Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 16:4
But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
4. But ] Making a fresh start; But, to return (to Joh 16:1).
have I told ] See on Joh 16:6.
when the time ] Rather, when their hour, according to the better reading; i.e. the hour appointed for these things ( Joh 16:2).
ye may of them ] Better, ye may remember them, that I told you. ‘I’ is emphatic, ‘I Myself, the object of your faith.’
And these things beginning ] Better, But these things I told you not from the beginning. Not exactly the same phrase as in Joh 15:27 ( ‘ ) but (here and Joh 6:64 only): the one expresses simple departure, the other consequence and continuity. There is no inconsistency between this statement and passages like Mat 10:16-39; Mat 24:9; Luk 6:22, &c. ‘These things’ will cover a great deal more than the prediction of persecutions, e.g. the explanation of the persecutions, the promise of the Paraclete, &c.
because I was with you ] See notes on Mat 9:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
These things – These things which are about to happen, Joh 16:1-2. He had foretold them that they would take place.
Ye may remember … – By calling to mind that he had foretold these things they would perceive that he was omniscient, and would remember, also, the consolations which he had afforded them and the instructions which he had given them. Had these calamities come upon them without their having been foretold, their faith might have failed; they might have been tempted to suppose that Jesus was not aware of them, and of course that he was not the Messiah. God does not suffer his people to fall into trials without giving them sufficient warning, and without giving all the grace that is needful to bear them.
At the beginning – In the early part of the ministry of Jesus. The expression these things here refers, probably, to all the topics contained in these chapters. He had, in the early part of his ministry, forewarned them of calamities and persecutions Mat 10:16; Mat 5:10-12; Mat 9:15, but he had not so fully acquainted them with the nature, and design, and sources of their trials; he had not so fully apprised them of the fact, the circumstances, and the object of his death and of his ascension to heaven; he had not revealed to them so clearly that the Holy Spirit would descend, and sanctify, and guide them; and especially he had not, in one continued discourse, grouped all these things together, and placed their sorrows and consolations so fully before their minds. All these are included, it is supposed, in the expression these things.
Because I was with you – This is the reason which he gives why he had not at first made known to them clearly the certainty of their calamities and their joys; and it implies:
1.That it was not needful to do it at once, as he was to be with them for more than three years, and could have abundant opportunity gradually to teach these things, and to prepare them for the more full announcement when he was about to leave them.
2.That while he was with them he would go before them, and the weight of calamities would fall on him, and consequently they did not so much then need the presence and aid of the Holy Spirit as they would when he was gone.
3.That his presence was to them what the presence of the Holy Spirit would be after his death, Joh 16:7. He could teach them all needful truth. He could console and guide them. Now that he was to leave them, he fully apprised them of what was before them, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit to do for them what he had done when with them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. At the beginning] I would not trouble you by speaking of these things pointedly at first, when I chose you to be my disciples, but have referred them to the present time, lest you should be discouraged; and now only declare them because it is absolutely necessary that you should be put upon your guard.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whatsoever I have discovered to you formerly, of my going to my Father, the coming of the Holy Ghost, your sufferings from the world, I have told you of before; you will see that they will most certainly come to pass: then you will remember what I have said unto you; and I have told you them on purpose that you may remember them, and thereby know, that although I am in the form of a man, yet I also am God blessed for ever, and did know things that should afterward come to pass, and could tell you the truth about them. And having been with you, I have not from the first of your converse with me told you these things; that is, those which relate to the worlds dealing with you (which he had told them, Mat 10:16, &c, but that was after some good whiles converse with them); nor yet had he spoken to them at first about his death, resurrection, and ascension, because he was with them, and to stay with them some time, during which time he bare the brunt of all; the whole hatred of the Jews was poured out upon him: and for those other things relating to his death, and ascension, and the sending of the Spirit, he, who taught his disciples as they were able to bear them, Mar 4:33, had concealed these things till by his other doctrine he had prepared them to receive this revelation, and there was a necessity of his relieving them against his bodily absence, by the promise of that other Comforter the Holy Ghost.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. these things I said not . . .atfrom.
the beginningHe hadsaid it pretty early (Lu 6:22),but not quite as in Joh 16:2.
because I was with you.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But these things have I told you,…. Christ enlarged on this disagreeable subject, and was the more particular in enumerating the evils his apostles were to endure for his name’s sake:
that when the time shall come; some copies read it, “their time”; so the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic render it; that is, the time when wicked men will be suffered to vent all their rage and malice:
ye may remember that I told you of them; which might serve greatly to confirm them in the faith of him as the omniscient God, and the true Messiah, and encourage them to depend on his veracity and faithfulness in his promises; that since the evil things which he spoke of came upon them, so they might hope, believe, and expect, that all the good things he had assured them of, should be accomplished; and also to engage them to bear their sufferings with the greater patience, since they were appointed by God, and foretold by their Lord and master.
And these things, adds Christ,
I said not unto you at the beginning; when he first called them to be followers of him; for though when he ordained them, and sent them forth to preach the Gospel in the cities of Judea, which was some time after he had called them by his grace, he did acquaint them with some of the troubles and exercises they should meet with; as that they should be hated by all men, persecuted from city to city, beat in the synagogues, delivered up to councils, and brought before kings and governors; see Mt 10:17; yet he did not so fully and distinctly speak of these things, as here and at this time: his reason for such a conduct was this,
because, says he,
I was with you: wherefore he never spoke so fully and distinctly of their troubles, because he was with them, and took them upon himself; and indeed, whilst he was with them, the rage and malice of the Jews were not so much against his disciples, as himself; nor did he for the same reason speak so largely of the Comforter, and of the comforts they should receive from him, because as they had not the exercises they should afterwards have, so they had him to be their comforter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Have I spoken (). Perfect active indicative as in John 15:11; John 16:1. Solemn repetition.
When their hour is come ( ). Indefinite temporal clause, with the second aorist active subjunctive of , “whenever their hour comes.” The time appointed for these things.
Now that (). Simply “that” (declarative conjunction in indirect discourse. Forewarned is to be forearmed. Cf. 13:19.
From the beginning ( ). As in 6:64 but practically like ‘ in 15:27. While Christ was with them, he was the object of attack (15:18).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
But [] . Marks a breaking off of the enumeration of fearful details; but (to say no more of these things), I have spoken these, etc.
At the beginning [ ] . Properly, from the beginning. So Rev. The phrase only here and Joh 6:64.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But these things have I told you,” (alla tauta lelakleka humin) “But these things I have spoken to you all,” regarding my departure, fruit-bearing, the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower you all, my resurrection, trials you are to face, and my coming back to take you to your estate with me and the Father, Joh 13:1 to Joh 15:27.
2) “That when the time shall come,” (hina hotan elthe he hora auton) “In order that when their hour comes,” for all these things I have told you that are before you, and when they occur, as they will, Psa 119:160; Joh 14:6.
3) “Ye may know that I told you of them.” (mnemoneuete auton hoti ego eipon humin) “You all may remember that I told you of them,” that their faith might be confirmed, strengthened, or increase in the trustworthiness of His Word and assurance that their labors were not in vain in Him, Mat 26:31-32; Mat 28:6-7; Mat 28:16-17; Luk 24:44-45.
4) “And these things I said not unto you at the beginning,” (tauta de humin eks arches ouk eipon) “However I said these things not to you from the beginning,” because He was with them to help, to serve, to comfort and to guide. Then they “could not bear them,” He Himself indicated, earlier in His ministry, Joh 6:66; Joh 16:12. He also was their personal security and protection while with them, Mat 9:15.
5) “Because I was with you.” (hoti meth’ humon hemen) “Because I was (present) with you all,” to love, to care, to guide to the end, Joh 13:1. True people of God care for their children, their families, and their friends who may be left behind when they are gone. Jesus did; Paul did; Peter did; Jude did; Do I? Act 20:26-32; 1Ti 3:15; 2Ti 4:1-8; 2Pe 1:1-2; 2Pe 1:12-14; 2Pe 3:1-2; Jud 1:1-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. That when the hour cometh, you may remember. He repeats what he had already said, that this is not a philosophy fitted only for a season of leisure, but that it is adapted to practice and use, and that he now discourses on these matters, that they may actually demonstrate that they have not been taught in vain. When he says, that you may remember, he enjoins them, first, to lay up in their minds what they have heard; secondly, to remember them, when they shall be required to put them in practice; and, lastly, he declares that no small importance attaches to the fact, that he utters predictions of future events.
And I told you not these things at the beginning. As the apostles were still weak and tender, so long as Christ conversed with them in the flesh, their singularly good and indulgent Master spared them, and did not suffer them to be urged beyond what they were able to bear. At that time, therefore, they had no great need of confirmation, while they enjoyed leisure and freedom from persecution; but now he tells them that they must change their mode of life, and as a new condition awaits them, he likewise exhorts them to prepare for a conflict.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) But these things have I told you . . .He recurs to the thought of Joh. 16:1. (Comp. also Joh. 13:19; Joh. 14:29.) He strengthens them by forewarning them. When the persecution comes they will remember His word, and find in it support for their faith and evidence of His presence with them.
These things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.While with them, He would spare them, and it was against Himself that the hatred of His foes was directed. When He shall have left them they will represent Him, and must stand in the foreground of the battle.
These words seem to be opposed to Matthew 10 and parallel passages, where our Lord did tell the Apostles at the time of their call of the persecutions which awaited them. (See especially Joh. 16:17; Joh. 16:21; Joh. 16:28.) The passages are not, however, really inconsistent, for these things in this verse (comp. Joh. 16:3; Joh. 16:1, and Joh. 15:21) refers to the full account He has given them of the worlds hatred and the principles lying at the foot of it, and the manner in which it was to be met by the Spirits witness and their witness of Him. These things which the infant Church would have to meet, and meet without His bodily presence, He told them not at the beginning.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. These things have I told you Again does the Lord cast back a recapitulating glance in order fully to impress his words upon their memory for future use, both for confirmation of faith and consolation of heart.
Said not at the beginning Commentators of different ages have found it difficult to reconcile this apparent statement of our Lord, that he had not predicted persecutions heretofore, with passages like Mat 5:10-12; Mat 10:21-28; Mat 16:24-25; Mat 24:9; Luk 6:22, etc. That he had predicted persecutions heretofore, again and again, is beyond all question. What, then, is it that our Lord had not said at the beginning? We answer : all these things; namely, that under a persecution of a spiritual character their support was to be the Spirit of truth. This entire shape and substance of things were entirely new. It was his last revelation to them previous to that departure which should produce the coming of that Spirit. He had not said it at the beginning; for he had reserved it until now, the close.
“But these things have I spoken to you so that when their hour is come you may remember them, how that I told you.”
And they will indeed need to remember His warnings, for often they will be baffled at the failure of men to see and understand, at the hardness of heart that prevents men responding, and at the fierceness of the wrath that is directed against them. And they will begin to question themselves, and God. This is a reminder to us that we too must not expect the Christian life to be easy and rosy. If men would not receive Christ, we should not be surprised if they will not hear us.
Note how Jesus recognises the doubts and fears that at some times in the futures will cloud their lives. But He emphasises to them that when they do they are to remember His words. We also may sometimes have doubts and fears, and at such times we too must turn to His word for the answers.
“And these things I did not say to you from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me. And none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”
Jesus recognises that His disciples are perplexed. In spite of His many warnings (Mar 8:31; Mar 9:12; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:33; Mar 10:45 and parallels) they have still not realised that it is God’s purpose that He should die at the Passover. And yet they are conscious that He is talking of death. To them it must have seemed so unreal. They must have been thinking, ‘Why do we not just slip away and avoid the danger as we have done before?’
So He makes it clear that He is giving them these warnings because His time to go has now come. In the future He will no longer be around in the flesh in order to give the guidance needed at the time, as He has in the past. But they must recognise that this is because He is going to the One Who had sent Him, and that His death will not be as a result of failure but will be as a result of the fulfilment of God’s purposes.
‘None of you asks, ‘where are you going?’ Although they were sorrowful, they were not asking the right questions. Now they know that He is about to die they should have been wanting to know where He is going. They needed a new perspective. They needed to recognise that everything was following God’s plan, that His future was under control and that His destiny was certain.
It was true that previously they had asked such questions (Joh 13:36), but that had been out of curiosity rather than faith, thinking that He meant that He was going on a journey. Now their hearts are dulled and they are instead taken up with sorrow. They have at last realised that He really is going. But they have no thought to ask where, for their minds are still fixed on earthly things. To them the future spoken of by the prophets was to be fulfilled on earth. They looked for an earthly kingdom and battles fought on earth. They had no recognition of heavenly realities. So they did not know what to think, and did not want to find out. They were sheltering in ignorance.
This was the reason why their minds were in the wrong place. It was because they had continually thought of an earthly kingdom and of an earthly Messiah (compare Act 1:6). They cannot conceive that man’s future lies outside this world where heavenly battles were to be fought. It would only be later that they would realise that the promises to Abraham of ‘a better country’ would be fulfilled in Heaven (see Heb 11:10-14). Now He is calling them to look upwards and beyond earthly things to heavenly realities. It is in the heavenlies that the battle must be won.
The Coming of the Holy Spirit ( Joh 16:4-15 ).
Joh 16:4. These things I said not, &c. The original signifies, “I did not inculcate these things upon you from the beginning;I did not insist upon them, because the lesson would come time enough before my departure.” These things may be understood of the Jews’ ignorance of God’s designs, and their wilful ignorance of Jesus as the Messiah; particulars, which he had just now mentioned as the causes why the Jews would persecute his apostles, and which, no doubt, were more afflicting to the latter than the persecutions themselves; because these persecutions they supposed would end in the enjoyment of the kingdom; whereas the rejection of their Master cut off their hopes all at once.
Joh 16:4 . ] At, breaks off the enumeration (Baeumlein, Partik . p. 15). Jesus will not go further into details, and recurs to the thought in Joh 16:1 . The explanation: “although it is not to be expected otherwise, I have nevertheless foretold it to you” (Lcke, De Wette), is the less agreeable to the text, since . had just been already said, and that without any antithetic reference of the kind. The explanations of Tholuck and Lange, again, are importations: “but so little would I terrify (?) you hereby, that I have only (?) said it to you,” etc.
] What was said in Joh 16:2-3 .
, . .] Attraction. See Winer, p. 581 f. [E. T. p. 665 ff.]
] with weighty emphasis: I , the Person, with whom your faith is concerned. Comp. Joh 16:1 , .
] Joh 15:27 . The question, how this declaration of Jesus may be reconciled with the announcements found in the Synoptics, even from the time of the Sermon on the Mount, of predestined sufferings (Mat 5:10 ff.; Luk 6:22 ff.; Mat 10:16 ff.; Luk 12:4 ff.; Mat 21:12 ff; Mat 24:9 ), is not solved by saying that here (Euth. Zigabenus, comp. also Chrysostom) are announced (see, on the contrary, Mat 10:16-18 ; Mat 10:28 ); or that Christ spoke at an earlier period minus aperte et parcius (Bengel, comp. Grotius), and in much more general terms (Ebrard), but now more expressly set forth in its principles the character of the world’s attitude towards the disciples (Tholuck, comp. Lange); or, that He has now stated more definitely the cause of the hatred (Lampe); or, that He utters it here as a parting word (Luthardt); or even, that at an earlier period, because the thoughts of the disciples had not yet dwelt upon it, it was “ for them as good as not said ” (Hengstenberg); but the difference lies clearly before us, and is simply to be recognised (comp. also Godet), to be explained, however, from the fact that in the Synoptics more general and less definite allusions belonging to the earlier time appear with the more definite form and stamp of later expressions. The living recollection of John must here also preponderate as against the Synoptics so that his relation to theirs here is that of a corrector.
] It would have been unnecessary in the time of my personal association with you, since it is not till after my departure that your persecution (up to that time the hatred of the world affected Himself ) is to commence. “Because you have me with you, they cannot well but leave you in peace, and can do nothing to you, they must have done it to me previously , but now it will begin,” etc., Luther. Comp. Chrysostom, Euth. Zigabenus, Grotius. As yet they had suffered no persecution; hence the thought, “I could console you” (Lcke, De Wette, and older expositors), is not to be introduced. The interpretation also: “now first, when I promise you the Spirit, can I thus openly speak to you” (Bengel, Tholuck), is not in harmony with the words.
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Ver. 4. Ye may remember, &c. ] And act, what I have foretold and taught you. The difference between divinity and other sciences is, that it is not enough to know, but you must do it; as lessons of music must be practised, and a copy not read only, but written after. Non est haec umbratilis philosophia, sed quae ad usum et praxin aptanda. (Calvin.)
4. ] here indicates no contrast, but only breaking off the mournful details, and passing back to the subject of Joh 16:1 . Cf. sch. Agam. 507 9. Hartung, Partikellehre, ii. p. 35. If we are to seek any contrast, it will be between the of the world, and the of the Church. The one know not what they are doing: the other know well what they are suffering.
, the time of their happening
before is emphatic, ‘ I MYSELF:’ that it was I MYSELF who told you. A difficulty has been found in the latter part of the verse, because our Lord had repeatedly announced to them future persecutions, and that at least as plainly as here, Mat 5:10 ; Mat 10:16 ; Mat 10:21-28 alli [222] . freq. And hence, De Wette, Meyer, and Lcke, and even Olsh., find ground for supposing that the chronological order of the discourses has not been followed in the Synoptic Gospels. But there is in reality no inconsistency, and therefore no need for such a supposition. This declaration, as here meant , was not made before , because He was with them. Then clearly it is now made , in reference to His immediate departure. And if so, to what will most naturally refer? To that full and complete account of the world’s motives, and their own office, and their comfort under it, which He has been giving them. This He had never before done so plainly, though occasional mention has been made even of the help of the Spirit under such trials, see Mat 10:19-20 .
[222] alli = some cursive mss.
. . ] While the Lord was with them (cf. Mat 9:15 ), the malice of the world was mainly directed against Him , and they were overlooked: see ch. Joh 18:8 .
In we have the proleptical character of the discourse again manifest.
Joh 16:4 . . This repeats Joh 16:1 , but He now adds an explanation of His silence up to this time regarding their future: . = of Joh 15:27 , Holtzmann. If there is a difference, indicates rather the point of time ( cf. its only other occurrence, Joh 6:64 ) while indicates continuity. The fact of the silence has been disputed: but no definite and full intimations have hitherto been given of the future experience of the Apostles, as representing an absent Lord. The reason of His silence was , “because I was with you”. While He was with them they leant upon Him and could not apprehend a time of weakness and of persecution. See Mat 9:15 .
the time. The texts read “their hour”: i.e. the time of the things of verses: Joh 16:2, Joh 16:3.
shall come = shall have come.
at the beginning = from the beginning. Greek. ex arches. See note on Joh 6:64. with. Greek. meta. App-104.
4.] here indicates no contrast, but only breaking off the mournful details, and passing back to the subject of Joh 16:1. Cf. sch. Agam. 507-9. Hartung, Partikellehre, ii. p. 35. If we are to seek any contrast, it will be between the of the world, and the of the Church. The one know not what they are doing: the other know well what they are suffering.
, the time of their happening
before is emphatic, I MYSELF:-that it was I MYSELF who told you. A difficulty has been found in the latter part of the verse, because our Lord had repeatedly announced to them future persecutions, and that at least as plainly as here, Mat 5:10; Mat 10:16; Mat 10:21-28 alli[222]. freq. And hence, De Wette, Meyer, and Lcke, and even Olsh., find ground for supposing that the chronological order of the discourses has not been followed in the Synoptic Gospels. But there is in reality no inconsistency, and therefore no need for such a supposition. This declaration, as here meant, was not made before, because He was with them. Then clearly it is now made, in reference to His immediate departure. And if so, to what will most naturally refer? To that full and complete account of the worlds motives, and their own office, and their comfort under it, which He has been giving them. This He had never before done so plainly, though occasional mention has been made even of the help of the Spirit under such trials, see Mat 10:19-20.
[222] alli = some cursive mss.
. .] While the Lord was with them (cf. Mat 9:15), the malice of the world was mainly directed against Him,-and they were overlooked: see ch. Joh 18:8.
In we have the proleptical character of the discourse again manifest.
Joh 16:4. ) ye may remember, with faith: ch. Joh 13:19, Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass ye may believe that I am He.- ) I said not, although knowing it. A most wise method of Christ was this. He had told them, even a little before, of the hatred of the world, but less openly, and more sparingly. [Now that they were fortified by the promise of the Holy Spirit against that hatred He speaks more openly concerning that subject.-V. g.] Mat 10:17; Mat 10:21; Mat 10:25; Mat 24:9.
Joh 16:4
Joh 16:4
But these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is come,-[The hour of their fulfillment.]
ye may remember them, how that I told you.-[Remembering thus that he had predicted the sorrows, they would also remember the joys beyond and be comforted and upheld.]
And these things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with you.-These afflictions that would come upon them, he did not tell them in the beginning of his ministry because he was abiding with them. But now he is about to leave them, he forewarns them that when the trials come upon them they will remember them and not be driven from faith in God and in him. [He advanced in his instruction just as they were prepared to receive it. By degrees had he revealed to the disciples the dark, rugged, and bloody pathway that they should be called upon to travel. In the beginning of his ministry he did not teach of these things for the reason they were not prepared to receive it. In the second year of his ministry he began to gradually unfold them, but only in the hour of his departure does he reveal to them the trials that are to come upon them. The greatest of all their trials, unless the promised comforter came, would be the departure of the Lord. While he was with them the bolts of hatred and malice would be thrust at him, but when he was gone and they represented him on the earth these bolts would hit them. As long as Jesus was with them these personal trials of the apostles would not begin, and therefore he saw no necessity of burdening their hearts prematurely with their anticipation. But now he was to be taken from them, so he unfolds it.]
that when: Joh 13:19, Joh 14:29, Isa 41:22, Isa 41:23, Mat 10:7, Mat 24:25, Mar 13:23, Luk 21:12, Luk 21:13, Act 9:16, Act 20:23, Act 20:24, 2Pe 1:14
because: Joh 17:12, Joh 17:13, Mat 9:15, Mar 2:19
Reciprocal: Eze 24:24 – when Hos 5:9 – have Zec 2:9 – and ye Mat 28:7 – lo Mar 14:16 – and found Luk 5:35 – when Luk 9:44 – these Luk 22:10 – General Luk 24:44 – while Joh 2:22 – his Joh 12:16 – then Joh 16:1 – General Act 11:16 – remembered 2Th 2:5 – when 2Th 3:10 – when 2Pe 3:17 – seeing
4
That … ye ma.y remember. A prediction becomes evidence atter It haa been fulfilled. (See Exo 3:12 and Luk 21:13.) Said not . .. waa with you. Being with the dIsciples In person, Jesus did not consider it necessary to go into 8.8 much detail with his teaching as he did when he was about to leave them.
Joh 16:4. But these things have I spoken unto you, that, when their hour is come, ye may remember them, that I told you. The analogy of such passages as chaps. Joh 2:22, Joh 12:16, Joh 14:26, seems to show that the remembering here spoken of is not an effort of memory alone. It involves the deeper insight given by experience and the teaching of the Spirit into the meaning and purpose of trial in the economy of grace. The disciples shall so remember that they shall have a fresh insight into the mystery of the Cross. Nay more, they shall learn to feel themselves peculiarly identified with their Lord. As there was an hour in which His enemies were permitted to rage against Him, an hour which was theirs (Luk 23:53), so there is an hour again given them when they shall rage against the preachers of the truth (comp. Joh 16:2).
And these things I told you not from the beginning, because I was with you. Had Jesus, then, not told them these things in the earliest period of His ministry? It is often urged that passages such as Mat 5:10; Mat 9:15; Mat 10:16, show us that He had, and that it is impossible to reconcile these with the words before us. Yet we have only to put ourselves into the position of our Lord and His disciples in order to see that there is no contradiction. It is not merely that He now speaks, or that they now understand, with greater clearness than before. His going away is an essential part of these things, and with it all that He now says is so connected that it has its meaning only in the light of that departure. He could not then have so spoken from the beginning, for the simple reason that He was not then going away. General allusions to their coming sufferings there might be and were. But that they would have to take His place, and, in doing so, to find that His trials were their trials, He had never said. That solemn lesson was connected only with the present moment, when their training was completed, and they were to be sent forth to be as He had been.
Joh 16:4-6. But these things have I told you And forewarned you of them; that when the time shall come In which they shall happen; ye may remember that I told you of them And so may turn what has so discouraging an aspect into a further confirmation of your faith. And these things I said not at the beginning Of my ministry; because I was with you And could easily suggest proper instructions and consolations, as new circumstances of difficulty arose; and because, being with you, I could bear the chief shock of persecution in my own person, and so screen you from it. But now I go to him that sent me But now, that my ministry is drawing toward a conclusion, and I am going to leave you, I could no longer defer speaking of these things to you; because it is of great importance you should know them, in order that when they come to pass you may not be surprised and stumbled. And none of you asketh me Now when it is most seasonable; whither goest thou? Though I mentioned to you my departure once before, (Joh 13:33,) none of you has inquired of me the reasons of my departure, nor the effects of it; nor is concerned to make those inquiries about that better world, which surely might well become you in such a circumstance. But because I have said these things Have spoken of leaving you for a time, and have informed you of the persecutions you will meet with when I am gone; sorrow hath filled your heart Hath engrossed your thoughts, and filled you with sadness.
"Their hour" (NASB) refers to the time when the disciples’ persecutors would control their fate. Ironically their hour would appear to be the time of their greatest victory, but really it would be the time of their greatest defeat. Conversely Jesus’ "hour," His passion, would appear to be the time of this greatest defeat, but really it would be the time of His greatest victory.
The memory that Jesus had forewarned His disciples would enable them to realize that things were not out of control when they seemed to be. This remembrance would really strengthen their faith in Jesus rather than weakening it.
Jesus had not revealed the extent of opposition His disciples would face earlier because He was with them and He was the focus of unbelieving hostility. However now that He was preparing to depart from them they needed to be aware of what lay ahead for them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)