The World

When Jesus speaks of the World in John's Gospel, he does not mean the planet earth or the secular world.  God is throughout creation.  The secular is filled with Godness.  So what does "world" mean?  It means the passions, that is, the attitudes, feelings, values that tend  to turn us away from God and one another.  It is referred to as the seven deadly sins.  Try gluttony, laziness, love of riches, focus on possessions, honors prestige, that brings with it jealousy and envy.  Finish up with anger.  This is the stuff that gets in the way of following any spiritual teaching.  The early church knew this.  The later, more imperial church saw the secular world as a threat because the church of the modern world was not going to be the center of the modern world.  The secular world does not hate a spiritual person or path.  It rejects hypocrisy, and institutions focused on self-preservation.