Basic Bible Course 4

Just as the term "flesh" (see Lesson 9) has different meanings in the Scripture, this is also the case with the word "world".

In the original Greek text, we find three terms that are all translated as world in some Bible translations. These are the words

• "kosmos", which is always translated as world (meanings a – c in question 1),
• "aion", which is rendered as world or age and course of time (meaning d)
• "oikumene", for which the English New JND (2016) translation translates as 'the (whole) habitable earth' (meaning e).

But the same also applies here as with the word "flesh", namely, that the word "world" sometimes has more than one meaning in the same Scripture passage.

Try to assign the various meanings based on the Scripture references given below.

At the end of this lesson, we will delve a little deeper into the meaning c of the term "world", noting that the meaning b sometimes seamlessly transitions into c.

What sad fact is announced to us in John 1:10?