To Florus 4.20
For the apostle John was urging the faithful toward the summit of every virtue and stretching their pursuit of holiness to the height of the Lord’s manner of life. To be brief, he embraced under the name of the whole world every attraction of present goods and pleasures: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him, because everything in the world is the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not from the Father but from the world. The world passes away, and its desire; but whoever does God’s will remains forever” (1 John 2:15–17). If we look only at the surface of the words, he commands hatred of all the elements and declares that the world and everything in it are not from the Father and should not be loved.
Latin
Apostolus quippe Ioannes cum ad virtutum omnium fastigium provocaret fideles, et studium sanctitatis ad altitudinem dominicae conversationis extenderet, ad compendium, mundi totius nomine universa praesentium bonorum et iucunditatum irritamenta concludens: Nolite - inquit - diligere mundum, neque ea quae in mundo sunt. Si quis diligit mundum, non est caritas Patris in eo; quoniam omne quod est in mundo, concupiscentia carnis, et concupiscentia oculorum est, et superbia vitae; quae non est ex Patre, sed ex mundo est; et mundus transit, et concupiscentia eius; qui autem facit voluntatem Dei, manet in aeternum [n32] . Quantum ad superficiem verborum respicit, odium omnibus indicit elementis, et mundum et cuncta quae in mundo sunt, non esse ex Patre, neque diligi debere denuntiat.