Jesus had discussed the Father's unity with the Son, the Son's unity with His disciples, and the disciples' unity with one another, as recorded in this chapter. It was natural then that He should also address the disciples' relationship with the world. His reference to their mission led Him on into this subject (v. 16).
"This study [15:1-16] began in the vineyard and ended in the throne room! The next study will take us to the battlefield where we experience the hatred of the lost world."497
15:17 Again Jesus repeated the absolute importance of His disciples loving one another (cf. 13:34; 15:10, 12, 14). This was not only a repetition for emphasis, but it set the stage for Jesus' teaching on the world's opposition that follows.
15:18 Jesus wanted to prepare His disciples for the opposition that they would face after His departure. To do this He announced first that they would encounter opposition from the world (cf. 1 John 3:13). Here the world (Gr. kosmos) refers to the mass of unbelievers. The conditional sentence in the Greek text assumes the reality of what Jesus stated for the argument's sake. The world would hate them. A person cannot be an intimate friend of Jesus (i.e., and abiding believer) without drawing hatred from His enemies.
The world hates Jesus because He testified that its deeds are evil (7:7). His abiding disciples draw hatred from the world because they associate themselves with Him and His teachings and because they seek to advance His mission. Remembering the world's hatred for the Master makes bearing that hatred easier for His disciple.
15:19 Believers are aliens in the world because Jesus has called us out of it to fulfill His plans and purposes. The world does not hate us because we are superior but because we are servants of the Lord whom it has rejected.
15:20 Jesus reminded the disciples of the principle that He had mentioned when washing their feet (13:16). Then He used this principle to encourage them to serve one another. Now He used it to explain why they would experience persecution.
People normally treat a person's servants as they treat Him. Since unbelievers persecuted Jesus, His disciples should expect persecution too. Conversely if some people in the world followed Jesus' teachings some would also follow His disciples' teachings. This is a more likely interpretation than the one that sees Jesus saying that since they had rejected His teaching they would also reject the disciples' teaching.498Some in the world did indeed believe Jesus' teachings, and some would believe the disciples' teachings.
15:21 Ultimately the disciples would experience opposition because of Jesus. "My name's sake"is the equivalent of "me."Responses to the lives and witness of Jesus' disciples really turn on who He is, not on who the witnesses are. Obviously we can aggravate and provoke persecution by our carnal conduct, but Jesus was explaining the basic theological reason for the opposition we face, not the secondary sociological reasons.
People rejected Jesus because they did not know God who had sent Him. They were ignorant of Him because they were spiritually blind (cf. Rom. 1:28). Consequently they could not evaluate the Messenger whom God had sent. Jesus implied that they would reject His disciples too because they did not know God who had sent them. Again the close unity between the Father and the Son and between the Son and abiding believers comes through.
15:22-23 Jesus obviously did not mean that it would have been better for the world if He had remained in heaven. His point was that by coming into the world and preaching and working miracles He had confronted people with their rebellion against God (cf. Matt. 11:20-24; Luke 11:31-32). Jesus' words and works were the Father's who had sent Him. Therefore the world's rejection of them constituted rejection of the Father. To hate Jesus amounted to hating God. This is another strong implication of Jesus' deity.
15:24-25 These verses amplify the former two. They also add the idea that the world's hatred did not jeopardize God's redemptive plan. Its hatred was part of what God predicted would accompany Messiah's mission. The Jews' own Scriptures condemned their unbelief. Probably the quotation comes from Psalm 69:4. David experienced hatred for no reason. How much more would the Son of David experience it.
15:26-27 Even though the world rejected Jesus, the Spirit characterized by truth would bear witness that Jesus was the Son of God (cf. 14:16-17, 26). He would do this after He came on the day of Pentecost. After that, the disciples would also testify, similarly empowered by the Spirit. The basis of their testimony would be their long association with and intimate knowledge of Jesus (cf. Acts 1:21-22).
These verses explain how the conflict between Jesus and the world would continue after He departed to heaven. The essence of the conflict would continue to be who Jesus is.
Verse 26 also contains a strong testimony to the deity of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus described as proceeding from the Father as He had done (cf. 14:26).499It refers to all three members of the Trinity and reveals something of their functional relationships to one another. "The beginning"is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
