John 15:18

The World’s Hatred

15:18 “If the world hates you, be aware ¹  that it hated me first. ² 

John 15:23-24

15:23 The one who hates me hates my Father too. 15:24 If I had not performed ³  among them the miraculous deeds ⁴  that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. ⁵  But now they have seen the deeds ⁶  and have hated both me and my Father. ⁷ 

[15:18]  ¹ tn Grk “know.”

[15:18]  ² tn Grk “it hated me before you.”

[15:24]  ³ tn Or “If I had not done.”

[15:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “the works.”

[15:24]  ⁵ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

[15:24]  ⁶ tn The words “the deeds” are supplied to clarify from context what was seen. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[15:24]  ⁷ tn Or “But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.” It is possible to understand both the “seeing” and the “hating” to refer to both Jesus and the Father, but this has the world “seeing” the Father, which seems alien to the Johannine Jesus. (Some point out John 14:9 as an example, but this is addressed to the disciples, not to the world.) It is more likely that the “seeing” refers to the miraculous deeds mentioned in the first half of the verse. Such an understanding of the first “both – and” construction is apparently supported by BDF §444.3.