It is an absurdity to claim that kosmos is used of believers only
example
John 12:47 (LEB) — 47 And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I will not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
context clearly shows any who do not believe are not judged because Christ did not come to judge the world.
His is a work based on a need to support his Calvinist theology which is not shared by any lexcicon.
and rebutted even by some of his own theological persausion
Even more telling is that Calvinists themselves do not agree with the opinion of their theological brothers that “world” should be limited to the “world of the Elect”. Note the words of eminent Theologian-New Testament scholar, D.A. Carson, hardly a theological friend of non-Calvinism, as he comments on John 3.16:
“I know that some try to take “world” here to refer to the elect. But that really will not do. All the evidence of the usage of the word in John’s Gospel is against the suggestion…More importantly; in Johannine theology the disciples themselves once belonged to the world but were drawn out of it. On this axis, God’s love for the world cannot be collapsed into his love for the elect” (
The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, p.17).
J.C. Ryle, usually a well-respected, theological darling of many modern strict Calvinists, writes of making God's love for the world in John 3:16 into God's particular love for the Elect, these indicting words:
“For one thing, it seems to me a violent straining of language to confine the word “world” to the elect. “The world” is undoubtedly a name sometimes given to the “wicked” exclusively. But I cannot see it is a name ever given to the saints…The true view of the words “God so loved the world”, I believe to be this. The “world” means the whole human race of mankind, both saints and sinners, without any exception.” (
Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Vol.3, p.156-157).
Perhaps most interesting of all comments on John 3.16, are made by him whose modern students have evidently focused too much on his theology and not enough on his Biblical commentaries. He writes clearly on the identity of the world in John 3.16:
“Christ brought life, because the Heavenly Father loves the human race, and wishes that they should not perish…And He has employed the universal term “whosoever”, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers. Such is also the import of the term “world”, which He formerly used; for though nothing will be found in the “world” that is worthy of the favor of God, yet He shows Himself to be reconciled to the whole world, when He invites all men without exception to the faith of Christ…”(
John Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.17, p.122-125).
