1 John 5:19b “…the whole world lieth in wickedness.”
There is good reason grammatically to read this “the whole world lies in the wicked one.”
That part of the world which lies outside of the Work of Christ is held morally and spiritually in a stranglehold from which only God can effect release.
We should remember this if we are reading a book, watching TV or a movie, surfing the internet, listening to political debate or walking down the street. Every person who is not a true believer is a bond slave of darkness and evil.
We reflect on this indirectly when we remember our own conversion.
Eph 2:1-3
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. KJV
When we say “even as others” we take note of the fact that those who are today as we were before God’s
Work of Salvation are living “according to the prince of the power of the air.” They live and breath “in the
wicked one” and cannot do otherwise than he wishes them to do except God provoke them to seek Him.
“The whole world lies in the wicked one” Which is the reason that the problem of proclaiming the gospel
is one which human ingenuity cannot solve. No matter how skillful the worker, no matter how educated,
no matter how intelligent or diligent, the problem is one which is only resolved as those who are held in
bondage are set free and the only one who can set them free is God Himself.
Therefore, all spiritual work must be steeped and saturated with prayer. The worker must lay literal hold
of the power of God or he will most assuredly fail and those whom he is attempting to help with most surely perish. No matter how much he may improve their lives physically and maybe even emotionally, they will still be lost unless God’s Power moves on their behalf.
We fool ourselves and hinder our own work when we undertake, like those seven sons of Sceva in Acts
19, to help the one held in bondage without ourselves being under the direct empowerment of the Spirit
of God. The spiritual world well knows who is in touch with God and who is not. They mock the sincere
but powerless worker, “Jesus we know and Paul we know, but who are you?”
John would have us recognize and honor the great work whereby we “know that we are of God,” and
depend upon that work to help those to whom we would minister.