John 15:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

NIV: Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.

NASB: The one who hates Me hates My Father also.

CSB: The one who hates me also hates my Father.

NLT: Anyone who hates me also hates my Father.

KJV: He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

NKJV: He who hates Me hates My Father also.

To see Jesus is to see God (John 14:9). The teachings of Jesus are the teachings of God (John 12:49–50). The actions of Jesus are the will of God (John 5:19). Jesus is, in fact, God (John 10:30). So, when a person hates Jesus, they hate God. The more a person turns away from the truths of who Jesus Christ is, and the message He brings, the more clearly that person is rejecting the Creator. No person can turn away from Christ and still find God (John 14:6).

This rejection can be expressed by persecuting those who speak and live as imitators of Christ (John 15:18–19). Hating Christians for acting like Christ is evidence of someone who doesn't know God (John 15:21). Ignorance is no excuse for persecution: by definition, it means rejecting an example provided by God (John 15:22).

Likewise, the more a person should know about Christ, the less tolerance they can claim for misunderstanding who He is. God does not expect us to have perfect theology in order to be saved (Mark 10:15). However, those who have an ability to better understand the Word, yet still present a false version of Christ, are acting in rebellion, not ignorance (John 5:39–40; 7:17; 9:39–41).

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.