# Loving the world without becoming worldly

Commentary on Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

On [CH05.P025](https://glosses.org/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH05.P025/#char=364,417): "somehow one must love the world without being worldly"

John 3:16–17 and 1 John 2:15–17 place love for the world beside refusal of worldliness, a distinction already pertinent earlier in this chapter.

Augustine makes the distinction explicit in his second homily on 1 John. In §§11–12 he calls created things good, but warns against treating them as one's ultimate happiness while abandoning their maker. His example is a bride who prizes her wedding ring above her bridegroom. He also explains that 'world' can designate the created fabric or its inhabitants and their loves. This is a close theological precedent for Chesterton's distinction: attachment to creation need not become submission to everything presently done within it. Augustine's emphasis is nevertheless different: he orders love toward the Creator, whereas Chesterton stresses how loyalty permits reform. The comparison establishes affinity, not Chesterton's use of this homily. [Augustine, Homily 2 on First John, §§11–12](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170202.htm), inspected in H. Browne's translation as printed in NPNF I.7 (1888), revised for New Advent.

## Sources

- [The King James Version of the Bible, Project Gutenberg #10](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10), John 3:16–17; 17:14–18; 1 John 2:15–17; electronic witness updated 2024
- [Augustine, Homily 2 on the First Epistle of John](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170202.htm), §§11–12; H. Browne translation, NPNF First Series vol. 7 (1888), New Advent revision

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