The disciples probably harbored the same hope as the other Jews. It consisted of the Messiah establishing His kingdom and breaking the power of Rome. Instead, the Lord explained to them that He would die, rise again, and return to heaven. The Spirit would come, and the disciples would go out into the world as witnesses for Christ. They would be hated and persecuted, the Lord told them this in advance so they would not be "offended" by Him, not disillusioned or shocked.
 | Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-03-01 Source: Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck |
The Lord Predicts Persecutions
In the previous chapter the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples about their testimony in the world and the hatred this will evoke. He did this to keep them from stumbling. To stumble means that the hate they will experience from the side of the world will go so far that they are in danger of giving up their confession and say farewell to faith in Him.
The Lord knows this danger and has beforehand warned His disciples to prepare themselves for it. The true disciple’s path shows the radical separation that exists between the world and those who belong to Christ. If then the hatred of the world will manifest itself, it will not surprise them.
He then points to a manifestation of hatred that is revealed particularly from the religious side. They will experience resistance and enmity from religious people with whom they, before believing in Christ, adhered to the same religion. By this the Lord does not just mean a false religion, some form of idolatry, but the religion originally given by Him Himself.
His people, however, turned away from the one, true God and became unfaithful to Him. What God had given for their good, they have appropriated for themselves. They have become proud of their religion. Therefore, God had to surrender His people to judgment. The dominion of the Romans is the result of this. The leaders are blind to this. Anything that calls them back to the one, true God, is met with great and bitter resistance, in which the leaders are at the forefront.
Therefore, the stumbling for which the Lord warns has to do with a falling back into that religion that is judged by God. We must realize that the believing heart of the pious Jew, like that of the disciples, does not count on grief and shame and bottomless hatred being part of those who follow the Messiah. Therefore, the Lord encourages them that persecution will serve to strengthen their faith and that the Holy Spirit will add His testimony to theirs.
The hatred will take terrifying proportions. The places where they used to confess and practice their religion will be closed to them. And it will not stop there. Any Jew will see them as an enemy of God and will try to kill them, even thinking that they are pleasing God. Saul of Tarsus is a clear example of this. He later speaks and writes about how diligent he was in persecuting the church [Acts 26:9]; [Gal 1:13]; [Phil 3:6].
The Lord tells His disciples what causes the hatred of the Jews against them. It has to do with the Jews’ view of God as a God Who is one [Deut 6:4]. They held on to this as a tradition that lifted them up above the other nations. As a result, they remained unfamiliar with the Father and the Son. Thus, it was not just a theological matter, but their hatred toward the disciples also stemmed from the fact that their religion gave them a certain status. What God had given them, they had claimed for themselves. The law had made them important [Rom 2:17-20]. They believed to possess the truth, but the truth had not taken possession of them.
Through the coming of the Son, the revelation of God in the flesh, their arrogance and pride was manifested and judged. Their depravity and resistance were revealed at the highest level by the Son of God. But under no circumstances do they want to accept His judgment, for they do not want to lose their position. Likewise it is with the enmity of the roman-catholic church. She claims to be the one true church and denies the work of the one Spirit and the one body.
The words of the Lord will be an encouragement once suffering comes over the disciples. He prepares them for that time to come, so that it does not come by surprise. In this way, everything He spoke before will be fulfilled, including His assistance and the promised blessings. He did not have to speak about this when He was still with them, because then He protected them. It was not necessary for Him to say this earlier, because he looked after them as long as He was with them. He had been their Shield and Helper, their Advocate.
That is how He intervened for them every time the religious leaders wanted to argue with them. In the same way, He will shortly say: “If you seek Me, let these go their way” [John 18:8]. But when He will be gone, His words will help them. This ends the subject of witnessing.
The Lord knows this danger and has beforehand warned His disciples to prepare themselves for it. The true disciple’s path shows the radical separation that exists between the world and those who belong to Christ. If then the hatred of the world will manifest itself, it will not surprise them.
He then points to a manifestation of hatred that is revealed particularly from the religious side. They will experience resistance and enmity from religious people with whom they, before believing in Christ, adhered to the same religion. By this the Lord does not just mean a false religion, some form of idolatry, but the religion originally given by Him Himself.
His people, however, turned away from the one, true God and became unfaithful to Him. What God had given for their good, they have appropriated for themselves. They have become proud of their religion. Therefore, God had to surrender His people to judgment. The dominion of the Romans is the result of this. The leaders are blind to this. Anything that calls them back to the one, true God, is met with great and bitter resistance, in which the leaders are at the forefront.
Therefore, the stumbling for which the Lord warns has to do with a falling back into that religion that is judged by God. We must realize that the believing heart of the pious Jew, like that of the disciples, does not count on grief and shame and bottomless hatred being part of those who follow the Messiah. Therefore, the Lord encourages them that persecution will serve to strengthen their faith and that the Holy Spirit will add His testimony to theirs.
The hatred will take terrifying proportions. The places where they used to confess and practice their religion will be closed to them. And it will not stop there. Any Jew will see them as an enemy of God and will try to kill them, even thinking that they are pleasing God. Saul of Tarsus is a clear example of this. He later speaks and writes about how diligent he was in persecuting the church [Acts 26:9]; [Gal 1:13]; [Phil 3:6].
The Lord tells His disciples what causes the hatred of the Jews against them. It has to do with the Jews’ view of God as a God Who is one [Deut 6:4]. They held on to this as a tradition that lifted them up above the other nations. As a result, they remained unfamiliar with the Father and the Son. Thus, it was not just a theological matter, but their hatred toward the disciples also stemmed from the fact that their religion gave them a certain status. What God had given them, they had claimed for themselves. The law had made them important [Rom 2:17-20]. They believed to possess the truth, but the truth had not taken possession of them.
Through the coming of the Son, the revelation of God in the flesh, their arrogance and pride was manifested and judged. Their depravity and resistance were revealed at the highest level by the Son of God. But under no circumstances do they want to accept His judgment, for they do not want to lose their position. Likewise it is with the enmity of the roman-catholic church. She claims to be the one true church and denies the work of the one Spirit and the one body.
The words of the Lord will be an encouragement once suffering comes over the disciples. He prepares them for that time to come, so that it does not come by surprise. In this way, everything He spoke before will be fulfilled, including His assistance and the promised blessings. He did not have to speak about this when He was still with them, because then He protected them. It was not necessary for Him to say this earlier, because he looked after them as long as He was with them. He had been their Shield and Helper, their Advocate.
That is how He intervened for them every time the religious leaders wanted to argue with them. In the same way, He will shortly say: “If you seek Me, let these go their way” [John 18:8]. But when He will be gone, His words will help them. This ends the subject of witnessing.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-4
1 ‹These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.› 2 ‹They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.› 3 ‹And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.› 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.›
 | Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-01-11 Source: Title: John Author: Ger de Koning |
Our Lord Jesus, by giving his disciples notice of trouble, designed that the terror might not be a surprise to them. It is possible for those who are real enemies to God’s service, to pretend zeal for it. This does not lessen the sin of the persecutors; villainies will never be changed by putting the name of God to them. As Jesus in his sufferings, so his followers in theirs, should look to the fulfilling of Scripture. He did not tell them sooner, because he was with them to teach, guide, and comfort them; they needed not then this promise of the Holy Spirit’s presence. It will silence us to ask, Whence troubles come? It will satisfy us to ask, Whither go they? for we know they work for good. It is the common fault and folly of melancholy Christians to look only on the dark side of the cloud, and to turn a deaf ear to the voice of joy and gladness. That which filled the disciples’ hearts with sorrow, was too great affection for this present life. Nothing more hinders our joy in God, than the love of the world, and the sorrow of the world which comes from it.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1 ‹These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.› 2 ‹They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.› 3 ‹And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.› 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.› 5 ‹But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?› 6 ‹But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.›
 | Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source: Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry |
That is, when you see many disbelieve, and yourselves ill-treated.
 | Author: John Chrysostom Rank: Bishop AD: 407 |
For the Jews had already agreed, if any confessed that He was Christ, that he should be put out of the synagogue.
Then He consoles them: And all these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father nor Me. As if He said, Let this consolation content you.
And He predicted these trials for another reason,viz. that they might not say that He had not foreseen them; That you may remember that I told you of them, or that He had only spoken to please them, and given false hopes. And the reason is added why He did not reveal these things sooner: And these things I said not to you at the beginning, because I was with you; because, that is, you were in My keeping, and might ask when you pleased, and the whole battle rested upon Me. There was no need then to tell you these things at the first, though I myself knew them.
Or, He had foretold that they should suffer scourgings, but not that their death could be thought doing God service; which was the strangest thing of all. Or, He there told them what they would suffer from the Gentiles, here what from the Jews.
| Author: John Chrysostom Rank: Bishop AD: 407 |
The Saviour, having clearly set before His disciples the madness of the Jews, was perhaps about to add to what He had said, that these misguided men would reach such a height of disobedience, and so stubbornly refuse to listen, and in their cowardice advance so far in hatred of God, that even if there should be two witnesses of His glory they would decline to admit it----and this though the Law openly declares that whatever is testified by two or three witnesses should be believed and received as unquestionably true. But He avoids mentioning this on the present occasion for good reasons. For His statement would thus have produced in them an immoderate grief, and, breaking the hearts of His disciples even to despair, would have made the entrance of faint-heartedness and cowardice into their hearts absolutely certain. For they might reasonably have questioned among themselves;----If the masses of the Jews would not only lend to no one a complete obedience, but also set at nought the Comforter though He astonished them with marvels passing description, and in spite of this would actually afterwards be found as guilty of hating Christ as they were before, and in hating Him of hating the Father, what necessity was there for spending their labour in vain? Why should they not rid themselves of their troubles, and choose silence in preference to teaching men unwilling to hear? Knowing then in all likelihood the thoughts that would agitate His disciples, He skilfully conceals what was too grievous to be told, and what would have been calculated to produce cowardice and faint-heartedness in the duty of teaching. But He rightly turns the drift of His speech into an exhortation to hold themselves in readiness and make vigorous preparation for the results that might be expected to follow in the future. For whatever comes to men suddenly and unexpectedly is likely to disturb even the mind that is stable. For the reception of that, the advent of which has been anticipated, the way is made smooth and its burden is lightened, since it has been already foreseen, and lost its edge by the expectation of certain suffering. Something of this kind, I think, Christ wishes to signify. For if, He says, I have already worked such marvels even before your eyes, the Comforter also will work marvels in you. And if the headstrong madness of the Jews is not diminished, and their conduct is the same as before, and even worse, be not offended, He says, when you find yourselves its victims. But keep ever in mind My words: A disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his lord.
 | Author: Cyril of Alexandria Rank: Pope AD: 444 |
1. In the words preceding this chapter of the Gospel, the Lord strengthened His disciples to endure the hatred of their enemies, and prepared them also by His own example to become the more courageous in imitating Him: adding the promise, that the Holy Spirit should come to bear witness of Him, and also that they themselves could become His witnesses, through the effectual working of His Spirit in their hearts. For such is His meaning when He says, He shall bear witness of me, and you also shall bear witness. That is to say, because He shall bear witness, you also shall bear witness: He in your hearts, you in your voices; He by inspiration, you by utterance: that the words might be fulfilled, Their sound has gone forth into all the earth. For it would have been to little purpose to have exhorted them by His example, had He not also filled them with His Spirit. Just as we see that the Apostle Peter, after having heard His words, when He said, The servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; and seen that already fulfilled in Him, wherein, had example been sufficient, he ought to have imitated the patient endurance of his Lord, yet succumbed and fell into denial, as utterly unable to bear what He saw his Master enduring. But when he really received the gift of the Holy Spirit, he preached Him whom he had denied; and whom he had been afraid to confess, he had no fear now in openly proclaiming. Already, indeed, had he been sufficiently taught by example to know what was proper to be done; but not yet was he inspired with the power to do what he knew: he had got instruction to stand, but not the strength to keep him from falling. But after this was supplied by the Holy Spirit, he preached Christ even to the death, whom, in his fear of death, he had previously denied. And so the Lord in this succeeding chapter, on which we have now to address you, says, These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. As it is sung in the psalm, Great peace have they who love Your law, and nothing shall offend them. Properly enough, therefore, with the promise of the Holy Spirit, by whose operation in their hearts they should be made His witnesses, He added, These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. For when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us, Romans 5:5 they have great peace who love God's law, so that nothing may offend them.
2. And then He expressly declares what they were to suffer: They shall put you out of the synagogues. But what harm was it for the apostles to be expelled from the Jewish synagogues, as if they were not to separate themselves therefrom, although no one expelled them? Doubtless He meant to announce with reprobation, that the Jews would refuse to receive Christ, from whom they as certainly would refuse to withdraw; and so it would come to pass that the latter, who could not exist without Him, would also be cast out along with Him by those who would not have Him as their place of abode. For certainly, as there was no other people of God than that seed of Abraham, they would, had they only acknowledged and received Christ, have remained as the natural branches in the olive tree; Romans 11:17 nor would the churches of Christ have been different from the synagogues of the Jews, for they would have been one and the same, had they also desired to abide in Him. But having refused, what remained but that, continuing themselves out of Christ, they put out of the synagogues those who would not abandon Christ? For having received the Holy Spirit, and so become His witnesses, they would certainly not belong to the class of whom it is said: Many of the chief rulers of the Jews believed on Him; but for fear of the Jews they dared not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. And so they believed on Him, but not in the way He wished them to believe when He said: How can you believe, who expect honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only? It is, therefore, with those disciples who so believe in Him, that, filled with the Holy Spirit, or, in other words, with the gift of divine grace, they no longer belong to those who, ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God; Romans 10:3 nor to those of whom it is said, They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God: that the prophecy harmonizes, which finds its fulfillment in their own case: They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance: and in Your name shall they rejoice all the day; and in Your righteousness shall they be exalted: for You are the glory of their strength. Rightly enough is it said to such, They shall cast you out of the synagogues; that is, they who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; because, ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own, Romans 10:2-3 they expel those who are exalted, not in their own righteousness, but in God's, and have no cause to be ashamed at being expelled by men, since He is the glory of their strength.
3. Finally, to what He had thus told them, He added the words: But the hour comes, that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service: and these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. That is to say, they have not known the Father, nor His Son, to whom they think they will be doing service in slaying you. Words which the Lord added in the way of consolation to His own, who should be driven out of the Jewish synagogues. For it is in thus announcing beforehand what evils they would have to endure for their testimony in His behalf, that He said, They will put you out of the synagogues. Nor does He say, And the hour comes, that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service. What then? But the hour comes: just in the way He would have spoken, were He foretelling them of something good that would follow such evils. What, then, does He mean by the words, They will put you out of the synagogues: but the hour comes? As if He would have gone on to say this: They, indeed, will scatter you, but I will gather you; or, They shall, indeed, scatter you, but the hour of your joy comes. What, then, has the word which He uses, but the hour comes, to do here, as if He were going on to promise them comfort after their tribulation, when apparently He ought rather to have said, in the form of continuous narration, And the hour comes? But He said not, And it comes, although predicting the approach of one tribulation after another, instead of comfort after tribulation. Could it have been that such a separation from the synagogues would so discompose them, that they would prefer to die, rather than remain in this life apart from the Jewish assemblies? Far surely would those be from such discomposure, who were seeking, not the praise of men, but of God. What, then, of the words, They will put you out of the synagogues: but the hour comes; when apparently He ought rather to have said, And the hour comes, that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service? For it is not even said, But the hour comes that they shall kill you, as if implying that their comfort for such a separation would be found in the death that would befall them; but The hour comes, He says, that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service. On the whole, I do not think He wished to convey any further meaning than that they might understand and rejoice that they themselves would gain so many to Christ, by being driven out of the Jewish congregations, that it would be found insufficient to expel them, and they would not suffer them to live for fear of all being converted by their preaching to the name of Christ, and so turned away from the observance of Judaism, as if it were the very truth of God. For so ought we to understand the reference of His words to the Jews, when He said of them, They will put you out of the synagogues. For the witnesses, in other words, the martyrs of Christ, were likewise slain by the Gentiles: they, however, thought not that it was to the true God, but to their own false deities, that they were doing service when they so acted. But every Jew that slew the preachers of Christ reckoned that he was doing God serv ice; believing as he did that all who were converted to Christ were deserting the God of Israel. For it was also by the same reasoning that they were incited to the murder of Christ Himself: because their own words on this subject have also been put on record. You perceive that the whole world is gone after him: If we let him live, the Romans will come, and take away both our place and nation. And those of Caiaphas: It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish. And accordingly in this address He sought by His own example to stimulate His disciples, to whom He had just been saying, If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; that as in slaying Him they thought they had done God a service, so also would it be in reference to them.
4. Such, then, is the meaning of these words: They will put you out of the synagogues; but have no fear of solitude: inasmuch as, when separated from their assembly, you will assemble so many in my name, that they, in very fear lest the temple, that was with them, and all the sacraments of the old law, should be deserted, will slay you: actually, in thus shedding your blood, full of the notion that they are doing God service. An illustration surely of the apostle's words, They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; Romans 10:2 when they imagine that they are doing God service in slaying His servants. Appalling mistake! Is it thus you would please God by striking down the God-pleaser; and is the living temple of God by your blows laid level with the ground, that God's temple of stone may not be deserted? Accursed blindness! But it is in part that it has happened to Israel, that the fullness of the Gentiles might come in: in part, I say, and not totally, has it happened. For not all, but only some of the branches have been broken off, that the wild olive might be ingrafted. For just at the time when the disciples of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, were speaking in the tongues of all nations, and performing many divine miracles, and scattering divine utterances on every side, Christ, even though slain, was so beloved, that His disciples, when expelled from the congregations of the Jews, gathered into a congregation of their own a vast multitude of those very Jews, and had no fear of being left to solitude. Acts ii.-iv Whereupon, accordingly, the others, reprobate and blind, being inflamed with wrath, and having a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, and believing that they were doing God service, put them to death. But He, who was slain for them, gathered those together; just as He had also, before He was slain, instructed them in what was to happen, lest their minds, left ignorant and unprepared, should be cast into trouble by evils, however transient, that were unexpected and unprovided for; but rather by knowing of them beforehand, and sustaining them with patience, might be led onward to everlasting blessing. For that such was the cause of His making these announcements to them beforehand, is shown also by His words that followed: But these things have I told you, that, when their time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. Their hour was an hour of darkness, a midnight hour. But the Lord commanded His loving-kindness in the daytime, and made them sing of it in the night: when the Jewish night threw no confusion of darkness into the day of the Christians, separated as it was from themselves; and when that which could slay the flesh had no power to darken their faith.
 | Author: Augustine of Hippo Rank: Bishop AD: 430 |
After the promise of the Holy Spirit, to inspire them with strength to give witness; Hewell adds, These things have I spoken to you, that you should not be offended. For when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us (Romans 5:5),then great peace have they that love God’s law, and they are not offended at it (Psalms 118).What they were about to suffer follows next: They shall put you out of the synagogues.
Bu what evil was it to the Apostles to be put out of the Jewish synagogues, which they would have gone out of, even if none had put them out? Our Lord wished to make known to them, that the Jews were about not to receive Him, while they on the other hand were not going to desert Him. There was no other people of God beside the seed of Abraham; if they acknowledged Christ, the Churches of Christ would be none other than the synagogues of the Jews. But inasmuch as they refused to acknowledge Him, nothing remained but that they should put out of the synagogue those who would not forsake Christ. He adds: But the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he does God service. Is this intended for a consolation, as if they would so take to heart their expulsion from the synagogues, that death would be a positive relief to them after it? God forbid that they who sought God’s glory, not men’s, should be so disturbed. The meaning of the words is this: They shall put you out of the synagogue, but do not be afraid of being left alone. Separated from their assemblies, you shall assemble so many in my name, that they, fearing that the temple and rites of the old law will be deserted, will kill you and think to do God service thereby, having a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. These who kill are the same with those who put out of the synagogues, viz. the Jews. For Gentiles would not have thought that they were doing God service, by killing Christ’s witnesses, but their own false gods; whereas every one of the Jews, who killed the preacher of Christ, thought he was doing God service, believing that whoever was converted to Christ, deserted the God of Israel.
And He mentions these things beforehand, because trials, however soon to pass away, when they come upon men unprepared for them, are very overwhelming: But these things have I told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that 1 told you of them: the hour, the hour of darkness, the hour of night. But the night of the Jews was not allowed to mix with or darken the day of the Christians.
In the other three Evangelists these predictions occur before the supper; John gives them after. Still if they relate them as given very near His Passion, that is enough to explain His saying, These things I said not to you at the beginning. Matthew however relates these prophecies as given long before His Passion, on the occasion of His choosing the twelve. How do we reconcile this with our Lord's words? By supposing them to apply to the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the testimony He would give amidst their suffering. This was what He had not told them at the beginning, and that because He was with them, and His presence was a sufficient consolation. But as He was about to depart, it was meet that He should tell them of His coming, by whom the love of God would be shed abroad in their hearts, to preach the word of God with boldness.
| Author: Augustine of Hippo Rank: Bishop AD: 430 |
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
