“A JOURNEY THROUGH THE GOSPEL OF JOHN”

St. John 15:17-27

Christ Strengthens His Disciples

What a unique transition that takes place in the passage before us in relation to the previous passage.  In the former passage (St. John 15:7-16), our blessed Lord had been talking to and of His own; now He is discussing the world.  The chief or principal discussion in this passage is the world’s enormous hatred against Christ and His people.  Christ had discussed that His disciples are His friends; now He discusses the fact that the world is the enemy of both Himself and His friends, the disciples.

There was no occasion in the gospels wherein the Apostles were met with persecution while the Lord was with them.  However, Jesus warns His own that they will experience the world’s hostility!  It is indeed noteworthy that in verse 17 that our Lord repeated the command that believers love one another (St. John 13:34).  Certainly, God wants believers to exercise love one toward another, for the world already hates you.  In verse 18, Christ is preparing His own, admonishing them that they will incur hostility from the world just as He did.  As believers in this present age, we must be on alert that our association with the name of Christ will arouse the world’s enmity against us!  In view of this fact, our Lord explains in verse 19 the reason for the world’s enormous enmity against His own: “The reason is that He chose them out of the world.”

Every child of God will experience the world’s enormous hatred because the mark of being His disciple dictates that he will share in Christ’s experience of being hated (v. 20).  In other words, if you are His disciple, you must share in His sufferings.  Perhaps, one of the most important reasons why the world hates Christ’s disciples is given in verse 21:  “the disciples represent Him….they bear His name.”

In Jesus’ first advent, He absolutely revealed God to mankind.  Prior to His awesome coming, the world might have pleaded ignorance as a basis for their sin; however, now that “the Light” (St. John 8:12) has come, they have been rendered excuseless!  If they reject “the Light of the world” they have no excuse.  Furthermore, God’s revelation through His Son is so connected – to hate the Son is to hate God Himself (v. 23)!  The enormous guilt of Israel is seen in verse 24, for Israel was privileged to witness the works of Christ, yet she rejected them.  However, the Lord testified in verse 25 that His disciples would incur the world’s hatred of Him as evidence of the scripture being fulfilled (Psalm 35:19; Psalm 69:4).  In view of the opposition which Christ’s disciples would face, He comforts them, promising the presence of the Holy Spirit (v. 26).  With the Holy Spirit’s enablement, the disciples will bear testimony of Christ in view of the world’s enormous hatred of Christ and His own (v. 27).  May God Bless!