*John 15:17-16:4
Jesus commands his disciples to love one another and warns them that they will face persecution because of their association with him.
- Command to Love One Another:
- Jesus repeats the command for his disciples to love each other.
- Warning About the World’s Hatred:
- He warns that the world will hate them because they belong to Jesus and are no longer part of the world.
- Jesus reminds them that the world hated him first.
- He says that if they were still part of the world, the world would love them, but now it will persecute them because they follow him.
- Connection to the Persecution of Jesus:
- Jesus explains that those who persecute his disciples do so because they do not know God who sent him.
- He emphasizes that the world is guilty of sin for rejecting both his words and his miraculous works.
- Fulfillment of Prophecy:
- Jesus states that their hatred fulfills what is written in the Scriptures: “They hated me without reason.”
- Role of the Advocate:
- Jesus promises to send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will testify about him.
- He instructs his disciples to testify about him as well since they have been with him from the beginning.
- Purpose of the Warning:
- Jesus explains that he is telling them these things to prevent them from falling away when persecution comes.
- He warns that they will be expelled from synagogues and that some will even think they are serving God by killing Jesus’ followers.
- This persecution will happen because these people do not know the Father or Jesus.
- Jesus tells his disciples these things now so that when persecution occurs, they will remember that he had already forewarned them.
15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
15:23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 15:27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
16:3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
16:4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.