Tidings for Tuesday
And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 1 John 5:19
Who is in charge of this world? Who is its ruler? It depends on which version of the Bible that you read. Although our text today – in the King James Version – does not answer that question directly, some other versions of the Bible declare that the devil is ruling the world. The NIV, for example, translates this verse as ‘The whole world is under the control of the evil one’. Similarly, the ESV renders it as ‘The whole world lies in the power of the evil one’. Even more strongly, the Living Bible 1881 translates it ‘The world around us is under Satan’s power and control’. Are those versions right? To answer that, we need to go back to the original Greek text. The literal word-for-word rendering of what the Greek says is ‘We know that of God we are, and the world whole in the wickedness (or evil) lies’. The words ‘devil’, ‘Satan’, ‘evil one’, ‘power’, or ‘control’ are simply not there! So how did they get into the modern-language versions? Good question! Obviously somebody wants us to get the idea that the devil is ruling this world. And that simply is not true.
Yes, 2 Corinthians 4:4 identifies the devil as the ‘god of this world’. Ephesians 2:2 call him the ‘prince of the power of the air’. And John 12:31 calls him the ‘prince of this world’. But in none of these is he called the ruler or the one in charge. The word ‘prince’ indicates he has power, but not authority. Although the devil has huge influence in the world, God has never relinquished His title or power. Jesus declared ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth’ (Matthew 28:18). In Matthew 6:13, the Lord’s Prayer ends with these words ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever, Amen’. It should be noted that the NIV, ESV, and others have deleted this verse. The prophet Daniel twice declared ‘the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will’ (Daniel 4:17,25). In his prayer, King Jehoshaphat asked, ‘O LORD God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven? And rulest not Thou over all kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee?’ (2 Chronicles 20:6) No, it is God, not the devil, who rules. And we are of Him.
The world is certainly lying in wickedness. The Greek word that is translated ‘wickedness’ is the same word from which we get the word ‘pornography’. And that is certainly a hallmark of our age. But our text declares that we are of God. We are His children. We have His Holy Spirit within ourselves. Because He is in control, there is no need for the evil that the world lies in to control us. – Jim MacIntosh