John 15

John 15:1-16

Abiding in the Spirit – The theme of Joh 15:1 to John 16:4 is abiding in the Holy Spirit. Once the disciples have learned to walk in humility and true servanthood (John 13:1-38), and after receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit (John 14:1-31), they must learn how to abide in the Spirit before they can do the works of God. However, with this lifestyle of abiding in the Spirit there will come persecutions and hatred from the world. Outline – Here is a proposed outline -

1. The True Vine — John 15:1-172. Hatred from the World (Fourth Scripture Filled) — John 15:18 to John 16:4

John 15:18-16

Fourth Scripture Filled: Hatred from the World – In John 15:18 to John 16:4 John the apostle records the fourth Old Testament prophecy fulfilled during Jesus’ Passion. Jesus prepares the disciples for His departure by telling them about the hatred of the world being a fulfillment of prophecy. This hatred will be experienced by His disciples when they learn how to abide in the vine (John 15:1-17). As we abide in Him and go forth to produce fruit, we face certain persecutions from the world. As we testify the name of Jesus, the world will certainly hate us. John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. John 15:19 — “I have chosen you out of the world” - Scripture References - 1 Corinthians 10:6, “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” 2 Timothy 2:4, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. John 15:20 — “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord” – Scripture References - Matthew 10:24, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” Luke 6:40, “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” John 13:16, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.” John 15:20 — “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” - Comments - This phrase is an example of poetic Hebrew parallelism, found throughout the Gospel of John, especially in the first chapter. John 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. John 15:22 — Comments - The word “sin” in John 15:22 is singular in the Greek text, referring to the sinful nature of mankind. Thus, Jesus said that the one who believes not in Him is already judged for his sinful nature (John 3:18). Once Jesus came and manifested God’s love and holiness to mankind, they were no longer without excuse. All people can know the general revelation about God through His creation; but special revelation of God’s plan of redemption came through Jesus Christ. We find Paul saying the same thing in his speech to the Athenians on Mar’s Hill (Acts 17:30). John 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Acts 17:30, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:” John 15:23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. John 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. John 15:24 — Comments - Jesus offered them good works, works that no Old Testament prophet had ever preformed, such as opening the eyes of the blind (John 9:32). John 9:32, “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.” John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. John 15:25 — Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament – John 15:25 quotes from either Psalms 35:19 or Psalms 69:4. Psalms 35:19, “Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.” Psalms 69:4, “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.” John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: John 15:26 — “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth” – Comments - The Comforter will be sent from the Father because of Jesus’ request on the day of Pentecost. John 15:26 — “he shall testify of me” – Comments - Jesus tells His disciples that the Holy Spirit’s primary office will by to testify of Him. We look back in the Old Testament and see how the Father testified of Himself. We then see in the Gospels of how Jesus testified of the Father. Now, in the book of Acts and New Testament Epistles we see the Holy Spirit testifying of Jesus Christ. John 15:27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. John 16:1 — Comments - Within the context of Joh 15:18 to John 16:4 Jesus is explaining how the world will hate us and persecute us because of our testimony of Jesus Christ. John 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. John 16:2 — “the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” – Comments - The Jews began persecuting and killing the Christians in the name of religious duty as early as the book of Acts. Saul of Tarsus oversaw the death of Stephen and many other early Christians. Galatians 1:13-14, “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” After Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans, their emperors began to persecute and kill all Christians in the Roman Empire in the name of their gods. These persecutions lasted until Constantine declared Christianity the official state religion.This prophecy has certainly come true in the beliefs of the Muslim religion. This religion builds its doctrine around the fact that all non-Muslims should be killed. They kill Christians in the name of their god. Listen to these verses from the Koran:[248] [248] E. H. Palmer, The Qur’ân part 1, in The Sacred Books of the East, ed. F. Max Müller (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880), 102, 170, 173, 176-177.“The reward of those who make war against God and His Apostle, and strive after violence in the earth, is only that they shall be slaughtered or crucified, or their hands cut off and their feet on alternate sides, or that they shall be banished from the land.” (Surah 5.36) “Prepare ye against them what force and companies of horse ye can, to make - the enemies of God, and your enemies, and others beside them, in dread thereof.” (Surah 8.60) “But when the sacred months are passed away, kill the idolaters wherever ye may find them; and take them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in every place of observation.” (Surah 9.5) “Fight those who believe not in God and in the last day, and who forbid not what God and His Apostle have forbidden, and who do not practice the religion of truth from amongst those to whom the Book has been brought, until they pay the tribute by their hands and be as little ones.” (Surah 9.29) The Muslim religion has a history of war and persecutions against Jews, Christians and all non-Muslims societies. They have spread their faith by force, and not by the will of their victims, but rather by fear of terror, and not by faith in God. This is a description of the spirit of antichrist. It is the powers of darkness at war against God’s people, both Jews and Christians alike. The New Testament refers to different types of spirits, such as unclean spirit, spirits of infirmity, spirits of divination, deaf and dumb spirits, seducing spirits, etc. However, the spirit of antichrist is a particular spirit that will focus on making war against the children of God. 1 John 4:3 tells us that this spirit is already in the world and has been making war with God’s children since his day. Jesus describes the antichrist when He told His disciples, “that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” John 16:2, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” Jesus also refers to this spirit in Matthew 24-25. Matthew 24:9, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” John 16:2 — Scripture Reference - Note a similar verse: John 9:22, “These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.” Note: John 15:13-14, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 16:1-2 — “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues” - Comments - Robert Gundry says that the Jews during the last part of the first century, when John wrote his Gospel, incorporated a Benediction against Heretics into the liturgy of their services in an effort to ostracize all Jewish Christians from synagogues. Since it was possible that many Jewish converts were expelled from these synagogues, he suggests that John may have included the story of the healing of the blind man and the response from the Pharisees (John 9:1-34) as a source of encouragement to these persecuted Jewish Christians.[249] [249] The benediction reads, “For the excommunicate let there be no hope, and the kingdom of pride do Thou quickly root out in our days. And let the Christians and the heretics perish as in a moment. Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and with the righteous let them not be written. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who subdueth the proud.” See Robert H. Gundry, A Survey of the New Testament, revised edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), 104.John 16:1-2 — Comments – The Institution of the Church - Jesus’ words in John 16:1-2 are the first indications that the institution of the Church will not be associated with the Jewish nation. This is because the Church is to be born largely out of the Gentile nations. The Jewish nation will reject these believes and persecute them. John 16:4 — “But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them” - Comments - Jesus was able to speak to them face to face for the final time. After His resurrection and ascension, He will speak to them by the Spirit of God. “And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you” – Comments - Jesus could have spoken to them from the beginning, meaning He knew all of these things about His passion and resurrection from the beginning.