Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 16:2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
2. out of the synagogues ] Or, out of the synagogue, i.e. excommunicate you. Comp. Joh 9:22; Joh 12:42.
yea, the time cometh ] Better, nay, there cometh an hour. Comp. Joh 16:25. ‘You might think excommunication an extreme measure; but ( ) they will go far greater lengths than this.’
that whosoever ] Literally, in order that every one who. The Divine purpose is again clearly indicated (see on Joh 12:33). Every one, Jew and Gentile alike, will put down the Christians as blasphemers and atheists and the perpetrators of every crime. The history of religious persecution is the fulfilment of this prophecy.
doeth God service ] Better, offereth service to God. The verb expresses the offering of sacrifice (comp. Heb 5:1; Heb 8:3; Heb 9:7); the substantive expresses a religious service (Rom 9:4; Heb 9:1; Heb 9:6).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Out of the synagogues – See the notes at Joh 9:22. They would excommunicate them from their religious assemblies. This was often done. Compare Act 6:13-14; Act 9:23-24; Act 17:5; Act 21:27-31.
Whosoever killeth you – This refers principally to the Jews. It is also true of the Gentiles, that in their persecution of Christians they supposed they were rendering acceptable service to their gods.
Gods service – The Jews who persecuted the apostles regarded them as blasphemers, and as seeking to overthrow the temple service, and the system of religion which God had established. Thus, they supposed they were rendering service to God in putting. them to death, Act 6:13-14; Act 21:28-31. Sinners, especially hypocrites, often cloak enormous crimes under the pretence of great zeal for religion. Men often suppose, or profess to suppose, that they are rendering God service when they persecute others; and, under the pretence of great zeal for truth and purity, evince all possible bigotry, pride, malice, and uncharitableness. The people of God have suffered most from those who have been conscientious persecutors; and some of the most malignant foes which true Christians have ever had have been in the church, and have been professed ministers of the gospel, persecuting them under pretence of great zeal for the cause of purity and religion. It is no evidence of piety that a man is full of zeal against those whom he supposes to be heretics; and it is one of the best proofs that a man knows nothing of the religion of Jesus when he is eminent for self-conceit in his own views of orthodoxy, and firmly fixed in the opinion that all who differ from him and his sect must of course be wrong.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. They shall put you out of the synagogues] They will excommunicate you, and consider you as execrable, and utterly unworthy to hold any commerce with God by religion; or with man by civil fellowship. See Clarke on Joh 9:22. In these excommunications they were spoiled of all their substance, see Ezr 10:8, and see also Heb 10:34, and deprived of their character, their influence, and every necessary of life. Though the Jewish people had the most humane laws, yet they were a most vindictive and cruel people.
That whosoever killeth you, c.] This Paul found for more than forty Jews bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him, Ac 23:12-13; and agreeably to this, it is said, in that Tract of the Talmud which is entitled Bammidbar, R. xxi. ad. Num. xxv. 13: “He who sheds the blood of the ungodly, is equal to him who brings an offering to God.” What the Zealots did is notorious in history. They butchered any person, in cold blood, who, they pretended to believe, was an enemy to God, to the law, or to Moses; and thought they were fulfilling the will of God by these human sacrifices. We had the same kind of sacrifices here in the time of our Popish Queen Mary. May God ever save our state from the Stuarts!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The term synagogue, as it is used often in Scripture to signify those places of public worship which they had in country towns and cities, is proper to the Jews; but as it signifieth an assembly of people met together in any place, it as well agreeth to other people as to them. Our Lord here, in pursuit of the argument which he hath been upon from Joh 15:18, forewarns his disciples, that when he should be taken from them, the Jews first should excommunicate them as heretics, or schismatics: and I know not why what our Saviour here saith may not also be extended as a prophecy of what hath since been done, and is yet doing, under the tyranny of the pope. As also the latter clause, which, though at first applicable to the Jews, who stoned Stephen upon a charge of blasphemy, in which it is apparent that they thought they did God good service, and doubtless slew many others; yet certainly it also referred to others, even as many as shall do the same thing to the end of the world.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. They shall put you out of thesynagogue (Joh 9:22;Joh 12:42).
the time cometh, thatwhosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God serviceThewords mean religious service“that he is offering aservice to God.” (So Saul of Tarsus, Gal 1:13;Gal 1:14; Phi 3:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They shall put you out of the synagogues,…. The Jews had made a law already, that he that confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, should be cast out of their synagogues; and they had put it in execution upon the blind man Christ restored to sight, for his profession of faith in him; which struck such a terror upon the people, that even many of the chief rulers who believed that Jesus was the true Messiah, durst not confess him, because of this law; for it was what they could not bear the thoughts of, to be deemed and treated as heretics and apostates, and the vilest of wretches: for this putting out of the synagogue, was not the lesser excommunication, which was called “Niddui”, and was a “separation” from a particular synagogue for a while; but the greater excommunication, either by , “Cherem”, or , “Shammatha”; when a person was cut out from the whole body of the Jewish church, called often the synagogue, or congregation of the people; and was devoted and consigned to utter destruction, which was the height of their ecclesiastical power, their rage and malice could carry them to; and this the apostles were to expect; nay, not only this, but to have their lives taken away by ruffians, under a pretence of zeal for the service of God, and interest of religion:
yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service. For this is not to be understood of their being delivered up into the hands of civil magistrates, and of their being tried, judged, condemned, and put to death by their orders, but of their being murdered by a set of men called “zealots”; who, in imitation of Phinehas, as they pretended, took upon them, whenever they found any person guilty of a capital crime, as idolatry, blasphemy, c. or what they judged so, to fall upon him at once, and without any more ado kill him nor were they accountable to any court of judicature for such an action, and which was reckoned laudable and praiseworthy: in this way, and by the hands of such miscreants, Stephen the protomartyr lost his life; for though they had him before a council, and suborned witnesses against him, yet when in his own defence he said what these “zealots” interpreted blasphemy, they ran upon him at once, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him to death; and without any leave or authority from the sanhedrim, as appears: and these men were accounted good men, zealous, y “with a zeal for God”, his honour and glory; and valued themselves much upon such butcheries and inhumanity, and thought, as our Lord here says, that they “did God service”; or as the Syriac renders it, , “offered a sacrifice to God”, and so the Arabic and Ethiopic: and indeed this is a rule the Jews z, and which they form upon the instance and example of Phinehas;
“that whoever sheds the blood of wicked men, (and such they reckoned the apostles and followers of Christ to be,)
, “it is all one as if he offered a sacrifice”;”
they looked upon this to be a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God: so the Apostle Paul, in his unregenerate state, thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Christ: and that he was doing God service, when he prosecuted the church, and gave his voice with these ruffians, to put the saints to death.
y Jarchi & Bartenora in Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 9. sect. 6. z Bemidbar Rabbit, Parash, 21. fol. 229. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
They shall put you out of the synagogues ( ). “They will make you outcasts from the synagogues.” Predicate accusative of the compound adjective for which see John 9:22; John 12:42.
Yea (‘). Use of as co-ordinating conjunction, not adversative.
That () not in the sense of “when” (), but as in 12:23 for God’s purpose (Lu 2:34, ).
Shall think (). First aorist active subjunctive of . “So blind will he be” (Bernard).
That he offereth service unto God ( ). Infinitive (present active) indirect discourse after . For the phrase see Heb 6:1; Heb 8:3; Heb 9:7. The rabbis so felt when they crucified Jesus and when they persecuted the disciples (Acts 6:13; Acts 7:57). No persecution is more bitter than when done by religious enthusiasts and bigots like the Spanish Inquisition.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
They shall put you out of the synagogues. See on 9 22.
Yea [] . Literally, but. They shall excommunicate you, but worse than this, the hour cometh, etc.
The hour cometh that [] . Literally, “there cometh an hour in order that.” The hour is ordained with that end in view : it comes fraught with the fulfillment of a divine purpose.
Whosoever [ ] . Literally, everyone who.
Doeth service [ ] . Literally, bringeth or offereth service. Latreia means, strictly, service for hire, but is used of any service, and frequently of the service of God.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “They shall put you out of the synagogues:” (aposunagogous poielousin humas) “They will excommunicate or exclude you all from the synagogue,” cut you off from synagogue privileges, even to the third degree of permanent exclusion of social, religious, and educational rights, benefits, and privileges, Joh 9:22; Joh 12:42; Mat 10:17; Mar 13:9.
2) “Yea, the time cometh,” (all’ erchetai hora) “But there comes an hour,” a time approaches; For the hate the then ruling religious Jews had for Jesus they also held against His church followers when He was gone, Act 4:1-3; Act 7:18; Act 7:21.
3) “That whosoever killeth you,” (hina ‘ pas ho apokteimas humas) “That everyone who kills you,” or tries to liquidate you all, of the church, Act 5:40; Act 6:9-15; Act 7:57-60; Act 8:1-3; Act 9:1-5.
4) “Will think that he doeth God service.” (doks latreian prospherein to theo) “Thinks he is offering religious service to God,” in killing you, so blind will they be, and so ignorant in their persecution zeal, as those were who stoned Stephen, and as Paul was before his conversion, Rom 8:36. These religious “hit men” were zealous, excitable, sincere, yet children and servants of the Devil, Joh 8:44; Rom 6:16; 1Jn 3:10.
IGNORANT PERSECUTION
One of the most horrid circumstances attending the dreadful massacre of the Protestants under Charles IX of France, was that when the news of this event reached Rome, Pope Gregory XIII instituted the most solemn rejoicing, giving thanks to Almighty God for this glorious victory over the heretics!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
2. They will drive you out of the synagogues. This was no light offense to disturb their minds, that they were to be banished like wicked men from the assembly of the godly, or, at least, of those who boasted that they were the people of God, and gloried in the title of The Church; for believers are subject not only to persecutions, but to ignominy and reproaches, as Paul tells us, (1Co 4:12.) But Christ bids them stand firm against this attack; because, though they be banished from the synagogues, still they remain within the kingdom of God. His statement amounts to this, that we ought not to be dismayed by the perverse judgments of men, but ought to endure boldly the reproach of the cross of Christ, satisfied with this single consideration, that our cause which men unjustly and wickedly condemn, is approved by God.
Hence too we infer, that the ministers of the Gospel not only are ill treated by the avowed enemies of the faith, but sometimes also endure the greatest reproaches from those who appear to belong to the Church, and who are even regarded as its pillars. The scribes and priests, by whom the apostles were condemned, boasted that they were appointed by God to be judges of the Church; and, indeed, the ordinary government of the Church was in their hands, and the office of judging was from God, and not from men. But by their tyranny, they had corrupted the whole of that order which God had appointed. The consequence was, that the power which had been given to them for edification, was nothing else thorn a cruel oppression of the servants of God; and excommunication, which ought to have been a medicine for purifying the Church, was turned to an opposite purpose, for driving away from it the fear of God.
Since the apostles knew this by experience, in their own age, we have no reason to be greatly alarmed at the Pope’s excommunications, with which he thunders against us on account of the testimony of the Gospel; for we ought not to fear that they will do us any more injury than those ancient excommunications which were made against the apostles. Nay more, nothing is more desirable than to be driven out of that assembly from which Christ is banished. Yet let us observe that, though the abuse of excommunication was so gross, still it did not effect the destruction of that discipline which God had appointed in his Church from the beginning; for, though Satan devotes his utmost efforts to corrupt all the ordinances of God, we must not yield to him, so as to take away, on account of corruptions, what God has appointed to be perpetual. Excommunication, therefore, not less than Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, must be brought back, by the correction of abuses, to its pure and lawful use.
But the hour cometh. Christ dwells still more largely on this offense, that the enemies of the Gospel lay claim to so much authority, that they think they are offering sacrifices to God where they slay believers. It is sufficiently hard in itself, that innocent people should be cruelly tormented, but it is far more grievous and distressing that those outrages, which wicked men commit against the children of God, should be reckoned punishments justly due to them on account of their crimes. But we ought to be so fully assured of the protection of a good conscience, as to endure patiently to be oppressed for a time, till Christ appear from heaven, to defend his cause and ours.
It may be thought strange, however, that the enemies of the truth, though they are conscious of their own wickedness, not only impose on men, but even in the presence of God lay claim to praise for their unjust cruelty. I reply, hypocrites, though their conscience accuses them, always resort to flatteries to deceive themselves. They are ambitious, cruel, and proud, but they cover all these vices with the cloak of zeal, that they may indulge in them without restraint. To this is added what may be called a furious drunkenness, after having tasted the blood of martyrs.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) They shall put you out of the synagogues.Comp. Notes on Joh. 9:22; Joh. 12:42.
Will think that he doeth God service.Better, will think that he offereth to God a sacrificial service. The word rendered doeth in the Authorised version, is the technical word for offering sacrifice. (Comp., e.g., Notes on Mat. 5:23; Mat. 8:4.) The word rendered service means the service of worship. This will be seen by a comparison of the other instances where it occurs in the New Testamentthey are Rom. 9:4; Rom. 12:1, and Heb. 9:1; Heb. 9:6. A Rabbinic comment on Num. 25:13, is, Whosoever sheddeth the blood of the wicked is as he who offereth sacrifice. The martyrdom of Stephen, or St. Pauls account of himself as a persecutor (Act. 26:9; Gal. 1:13-14), shows how these words were fulfilled in the first years of the Churchs history, and such accounts are not absent from that historys latest page.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Put you out of the synagogues Excommunicate you from the Old Testament Church, as if no longer Jews; though in reality they are the excommunicate and you are the Church. So even in the history of Christendom, a Church in form, yet apostate in spirit, may expel from its communion those who are in spirit and in truth the purer and the truer Church. Popery can expel the Reformers; Anglicanism can exclude from her churches a Wesley and a Whitefield. But happily often, even from the holy communion of the excommunicates, there returns a blessed influence, to purify and regenerate, more or less, the dead old organism that expelled them.
Killeth you doeth God service So utterly may churchmanship have put darkness for light that it may be with a religious intent that it persecutes religion itself. Especially is this liable to be the case when a dead organization persecutes men of the living Spirit. Nay, it is even possible that men, with the best light they have, and with the purest conscience their age and position permit, may persecute with a holy intention. Hence we may feel a pity even for good men betrayed into the sin of persecution.
Even in the minds of such, however, a worldly zeal for their own system, and a bitter human hatred, usually dwell. As Saul of Tarsus, who sincerely thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and that he ought to persecute even unto strange cities, did also breathe out threatenings and slaughter. With the honest zeal for truth, and earnest opposition against the defenders of error, there may mingle a fierce ambition, a cruel partizanship, a diabolical malignity. The former might be excused in the sight of God, however mistaken; the latter mingling brings them under deep condemnation, both from God and man. Honest error, moreover, may spring from a dishonest antecedent. Error must not only be itself honest, but it must be honestly come by.
Doeth God service Doeth service to God. Bitterest and most cruel of all is likely to be the fate of that victim of persecution whose persecutor most deeply believes he is doing service to God. Our Lord therefore most justly brings this in as the final summit of the climax of suffering he predicts.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 16:2. They shall put you out of the synagogue: That is, “They shall excommunicate you.” See Ch. Joh 9:22 and 1Co 16:22. Instead of, He doth God service, we may render the original, offereth a sacrifice to God. The word , signifiesallthedifferentpartsof divine worship, and so must be determined to particulars by the circumstances. Here it signifies sacrifice, because it is joined with , a word which constantly denotes the offering up of sacrifice. See Rom 12:1. This gives a beautiful turn to our Lord’s sentiment. “The time shall come, when the killing of you shall be thought a part of the worship of God, and equally acceptable with the offering of sacrifices.” This passage intimates, as Archbishop Leighton observes on the text, that the servants of Christ should be considered, not only as sheep for the slaughter, but as sheep for the altar too. See Act 8:1; Act 9:1; Act 23:14; Act 23:35.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 16:2-3 . Of the , Joh 16:1 , He now gives certain concrete manifestations, which might tend to their becoming offended.
.] See on Joh 9:22 , Joh 12:42 .
] At , i.e. nay, further! it introduces the antithesis of a yet far heavier, of a bloody fate. Comp. on 2Co 7:11 . To take . . . interrogatively (Ewald), is unnecessarily artificial.
] That which will take place in the is conceived as the object of its coming: there is coming an hour, in order that, etc. Comp. on Joh 12:23 .
., . . .] that every one, who shall have put you to death, may think that he offers a sacrificial service to God (namely, through the shedding of your blood). On , cultus (Plat. Apol . p. 23 C, Phaedr . p. 224 E; Rom 9:4 ), here, by means of the , the standing word used of sacrifices (see Mat 5:23 ; Mat 8:4 ; Act 7:32 ; Heb 5:1 ; Schleusner, Thes . IV. p. 504), in the special reference of sacrificial divine service, comp. Rom 13:1 ; Heb 9:1 ; Heb 9:6 . The maxim of Jewish fanaticism is well known (and how often was the pagan enmity against the apostles no better!): “Omnis effundens sanguinem improborum, aequalis est illi, qui sacrificium facit,” Bammidbar Rabba , f. 329. 1. On this , comp. Saul’s example, Act 26:9 ; Gal 1:13-14 .
On Joh 16:3 , comp. Joh 15:21 . Jesus once more recalls with profound sadness this tragic source of such conduct, the inexcusableness of which, however, He had already decisively brought to light (Joh 15:22 ff.). The supposed purpose of making the adversaries contemptible in the eyes of the disciples (Calvin, Hengstenberg) must have been indicated had it existed.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Ver. 2. Whosoerer killeth you, &c. ] Maximinian, the persecutor, thought that the blood of Christians would be a well pleasing sacrifice to his gods: Christianorum sanguinem Diis gratissimam esse victimam. (Tertul.) Budaeus thinks that the apostle, 1Co 4:13 , alludes to those heathenish expiations, wherein certain condemned persons were brought forth yearly with garlands upon their heads, and offered up as sacrifices to their gods, in time of any contagious infection especially; and these they termed and . At Colon certain divines preached, that the death of certain heretics (as they called them) should pacify the wrath of God which then plagued Germany grievously with a strange kind of sweating sickness. (Budaeus in Pandect.) In the sixth Council of Toledo, it was enacted that the king of Spain should suffer none to live in his dominions that professed not the Roman Catholic religion. King Philip, accordingly, having hardly escaped shipwreck, as he returned from the Low Countries, said he was delivered by the singular providence of God to root out Lutheranism, which he presently began to do, professing that he had rather have no subjects than such. Another Catholic king said that if he thought his shirt were infected with that heresy, he would tear it from his own back, and rather go woolward; nay, if any member of his body had caught the contagion, he would cut it off, that it might creep no further. O sancta simplicitas! Oh holy candour, said John Huss, when at the stake he observed a plain country fellow busier than the rest in fetching fagots.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2. ] On . see reff.
, yea, and, see reff. It introduces a yet more grievous and decisive proof of their nature.
] “That which shall happen in the , is regarded as the object of its coming .” Meyer.
, the technical word for offering a sacrifice see reff.
] “Quis-quis effundit sanguinem impii, idem facit ac si sacrificium offerat.” Jalkut Schimeoni, cited by De Wette, &c., see 1Co 4:13 . But the sense of ‘sacrificium’ must not be too much pressed, as Stier remarks, to mean in every case an expiatory offering: see reff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 16:2 . . For the word . see Joh 9:22 , Joh 12:42 ; “they will put you out of their synagogues,” they will make you outcasts from their synagogues. , “yea,” or “yea more”; used in this sense Rom 7:7 , 2Co 7:11 , where it occurs six times. Cf. Act 19:2 . . , cf. Joh 12:23 , and Burton, Moods and Tenses , 216, on the complementary limitation by of nouns signifying set time, etc. And for , the aorist indicating those “who once do the act the single doing of which is the mark of the class,” see Burton, 124, cf. 148. , “may think that he offers sacrificial service”. is used in Exo 12:25 , etc., of the Passover; apparently used in a more general sense in 1Ma 2:19 ; 1Ma 2:22 ; and defined by Suicer “quicquid fit in honorem et cultum Dei,” and by Theophylact as , a work well pleasing to God. Cf. Rom 12:1 . Meyer and others quote the maxim of Jewish fanaticism, “Omnis effundens sanguinem improborum aequalis est illi qui sacrificium facit”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
shall = will.
put you out, &c. = make you excommunicate. Greek. aposunagogos. Occurs only here; Joh 9:22; and Joh 12:42. Compare Joh 9:34, Joh 9:35.
killeth. See Act 7:59; Act 12:2; Act 23:12; Act 26:10.
doeth, &c. = is presenting an offering to God. See Act 26:9.
God.App-98.
service. Greek. latreia, technical word for an “offering”. Occurs five times: here; Rom 9:4; Rom 12:1. Heb 9:1, Heb 9:6. In the Septuagint five times: Exo 12:25, Exo 12:26; Exo 13:5. Jos 22:27. 1Ch 28:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2.] On . see reff.
, yea, and,-see reff. It introduces a yet more grievous and decisive proof of their nature.
] That which shall happen in the , is regarded as the object of its coming. Meyer.
, the technical word for offering a sacrifice-see reff.
] Quis-quis effundit sanguinem impii, idem facit ac si sacrificium offerat. Jalkut Schimeoni, cited by De Wette, &c., see 1Co 4:13. But the sense of sacrificium must not be too much pressed, as Stier remarks, to mean in every case an expiatory offering: see reff.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 16:2. ) Nay-) that) whosoever killeth you, will think that he thus doeth God service. So Joh 16:32, , ..- [will think] will appear) to himself and to those who are like him.- ) that he offers a gift or service. In the present day still the Jews, as Hensius observes, call the killing of a Christian , a gift, or service, in the case of which there is need of no expiation being made.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 16:2
Joh 16:2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God.-He told them these things to prepare them for the trials, persecutions, and afflictions to which they would be subjected. [Not merely a physical driving forth, but excommunication and deprival of all synagogue privileges. All this was to be the bitter ingredient in the cup. It is one thing to be persecuted by those whom we not only know to be wicked, but who know themselves to be wicked. But to be persecuted by those who, like Saul of Tarsus, means to do right, and think they are serving God in making us suffer is quite another thing. It is calculated to make the sufferer wonder whether he is doing right himself.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
shall: Joh 9:22, Joh 9:34, Joh 12:42, Luk 6:22, 1Co 4:13
the time: Isa 65:5, Mat 10:28, Mat 24:9, Act 5:33, Act 6:13, Act 6:14, Act 7:56-60, Act 8:1-3, Act 9:1, Act 9:2, Act 22:3, Act 22:4, Act 22:19-23, Act 26:9-11, Rom 10:2, Rom 10:3, Gal 1:13, Gal 1:14, Phi 3:6
Reciprocal: Lev 13:29 – General Num 23:4 – I have prepared Jos 10:4 – we may Jdg 6:30 – Bring Jdg 17:3 – a graven image Jdg 17:13 – General 1Sa 22:23 – he that seeketh 2Sa 21:2 – in his zeal Ezr 10:8 – himself separated Job 13:7 – General Psa 44:22 – killed Ecc 7:15 – there is a just Son 5:7 – they smote Isa 5:18 – draw Isa 66:5 – Your Eze 11:15 – Get Dan 11:33 – yet Zec 11:5 – possessors Mat 7:14 – narrow Mat 10:17 – for Mat 22:6 – the remnant Mat 23:34 – ye Mar 13:9 – take Luk 10:3 – I send Luk 11:49 – and some Luk 12:52 – General Luk 21:12 – before Joh 9:24 – Give Act 12:1 – to vex Act 14:22 – we Act 21:31 – as Act 23:13 – which Rom 8:36 – For thy 1Co 15:19 – of all 1Th 3:3 – we are 2Ti 3:12 – shall Jam 3:14 – and lie Jam 5:6 – have 1Jo 3:13 – if Rev 6:9 – I saw Rev 6:11 – until
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
They refers to the people, especially the leaders of the Jews, of whom Jesus had been saying much in the preceding chapter. Being put out at the synagogue is explained at chapter 9: 22, 23. Paul was a prominent case of this form of persecution as is revealed in Act 26:9-11.
Verse 3. Jesus always emphasized the close relationship between his F atber and Himself. He maintained that aU treatment that was accorded eith er of the two, was to be considered as being done to the other. Not knowing the Father mearit not to acknowl elge him and not to accept bis truth. The Jews had rejected the teaching of Jesus, and he used tha t tact as evidence that they did not know his Father.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
[They shall put you out of the synagogues.] This, I presume, must be understood of a casting out from the whole congregation of Israel, because I know the Jews always proceeded in that manner against the Samaritans; and certainly the disciples of Jesus were full as hateful to them as the Samaritans could be. Nay, they often call the Christians by the name of Cuthites; as well as those.
Those that were cast out of the church they despoiled of all their goods, according to Ezr 10:8; which they also did to those that were shammatized. Whence it may be a question, whether shammatizing did not cast out of the whole congregation; and again, whether one cast out of the whole congregation might be ever readmitted.
We may take notice of what is said in Avodah Zarah. No one that relapseth may be received again for ever. The Gloss tells us that the passage concerns the plebeians or laics, who having taken upon themselves any religious rule of life, go back again from that profession: they do not admit them into that order and society again. Whether therefore those that fell off from the gospel, returning to their Judaism again, were ever admitted into the Jewish church after they had voluntarily forsaken it, might be an inquiry. But these things only by the by.
There was, in truth, a twofold epocha of the persecution of the apostolical church, namely, both before that apostasy of which we have such frequent mention, and also after it. Our Saviour had foretold the apostasy in that tremendous parable about the unclean spirit cast out, and returning again with seven worse. “So shall it be also (saith he) unto this wicked generation,” Mat 12:45. The footsteps of this we may discern almost in every epistle of the apostles.
It is worthy observation, that of 2Th 2:3; “The day of the Lord shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.” The day of the Lord here spoken of was that wherein Christ should come and reveal himself in that remarkable vengeance against Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, of which kind of expression we shall say more on Joh 21:22. The ‘apostasy’ or ‘falling away,’ and revelation of ‘the man of sin,’ was to precede that day: which might be easily made out by a history of those times, if I were to do the business either of a historian or a chronologer.
When therefore the severe and cruel persecution was first raised by the unbelieving Jews before this falling away of Christians, it must needs be greatly increased afterward by them and the apostates together: which distinction we may easily observe out of this verse.
[Will think that he doeth God service.] So the zealots; of whom we have mention in Sanhedrim; the zealots kill him. Gloss: “These are those good men who are endued with zeal in the cause of God.” Such who with their own hands immediately slew the transgressor, not staying for the judgment of the Sanhedrim. So in the place before quoted, “The priest that ministers at the altar in his uncleanness, they do not bring before the Sanhedrim; but they bring him out into the court, and there brain him with the pieces of wood” provided to maintain the fire upon the altar.
What infinite mischiefs and effusion of blood such pretexts of zeal towards God might occasion, it is easy to imagine, and very direful instances have already witnessed to the world. Hence was it that they so often went about to have stoned our Saviour. Hence those forty and more that had conspired against St. Paul. And those zealots whose butcherly cruelties are so infamous in the Jewish story took the occasion of their horrid madness first from this liberty.
From such kind of villains as these the disciples of Christ could have little safeguard: indeed, they were greatly endangered upon a threefold account: I. From the stroke of excommunication, by which they were spoiled of their goods and estates, Heb 10:34. II. From the sentence of the Sanhedrim, dooming them either to be scourged or slain. III. From these assassins; for by this name (a name too well known in Europe) we will call them. We pronounce assassin and assassination; Gul. Tyrius calls them assysins; whom it may be worth the while to consult about the original of that name.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 16:2. They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, an hour cometh that every one that killeth you should think that he offereth service unto God. It is of Jews that Jesus speaks, and the figure is therefore naturally taken from Jewish customs; but opposition on the part of Jews is in these discourses the type of all opposition to the truth. On the severity of the trial alluded to in the first clause of the verse, see on chap. Joh 9:22. Yet not merely excommunication but death in every one of its varied forms shall be their portion. Nay, they shall even be regarded by their murderers as a sacrifice to be offered to God; they shall be slain as a part of the worship due to Him. Every one who sheds the blood of the impious is as if he offered a sacrifice, is said to have been a Jewish maxim. Not in indifference only or in lightness of spirit shall they be slain, to make a Jewish or a Roman holiday, when perhaps their fate might be mourned over in soberer hours, but in such a manner that those who slay them shall return from the scene as men who have engaged in what they believe will gain for them the favour of heaven. It is impossible to imagine a darker picture of fanaticism. Yet the picture is heightened by the mention of an hour, an hour laden with the divine purpose, which must come to them as it had come to Jesus Himself.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Jesus announced that these disciples would experience excommunication from their Jewish synagogues (cf. Joh 9:22; Joh 9:34; Acts 18). The first strong opposition that the early Christians faced came from the Jews because most of them had been Jews (Act 2:11; Act 2:14; Act 2:22). Unfortunately Christians have persecuted the Jews too. Jesus also hinted that some of them would die as martyrs (cf. Act 7:59; Act 9:1-4; Act 12:2). Church history indicates that all the Eleven did, though there is some division of opinion about the death of John. Moreover those who would kill the disciples would not do so believing themselves to be criminals for taking their lives but thinking that they were glorifying God by doing so (cf. Joh 12:10; Act 9:1-2; Act 22:5; Act 22:19; Act 26:9-11).
Jesus credited the Jews with good motives even though their actions were wrong (cf. Rom 10:2). However, opposition that arises from religious conviction is often the most severe and brutal type. Ironically the Jews were opposing God by persecuting Jesus’ disciples rather than serving Him (cf. Saul of Tarsus, Act 9:1-2; Act 22:4-5; Act 26:9-11).