John 15:18-27--The Hatred of the World

John 15:18-27
English Standard Version

The Hatred of the World
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

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These verses go directly against the prosperity gospel preachers that promise you "your best life now."  I'm sure you're familiar with them as they are all over the TV and they love to sell books that people love to buy because these people are called "inspirational," yet if we understood the biblical meaning of the word "inspiration," we would never say this about their words or their works because they do not come from the Holy Spirit.  We've talked much about false teachers and false prophets already as we studied many of the epistles of the New Testament, but I'm sure it's a topic that we will come back to.

Jesus has said that the world hates Him because they hate the Truth and He is the Truth.  John tells us in chapter 3 verse 19, "19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil."  That's what Jesus is promising to His disciples here.  If they hated the Light of the World, and Jesus says they are going to be transformed into His image and be reflectors of His Light so that we will also be called "the light of the world," as the world will see Him when they see us, then they will hate us because they hate Him.  They will want to do the same wicked and evil things to us that they did to Him, if God would allow it.  We have been chosen out of the world to be in the world, but not of the world, and for this reason, the world hates us.

Jesus also says that anyone who would keep the words of Christ should also submit to the words and the authority of His apostles, but if the world did not listen to and keep the words of Christ, then the apostles and the Church at large should not expect the world to listen to and obey them.  For a servant is not greater than his Master.  They will do all these things to use because we will bear the name of Christ and they hate His name, so they will really do all things against Christ and that is how the record will read.  Remember in We haven't studied the book of Acts together yet, but for those that remember the account of Saul on the Road to Damascus, remember how Jesus spoke to him:


Acts 9:1-5
English Standard Version
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The Conversion of Saul
9 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

The great thing about the story of Saul's conversion though is that we see that someone's identity can be changed from one who is a persecutor to the one who became "the apostle to the Gentiles."  Again, we'll see a lot more about Saul of Tarsus who became Paul the apostle when we study the book of Acts together.

Jesus again brings it back to a relationship with Him and His Father, "21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. "  Then Jesus says something very interesting.  People are not guilty for what they have not heard and are ignorant of, but they are guilty for what they have seen and heard and have rejected (we'll get to this a bit in the book of Romans as well, but this is a common question from skeptics and atheists that many Christians stumble over, yet it is consistent throughout all of Scripture).  "22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin."  This sounds very much like Romans 1 where Paul argues that all men, even the Gentiles and those who had never heard the gospel are also without excuse because everyone knows from seeing creation that there is a Creator God and they can learn about His invisible attributes from His creation, yet they decide that they do not want to know Him nor submit to His authority but would rather make their own gods (idols) and worship that creation rather than the creator so that they can decide the attributes of those gods and make gods in their image that allow them to be wicked and evil.  If we read Genesis we'll see that all of the idolatry sprang from one of Noah's sons (Ham) as he and his children rebelled against God.  Nearly all of the wicked kingdoms of the Old Testament descended from this one man.  Now this rebellion has spread throughout the entire world as men would rather be their their own gods--the lie that was told by Satan to Even in the Garden of Eden.

Jesus says that not only does the world hate Him, but they also hate His Father, and it is not only the words of Christ that will condemn the world, but the works of Christ (the signs that He performed) that will condemn all those who saw them and did not believe.  Jesus has already said something similar to the unrepentant cities in Matthew 11:20-24:

Matthew 11:20-24
English Standard Version
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Woe to Unrepentant Cities
20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

All of these cities that Jesus condemned had seen many great miracles and signs and wonders and heard His words, teachings, and parables, and they did not repent.  In fact we've seen in John how they often just simply asked for more signs and Jesus got to the point where He said that no more signs would be given to them until the Resurrection because if they had rejected the signs they had seen then they would reject everything else Jesus would show them as well--it had gotten to the point of "do not throw your pearls before swine" for them.  The pigs do not appreciate the beauty of the pearls and they will trample the pearls and you and will tear you to pieces (pigs are not nice animals and will devour anything).

Jesus said that all this had happened so that prophecy would be fulfilled, "25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’  We'll see this as we continue to study the book of John and as we study the other gospels that the arrest and trials that Jesus went through were all a sham.  In fact, if Jesus hadn't said something on purpose to get Himself convicted of blasphemy, they would have had no evidence against Him and might have had to let Him go, but Jesus controlled the timeline and the outcome.  We'll see Jesus remain silent until He speaks at just the right time to say just the right thing to make thing progress according to the timetable His Father has laid out.

Last, but not least, Jesus tells the apostles that when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, He will bear witness to them about Jesus and they, the apostles, will bear witness about Jesus to the world.  This appears to be a form of The Great Commission found in the Gospel of John.  While we don't see The Great Commission until the ascension of Christ in Matthew and Mark and we see something similar to what John says here at the end of Luke and a similar account to what Matthew says in the beginning of the book of Acts (also written by Luke), the Gospel of John ends in a very different way because John has a different purpose in writing his gospel.

I think it's clear that the apostles were definitely witnesses to what they saw and heard, but so are we.  We also have testimony to share about what we read in the Word of God, which Jesus has told us is all about Him, and the works of Christ that we see in the Word of God, but we also have testimony about the work that God has done in us to change us from a sinner to a saint (it's been a while since I've used the caterpillar and butterfly metaphor, but for those who have been around for a while, you will know what I mean by that).  Our lives are to be transformed through a metamorphosis so that we are changed and can never go back and so that everyone can visibly see the difference.  We should be transformed into the very image of Christ so that when the world sees us, and even when God sees us, they see the Son.  

Let me post this (somewhat lengthy) portion of 1 John that summarizes much of what Jesus has been teaching His disciples here in these last hours of His life:


1 John 3
English Standard Version

3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Love One Another
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.