John 15:25 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

NIV: But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'

NASB: But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘THEY HATED ME FOR NO REASON.’

CSB: But this happened so that the statement written in their law might be fulfilled: They hated me for no reason.

NLT: This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures : ‘They hated me without cause.’

KJV: But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

NKJV: But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

Sin is inherently irrational. Despite significant efforts to justify rejection of God, nothing in human experience makes sense outside of the Christian worldview. Every other approach ends in blatant contradiction, or despair, or both. Those who hate and revile the gospel aren't acting reasonably. They're reacting, like instinctive animals (2 Peter 2:12), according to the temptations of Satan (John 3:19; 8:44). The more a person knows—or ought to know—about God, the more obvious their rejection of Him will be (John 5:39–40; 9:39–41).

Jesus is probably quoting Psalm 109:3, though Psalm 35:19 and Psalm 69:4 use similar phrases. Belief in God is not "only" moral, spiritual, or emotional. It is also rational: it is the expected response of beings created for a purpose and given all the tools necessary to realize it (Romans 1:18–20; Psalm 19:1; Matthew 7:7–8). To reject God is not "only" immoral, unspiritual, or emotional. It is also irrational: it represents beings rebelling against their created purpose and ignoring what they already know (1 Peter 4:4).

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 gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 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”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.

Accessed 4/29/2024 10:56:44 PM