John 15:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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.

NIV: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

NASB: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

CSB: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin.

NLT: They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

KJV: If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

NKJV: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

The context of this statement by Jesus is important; ripped out of this discourse, these words can be grossly misinterpreted. Jesus is explaining that those who "abide in" His Word and teachings (John 15:3–5) can expect hatred and persecution from the world (John 15:18–20).

This backlash is because the unbelieving world, which does not know God, hates to be told about their sin (John 15:21). A common tactic inspired by our sin nature is seeking others to sin alongside of us—and when Christians will not do that, the response is anger (1 Peter 4:4). Likewise, our fallen human nature prefers not to be informed about our sin. We fool ourselves into thinking that if we "don't know," then it's not our fault. However, God has given us all more than enough evidence to know that good and evil exist (Romans 1:18–20), and that we ought to be seeking Him (Matthew 6:7–8).

That puts this comment into the same context as Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees in John 9:39–41. The excuse "I did not know" cannot apply to those who hear the truth and choose to attack it. Those who persecute Christians because they act like Christ are not acting in ignorance; they are following the lead of their own sinful hearts. Jesus is not saying "anyone who has never explicitly heard the gospel is innocent of sin." Rather, He is saying that those who hear His Word—including through His followers (Matthew 28:19)—have no excuse for persecuting and hating Christians.

John 15:18–27 predicts that those who follow Christ faithfully will experience hatred and persecution from the world. The intensity of this experience has varied according to time and culture, but the non-believing world is generally hostile to authentic faith. Jesus reminds His followers this is due to sin and rejection of God by those unbelievers. Just as Christians are never "too good" to serve as Christ served, they are never "too good" to suffer as Christ suffered. In the following passage, Jesus emphasizes that this warning is meant to bolster faith when those hard times come.

This passage begins with a celebrated analogy from Christ: the vine and the branches. This includes the seventh and final "I Am" statement of the gospel of John. Jesus uses this metaphor to explain how our spiritual life, as born-again believers, is drawn from His life. God's intent for our lives is to progress from barrenness to fruitfulness, to spiritual abundance. Jesus also repeats His command for believers to love each other. In this context, He goes so far as to refer to those who follow His teachings as His "friends."

Jesus is in the middle of a long discourse given to the disciples, which began during the last supper. He presents the analogy of a vine and branches, then repeats His command for believers to love each other. Jesus also warns about how the unbelieving world will hate and persecute Christians. This leads into the teachings of chapter 16, which focus on perseverance in the face of trials.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.