1 John 2:15–17

Do Not Love the World the desire of the flesh, the eyes, the pride of life · the world is passing away · doing the will of God abides forever

After assuring his readers of forgiveness and knowledge of God (2:12–14), John issues a sharp command: do not love the world or the things in it. The "world" here is not the created order or humanity God loves (John 3:16), but the present age organized in rebellion against God. John exposes its allure under three heads — the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life — and grounds his command in their source: these come not from the Father but from the world. Then he sets a great contrast before his readers: the world and its desire are passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. The choice is between a love that perishes with its object and a love for the Father that endures.

Greek Text (SBLGNT)

The Greek text below is the Society of Biblical Literature Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), edited by Michael W. Holmes — © 2010 SBL and Logos, released CC BY 4.0. The three verses move from command (v. 15) to ground (v. 16) to motive (v. 17): love not the world, for what is in it is not from the Father, and the world is passing away.

Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν αὐτῷ· ὅτι πᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐστίν· καὶ ὁ κόσμος παράγεται καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

Working Translation

An original literal rendering, not borrowed from any copyrighted translation. Brackets mark phrases added for English clarity.

¹⁵ Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; ¹⁶ because everything that [is] in the world — the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life — is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and its desire [with it]; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.

Note on v. 15: τὸν κόσμον ("the world") here denotes the world-system in rebellion against God, not the created order or humanity as the object of God's saving love (cf. John 3:16); see the v. 15 commentary. Note on v. 16: ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου can be rendered "the pride/boasting of life" or "the pretension that comes from one's possessions/livelihood"; see the v. 16 commentary. Note on v. 17: μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα means "remains/abides into the age" — that is, "forever."

Passage Structure

These three verses form a tight, self-contained unit, built on a single command and the reasons that support it. The logic runs command → ground → motive:

v. 15 — The command and its test. A prohibition in two parts: do not love the world, and do not love the things in the world. Then a conditional that turns the command into a diagnostic test: if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Love of the world and love of the Father are mutually exclusive.
v. 16 — The ground (ὅτι, "because"). Why must the world not be loved? Because everything that is in the world — summarized under three heads — is not from the Father, but is from the world. The threefold list (desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, pride of life) defines "the things in the world," and the contrast ἐκ τοῦ πατρός … ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ("from the Father… from the world") names two opposing sources.
v. 17 — The motive (the great contrast). The decisive reason of all: the world is passing away, and its desire — both have an expiration. Over against this stands the one constant: the one who does the will of God abides forever. The contrast is between what perishes (παράγεται) and what remains (μένει).

Three repeated words knit the paragraph together. κόσμος ("world") appears six times across the three verses, dominating the unit; ἀγαπάω/ἀγάπη ("love") frames v. 15; and ἐπιθυμία ("desire") binds vv. 16–17 (the threefold "desire" of v. 16 reappears as "its desire" in v. 17). The structure is a hinge: the present participles of v. 17 — ὁ ποιῶν ("the one doing") set against the passing κόσμος — turn the whole warning toward an enduring alternative. The pivot word is the contrastive δέ ("but"): the world passes away, but the doer of God's will remains.

Verse-by-Verse Notes

1 John 2:15 — Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ…

Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε ("do not love"). A present imperative with μή, second person plural — a direct command to the whole community. The present tense fits an ongoing, settled orientation: do not go on loving the world; do not let your heart be habitually set on it. The verb is ἀγαπάω, the same word John uses for love of God and love of the brothers — which is precisely the point. The affection itself is not condemned; its object is. John is not forbidding desire as such, but a misdirected, idolatrous love that fastens the heart on the wrong thing.

τὸν κόσμον ("the world"). Everything in this passage turns on the sense of κόσμος. John uses the word in more than one way across his writings — it can mean the created order, or the totality of human beings (as in John 3:16, "God so loved the world"), or, as here, the present age organized in opposition to God: human life and society as a system of values, appetites, and powers that leaves God out and sets itself against him. That is the sense required by the very next clause: a "world" one cannot love and still have the Father's love. (See the caution below; and on the larger sense of κόσμος in John's prologue, see John 1:1–5.)

μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ("nor the things in the world"). The prohibition widens from the system as a whole to "the things in" it. This does not condemn material objects as evil in themselves — God made and gives good things (1 Tim 4:4; 6:17). "The things in the world" are defined in v. 16 not as physical objects but as desires and boasting: the world considered as the arena of disordered craving. It is the world as an object of the heart's allegiance that is forbidden, not the use of creation under God.

ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς ἐν αὐτῷ ("if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him"). A third-class condition (ἐάν + present subjunctive ἀγαπᾷ) that states a general principle: whoever loves the world. The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρός ("the love of the Father") is most naturally taken as the love a person has for the Father (an objective genitive) — though it may also carry the sense of the Father's own love at work in the believer. Either way, John's logic is exclusivist: the two loves cannot coexist. To love the world-system is to have one's heart turned away from the Father; the orientations are incompatible (cf. Matt 6:24; James 4:4).

Careful Caution — κόσμος here is not the created order or humanity God loves

It would be a serious mistake to read "do not love the world" as if it contradicted "God so loved the world" (John 3:16), or as a call to despise creation, beauty, or people. John uses κόσμος in several senses, and context decides. In John 3:16 the world is the object of God's saving love — fallen humanity to whom the Son is given. Here the world is the value-system of the present age in rebellion against God. The believer is to love the people of the world (and indeed lay down his life for them, 3:16–18) while refusing to love the world's idolatrous order. The text gives no warrant for asceticism, world-hating, or contempt for the good gifts of God; nor — at the opposite extreme — does it support any notion that all are finally saved because "God loves the world." Love for sinners and refusal of the world-system stand together.

1 John 2:16 — ὅτι πᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου…

ὅτι ("because"). The verse supplies the reason for the command of v. 15. The world is not to be loved because its whole content stands outside the Father and originates from the world itself. The argument is from source: love follows origin, and what comes from the world cannot draw the heart toward the Father.

πᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ("everything that is in the world"). A summarizing neuter — "the totality of what is in the world." John then unpacks it with three phrases in apposition. The three are not an exhaustive taxonomy of every sin but a representative analysis of the world's appeal: it works on us through craving, through the eyes, and through self-exalting pretension.

ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός ("the desire of the flesh"). ἐπιθυμία is "desire, craving, longing" — neutral in itself, but here, with the genitive τῆς σαρκός, it is desire as it springs from σάρξ, the fallen self in its appetite-driven autonomy from God. This is most likely a subjective genitive: the craving that the flesh generates. It is broader than sensuality; it is the whole impulse of the self-centered nature to gratify itself apart from God.

ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ("the desire of the eyes"). Craving aroused and fed through sight — coveting what one sees, the lust of acquisition and spectacle (cf. Gen 3:6, "the tree was a delight to the eyes"; Josh 7:21, Achan "saw… and coveted"). The eyes are the gateway through which the world parades its goods before the heart.

ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου ("the pride/pretension of life"). ἀλαζονεία is "boastfulness, pretension, arrogant display" — the empty bragging of the impostor who pretends to be more than he is (cf. James 4:16, the only other NT use). βίος here means "life" in the sense of one's means of living, livelihood, possessions (cf. 1 John 3:17, "the world's βίος," i.e., goods). So the phrase is the arrogant self-display that one's resources and status make possible — pride in what one has and shows. Where the first two phrases name disordered craving, this third names disordered boasting: not only wanting, but vaunting.

οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐστίν ("is not from the Father, but is from the world"). The verse closes with the source-contrast that proves the point. ἐκ ("out of, from") marks origin. These cravings and this pretension do not have their wellspring in the Father; they rise out of the world. The neuter subject πᾶν takes a singular verb (ἔστιν), treating the whole content of the world as one thing with one origin — and that origin is not God.

1 John 2:17 — καὶ ὁ κόσμος παράγεται καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία αὐτοῦ, ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

ὁ κόσμος παράγεται ("the world is passing away"). παράγεται (present, middle/passive of παράγω) means "passes by, passes away, is passing." The present tense pictures a process already under way: the world is in the act of going. John used the same verb in 2:8 of the darkness that "is passing away" (παράγεται) because the true light is already shining. The world is not merely doomed in the future; it is even now on its way out, like a parade or a stage-scene moving off (cf. 1 Cor 7:31, "the form of this world is passing away").

καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία αὐτοῦ ("and its desire"). The very ἐπιθυμία ("desire") of v. 16 reappears, now as "the desire it [the world] arouses" (or "the desire for it"). What perishes is not only the world but the craving bound up with it. To love the world is therefore to set one's heart on something that is, by definition, evaporating — and on the appetite that goes down with it. The reader is being asked: why pour out love on what is passing?

ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ("but the one who does the will of God"). The adversative δέ ("but") sets the great contrast. The present participle ὁ ποιῶν ("the one doing") describes a settled pattern of life — not a single act but an ongoing practice of doing τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, "the will of God." This is the only stable thing in the verse: not a possession, not an appetite, but a person characterized by obedience. Doing God's will is set in deliberate opposition to following the desires of the world.

μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ("abides forever"). μένω ("remain, abide, continue") is one of John's signature words for the enduring, settled relationship of the believer with God. Against the world that passes away (παράγεται), the doer of God's will remains (μένει) — the two verbs are pointedly contrasted. εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ("into the age") is the standard idiom for "forever." The promise is not merely survival but permanence in fellowship with the eternal God: the one whose love is fixed on the Father, and whose life enacts the Father's will, shares in what does not pass away.

Careful Caution — "doing the will of God" is not works-righteousness

John is not teaching that one earns eternal life by deeds; throughout the letter eternal life is a gift grounded in the Son (5:11–12), and obedience is the fruit and evidence of being born of God, not its cause. "The one who does the will of God" describes the character of those who genuinely belong to the Father — the obedient pattern that flows from new birth and abiding faith — set in contrast to those whose lives are governed by the world's desire. The verse comforts the obedient, not by crediting their works, but by assuring them that a life oriented to God's will is anchored in what endures. Read it through the whole letter: faith in the Son and love for God and the brothers are of one piece, and they last.

Key Greek Words and Phrases

Greek	Translit.	Meaning	In context
ἀγαπάω	agapaō	"to love" (present imperative ἀγαπᾶτε)	v. 15 — the same verb used for love of God and the brothers; the object, not the affection, is forbidden
κόσμος	kosmos	"world" — here the present age in rebellion against God	vv. 15–17 (6x) — the world-system, not the created order or humanity God loves (John 3:16)
ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρός	hē agapē tou patros	"the love of the Father"	v. 15 — most likely love for the Father; incompatible with love of the world
ἐπιθυμία	epithymia	"desire, craving, longing" (neutral in itself)	vv. 16–17 — disordered craving; the threefold "desire" of v. 16 reappears as "its desire" in v. 17
σάρξ	sarx	"flesh" — the fallen self in autonomy from God	v. 16 — "the desire of the flesh": craving springing from the self-centered nature
ὀφθαλμοί	ophthalmoi	"eyes"	v. 16 — "the desire of the eyes": coveting through sight (cf. Gen 3:6; Josh 7:21)
ἀλαζονεία	alazoneia	"boastfulness, pretension, arrogant display"	v. 16 — empty bragging of the impostor; cf. James 4:16, the only other NT use
βίος	bios	"life" as livelihood, means of living, possessions	v. 16 — "the pride of life": vaunting in one's resources and status (cf. 1 John 3:17)
ἐκ	ek	"out of, from" (origin)	v. 16 — the source-contrast: not from the Father but from the world
παράγεται	paragetai	"is passing away" (present of παράγω)	v. 17 — the world is even now on its way out; same verb as 2:8 of the darkness
θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ	thelēma tou theou	"the will of God"	v. 17 — the doer of God's will set against the desire of the world
μένει	menei	"abides, remains, continues" (of μένω)	v. 17 — John's word for enduring fellowship; contrasted with the world that passes away
εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα	eis ton aiōna	"into the age" = "forever"	v. 17 — the permanence of the one anchored in what does not pass away

Grammar and Syntax that Affect Interpretation

Present imperative Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε ("do not love") — v. 15. The present tense with μή addresses an ongoing orientation: do not have your heart habitually set on the world. It is a settled disposition that is forbidden, not merely isolated acts.
The multiple senses of κόσμος — vv. 15–17. The word can mean the created order, humanity, or the present age in rebellion against God. Here the third sense is required: a "world" incompatible with love for the Father. This must not be read against John 3:16.
Third-class condition ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ ("if anyone loves") — v. 15. States a general principle rather than a single hypothetical case: whoever loves the world has no love for the Father in him. The two loves are mutually exclusive.
The genitive ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρός — v. 15. Most naturally an objective genitive ("love for the Father"), though a subjective sense ("the Father's love at work in us") is possible. Either reading yields John's exclusivist logic.
Causal ὅτι ("because") opening v. 16. Grammatically subordinates v. 16 to the command of v. 15: the world is not to be loved because its content originates from the world, not the Father. The argument is from source.
The three genitive phrases of v. 16. τῆς σαρκός, τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, τοῦ βίου — likely subjective/source genitives (the craving the flesh produces, coveting through the eyes, the boasting one's possessions enable). They define "everything in the world" as disordered desire and pretension, not material objects as such.
Neuter πᾶν with singular ἔστιν — v. 16. "Everything in the world… is not from the Father." The whole content of the world is treated as a single entity with a single origin.
Present παράγεται ("is passing away") — v. 17. Pictures the world as a process already in motion toward its end, echoing 2:8. Not merely "will pass away" but "is even now passing."
Present participle ὁ ποιῶν ("the one doing") — v. 17. Describes a settled, characteristic practice of doing God's will, not a one-time act. It identifies the person, not isolated deeds.
The contrast παράγεται … μένει with δέ — v. 17. The verb of passing is deliberately set against the verb of remaining, with the adversative δέ ("but") as the hinge: what perishes versus what endures forever.

Theological Significance

Two loves, two kingdoms. John lays bare a fundamental either/or of the Christian life: love of the world and love of the Father cannot occupy the same heart. This is not a counsel against engaging the world or enjoying creation; it is an exposure of idolatry. The "world" is the rival kingdom of values and appetites that organizes life apart from God, and to love it is to dethrone the Father in one's affections. Jesus said it plainly: no one can serve two masters (Matt 6:24); James said the friendship of the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). John says the same in the register of love.

The anatomy of temptation. The threefold list — the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life — is a penetrating analysis of how the world lays hold of the heart: through craving, through sight, and through self-exalting pretension. It is not a complete catalog of sins, and one should not over-systematize it (for example, by forcing it onto Eve's temptation or Christ's, however suggestive the parallels). Its value is pastoral and diagnostic: it teaches us to recognize the world's pull in its characteristic forms, so that we are not deceived into calling worldliness something else.

The source determines the loyalty. John argues from origin: what is from the world cannot be loved with the love that belongs to the Father, because it does not come from him. This is a deeply biblical way of testing the heart — by tracing its objects back to their wellspring. The craving and boasting of the world have their fountainhead in the world, not in God; therefore they cannot be the proper home of a heart that belongs to the Father.

Eschatology as motive for holiness. The clinching argument is not a rule but a fact about the future breaking into the present: the world is passing away. To love the world is to love a corpse-in-waiting, to spend one's heart on what is already evaporating. Over against it stands the one who does the will of God and abides forever. John makes the eternal weight of the coming age the ground of present devotion: the wise heart invests where things last. (On how salvation is grounded in the Son and bears fruit in obedience, see Soteriology.)

Assurance for the obedient. Finally, v. 17 is a word of comfort to those who love and obey God. The world's parade is loud and seductive, but it is going; the quiet life ordered to God's will is what remains. The believer need not envy the world or fear missing out on it, for its desire dies with it. The one who does the will of God has chosen the abiding portion.

Common Misreadings and Careful Corrections

"Do not love the world" contradicts "God so loved the world" (John 3:16). It does not. κόσμος has several senses, and context decides. In John 3:16 the world is fallen humanity, the object of God's saving love; here it is the value-system of the present age in rebellion against God. We love the people of the world; we refuse to love the world-system.
This passage teaches contempt for creation, beauty, or material things. No. God made and gives good things to enjoy (1 Tim 4:4; 6:17), and "the things in the world" are defined in v. 16 as desires and boasting, not physical objects. The text forbids idolatrous love of the world's order, not the grateful use of creation under God. It gives no warrant for asceticism or world-hating.
The threefold list is an exhaustive taxonomy of all sin (or must map onto Eve and Christ's temptations). It is a representative, not exhaustive, analysis of the world's appeal — craving, sight, pretension. The parallels to Genesis 3 and the temptation of Christ are suggestive but should be held loosely, not pressed into a rigid system.
"The desire of the flesh" means only sexual or bodily sin. σάρξ here is the fallen self in autonomy from God, and the "desire of the flesh" is broader than sensuality — it is the whole impulse to gratify the self apart from God, of which sensual sin is only one expression.
"The one who does the will of God abides forever" teaches salvation by works. No. Eternal life is the gift of God in the Son (5:11–12); doing God's will is the fruit and evidence of new birth, not its cause. The verse describes the character of those who belong to the Father, not a meritorious achievement.
"The world is passing away" means the physical universe is worthless or evil. The point is not that creation is bad but that the present world-order, with its disordered desire, is temporary and on its way out. The contrast is between the impermanence of the rebel age and the permanence of life lived for God — a motive for misplaced-love to be redirected, not for matter to be despised.

Cross-References

John 3:16 — "God so loved the world"; the saving sense of κόσμος that must not be confused with the world-system John forbids loving here.
John 1:1–5, 9–11 — the Word and the κόσμος that "did not know him"; the world as the realm in rebellion against its Maker. See John 1:1–5.
Matthew 6:24 — "No one can serve two masters… you cannot serve God and money"; the same exclusive either/or of the heart.
James 4:4 — "Friendship with the world is enmity with God"; love of the world set against love of God.
James 4:16 — the only other NT use of ἀλαζονεία ("boasting"); the pride/pretension of v. 16.
Genesis 3:6 — the tree "good for food… a delight to the eyes… to be desired"; the craving and the desire of the eyes in narrative form.
Joshua 7:21 — Achan: "I saw… I coveted… I took"; the desire of the eyes leading to ruin.
1 John 2:8 — "the darkness is passing away (παράγεται)"; the same verb and the same eschatology of a fading old order.
1 John 3:17 — "the world's goods (βίος)"; John's other use of βίος for livelihood/possessions, clarifying v. 16.
1 Corinthians 7:31 — "the form of this world is passing away"; the temporariness of the present order as a motive for detachment.
Romans 12:2 — "do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed"; the practical counterpart to refusing the world's pattern.
1 Timothy 6:17; 1 Timothy 4:4 — God "richly provides us with everything to enjoy"; the goodness of creation that guards against misreading this passage as world-hating.
Colossians 3:1–4 — "set your minds on things above"; the affections fixed on what abides rather than what passes.

Preaching / Teaching Summary

1 John 2:15–17 puts a sharp question to the heart: what do you love? It does not ask whether you use the world — everyone must — but whether you love it. And it gives one searching test: love of the world and love of the Father cannot share a heart. Three lines preach.

First, the rival love must be named. John is not telling us to hate creation or despise people; "the world" is the whole system of life arranged without God and against him. The danger is not that we will live in the world but that the world will live in us — that its values, appetites, and ambitions will quietly take the throne the Father alone should hold. The command is gentle in form and total in scope: do not go on loving the world. And it comes with a diagnostic: if anyone loves the world, the Father's love is not in him. Worldliness is not first about behavior; it is about the heart's allegiance.

Second, the world's pull must be exposed. John holds the world up to the light and we see its three familiar faces: the desire of the flesh (the self wanting), the desire of the eyes (the self seeing and coveting), and the pride of life (the self boasting in what it has). This is not a complete list of sins; it is a mirror. We learn to recognize worldliness not by its labels but by its shape — craving, coveting, vaunting — and to trace it back to its source. None of it is from the Father; all of it is from the world. Love follows origin, and this origin is not God.

Third, the wise heart invests where things last. The clinching word is not a threat but a fact: the world is passing away, and its desire with it. To love the world is to pour out your heart on something already evaporating — and to go down with it. But the one who does the will of God abides forever. There is the great contrast, and the great comfort: the loud parade is going by, but the quiet life ordered to God's will remains. So the question returns, now with eternity behind it: where is your love set — on what is passing, or on the Father who endures?

Memory and Review Questions

In what sense does John use κόσμος ("world") in this passage, and how does that avoid contradicting John 3:16?
Here κόσμος means the present age organized in rebellion against God — its system of values, appetites, and powers. In John 3:16 it means fallen humanity, the object of God's saving love. Different senses, decided by context: we love the people of the world while refusing to love the world-system.
Why is the present imperative Μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε significant?
The present tense with μή addresses an ongoing orientation of the heart — do not habitually love the world. It is a settled disposition that is forbidden, not merely isolated acts.
What test does v. 15 attach to the command, and what is its logic?
"If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." The two loves are mutually exclusive: to set the heart on the world-system is to turn it away from the Father (cf. Matt 6:24; James 4:4).
What are the three components of "everything in the world" (v. 16)?
The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride (pretension) of life — that is, disordered craving from the self, coveting through sight, and arrogant boasting in one's possessions/status. A representative, not exhaustive, analysis of the world's appeal.
What does ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου mean, and what does βίος contribute?
"The pride/pretension of life" — the empty, arrogant display (ἀλαζονεία, cf. James 4:16) made possible by one's livelihood and possessions (βίος; cf. 1 John 3:17). Not only wanting, but vaunting.
What argument does v. 16 make with the contrast ἐκ τοῦ πατρός … ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου?
An argument from source: the world's craving and boasting do not originate "from the Father" but "from the world." Since love follows origin, what comes from the world cannot draw the heart toward the Father.
What does παράγεται ("is passing away") add, and where else does John use it?
The present tense pictures the world as a process already in motion toward its end — not merely doomed in the future but even now on its way out. John uses the same verb in 2:8 of the darkness that "is passing away" (cf. 1 Cor 7:31).
How is the contrast in v. 17 structured grammatically?
The verb of passing (παράγεται) is set against the verb of remaining (μένει), with the adversative δέ ("but") as the hinge: the world passes away, but the one who does God's will abides.
Does "the one who does the will of God abides forever" teach salvation by works?
No. Eternal life is the gift of God in the Son (5:11–12). Doing God's will is the fruit and evidence of new birth, describing the character of those who belong to the Father — not a meritorious cause of life.
What is the central pastoral motive of v. 17?
Eschatology drives holiness: because the world and its desire are passing away while the doer of God's will abides forever, the wise heart sets its love on what endures rather than on what is already evaporating.