John 15:18-25

Expanded Bible

Jesus Warns His Followers

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me ·first [before you]. ¹⁹ If you ·belonged to [^Lwere of] the world, it would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you out of the world, ·so [because] you don’t belong to it. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember ·what [the word] I told you: A ·servant [slave; bond-servant] is not greater than his ·master [lord; see 13:16]. If people ·did wrong to [persecuted] me, they will ·do wrong to [persecute] you, too. And if they ·obeyed my teaching [^Lkept my word], they will ·obey [keep] yours, too. ²¹ [^LBut] They will do all this to you on account of ·me [^Lmy name; 14:13], because they do not know the One who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ I did works among them that no one else has ever done. If I had not done these works, they would not be guilty of sin. [^CJesus’ words and actions resulted in their guilt because they rejected him despite the evidence (the “signs”) that God was working through him; see Matt. 11:20–24; Luke 11:31–32.] But now they have seen what I have done, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this happened so that what is written in their law ·would be true [^Lmight be fulfilled]: ‘They hated me for no reason [^Cthe quote could be from Ps. 35:19 or Ps. 69:4].’