Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 15:19
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
19. the world would love his own ] In Joh 7:7 He told His brethren, who did not believe on Him, that the world could not hate them. This shews why: in their unbelief it still found something of its own (comp. 1Jn 4:5). ‘His own,’ or its own, is neuter singular not masculine plural. The selfishness of the world’s love is thus indicated: it loves not so much them, as that in them which is to its own advantage; and hence the lower word for ‘love’ is used ( philein), not the higher one ( agapn) as in Joh 15:17. It is mere natural liking. Note the solemn repetition of ‘world’ in this verse. For the construction comp. Joh 5:46, Joh 8:19; Joh 8:42, Joh 9:41, Joh 18:36 and contrast Joh 4:10, Joh 11:21, Joh 14:28.
I have chosen ] I chose: see on Joh 15:16.
therefore the world hateth you ] Or, for this cause (see on Joh 8:47 and Joh 12:39) &c. Comp. 1Jn 3:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If ye were of the world – If you were actuated by the principles of the world. If, like them, you were vain, earthly, sensual, given to pleasure, wealth, ambition, they would not oppose you.
Because ye are not of the world – Because you are influenced by different principles from men of the world. You are actuated by the love of God and holiness; they by the love of sin.
I have chosen you out of the world – I have, by choosing you to be my followers, separated you from their society, and placed you under the government of my holy laws.
Therefore … – A Christian may esteem it as one evidence of his piety that he is hated by wicked men. Often most decided evidence is given that a man is the friend of God by the opposition excited against him by the profane, by Sabbath-breakers, and by the dissolute, 1Jo 3:13; Joh 7:7.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 15:19
If ye were of the world the world, would love his own
The pedigree and position of true men
I.
THE PEDIGREE OF TRUE MEN.
1. They were once in the world. That world is characterized by
(1) Practical athiesm. They who make it up are without God, if not avowedly, at least in spirit, conduct and aim.
(2) Imperial materialism. They have no practical recognition of a spiritual universe, relationship, obligation. They walk after the flesh, and seek their happiness, wealth, dignity in earthly things.
(3) Dominant selfishness. Each one is governed by selfish interests. These are the goal towards which their steps are directed; the idol they worship.
2. They have been brought out of the world by Christ. No one but Christ can bring men out of such a state. Philosophy, civilization, natural religion are powerless. Christ penetrates men with the idea of the true God. He draws the curtain of materialism and reveals the spiritual world. He destroys selfishness and constrains men with His own love. This work is represented by an emancipation, regeneration, resurrection, creation–and none of these words are too strong.
II. THE POSITION OF TRUE MEN. They are rendered repugnant to the world by Christ.
1. The hatred of the world to true men is of the same kind as that which Christ experienced. The forms of persecution change, but the spirit remains. If it is prevented from mangling the body, it will mangle the reputation.
2. Then hatred is for the same reason. The world hated Christ because
(1) His purity condemned their depravity.
(2) His benevolence their selfishness.
(3) His humility their pride.
(4) His truth their prejudices.
(5) His spirituality their carnal pleasures. For these reasons now the world hates true men. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The world we have renounced
1. Perhaps there is no word more commonly in our mouth than the world; and yet hardly any to which we attach less clear and certain meaning, Indeed, the sense intended by it varies according to the character of the person that uses it. Some people denounce the world as unmixed evil; some say it is for the most part good, or at least innocent: some profess to see its deceitful workings everywhere; some will see them nowhere: some make their religion to consist in a separation from the world; some think the field of their religious duty is in the world: in a word, there is little or no agreement or certainly but in this, that there is such a power and reality as the world, and that it is of great moment to us to know what it is.
2. In its original sense, the world is altogether good. By the work and will of God it is all sinless and pure. It is only in its second intention that the world has an evil sense; but that sense is its prevailing and true one–the weed is the creation of God as it is possessed by sin and death. So subtle and far spreading is the original sin of man, that no living soul is without a taint. The original sin was not a measured quantity, so to speak, of evil, which, like a hereditary disease, might exhaust itself in the course of two or three descents. Every several generation renewed it afresh; every several man reproduced it, and sustained the tradition of evil by example, habit, and license; it was perpetuated in races, nations, families; by custom, usage, law. And what is this great tradition of human thought and will, action and imagination, with all its illusions, misjudgments, indulgences, and abuses of Gods creatures, but the world? We mean by it something external to our minds, and yet not identical with the creation of God; something which has thrust itself between it and us; something parasitical, which has fastened upon all Gods works, and has wound itself into its inmost action, and into its very being.
I. It is true to DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD, as between things antagonistic and irreconcilable: for the Son of God, by His incarnation and atonement, and by the calling and mission of His apostles, has founded and built up in the earth a visible kingdom, which has no other Head but Him alone. That visible kingdom is so taken out of the world, that a man must either be in it or out of it; and must, therefore, be either in the Church or in the world. In the visible kingdom of Christ are all the graces and promises of life; in the world are the powers and traditions of death.
II. But it is no less true to say, that THE WORLD, WHICH IN THE BEGINNING WAS VISIBLY WITHOUT THE CHURCH, IS NOW INVISIBLY WITHIN IT. So long as the world was heathen, it warred against the Church in bitter and relentless persecutions. The two great traditions–the one of God, the other of the world, the powers of the regeneration and of the fall–kept their own integrity by contradiction and perpetual conflict. The Church stood alone–a kingdom ordained of God, having her own princes and thrones, her own judges and tribunals, her own laws and equity, her own public customs and private economy of life. It was when the conversion of individuals drew after it, at last, the whole civil state; when the secular powers, with all their courts, pomps, institutions, laws, judicatures, and the entire political order of the world, came into the precincts of the Church; then it was that the great tradition of human thought, passion, belief, prejudice, and custom, mingled itself with the unwritten usages of the Church. In the beginning the Church had a sorer and a more fiery trial: but who can say that the peril of souls is not greater now? In those days it was no hard matter to discern between the world and the Church. But now our very difficulty is, to know what is that world which we have renounced; to detect its snares, and to overcome its allurements I will say, that the state of public morals, the habits of personal and social life, popular amusements, and the policy of governments, so far as they are not under the direct guidance of religion, are examples of the presence and power of that which is properly and truly called the world. And nobody need fear to add, that the tone and moral effect of all these, except when they are especially guided by religion to a Christian use and purpose, is almost always, in a greater or less degree, at variance with God. This, then, is the world which in our baptism we renounced. It was no remote or imaginary notion, but a present and active reality: that very same principle of original evil which, in all ages, under all shapes, in all places, has issued in lust, pride, covetousness, vainglory. We are not called to separate ourselves from any outward system, but to be inwardly as estranged from the evil that cleaves to the system around us, as if we were not of it. (Archdeacon Manning.)
Christians separated from the world
It is a remarkable act, that while the baser metals are diffused through the body of the rocks, gold and silver usually lie in veins; collected together in distinct metallic masses. They are in the rocks but not of them And as by some power in nature God has separated them from the base and common earths, even so by the power of His grace will he separate His chosen from a reprobate and rejected world. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
The believer not of the world
When courtiers come down into the country, the common home-bred people possibly think their habits strange; but they care not for that. It is the fashion at Court. What need, then, have the godly to be so tender-foreheaded, to be out of countenance because the world looks on holiness as a singularity? It is the only fashion in the highest Court,–yea, of the King of kings Himself. (H. G. Salter.)
Christians not to compromise with the world
That idea is very popular. Now then, Moses, do not be too strict. Some people are a deal too particular. Those old-fashioned puritanical people are narrow and straitlaced: be liberal and take broader views. Cannot you make a compromise? Tell Pharaohs daughter you are an Israelite, but that, in consequence of her great kindness, you will also be an Egyptian. Thus you can become an Egypto-Israelite–what a fine blend! Or say an Israelito-Egyptian–with the better part in the front. You see, it seems a simple way out of a difficulty, to hold with the hare and run with the hounds. It saves you from unpleasant decisions and separations: Besides, Jack-of-both-sides has great praise from both parties for his large-heartedness. My hearers, come out, I pray you, one way or the other. If God be God, serve Him; if Baal be God, serve him. If it is right to be an Israelite, be an Israelite; if it is right to be an Egyptian, be an Egyptian. None of your trimming. It will go hard with trimmers at the last great day. When Christ comes to divide the sheep from the goats, there will be no middle sort, and meanwhile you border people will be driven down to hell. May God grant us grace to be decided! (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. Ye are not of the world – therefore, &c.] On this very account, because ye do not join in fellowship with those who know not God, therefore they hate you. How true is that saying:-
“The laws of Christ condemn a vicious world,
And goad it to revenge!”
GAMBOLD.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Men and women may be in the world, yet not of the world.
Of the world here signifies carnal men, such as are like to the men of the world in their studies, designs, counsels, affections; as of the devil, and of God, signifies, Joh 8:44,47. If you had affections, lusts, and dispositions like them, and drove no other designs than they drive, you might expect, that as it is of the nature of all men to love such as are like to them in manners and studies; so they would love you, take a delight in you, be kind to you, and do you all offices of love: but because you are not of such tempers, dispositions, and inclinations; but that I, having chosen you out of the world, have given you new hearts, new frames and dispositions, quite contrary to theirs; therefore the world, disliking you, and seeing that your principles are quite opposite to theirs, abhor and hate you, and will be ready to do you all that evil and mischief, which is the product of a rooted hatred and malice in the heart. This is a second argument by which our Lord comforts them. It is drawn from the cause and root of that hatred which they would meet with: it was not for their faults or sins, but because they were the objects of Christs love, which being also shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, produced again in them holy affections and dispositions, making them wholly unlike to men in the world.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
If ye were of the world,…. Belonged to the world, were of the same spirit and principles with it, and pursued the same practices:
the world would love its own; for every like loves its like; the men of the world love each other’s persons, company, and conversation:
but because ye are not of the world: once they were, being born into it, brought up in it, had their conversation among the men of it, were themselves men of carnal, worldly, principles and practices; but being called by Christ, and becoming his disciples, they were no more of it; and as he was not of the world, so they were not of it, though they were in it. The Jews distinguish the disciples of the wise men, from , “the men of the world” u, pretending that they were not; but this is a character that only belongs to the disciples of Christ, in consequence of their being called by him out of it:
but I have chosen you out of the world: which designs not the eternal election of them, but the separation of them from the rest of the world in the effectual calling, and the designation of them to his work and service:
therefore the world hateth you; and since it was upon that account, they had no reason to be uneasy, but rather to rejoice; seeing this was an evidence of their not belonging to the world, and of being chosen and called by Christ out of it.
u T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 80. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The world would love its own ( ). Conclusion of second-class condition (determined as unfulfilled), regular idiom with and imperfect indicative in present time.
But because ye are not of the world ( ). Definite and specific reason for the world’s hatred of real Christians whose very existence is a reproach to the sinful world. Cf. John 7:7; John 17:14; 1John 3:13. Does the world hate us? If not, why not? Has the world become more Christian or Christians more worldly?
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Of the world [ ] . Sprung out of the world. See on of the earth, Joh 3:31.
Would love [ ] . The verb for natural affection. See on 5 20.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1 ) “If ye were of the world,” (ei ek tou kosmou ete) “If you all were of the world,” of the present world order, still unregenerate, without any love for the Father at all, 1Jn 2:15; which you are not, Joh 17:16.
2) “The world would love his own:” (ho kosmos an to idon ephilei) “The world would have loved its own,” in a fickle way, with a fickle love.
3) “But because ye are not of the world,” (hoti de ek tou kosmou ouk este) “However, because you all are not out of the world,” in your nature and disposition, Joh 17:16.
4) “But I have chosen you out of the world,” (all’ ego ekseleksamen) “But because I have called and chosen you all out of and away from the present world order,” of things, Joh 15:16; Joh 15:26-27; Joh 17:6; Joh 17:9. I have called you to live a separated life of sanctification and service, Rom 12:12; Their hatred and persecution should bring you joy, Mat 5:10-12.
5) “Therefore the world hateth you.” (dia touto misei humas ho kosmos) “On account of this the world hates you all,” as individuals, and as my chosen New Covenant church. It hates you with a continuing hate, Joh 17:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
19. If you were of the world. This is another consolation, that the reason why they are hated by the world is, that they have been separated from it. Now, this is their true happiness and glory, for in this manner they have been rescued from destruction.
But I have chosen you out of the world. To choose means here to separate Now, if they were chosen out of the world, it follows that they were a part of the world, and that it is only by the mercy of God that they are distinguished from the rest who perish. Again, by the term, the world, Christ describes, in this passage, all who have not been regenerated by the Spirit of God; for he contrasts the Church with the world, as we shall see more fully under the seventeenth chapter. And yet this doctrine does not contradict the exhortation of Paul,
Be at peace with all men, as far as lieth in you, (Rom 12:18😉
for the exception which he adds amounts to saying, that we ought to see what is right and proper for us to do that no man, by seeking to please the world, may give himself up to its corruptions.
But there is still another objection that may be urged; for we see that it commonly happens that wicked men, who are of the world, are not only hated, but accursed by others. In this respect, certainly, the world loveth not what is its own. I reply, earthly men, who are regulated by the perception of their flesh, never have a true hatred of sin, but only so far as they are affected by the consideration of their own convenience or injury. And yet the intention of Christ was not to deny that the world foams and rages within itself by internal quarrels. He only intended to show, that the world hates nothing in believers but what is of God. And hence, too, it plainly appears how foolish are the dreams of the Anabaptists, who conclude, from this single argument that they are the servants of God, because they displease the greater part of men. For it is easy to reply, that many who are of the world favor their doctrine, because they are delighted at the thought of having every thing in shameful confusion; while many who are out of the world hate it, because they are desirous that the good order of the state should remain unbroken.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.The force of the expression indicates the utter selfishness of the worlds love. It would love not them, but that in them which was its own. (Comp. Note on Joh. 7:7.)
I have chosen you out of the world.Comp. Joh. 15:16, and Note on Joh. 7:7. There He had told them that the world could not hate them. The very fact of its hatred would prove a moral change in them, by which they had ceased to belong to the world, and had become the children of God. Both thoughts are repeated in 1Jn. 3:13; 1Jn. 4:5.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. The world Five times is the world named in this verse. And what, truly, is this so-named world? It is, of course, not the physical frame of the globe, nor is it the human race as such. It is the living, fallen, unregenerate race, with whom self-interest is supreme; to whom right is a word of feeble meaning, and holiness a term of disgust; to whom sin is a trifle or an unreality; to whom God in his true attributes is offensive, and of whom Satan, but dimly disguised, is the actual god. This world is a realm of sordid appetite, of turbulent passion, of unprincipled ambition; a kingdom of evil, in which, were the inhabitants not mortal, and occupied with compulsory labour, there would be a complete likeness and sameness with hell. Were God to render the bodies of unregenerate men at once immortal, men would become fiends and earth a pandemonium. No wonder, then, that one being the incarnation of goodness, should be the central object of its antipathy.
World would love its own Were the apostles of this same world they would be the objects of such love as the world entertains, namely, the affinity of evil with evil. It would shed its grim smile upon them as its own, and welcome them into the compact and strife that the world affords and enjoys.
Because not of the world Chosen by him from the world, the affinity of the world is broken and the antipathy is established. And it is not merely the antipathy of unlikeness. For the world hates them because, by assuming to be better than the world, the world feels itself to be by them condemned. And their mission of reproof, of warning, of threatening, and of reformation, is accepted by the world as a rebuke, an attack, and a war. Hence the world is in arms against them unarmed. It is the war of the many with the few; of the powerful with the weak; of the fierce with the mild; of the armored with the defenceless. But still he now propounds a consolation and justification. And these are threefold. First, they share this hatred with their Lord, Joh 15:20; second, that hatred guiltily strikes against God the Father, 21-25; and third, they co-operate in their testimony with the holy Comforter, 26, 27. Then, through the entire sixteenth chapter, does the Lord expand this struggle between the Comforter and the world before their view, closing with the grand trumpet peal of triumph, Be of good cheer, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD! Such is the joyous close of the Lord’s earthly ministry to his apostles. His Gospel is a gospel of ultimate triumph.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 15:19. If ye were of the world, &c. “If your dispositions and actions were like those of the bulk of mankind; if you flattered men in their vices, and framed your doctrines into a consistency with their passions and interests, no doubt you would meet with general approbation, and be much caressed: but because your dispositions and actions are very different from those of the world, and because I have separated you from secular affairs, and commissioned you to oppose all false religions, to reprove men’s vices, and to press the necessity of a general reformation and renovation of heart, therefore the bulk of mankind every where will hate and persecute you.” This verse seems a strong intimation that, even in nations which profess Christianity, if true religion fall, as it possibly may, to a very low ebb, they who exert themselves remarkably for the revival of it, must, on the very principle here laid down, expect hatred and opposition; and that the passages in scripture relating to persecution are not so peculiar to the first ages, and to Christians living in idolatrous countries, as some have supposed. It would be happy if the narrow-minded malignity to be found in some professing Christians against their brethren, did not too plainly illustrate this remark. Men will probably experience the truth of it, in proportion to the degeneracy of those around them, and to the vigour and resolution with which they bear their testimony against prevailing errors and vices.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Ver. 19. If ye were of the world, &c. ] They jangle among themselves, and intertear one another as dogs fighting. For though there be not a disagreement in hell (being but the place of retribution, not of action), yet on earth there is no sound peace among the wicked. Howbeit let Ephraim be against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim, they will be soon against Judah; as if a hare ran by dogs that are fighting, they will agree to pursue the hare.
Therefore the world hateth you ] As inhospitable savages do those that land on their coasts; as the Cyprians, for an old grudge, slay all Jews they meet with, though but cast upon their coasts by contrary winds. Odio humani generis, et per flagitia invisi, saith Tacitus of Christians. (xv.) Tanti non est bonum, quanti est odium Christianorum. Of such it is not good, how much is the hatred of Christians. David’s adversaries sought not only his life, but his soul, his damnation too; as that monster of Milan, mentioned by Bodinus. Now we commit thy soul to the devil, said the persecutors to John Huss. And Jerome of Prague could hardly obtain a confessor, being, it seems, conscientious that way.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Joh 15:19 . , “If ye were of the world, the world would love [that which is] its own”; not always the case, but generally. , “but because ye are not of the world,” do not belong to it, and are not morally identified with it, “but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”. So that the hatred of the world, instead of being depressing, should be exhilarating, as being an evidence and guarantee that they have been chosen by Christ.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
of = out of. Greek ek. App-104.
would love. Would love and continue loving (Imperfect). Greek. phileo. App-135. have
chosen = chose.
out of. Greek. ek, as above.
therefore = on account of (Greek. dia. App-104. Joh 15:2) this.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Joh 15:19. ) of the world and on its side, of its party.- , its own) It would love you for its own sake, not for yours. Its own is said instead of you, and so the fact of it being the interest of the world to do so is marked.- , I have chosen you) as , My own, ch. Joh 13:1, Jesus having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. Believers are no better than the world, as considered in themselves, but are so only by election. This it is which makes the great distinction.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 15:19
Joh 15:19
If ye were of the world, the world would love its own:-To be of the world was to reject Jesus and his teaching and to cling to the ways of the world. Jesus chose them, not to take them out of the material world, but that, while in the world, they might not follow the ways of the world, but his teachings, which are out of harmony with the world. The world seeks happiness and good in the world by gratifying the desires, lusts, and ambitions of the flesh. Jesus so directs his disciples that they find good and happiness in denying self and seeking the good of others. Find good in doing good to others and find happiness in making others happy is the essence of the teaching of Jesus.
but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.-This principle condemns the world and the world opposes those who practice this divine principle. The end of Gods training of man is to make man like God-like him in thought, purpose, and character. Man needs to be assimilated to God in character that he may be fitted to live with him and find pleasure with God and in his companionship. Man cannot enjoy the presence of God and his angel hosts unless he is educated and trained in character to dwell with them. The wicked, transported to heaven in their wickedness, with their wicked spirit, would be out of harmony and sympathy with God, Christ, and all the associations of heaven, and would find no joy or peace in heaven.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the world kosmos = world-system. Joh 16:11; Joh 16:33; Joh 7:7. (See Scofield “Rev 13:8”).
out of the world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
were of the world: Luk 6:32, 1Jo 4:4, 1Jo 4:5
because: Joh 15:16, Joh 17:14-16, Eph 1:4-11, Eph 2:2-5, Tit 3:3-7, 1Pe 2:9-12, 1Pe 4:3, 1Jo 3:12, 1Jo 5:19, 1Jo 5:20, Rev 12:9, Rev 12:17, Rev 20:7-9
Reciprocal: Gen 37:4 – hated him Lev 20:24 – which Jos 10:4 – we may 1Sa 8:20 – General 1Ki 22:8 – but I hate him 2Ch 18:7 – I hate him Neh 6:19 – they reported Psa 17:14 – men of Psa 106:23 – his chosen Pro 29:10 – The bloodthirsty Amo 5:10 – hate Mic 3:2 – hate Mat 10:22 – shall be hated Mat 19:29 – my Mat 22:6 – the remnant Mat 24:9 – shall they Mat 25:45 – Inasmuch Mar 13:13 – ye Luk 6:26 – when Luk 21:17 – ye Joh 7:7 – world Joh 8:23 – ye are of Joh 16:33 – In the Joh 17:6 – the men Joh 17:22 – the glory Rom 12:2 – be not 1Co 5:10 – of this 2Co 6:14 – for Gal 1:4 – from Col 2:20 – living 1Th 3:3 – we are 2Ti 3:12 – shall Jam 4:4 – the friendship 1Jo 2:15 – Love not 1Jo 3:13 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9
The clannish characteristics of the people of the world will lead them to love their own. See Mat 5:43-47.) By the same token, when they see
hat a man’s manner of life is the opposite of theirs they will naturally hate him. Such a sentiment is a form of envy or a feeling of (moral) inferiority complex. It is similar to the motive of a spoiled boy who tries to puncture the balloon of his playmate, because he does not have one himself.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 15:19. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hateth you. The word of here calls attention to the root from which one springs. Did the world behold in them its own offspring, it would love them; they would be its own. The rule is universal and needed no farther exposition; but they were not of the world, they were born of a new and higher birth, they had even like their Master to bear witness of the world that its works were evil, and therefore it must hate them as it hated Him (comp. Joh 7:7, and 1Ki 22:8).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 19.-If ye were of the world, &c. Christ here adds another reason, says Chrysostom, showing that it is a proof of virtue to be hated by the world, and of wickedness to be loved by it. The meaning is, if ye loved riches, honours, pleasures, lusts, such as the world loves, it would love you as being like itself. But since it sees you loving the things which are contrary to its base desires, and teaching contempt for earthly pleasures, honours, and lusts, therefore it hateth you. For agreement in character and desires is a cause of love, dissimilarity a cause of aversion and hatred.
S. Augustine considers an objection which may be raised. The wicked persecute the wicked: unrighteous kings and judges punish murderers and adulterers. Then he gives this answer. The world indeed hates its own so far as this, that it injures the wicked. But still it loves them, in that it favours them. To me it seems another answer may be given: worldly men love their own, that is, those who help and share in their designs. If at any time they hate other worldly persons, it is because they oppose their designs, and so are counted their adversaries. And therefore they hated Christ because He reproved their deeds, and exposed them to men. For the same cause they hated the Apostles.
Ver. 20.-Remember My word, &c. For if I suffer the hatred of the Jews, yea even the death of the Cross, ye ought not to be unwilling to undergo the same. For as S. Peter saith, “Christ hath suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps.”
If they have persecuted Me, &c. If they have kept My word, &c. My ward, i.e. My doctrine, law, and precepts.
But all these things will they do because of My name, i.e. on My account, because ye are called, and are, Mine.
Because they know not Him that sent Me: i.e., Because they know not that God the Father sent Me, they say that I pretend to be the Son of God, and sent by Him into the world as the Messias. For if they knew and believed this, they would not persecute Me, nor dare to fight against God. He means, This will be glorious for you, that not only for My sake, but for God the Father’s sake, who sent Me, ye will endure persecutions.
Ver. 22.-If I had not come and spoken, &c., they would not have sin, &c. Sin, viz. of unbelief and hatred, in that they calumniate, and are hostile to, My doctrine and life. Observe: the Scribes and Pharisees before Christ came had true faith, not only in God, but also in Christ as about to come. But when He did come they would not acknowledge Him, because they saw Him poor and lowly, and because He reproved their vices. Wherefore they then became unbelievers, and lost the faith by their own obstinacy. For Jesus abundantly proved to them that He was the Christ, wherefore they were without excuse because they believed Him not.
Ver. 23.-He that hateth Me hateth My Father also, because I am come as sent by the Father, and I have spoken the things which He wished Me to speak. Wherefore by despising and hating Me, they despise and hate God the Father. As he who despiseth an ambassador despises the king who sends him.
Ver. 25.-But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law (i.e., in the Old Test., viz. Psa 59:5, and Psa 25:29), they hated Me gratis (Vulg.), i.e. without a cause, without My fault, and therefore wickedly and unjustly. For I have given them no other cause of hate, but supremest love. Observe the word that does not signify the end intended, but denotes that which happened as a matter of fact from the unbelief and obstinacy of the Jews. The meaning is, And thus there followed that which David and Isaias foretold would be, viz. that the Jews would without a cause pursue Christ with hate.
Vers. 26-27.-But when the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, &c. He means, although I have abundantly demonstrated My divinity to the Jews, so that they are without excuse, yet will I still more demonstrate it by the coming of the Holy Ghost, who shall testify concerning Me, coming from heaven to you alone who have believed in Me, and to those who shall believe through your preaching, so that His advent shall be made known to all when they see you speaking with tongues, and expounding the Scriptures, and working miracles. For ye by preaching the Gospel bear testimony unto all men concerning Me, My doctrine and My works, since ye have been with Me from the time that I began to teach and converse with men.
Whom I will send unto you from the Father. From this verse the later Greeks maintain that the Holy Ghost proceeds from, and is breathed by the Father only, not the Son: and therefore they made an open schism from the Latin Church, A.D. 1054, when Michael the patriarch of Constantinople dared for this cause to excommunicate the Roman Pontiff and the Latins. And for this reason, in A.D. 1453, on the very Feast of the Holy Ghost, or during the octave of Whitsunday, Constantinople was taken by the Turks, the Emperor slain, and the empire of the Greeks brought to an end. This therefore is the error of the Greeks; for, as S. Hilary rightly observes, (lib. 8, de Trin.,) and S. Augustine (lib. 4, de Trin. c. 20), this passage rather signifies the contrary, namely, that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. For this is the meaning of whom I will send. For in the Holy Trinity no Person is sent by any other unless He proceeds from Him who sends Him. Wherefore the Father is never said to be sent because He proceedeth from none. The Son is said to be sent by the Father, but not by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is said to be sent by the Father and the Son, because He proceedeth from Both as from one Principle of Spiration. So the ancient Greek, as well as the Latin, Fathers understood this passage. They are cited by the Council of Florence (sess. 18 and 25), where a union was effected between the Latins and the Greeks, and the Greeks admitted that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. (See Cardinal-Bessarion’s speech on behalf of union, c. 7.) Wherefore when it is only said in the creed of the Council of Nice, “I believe in the Holy Ghost,” the Council of Constantinople added, Who proceedeth from the Father. And when a contention arose about the Son, the Church added, and from the Son, as the Council of Florence teaches (sess. 7). The same thing is clearly apparent from the words of Christ (chap. xvi.), All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: wherefore I said, He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you. For if all things which the Father hath are the Son’s, then He also breathes the Holy Ghost. In this manner all the Fathers of the same Council understood the passage. Therefore in the Letters of Union the whole Synod declared, “And since all things which the Father hath, the Father Himself has given to His Only Begotten Son except to be the Father, this very thing that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Son, the Son Himself hath eternally from the Father, of Whom also He is eternally begotten.” (See Bellarm. lib. 2, de Christo, c. 20 et seq.)
Moreover one Divine Person is said to be sent by another, when by the will of Him from whom He proceeds He begins to be anywhere in a fresh manner from that in which He was there before. Thus the Son was sent by the Father in the flesh that He might become man. The Holy Ghost was sent by the Father and the Son to the Apostles, interiorly by the abundant grace with which He illuminated their minds, and inflamed their will that they should constantly bear witness to Christ and His doctrine: but He did the same exteriorly by means of the fiery tongues, by which He gave efficacy to their words, and also by means of the miracles which He wrought by them.
I will send from the Father. Christ said this-1st. Plainly: as it were thus, When I shall have ascended to the Father in heaven, then I with the Father will send unto you the Holy Ghost. 2d. Theophylact says from the Father means, the Father approving and together sending. 3d. From the Father may mean that the Son Hath from the Father the Divine Essence, and consequently the power of breathing and sending the Holy Ghost, so that verily with the Father, by the same action and breathing He breathes, and by the same Mission sends, the Holy Spirit. So S. Hilary (lib. de Synod., and the Council of Sirmium.
4th. From the Father, i.e. I will send you the Holy Ghost, who is with the Father, forasmuch as He is coeternal and consubstantial with Him.
5th. The words from the Father crush the heresy of Eunomius, who taught that the Holy Ghost proceeds not from the Father, but from the Son, so that the Holy Ghost is, as it were, the Son of the Son, and the Grandchild of God the Father. This heresy S. Basil refutes (lib. 2, contr. eund.), showing that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. So also S. Cyril (lib. 10, c. 33) teaches that the Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, and proceedeth from the Father, but through the Son. Which means nothing else but that which we say, that the Son produces the Holy Spirit from the Father, i.e. He hath from the Father to produce the Holy Ghost, as God by the Word created all things. For all things were made by Him.
S. Thomas (1 par. q. 36. art. 2), Suarez, and others give the reason priori. Because if the Holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son, He would not be distinguished from the Son. For in the Godhead there is no distinction save in the procession of One from Another, and the distinction of relationship.
Who proceedeth from the Father. Thus Christ speaks, and is silent concerning Himself: 1st. Because the Father is the First Principle of the Spiration of the Holy Ghost, as I have said. 2d. Because Christ, for the sake of humility and reverence, to give us an example, is wont to refer all things concerning His authority to the Father. 3d. Because if He had said, Who proceedeih from Me, He could not appositely have subjoined, He shall testify of Me. For the witness who proceeds from any one, if he gives testimony concerning him among men, is apt to be suspected.
Moreover, Jansen says that these words are to be understood, not concerning the Divine and eternal procession, but concerning that temporal and human procession by which the Holy Ghost is sent to the Apostles and other believers. But that the Divine procession is here spoken of is clear-1st. Because such is the evident meaning of the words when He saith, Who proceedeth from the Father. For when Christ speaks of temporal missions, something is added to show what is meant, as when He saith (chap. xvi.), I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. 2d. Because He had just before spoken of the temporal mission, saying, Whom I will send unto you from the Father. 3d. Because the Fathers in the Council of Florence so understood it (sess. 13 and 23). 4th. Because the temporal mission or procession presupposes the eternal. For as I have previously said, in the Godhead One Person is not said to be sent by Another, except the Person who proceeds from Another.
He shall testify of Me, that I am the Son of God, the Messias, the Saviour of the world. And this He shall do both by interior illumination and inspiration, and by external miracles. Now in a witness three things are needful. 1st. Wisdom that he should know the truth. 2d. Honesty, that he should relate it sincerely, and neither deceive, nor be deceived. 3d. Power and authority, that he should be allowed by all to be a true witness, and above all suspicion. These three qualifications most perfectly unite in the Holy Spirit. He therefore is the most perfect witness of Christ.
And ye shall bear witness, &c. The Greek is , which is both of the indicative mood, meaning ye bear witness, and the imperative, bear ye witness. St. Cyril reads the indicative, as does the Syriac version. The Vulgate, ye shall bear witness has the same meaning as bear witness (imperative). He bids them testify by their preaching that Christ is the Son of God. For the future is often put for the imperative.
From this passage learn who, what, and how great is the Holy Ghost. 1st. That He is the Third Person in the Holy Trinity, distinct from the Father and the Son. For in that He proceedeth from, and is sent by Both, He that proccedeth and is sent is distinct from Those who send. 2d, That the Holy Ghost is true God, of one substance with God the Father, because He proceedeth from Him as God from God. 3d. That He proccedeth-not from the Father alone, not from the Son alone, but-unitedly from Both as from one Principle of Spiration. 4th. That He proceedeth not from the Father by Generation, as doth the Son, but by Spiration, so that He is the Holy Spirit. Wherefore SS. Athanasius, Basil, Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Augustine, and others throughout their writings refute the heretic Macedonius, who said, that since the Holy Ghost proceedeth not from the Father by the way of Generation, as the Son doth, He is therefore not Consubstantial with the Father, neither is He God. 5th. That He is the Paraclete, i.e. the Comforter and the Exhorter to all goodness. 6th. That He is the very Spirit of Truth, because He teaches all truth, and the true faith, doctrine, and prudence. 7th. That He is the witness of Christ and of His doctrine; the witness, I say, infinitely above all other witnesses, because He is Himself very God.
*I cannot help appending a word of admiration for the clear, beautiful, lucid manner in which Lapide shows how man’s free will co-operates with grace in the performance of good works. (Trans.) Back to the place .
Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary
Believers are aliens in the world because Jesus has called us to fulfill His plans and purposes rather than simply living for ourselves (cf. 1Pe 1:1). The world does not hate us because we are superior but because we are servants of the Lord whom it has rejected.