Abstract
My initial reaction in returning to 1 John 2:15-17 after investigating attitudes towards sexuality in the New Testament and early Judaism was to see here a reflection of the view expressed in Mark 12:25 and, I believe, presupposed by Paul, that in the age to come there would be no place for sexual desire and sexual relations, for "the world and its desire are passing away" (1 John 2: 17). This need not imply a negative stance towards sexual desire in itself as part of God's creation. It is just that in the age to come it will cease to be. I determined then to test this assumption and in the process not only modified it, but found my focus falling on other important aspects of the text and asking what its significance may be for understanding ethics in 1 John.