John 1:10

‘He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world did not know him.'

This verse reflects the different meanings of the word ‘world' in the Gospel. In the Gospel ‘the world' generally refers to the whole of mankind in contrast with God and His true people. God loved ‘the world' and wanted to save them (John 3:16). The Pharisees were ‘of this world' (John 8:23). Jesus' disciples were ‘not of the world' (John 17:14; John 17:16). The ‘world' does not know God (John 17:25, and here). Christ's kingdom is ‘not of this world' (John 18:36). In general ‘the world' is seen to be in darkness and separate from God.

But here the true light was ‘in the world'. The world was being given a unique opportunity. Yet John tells us that although He had in fact ‘made the world', the world did not know Him. Thus we see different nuances to the term ‘world', the one gliding into the other. In the first case ‘the world' consists of all that is created, in the second it combines both meanings, for both the created world and the unbelieving world were made by Him, but in the third case ‘the world' is the world of unbelieving men, the world of human affairs as opposed to God, the world in darkness, as is more normal in John. John thus moves smoothly from the idea of the created world as a whole to the world without God. That is why we are told later that we are to be in it (John 17:11), but not of it (John 15:19; John 17:14; John 17:16).

‘The world did not know him.' ‘Know' could mean ‘recognise' or it could mean ‘personal response'. The word ginosko used here suggests something of the latter. But why did they not respond? Because they were blind? Because they were too busy and He got in the way? Because He did not fit in with their preconceived notions? All of these were true, and more. The Creator was rejected because they did not want His kind of world. In other words they were not just blind, they were guilty. They deliberately closed their eyes to the light.