“The earth is frequently referred
to as the dwelling place of humanity in language that is paralleled in Jewish
idiom: coming into the world (John 6.14; 9.39; 11.27; 18.37), being in the world (9.5a), departing out of the
world (13.1; 16.28b). While some
of these [Johannine] sayings acquire theological significance because of the
context in which they are used, the idiom itself is familiar Jewish
terminology. To come into the world
means merely to be born; to be in the world is to exist; and to depart from the
world is to die [H. Sasse, TDNT
3:888; see also 1Jn. 4.1,17; 2Jn7; Heb
10.5; 1Tim 1.15].”
G.E. Ladd, A Theology of the NT, 1993, p. 261.
