Kosmos (cosmos in English) is the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system. I had known that cosmos was the universe. When I hear it, I think of astronomy. I didn’t realize that it necessarily had an order to it. Apparently, kosmos originally meant order or orderly arrangement, but was later applied to the universe. (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cosmos)
It turns out that the opposite of cosmos is chaos(lack of order). It makes sense when you look at the definition. Cosmos has an order and chaos has no order. Cosmos also means this world as opposed to the heavens or the afterlife. It’s the world that we live in now.
In the New Testament, one-third of the references to kosmos are found in John. When you add in 1 Corinthians and 1 John, you have more than two-thirds of the uses. According to Strong’s Greek at http://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_2889.htm, the word kosmos occurs 186 times in the New Testament.
There are so many good verses, it was hard to choose some and not others. Generally you will find kosmos translated as world. In 1 Peter 3:3, the translation is adornment.
Matthew 5:14 NIV You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Mark 8:36 NIV What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
John 1:10 NIV He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
John 3:16 NIV For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 6:51 NIV I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 9:5 NIV While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
John 14:30-31 NIV I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
Acts 17:24 NIV The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
1 Corinthians 1:20 NIV Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Corinthians 2:12 NIV We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
Colossians 2:8 NIV See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
1 Peter 3:3 NIV Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
1 John 2:15-17 NIV 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 everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Other verses:
Matthew 13:38, 18:7
Mark 16:15
Luke 9:25
John 3:17, 19, 13:1, 14:17-19, 15:18-19, 16:33
Romans 1:20, 5:12-13
1 Corinthians 1:27-28
2 Corinthians 7:10
Phillipians 2:15
James 1:27
The G/K number for kosmos is 3180.
The Strong’s number for kosmos is 2889.
