Many facets of the cosmos (world)

In the previous post, I reflected on the richness of the concept of the logos, a word that is at the heart of what universities should be about and central to Christian theology. In this post, I consider the word cosmos which is used extensively in the New Testament. In the third post, I will discuss ways to relate the logos (Word) and the cosmos (world).

According to the Wikipedia entry on cosmos,

The philosopher Pythagoras first used the term cosmos (κόσμος) for the order of the universe. The term became part of modern language in the 19th century when geographer–polymath Alexander von Humboldt resurrected the use of the word from the ancient Greek, assigned it to his five-volume treatise, Kosmos, which influenced modern and somewhat holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity. 

Humboldt University of Berlin is considered to be the model for modern research universities. It is named after Alexander Humboldt and his older brother, Wilhelm, who was its founder.

In the New Testament, the Greek word cosmos is widely used by the Apostle John and translated into English as “world”. Here are some examples.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. (John 1:9-10)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (3:16)

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (17:14-18)

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives for ever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, " The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." (Revelation 11:15)

The New Bible Dictionary has an entry “WORLD” written by R.V.G. Tasker (1895-1976), Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the University of London, Here is some of the entry.

The Greek word kosmos means by derivation 'the ordered world'. It is used in the New Testament, but not in LXX [the Septuagint], sometimes for what we should call the 'universe', the created world, described in the Old Testament as 'all things' or 'heaven and earth' (Acts 17:2). The 'world' in this sense was made by the Word (John 1:10); …

But, because mankind is the most important part of the universe, the word kosmos is more often used in the limited sense of human beings, being a synonym for hē oikoumenē gė, 'the inhabited earth', also translated in the New Testament by 'world'. It is into this 'world' that men are born, and in it they live till they die (John 26: 21). It was all the kingdoms of this world that the devil offered to give to Christ if He would worship him (Matthew 4:8,9). It was this world, the world of men and women of flesh and blood, that God loved (John 3:16).

It is, however, an axiom of the Bible that this world of human beings, the climax of the divine creation, the world that God made especially to reflect His glory, is now in rebellion against Him…

 

And so, very frequently in the New Testament, and particularly in the Johannine writings, the word kosmos has a sinister significance. It is not the world as God intended it to be, but 'this world’ set over against God, following its own wisdom and living by the light of its own reason (1 Corinthians 1:21), not recognizing the Source of all true life and illumination (John 1:10).

Chris Wright has a helpful article, “The World in the Bible,” written in 2010 for the Lausanne Theology Working group. Wright notes that the Bible speaks of the world in five different ways. The world is the

• physical creation (the world in which we live);

• whole human race, (the world of nations);

• place of rebellion and opposition to God (the world of sin and judgment, the world of all the resulting suffering, poverty and pain);

• object of God’s love and mission of redemption in history;

• new creation (the world to come).

Wright states there is “a fundamental ambivalence in the biblical presentation of the world” and this is illustrated by contrasting how Psalms and John represent the world. The world

is simultaneously the wonderfully good creation of God and the horrendously wicked theatre of human and satanic rebellion against God. As we reflect on what it means to bring ‘the whole gospel to the whole world’, this is a duality that we must keep in mind. For it is this tension between the positive and negative conceptions of ‘the world’—both equally biblical—that drives so many dimensions of our missional engagement in and with the world.

The multi-faceted representation of the world in the Bible is underscored by the fact that besides kosmos there are five other Greek words in the New Testament that are translated as “world” in English: aion, ge, oikoumene, ktisis, and ta panta.

John starts positively… attributing the whole creation (panta) to the work of Christ ‘the Word’ (Jn.1:3). And we remain positive with the language of incarnation—the Word has come ‘into the world’ (kosmos; Jn. 1:9-10)—a note that is repeated to the end of the book, as Jesus brings light and life and truth into the world (Jn. 3:19; 6:33; 8:12; 9:5; 12:46-47; 18:37).

John uses the word kosmos 72 times, and more than 40 of those occur in chapters 13-17, describing Jesus’ final conversations with his disciples and prayer to his Father, and almost all… references to ‘the world’ are negative. … in 1 John, where kosmos occurs 22 times and all negative, except for the words of hope that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (2:2).

Paul uses kosmos 47 times (and aion 31 times). As we have seen, Paul can certainly use kosmos to speak of the whole of God’s good creation (though he tends more often to use ta panta and/or ‘heaven and earth’ for that).

Nevertheless, the majority of Paul’s uses of kosmos speak of it as the place of sin, rebellion and the judgment of God (e.g., Rom. 3:6, 19; 5:12-13; 1 Cor. 11:32)

This tension between the positive and negative side of the cosmos must be kept in mind as we reflect on how to relate logos and cosmos, including how to relate theology and the sciences (academic disciplines). Considering the use of these two words in the New Testament suggests a rich and subtle relationship between theology and the sciences.