05_Biblica_Do_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:57 Pagina 426 426 TOAN DO cf. 1 John 2,2a) concerning the whole world (1 John 2,2d); and (c) “the sins of the world” in John 1,29 cannot be equated with “con- cerning the whole world” in 1 John 2,2d. The Johannine Lamb of God, o` ai;rwn th.n a`marti,an tou/ ko,smou, is not in direct contrast to all the occurrences of a`marti,a in 1 John. In the Fourth Gospel, John does not employ “the Lamb of God” to imply the death of Jesus. In 1 John the use of a`marti,a is strikingly different. 1 John 1,5–2,2 makes clear references to the death of Jesus (to. ai-ma VIhsou/ tou/ uiou/ auvtou/ in 1,7) and to the expiation of sins (i`lasmo,j in 2,2) 44. ` But the letter does not speak of Jesus’ death with regard to “the sins” of the world. It is therefore less plausible that John equates the con- cept of a`marti,a with his use of ko,smoj. Thirdly, according to the above reference, ko,smoj is not used anywhere in 1 John in the “hostile sense” held by Cassem 45. Sim- ilarly, one may stress the relationship between the use of ko,smoj and ponhro,j, -a,, -o,n in 1 John 5,19. Strecker observes that 1 John and the Gospel have the same concern for the tension between God’s love for the world through the Son and the negative inclina- tion of the world. According to 1 John, the false teachers are from the world and the world listens to them (4,5); the true believers are from God, and they are separate from the false teachers (5,4; cf. 3 John 11). In this respect there are some in the world who are prone to evil and thus lie in the grip of falsehood (5,19) 46. If Strecker’s interpretation is correct, the Johannine use of ponhra, here in 5,19 really means that “some” people, so long as they are in the world, are under the influence of falsehood and in danger of being con- trolled by their own evilness. In this sense, the world (ko,smoj) can hardly be interpreted in a “hostile sense”. J. Painter argues that in general one can say that the Johannine use of ko,smoj shows a di- versity of attitudes to the world 47. If Brown is right in saying that peri. o[lou tou/ ko,smou means “a seeming mixture of things and people” 48, we still have to modify his overall argument regarding the universal provision. Because of See the discussion in J.T. DO, “Jesus’ Death as Hilasmos According to 44 1 John”, The Death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel (ed. G. VAN BELLE) (BETL 200; Leuven 2007) 537-565. CASSEM, “Grammatical and Contextual Inventory”, 85. 45 STRECKER, Johannesbriefe, 94. 46 PAINTER, 1, 2, and 3 John, 159. 47 BROWN, Epistles of John, 222. 48 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati