1. II. Light and Darkness (1:5-2:24)
    1. C. Test of Love (2:7-2:17)
      1. iii. Love vs. lust (2:15-2:17)
Thematic Relation: Love directs to God, lust directs to the world. We are to choose the former.

Some Key Words

Love (agapao [25]):
directing the will toward, finding one's joy in a thing; to love in a social or moral sense; to be contented with a thing, to love dearly. This is the form we are not to have toward earthly things.
Love (agape [26])
benevolent love, a love that does what is needful for another rather than what is desired by another; good will. This is the love we are to have from God.
Lust (epithumia[1939]):
active desire resulting from passion, the diseased condition of the soul; craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden.
Pride (alazoneia[212]):
self-confidence, braggadocio, empty bragging, empty assurance, empty trust in the stability of earthly things.
Will (thelema [2307]):
desire, pleasure; what one wishes to be done, inclination, choice.
Forever (aion [165]):
always being; an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity.
 

Paraphrase

15 We are to love God, not the world, 16 for the world promotes lust, which is ungodly. 17 It is also temporary, and will come to an end, whereas God - and those who love Him - will not.

Key Verse

2:17 - Lust and its objectives will pass away. Love and its object (God) will continue eternally.

Thematic Relevance:

 Love of God is what is called for. That love should be uniquely reserved for God's purposes, and not misdirected to worldly pursuits.

Doctrinal Relevance:

 God is eternal. The earth will eventually come to an end. Our eternality lies in obedience to Him who created us.

Moral Relevance:

 Somehow, we must learn to keep our earthly enjoyments in perspective. The love we are told to have for God is the highest form of love. To direct that at mere things is a terrible thing.

Questions Raised:

 How completely are we to decry the things of earth? If they are God's creation, is it right to completely disdain them? Or is it a matter of proportion - not allowing things that high place in our opinion that rightly belongs to God, yet enjoying the works of His hands still?

Some Parallel Verses

2:15
Ro 12:2 - we are not to operate by the world's rules. Jas 1:27 - we are to remain unaffected by the world. Jas 4:4 - we cannot love the world without being against God.
2:16
Ro 13:14 - we should not give in to our fleshly desires. Eph 2:3 - which we used to do before we came to salvation. 1Pe 2:11 - because those desires battle against our soul's desires. Pr 27:20 - lust is never satisfied. Jas 4:16 - boasting is arrogance, and is evil.
2:17
1Co 7:31 - the world is passing away. Mk 3:35 - those who do God's will constitute His family.

New Thoughts

How often I've placed my trust foolishly in some machine, or in some person, only to have it shown that the trust was misplaced. How often I've been so sure of myself and my ability to solve whatever problems. Once again, God, you place a hard test before me. As a man, I've been taught by the world to be self-sufficient, but You tell me not to conform to the world's ways, and to find my sufficiency only in You. Some days I grasp it, ever so briefly, but it slips away again amidst the crowding images of the world. I was warned, wasn't I? Lord, help the truth to stick - help your seed to abide within, that I should not be so easily led aside by what goes on around me.