A familiar Bible saying, checked in context
Be in the world but not of the world
Paraphrase
John 17 speaks of disciples remaining in the world while not being of it; the familiar instruction condenses that prayer.
By @The..Mustard..Seed · Updated
Read the relevant KJV passage
John 17:14I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:18As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Compare the evidence
Jesus says his disciples are in the world while he is coming to the Father. This supplies the first half of the common summary.
John 17:11And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Jesus explicitly says he is not asking that they be taken out of the world, but that they be kept from evil.
John 17:15I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
What the context adds
John 17:14–16 describes disciples who do not belong to the world in the way Jesus does not, while verses 11 and 15 make clear that they remain in it. The compact saying fuses those thoughts into a memorable line. It is a fair route into the prayer, but not a sentence that appears verbatim in the KJV. The prayer also moves outward to their being sent and to later believers. Reading that movement prevents “not of the world” from becoming an instruction simply to withdraw from every neighbor, task, or difficult setting.
A question to carry forward
What does Jesus ask for his disciples if he does not ask that they be removed from the world?
Keep reading
Read John 17:14–19 and notice both “not of the world” and “sent into the world.”
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