WORLD

deeper emphasis. 'The cares of the world choke the word' (Mt 13'^, Mk 4"): the 'sons of this world' are contrasted with the 'sons of light' (Lk 168; of. Ro 122, Eph 22 'according to the transient fashion [oeon] of this material world Ikostnos]'). This world is evil(Gal 1'), its wisdom is naught (1 Co l^" 2' 3"), Its rulers crucified the Lord of glory (1 Co 28); finally, it is the 'god of this world' that has blinded the minds of the unbelieving (2 Co i'). This ethical use of (con='world' is not found in the Johannine writings.

(2) But the most frequent term for ' world ' is kosmos, which is sometimes extended in meaning to the material universe, as in the phrases ' from the beginning ( 'founda-tion,' 'creation') of the world' (e.g. Mt 242' 258<, He 4', Eo V; for the implied thought of Divine creation cf. Ac 14" 172*). More commonly, however, the word is used of the earth, and especially the earth as the abode of man. To 'gain the whole world' is to become possessed of all possible material wealth and earthly power (Mt 162», Mk 8^, Lk 928). Because 'sin entered into the world' (Ro 5'2), it is become the scene of the Incarnation and the object of Redemption (2 Co 5", 1 Ti 118, He 108, Jn l^- >»• 2s 318. w I2i'), the scene also, alien but inevitable, of the Christian disciple's life and discipline, mission and victory (Mt 5" 13*8 26", Jn 17'8, Ro 18, 1 Co 322 49 SI" 781, 2 Co 1>2, Ph 2i8, Col 18, 1 P S', Rev 11'8). From this virtual identifica-tion of the 'world' with mankind, and mankind as separated from and hostile to God, there comes the ethical signification of the word specially developed in the writings of St. Paul and St. John.

(a) The Epp. of St. Paul. To the Galatians St. Paul describes the pre-Christian life as slavery to ' the rudi-ments of the world' (48, cf. v.'); through Christ the world is crucified to him and he to the world (6"). Both thoughts recur in Colossians (28- 20). In writing to the Corinthians he condemns the wisdom, the passing fashion, the care, the sorrow of the world (1 Co 128- 21 319 7S1. S3. S4_ 2 Co 7'»; cf. aWn above), and declares the Divine choice to rest upon all that the world least esteems (1 Co 12'- 28, cf. Ja 2*). This perception of the true worth of things is granted to those who ' received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God ' (1 Co 2'2); hence 'the saints shall judge the world' (1 Co 62, cf. 1182). In the argument of Romans the thought of the Divine judgment of the 'world' has incidental place, but in the climax St. Paul conceives of the 'fair of Israel as leading to 'the riches of the world,' and of the ' casting away ' of them as the ' recon-ciling of the world' (II12. is; cf. v.82 and 512-21). What. St. Paul condemns, then, is hardly the world as essentially evil, but the world-spirit which leads to evil by its neglect of the unseen and eternal, and by its blindness to the true scale of values revealed in the gospel of Christ crucified.

(6) The Gospel and First Ep. of St. John. In these two writings occur more than half the NT instances of the word we are considering. That is, the term kosmos is characteristic of St. John, and, setting aside his frequent use of it in the non-ethical sense, especially as the sphere of the incarnation and saving work of Christ, we find an ethical conception of the 'world' deeper in its shadows than that of St. Paul. It is true that Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 1' 3" 812 98 12«), its Life-giver (688- 6i), its Saviour (3" 4« 12"); yet 'the world knew him not ' (1'8), and the Fourth Gospel sets out its story of His persistent rejection by the world, in language which at times seems to pass beyond a mere record of contemporary unbelief, and almost to assert an essential dualism of good and evil (7' 828 939 1231 141'- 30 iqu. 20). Here the ' world ' is not simply the worldly spirit, but the great mass of mankind in deadly hostility to Christ and His teaching. In contrast stand His disciples, his own which were in the world' (13i), chosen out of the world (1518, cf. 178), but not of it, and therefore hated as He was hated (IS"- " 17"- '8). For them He intercedes as

WRITING

He does not for the world (17'). In the 1st Ep. of St. John the same sharp contrasts meet us. The world lies within the scope of God's redemptive purpose in Jesus Christ (22 4»), yet it stands opposed to His followers as a thing wholly evil, with which they may hold no traffic (216-17^ cf. Ja 4'), knowing them not and hating them (31- 18). It is conceived as under the sway of a power essentially hostile to God,— the antichrist (2i8- 22 48; cf. 'the prince of this world' Jn 12" 148" leu) — and is therefore not to be entreated and persuaded, but fought and overcome by the ' greater one ' who is in the disciple of Christ (4'i S'- '). Faith ' overcometh the world,' but St. John reserves tor his closing words his darkest ex-pression of a persistent dualism of good and evil, light and darkness: ' We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one' (5").

The idiomatic uses of the term 'world' in Jn 7* 12i», 1 Jn 31' are sufficiently obvious. For the difficult expres-sion 'the world of iniquity' applied to the tongue (Ja 38), see the Commentaries. S. W. Green.

'WORM. — 1. sas. Is 51* (cf. Arab. sUs, a moth or a worm), the larva of a clothes-moth. See Moth. 2. rimmah (Ex 162*, Job 25«, Is 14"). 3. tsia' , tSWah, or tSla'ath (Ex 162", job 25», Is 14" 662«, Jon 4' etc.). Both 2 and 3 are used to describe the same kind of worms (cf. Ex le'"- 2*), and most references are to maggots and other insect larvae which breed on putrid organic matter. These are very common in Palestine, occurring even on neglected sores and, of course, on dead bodies (Job 192« 2128 242"). Jonah's worm (JSU'ah) was probably some larva which attacks the roots, or perhaps a centipede. The 'worms' of Dt 28"' were probably caterpillars. 4. rSgaft (Hos 512 AVm). In Pr 12* where the same word is also tr. 'rottenness,' It is rendered in LXX skSlex, ' wood-worm,' which seems appropriate to the context. 6. ztchaWOrets, 'worms of the earth' (Mic 7"), may possibly refer to true earth-worms (which are comparatively rare in Palestine), but more probably to serpents. See Serpent (10). 6. skmx, Mk 9« etc. The expression ' eaten of worms,' used (Ac 1228) in describing the death of Herod Agrippai., would seem to refer to a death accompanied by violent abdominal pains, such symptoms being commonly ascribed in the Holy Land to-day to abdominal worms (Lumbricoides) — a belief often revived by the evacuation of such worms near the time of death (cf. p. 600«). E. W. G. Mastehman.

WORMWOOD (la'anah, Dt 29", Pr 5», Jer 918 23i8. La 318- 1', Am 5' 6" [in the last AV tr. 'hemlock']: Gr. apsinthos, Rev 8"). — la'anah was some bitter sub-stance usually associated with gall (wh. see); it is used metaphorically for calamity and sorrow. Tradition favours some species of Artemisia (wormwood), of which several kinds are found in Palestine.

E. W. G. Masterman. WORSHIP.— SeeADORATiON, Praise, Prayer, Preach-ing, Synagogue, Temple. In Lk 14i" AV 'worship' means reverence (RV 'glory') from man to man.

WOT.— See Wit.

WOULD.— See Will.

WRATH.— See Anger, p. 34».

WRESTLING.— See Games, p. 282'>.

WRITING.— 1. Pre-historic- The origin of writing is not recorded In Genesis, where we should expect to find some account of it, but this omission may be In-tentional. Since God Is represented as writing on two Tables of stone (Ex 3218'-), it might seem improper that He should employ a human invention, while, on the other hand, there may have been no tradition that the art was first used on that occasion; the inference is therefore left to be drawn by the reader. Perhaps we may infer from the phrase in Is 81 that there was a style known as ' Divine writing,' being the character used in these Tables. The Tables themselves scarcely figure in the

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