John 15:18

15:18-25 How little do many persons think, that in opposing the doctrine of Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, they prove themselves ignorant of the one living and true God, whom they profess to worship! The name into which Christ's disciples were baptized, is that which they will live and die by. It is a comfort to the greatest sufferers, if they suffer for Christ's name's sake. The world's ignorance is the true cause of its hatred to the disciples of Jesus. The clearer and fuller the discoveries of the grace and truth of Christ, the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in him.

If the world hate (εἱ μισεῖ) Literally, hates. The indicative mood with the conditional particle assumes the fact as existing: If the world hates you, as it does. Ye know (γινώσκετε) This may also be rendered as imperative: Know ye. It hated (μεμίσηκεν) The perfect tense, hath hated. The hatred continues to the present time. Before it hated you (πρῶτον ὑμῶν) Literally, first in regard of you. See on John 1:15.

In the latter part of this chapter our Lord cometh to comfort those who were his true disciples, against that third trouble, from the prospect they had of that hatred which the world would pour out and execute upon them, as soon as he should be withdrawn from them. Hatred is rooted and originated in the heart, and is properly a displeasure that the mind taketh at a person, which, fermenting and boiling in the mind, breeds an abhorrence of that person, anger, and malice, and a desire to do him mischief, and root him out; and then breaks out at the lips, by lying, slanders, calumnies, cursings, wishing of evil, &c.; and is executed by the hands, doing to such persons all the harm and mischief within the power of him that hateth: all this is to be understood under the general term hate. By the world here must be meant wicked men, in opposition to good men, who are often in Scripture called the world, because they are of the earth, earthly; they relish and savour nothing but worldly things, and pursue nothing but worldly designs. Against this our Saviour comforts them; first by telling them, that this part of the world hated him before it hated them, which must needs be so, because they hated them as his disciples, and for that very reason.

John 15:18 . Μισεῖ , hates ) So far from loving you. [In this there is described, 1) the unreasonable hatred of the world in general, John 15:18-25 : 2) the confirmation of the truth which stands in contrast to the same, John 15:26-27 : 3) the hatred accompanied with more violent paroxysms, John 16:1-4 : 4) the greater force of the confirmation, John 15:5-11 .—V. g.]— γινώσκετε , know ye ) [But Engl. Vers. ye know ]. They did know it: ch. John 11:8 , “The disciples say, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee:” and yet they are ordered now more to reflect on this very fact: John 15:20 , Remember , etc., ch. John 16:4 .— πρῶτον ) prior to its hating you.

18 . ye know that it hated me ] Better, know that it hath hated me (comp. John 15:20 ). As in John 14:1 the principal verb may be either indicative or imperative, and the imperative is preferable: the second verb is the perfect indicative, of that which has been and still is the case. before it hated you ] ‘It hated’ is an insertion by our translators, and ‘before you’ is literally ‘first of you,’ like ‘before me’ in John 1:15 (see note there) and 30; excepting that here we have the adverb and there the adjective. 18–25 . The Hatred of the World to both Him and them In strong contrast to the love and union between Christ and His disciples and among the disciples themselves is the hatred of the world to Him and them. He gives them these thoughts to console them in encountering this hatred of the world. (1) It hated Him first: in this trial also He has shewn them the way. (2) The hatred of the world proves that they are not of the world. (3) They are sharing their Master’s lot, whether the world rejects or accepts their preaching. (4) They will suffer this hatred not only with Him, but for His sake. All this tends to shew that the very hatred of the world intensifies their union with Him.

(18) If the world hate you. —He has spoken of their close union with Himself, and of their love to each other. He proceeds in the remainder of the chapter to speak of their relation to the world. There is a striking contrast between the “love” in the last verse, and the “hatred” in this. There was the more need for them to be close bound to each other, and to their Lord, on account of the hatred which awaited them in the world. Ye know that it hated me before it hated you.—It is better to take the first word as an imperative, “Know that it hated . . .” The very hatred, then, is a bond of union with their Master, and this thought should supply strength to meet it, and joy even when suffering from it (John 15:11). (Comp. 1Peter 4:12-13.)

If the world hate you - The friendship of the world they were not to expect, but they were not to be deterred from their work by its hatred. They had seen the example of Jesus. No opposition of the proud, the wealthy, the learned, or the men of power, no persecution or gibes, had deterred him from his work. Remembering this, and having his example steadily in the eye, they were to labor not less because wicked men should oppose and deride them. It is enough for the disciple to be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord, Matthew 10:25 .

John 15:18-19 . But now your relation to the world! as far as John 15:27 . In your fellowship, love; from without, on the part of the unbelieving, hatred against you! Consolation for you: γινώσκετε (imperat.) ὅτι ἐμὲ πρῶτον ὑμῶν ( John 1:15 ), μεμίσηκεν . Comp. 1 Peter 4:12-13 . This hatred is a community of destiny with me . A further consolation: this hate is the proof that you no longer belong to the world , but to me through my selection of you ( John 15:16 ); therein exists the reason for it. How must that fact tend to elate you! Comp. 1 John 3:13 ; 1 John 4:5 . The fivefold repetition of κόσμος is solemn. Comp. John 3:17 . τὸ ἔδιον ] “ Suum dicitur pro vos , atque sic notatur interesse mundi,” Bengel. Comp. John 7:7 . They have become a foreign element to the world, and therewith the object of its antipathy; χαίρει γὰρ τῷ ὁμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον , Euth. Zigabenus; comp. Plat. Lys . p. 214 B; τὸ ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ φίλον εἶναι .

John SHEEP AMONG WOLVESJohn 15:18 - John 15:20 . These words strike a discord in the midst of the sweet music to which we have been listening. The key-note of all that has preceded has been love-the love of Christ’s friends to one another, and of all to Him, as an answer to His love to all. That love, which is one, whether it rise to Him or is diffused on the level of earth, is the result of that unity of life between the Vine and the branches, of which our Lord has been speaking such great and wonderful things. But that unity of life between Christians and Christ has another consequence than the spread of love. Just because it binds them to Him in a sacred community, it separates them from those who do not share in His life, and hence the ‘hate’ of our context is the shadow of ‘love’; and there result two communities-to use the much-abused words that designate them-the Church and ‘the World’; and the antagonism between these is deep, fundamental, and perpetual. Unquestionably, our Lord is here speaking with special reference to the Apostles, who, in a very tragic sense, were ‘sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.’ If we may trust tradition, every one of that little company, Speaker as well as hearers, died a martyr’s death, with the exception of John himself, who was preserved from it by a miracle.