John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ¹  the synagogue, ²  yet a time ³  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ⁴ 

John 16:33

16:33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, ⁵  but take courage ⁶  – I have conquered the world.” ⁷ 

[16:2]  ¹ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ² sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ³ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ⁴ sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[16:33]  ⁵ tn The one Greek term θλῖψις (qliyis) has been translated by an English hendiadys (two terms that combine for one meaning) “trouble and suffering.” For modern English readers “tribulation” is no longer clearly understandable.

[16:33]  ⁶ tn Or “but be courageous.”

[16:33]  ⁷ tn Or “I am victorious over the world,” or “I have overcome the world.”