As recorded at John 3:16, Jesus Christ tells us: “God loved the world [of mankind] so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” God’s kindness and compassion toward people of all sorts sets the example for us to follow.​—Matthew 5:44-48.

7, 8. (a) What did the apostle John say about loving the world? (b) What does that mean, and how do John’s further comments show this?

⁷ But does not the apostle John tell us, “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him”? If God loved the world, why did the apostle say this?​—1 John 2:15.

⁸ The Bible shows that God loved the world of mankind simply as humans, people in an imperfect, dying state who were in desperate need of help, whether they appreciated it or not. But he did not love the ungodly qualities they had and that manifested themselves in wrong desires. And he did not love the ungodly deeds they committed. The apostle John warned against loving the wrong desires and deeds of the world of mankind, stating: “Because everything in the world​—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—​does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”​—1 John 2:15-17.

God’s love for the world of mankind was expressed for the very purpose of opening the way for them to become free from those sinful desires and their bad results, including death itself. He expressed that love at great cost to himself, giving his own Son as a sacrifice to ransom mankind.