Scripture portrays the world as a realm under the influence of darkness and sin, with 1 John 5:19 noting that the whole world lies in the evil one. However, believers are called to be distinct from this world, as seen in John 15:19 and Philippians 2:15, where they are exhorted to be blameless and shine as lights in a crooked generation. Romans 12:2 cautions against conforming to the world's patterns, instead urging transformation through renewal of the mind. Ultimately, 1 John 4:4 reminds believers that they have overcome the world through their faith in Christ.
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We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.
so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.
But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.
Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.