John 15:21
in John 15But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
KJV
But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
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This verse in John 15
Commentary
17 notes on this verseA commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
The passage before us opens with a renewed exhortation to brotherly love. For the third time in this discourse our Lord thinks it needful to press this precious grace on the attention of His disciples. Rare, indeed, must genuine charity be, when such repeated mention of it is made! In the present instance the connection in which it stands should be carefully observed. Christian love is placed in contrast to the hatred of the world. We are shown first, in this passage, what true Christians must expect to meet in this world—hatred and persecution.
This site's exposition
No servant is greater than his master
on John 15:20-21
The saying comes from the footwashing at 13:16 and now carries persecution with it. What they did to the master they will do to the servants, and what they kept of His word they will keep of theirs. The root is ignorance of the One who sent Him.
This site's exposition
because of My name, since they
They will be treated this way because they bear His name and follow Him. Those who treat them so do not know the Father who sent the Son, and will not believe that He sent Him. Suffering for His name is an honour, as Acts 5:41 shows.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
(Tract. lxxxviii. 2) All these things, viz. what He had mentioned, that the world would hate them, persecute them, despise their word. For My Name's sake, i. e. in you they will hate Me, in you persecute Me, your word they will not keep, because it is mine. They who do these things for His name's sake are as miserable, as they who suffer them are blessed: except when they do them to the wicked as well; for then both they who do, and they who suffer, are miserable. But how do they do all these things for His name's sake, when they do nothing for Christ's name's sake, i. e. for justice sake? We shall do away with this difficulty, if we take the words as applying to the righteous; as if it were, All these things will ye suffer from them, for My name's sake. If, for My name's sake, mean this, i. e. My name which they hate in you, justice which they hate in you; of the good, when they persecute the wicked, it may be said in the same way, that they do so both for righteousness' sake, which they love, which love is their motive in persecuting, and for unrighteousness' sake, the unrighteousness of the wicked, which they hate. Because they know not Him that sent Me, i. e. know not according to that knowledge of which it is said, To know Thee is perfect righteousness. (Wisd. 15:3)
"But all these things," He says, "will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me." And what are "all these things" that "they will do," but what He has just said, namely, that they will hate and persecute you, and despise your word? For if they kept not their word, and yet neither hated nor persecuted them; or if they even hated, but did not persecute them: it would not be all these things that they did. But "all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake,"-what else is that but to say, they will hate me in you, they will persecute me in you; and your word, just because it is mine, they will not keep? For "all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake:" not for yours, but mine. So much the more miserable, therefore, are those who do such things on account of that name, as those are blessed who suffer such things in its behalf: as He Himself elsewhere saith, "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness' sake." For that is on my account, or "for my name's sake:" because, as we are taught by the apostle, "He is made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and santification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." For the wicked do such things to the wicked, but not for righteousness' sake; and therefore both are alike miserable, those who do, and those who suffer them. The good also do such things to the wicked: where, although the former do so for righteousness' sake, yet the latter suffer them not on the same behalf.
And He added, "Because they know not Him that sent me." This is to be understood as spoken of that knowledge of which it is also elsewhere recorded, "But to know Thee is perfect intelligence." For those who with such a knowledge know the Father, by whom Christ was sent, can in no wise persecute those whom Christ is gathering; for they also themselves are being gathered by Christ along with the others.
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10 · Written before 444.
proposed
He declares that those who choose to act impiously against His holy disciples will do it on no other plea than "My Name" only. For this is a reproach against those who honour God, and an excuse for setting themselves against them on the part of those who do not know Him.
"But all these things will they do unto you for My Name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me." That is, "they insult Him also." Besides this, depriving those others of excuse, and putting also another source of comfort, He saith, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." Showing that they shall do unjustly both what they do against Him and against them.
9 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
2043 Now he amplifies on the second consideration that would console them, which is based on the reason for their being hated. The apostles were chosen and raised above the world insofar as they had been made sharers of divinity and joined to God. This …
But this is not so. They will keep neither My word nor yours. But all that they will do to you on account of Me. Therefore, if you love Me, endure what you suffer for My sake, Whom, by your own words, you love. Here …
And worldly men also persecute the head and the members; they do not persecute the head on account of the members, but conversely; whence he says: But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, namely to destroy it, for which …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you ( 1 Pet. iv. 14 ), happy indeed, considering not only the honour that is imprinted upon those sufferings ( Acts v. 41 ), but the comfort that is infused into them, and especially the crown of glory which those sufferings lead to. If we suffer with Christ, and for Christ, we shall reign with him.
They know not God as he that sent our Lord Jesus, and authorized him to be the great Mediator of the peace. We do not rightly know God if we do not know him in Christ, and those who persecute those whom he sends make it to appear that they know not that he was sent of God. The world hates Christ himself.
But all these things will they do unto you,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
proposed
The passage before us opens with a renewed exhortation to brotherly love. For the third time in this discourse our Lord thinks it needful to press this precious grace on the attention of His disciples. Rare, indeed, must genuine charity be, when such repeated mention of it is made! In the present instance the connection in which it stands should be carefully observed. Christian love is placed in contrast to the hatred of the world. We are shown first, in this passage, what true Christians must expect to meet in this world—hatred and persecution. If the disciples looked for kindness and gratitude from man they would be painfully disappointed. They must lay their account to be ill-treated like their Master. "The world hates you. Be not moved or surprised. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also." Facts, painful facts in every age, supply abundant proof that our Lord's warning was not without cause. Persecution was the lot of the Apostles and their companions wherever they went. Not more than one or two of them died quietly in his bed. Persecution has been the lot of true believers throughout the eighteen Christian centuries of history. The doings of Roman Emperors and Roman Popes, the Spanish inquisition, the martyrdoms of Queen Mary's reign, all tell the same story. Persecution is the lot of all really godly people at this very day. Ridicule, mockery, slander, misrepresentations still show the feeling of unconverted people against the true Christian. As it was in Paul's day, so it is now. In public and in private, at school and at college, at home and abroad, "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Tim. 3:12.) Mere churchmanship and outward profession are a cheap religion, of course, and cost a man nothing.
Because they know not him that sent me - This is the foundation of all religious persecution: those who are guilty of it, whether in Church or state, know nothing about God. If God tolerates a worship which professes to have him for its object, and which does not disturb the quiet or peace of society, no man has the smallest right to meddle with it; and he that does fights against God. His letting it pass is at least a tacit command that all should treat it as he has done.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
My name’s sake - On my account. Because you are my followers and possess my spirit. See the notes at Joh 14:13. Because they know not him that sent me - They will not believe that God has sent me. They do not so understand his character, his justice, or his law, as to see that it was fit that he should send his Son to die.
The words behind it
16 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀλλὰ | alla | But | G235 → | 635 times |
| ταῦτα | tauta | these things | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| πάντα | panta | all | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ποιήσουσιν | poiesousin | they will do | G4160 → | 569 times |
| εἰς | eis | against | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| ὑμᾶς | humas | you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| διὰ | dia | on account of | G1223 → | 664 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄνομά | onoma | name | G3686 → | 227 times |
| μου, | mou | of Me, | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| οἴδασιν | oidasin | they know | ||
| τὸν | ton | the [One] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πέμψαντά | pempsanta | having sent | G3992 → | 79 times |
| με.¶ | me | Me. | G3165 → | 1936 times |
ἀλλὰBut
allaG235 →635 times
ταῦταthese things
tautaG3778 →1381 times
πάνταall
pantaG3956 →1235 times
ποιήσουσινthey will do
poiesousinG4160 →569 times
εἰςagainst
eisG1519 →1755 times
ὑμᾶςyou
humasG4771 →2973 times
διὰon account of
diaG1223 →664 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
ὄνομάname
onomaG3686 →227 times
μου,of Me,
mouG3165 →1936 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
οἴδασινthey know
oidasin
τὸνthe [One]
tonG3588 →19766 times
πέμψαντάhaving sent
pempsantaG3992 →79 times
με.¶Me.
meG3165 →1936 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 10:22You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
it leads to
- Revelation 2:10
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 24:13
But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
- Mark 13:13
You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- Matthew 10:39
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
- Revelation 2:10
Through
Matthew 24:9Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
it leads to
- John 16:2
They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
- John 15:19–20
If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- Luke 21:16–17
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death.
- John 16:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
About John
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John 88; Bonaventure, Commentary on John, Chapter 15; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 77; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on John and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John.