the righteous judgement of God. Given that this is true, it is thus unthinkable that anyone who knows and loves the Father would also love that to which the Father is implacably opposed. As for Jesus, so for John; the true believer cannot love both God and the world. 1 John 2:15–17 is indeed a ‘purple’ passage and as such it can easily be taught without reference to the argument of the letter. As we mentioned above, the issue of the Christian and the world is one of the primary