rendering in all contexts would be the ideal solution. This has actually been tried in several older and some modern versions. Such consistency, however, is often in conflict with the demands of meaningful translation.

On the other hand, one should not differentiate and specify more than is needed to be meaningful and idiomatic. Renderings of (4) and (5), for instance, can often be built on the same expression; for example, ‘the self,’ ‘human/physical nature,’ ‘what is-human (literally is-like-man-on-earth).’ To such renderings one may have to add a qualification in passages where the negative connotation of (5) is not clear from the context; for example, “the sinful self” (Good News Translation), ‘man’s evil nature.’

In the present verse the above-mentioned considerations may result in renderings like ‘the (bad) desires of man’s nature,’ ‘what man’s sinful heart is longing for,’ ‘what men, sinners as they are, desire.’

The lust of the eyes, or ‘what the eyes lust after’: by adding this phrase John emphasizes that man’s desires are aroused chiefly by what he sees, an idea often expressed in the Old and the New Testament. If a shift from noun to verb is required, another subject may have to be used, as in ‘what people want when they see it,’ “what people see and want” (Good News Translation), ‘that from which one cannot keep one’s eyes.’

The pride of life: the second noun, life, may be the goal of the act of being proud (compare “everything … that people are so proud of,” Good News Translation), or its agent, ‘the pride which life gives.’ The latter agrees with the interpretation of the two preceding phrases. With a further shift it leads to a rendering like ‘life which causes people to boast.’

The term used here for pride refers primarily to the behavior of a conceited and pretentious hypocrite who glorifies himself; hence renderings such as ‘bragging,’ ‘boasting.’ For these related concepts languages often possess idiomatic phrases; for example, ‘saying, “Look at me,” ’ ‘thinking oneself high (or big),’ ‘lifting oneself up,’ ‘making oneself a chief,’ ‘declaring “I outrank others,” ’ ‘answering haughtily.’

Life renders the Greek term bios (compare 1.1). The word is used here in the sense of what one needs to sustain life; hence, ‘property,’ ‘possessions,’ ‘riches.’

Is not of the Father but is of the world: the Greek preposition rendered “(out) of” indicates origin, here probably quality as it is determined by origin. Accordingly the sentence may be rendered ‘springs from the world, not from the Father,’ ‘does not have the quality of the Father but (has the quality) of the world,’ ‘has nothing to do with the Father but (has) everything (to do) with the world.’ “To be of the Father” is to be compared also with “to be born of him” (that is, of God) in verse 29.

† For other occurrences of “to be of” in John’s Letters, see 2.16b; 3.8, 12, 19; 4.1-2, 4, 6a, 7; 5.19; 3 John 11. Its negative counterpart is found in 2.16a, 19, 21; 3.10; 4.3, 6b. The subject of the verb usually is personal, but in a few cases impersonal, namely, “all that” in 2.16, “lie” in 2.21, “love” in 4.7. The object of the prepositional phrase is also personal, with a few exceptions, “the world” in 2.16 and 4.5, “the truth” in 2.21 and 3.19.

The meaning of the construction is always basically the same as the one it has here. The way that meaning has to be rendered may have to be different where features in the context, especially the classes of the participants, are different. For some such renderings see comments below on 2.19, 21; 3.8; 4.7.

Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The First Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .