John 15:22
in John 15If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.
KJV
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
⋯
This verse in John 15
Commentary
23 notes on this verseBut now they have no cloke for their sin - (margin: Or, excuse) They are without excuse. See the note on Joh 9:41. Christ had done such works as demonstrated him to be the Messiah - yet they rejected him: here lay their sin; and this sin, and the punishment to which it exposed them, still remain; for they still continue to reject the Lord that bought them.
This site's exposition
they have no excuse for their sin
on John 15:22-25
The coming and the speaking took away the excuse, prophasis in Greek, a covering held over the deed. Hating the Son is hating the Father, and the works no one else did are laid beside the words as a second ground of guilt. The line quoted comes from the Psalms, 35:19 and 69:4.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
(Tract. lxxxix. 1) Christ spoke to the Jews only, not to any other nation. In them then was that world which hated Christ and His disciples; and not only in them, but in us also. Were the Jews then without sin before Christ came in the flesh, because Christ had not spoken to them? By sin here He means not every sin, but a certain great sin, which includes all, and which alone hinders the remission of other sins, viz. unbelief. They did not believe in Christ, who came that they might believe on Him. This sin then they would not have had, had not Christ come; for Christ's advent, as it was the salvation of the believing, so was the perdition of the unbelieving. But now they have no cloke for their sin. If those to whom Christ had not come or spoken, had not an excuse (προφασιν, excusationem Vulg. cloke E. T.) for their sin, why is it said here that these had no excuse, because Christ had come and spoken to them? If the first had excuse, did it do away with their punishment altogether, or only mitigate it? I answer, that this excuse covered, not all their sin, but only this one, viz. that they did not believe in Christ. But they are not of this number to whom Christ came by His disciples: they are not to be let off with a lighter punishment, who altogether refused to receive Christ's love, and, as far as concerned them, wished its destruction. This excuse they may have who died before they heard of Christ's Gospel; but this will not shield them from damnation. For whoever are not saved in the Saviour, who came to seek what was lost, shall without doubt go to perdition: though some will have lighter, others severer punishments. He perishes to God, who is punished with an exclusion from that happiness which is given to the saints. […]
The Lord had said above to His disciples, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me." And if we inquire of whom He so spake, we find that He was led on to these words from what He had said before, "If the world hate you, know ye that it hated me before it hated you;" and now in adding, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin," He more expressly pointed to the Jews. Of them, therefore, He also uttered the words that precede, for so does the context itself imply. For it is of the same parties that He said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin;" of whom He also said, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also; but all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me;" for it is to these words that He also subjoins the following: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." The Jews, therefore, persecuted Christ, as the Gospel very clearly indicates, and Christ spake to the Jews, not to other nations; and it is they, therefore, that He meant to be understood by the world, that hateth Christ and His disciples; and, indeed, not those alone, but even these latter were shown by Him to belong to the same world. What, then, does He mean by the words, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin"? Was it that the Jews were without sin before Christ came to them in the flesh? Who, though he were the greatest fool, would say so? But it is some great sin, and not every sin, that He would have to be understood, as it were, under the general designation. […]
But when He went on to say, "But now they have no excuse for their sin," some may be moved to inquire whether those to whom Christ neither came nor spake, have an excuse for their sin. For if they have not, why is it said here that these had none, on the very ground that He did come and speak to them? And if they have, have they it to the extent of thereby being barred from punishment, or of receiving it in a milder degree? To these inquiries, with the Lord's help and to the best of my capacity, I reply, that such have an excuse, not for every one of their sins, but for this sin of not believing on Christ, inasmuch as He came not and spake not to them. But it is not in the number of such that those are to be included, to whom He came in the persons of His disciples, and to whom He spake by them, as He also does at present; for by His Church He has come, and by His Church He speaks to the Gentiles. For to this are to be referred the words that He spake, "He that receiveth you, receiveth me;" and, "He that despiseth you, despiseth me." "Or would ye," says the Apostle Paul, "have a proof of Him that speaketh in me, namely Christ."
But it is also a worthy subject of inquiry, whether those who met the words they heard with contempt, and even with opposition, and that not merely by contradicting them, but also by persecuting in their hatred those from whom they heard them, are to be reckoned among those in regard to whom the words, "they shall be judged by the law," convey somewhat of a milder sound. But if it is one thing to perish without the law, and another to be judged by the law; and the former is the heavier, the latter the lighter punishment: such, without a doubt, are not to have their place assigned in that lighter measure of punishment; for, so far from sinning in the law, they utterly refused to accept the law of Christ, and, as far as in them lay, would have had it altogether annihilated. But those that sin in the law, are such as are in the law, that is, who accept it, and confess that it is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good; but fail through infirmity in fulfilling what they cannot doubt is most righteously enjoined therein. These are they in regard to whose fate there may perhaps be some distinction made from the perdition of those who are without the law: and yet if the apostle's words, "they shall be judged by the law," are to be understood as meaning, they shall not perish, what a wonder if it were so. For his discourse was not about infidels and believers to lead him to say so, but about Gentiles and Jews, both of whom, certainly, if they find not salvation in that Saviour who came to seek that which was lost, shall doubtless become the prey of perdition; although it may be said that some shall perish in a more terrible, others in a more mitigated sense; in other words, that some shall suffer a heavier, and others a lighter penalty in their perdition. […]
That declaration in the Gospel, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin," makes it clear to all who are rational just how long a time a person is without sin and just when he is liable to sin. By participating in the word or reason, people are said to have sinned, that is, from the time they are capable of understanding, from the time that the reason implanted within them suggests to them the difference between good and evil. After they have begun to know what evil is, they are liable for any sin they commit.This is the meaning of the expression that "people have no excuse for their sin," namely, that from the time the divine word or reason has begun to show them internally the difference between good and evil, they ought to avoid and guard against evil: "For to the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
16 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers4 voices
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Gospel of John, Book 10 · Written before 444.
proposed
We may take in two ways the meaning of the words before us. For if any one should suppose that this passage was directed against Greeks and Jews alike, we say that unless the Divine and heavenly message, I mean the Gospel, had come to all that are on the earth, pointing out to each individual the way of salvation and making plain the works of righteousness, their complete ignorance of what is pleasing to God would perhaps have been a strong reason in each case for the pardon of those who are not eager in pursuing virtue. This ignorance of theirs makes them seem worthy of pardon. But whereas the word of the Gospel has been directed to all men, what reason for pardon is there, or with what words should any one address Him that judgeth, when accused after knowledge of the worst crimes? But if the Lord is saying this concerning the Jews only, as having very often listened to His teaching, and as being in no way ignorant of what He commanded them to think and do, let Him illustrate it thus: They will not endure your teaching, He says, but will bring upon you trials and persecutions, and will devise against you every kind of terror, and from their bitterness will be consumed with an unjust hatred against you, not able indeed to charge you with any wickedness, but blaming only your love towards Me. But searching as it were for an excuse for the cruelty of their madness, and diminishing the baseness of their love of self-gratification, they will actually cite Moses and the books of Moses, and will pretend that I was an opponent of their ancestral laws. […]
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. "Why then didst Thou bring us into such calamities? Didst Thou not foreknow the wars, the hatred?" Therefore again He saith,...
The mystery of Christ is so great that even angels stood amazed and bewildered before it. This is why, then, it is your duty to worship him and, as a servant, this is why you should not detract from your Lord. You cannot plead ignorance because establishing your faith is why he came down in the first place. If you do not believe, he has not come down for you or suffered for you. "If I had not come," says the Scripture, "and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.
It remains for us to inquire, whether those who, prior to the coming of Christ in His Church to the Gentiles and to their hearing of His Gospel, have been, or are now being, overtaken by the close of this life, can have such an excuse? Evidently they can, but not on that account can they escape damnation. "For as many as have sinned without the law, shall also perish without the law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law." And these words of the apostle, inasmuch as his saying, "they shall perish," has a more terrible sound than when he says, "they shall be judged," seem to show that such an excuse can not only avail them nothing, but even becomes an additional aggravation. For those that excuse themselves because they did not hear, "shall perish without the law."
The Medieval Church4 voices
Is it really just that they do this? They hate both Me and My Father and you? Did they really find in My words or deeds a reason for such behavior? No, their sin is unforgivable. For did I not come and teach? If I …
If I had not come. Here now in the third place the malice of those who hate and persecute is shown. He shows therefore their malice to be inexcusable both through what they heard and through what they saw: through what they heard: whence he …
There is a question about what he says: If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would not have sin. 1. Therefore, according to this reasoning, those who do not hear and do not believe are not condemned for unbelief; which …
2044 Before, when our Lord said that the Jews would persecute his disciples, he gave as the reason that the Jews did not know the one who sent him. Now, since ignorance usually excuses one, he here shows that they are inexcusable. He does this …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " If I had not spoken unto them, to court their love, they had not had sin, their opposition had not amounted to a hatred of me, their sin had been comparatively no sin.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
If I had not come and spoken unto them,....
The Nineteenth Century6 voices
THE PECULIAR SIN of the Jews, the sin which aggravated above everything their former iniquities, was their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He had been very plainly described in the books of the prophets, and they who waited for him, such as Simeon and Anna, no sooner beheld him even in his infant state, than they rejoiced to see him, and understood that God had sent forth his salvation.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin--comparatively none; all other sins being light compared with the rejection of the Son of God. now they have no cloak for their sin--rather, "pretext."
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
proposed
In these verses our Lord Jesus Christ handles three subjects of great importance. They are difficult subjects, no doubt, subjects on which we may easily fall into error. But the words before us throw much light upon them. We should observe, for one thing, how our Lord speaks of the misuse of religious privileges. It intensifies man's guilt, and will increase his condemnation. He tells His disciples that if He had not "spoken" and "done" among the Jews things which none ever spoke or did before, "they would not be guilty of sin."
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
proposed
In these verses our Lord Jesus Christ handles three subjects of great importance. They are difficult subjects, no doubt, subjects on which we may easily fall into error. But the words before us throw much light upon them. We should observe, for one thing, how our Lord speaks of the misuse of religious privileges. It intensifies man's guilt, and will increase his condemnation. He tells His disciples that if He had not "spoken" and "done" among the Jews things which none ever spoke or did before, "they would not be guilty of sin." By this, we must remember, He means, "they had not been so sinful and so guilty as they are now. But now they were utterly without excuse." They had seen Christ's works, and heard Christ's teaching, and yet remained unbelieving. What more could be done for them? Nothing. absolutely nothing! They wilfully sinned against the clearest possible light, and were of all men most guilty. Let us settle it down as a first principle in our religion, that religious privileges are in a certain sense very dangerous things. If they do not help us toward heaven, they will only sink us deeper into hell. They add to our responsibility. "To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." (Luke 12:48.) He that dwells in a land of open Bibles and preached Gospel, and yet dreams that he will stand in the judgment day on the same level with an untaught Chinese, is fearfully deceived. He will find to his own cost, except he repents, that his judgment will be according to his light. The mere fact that he had knowledge and did not improve it, will of itself prove one of his greatest sins. "He that knew His Master's will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." (Luke 12:47.) Well would it be for all professing Christians in England, if this point was more thoroughly considered!
THE PECULIAR SIN of the Jews, the sin which aggravated above everything their former iniquities, was their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He had been very plainly described in the books of the prophets, and they who waited for him, such as Simeon and Anna, no sooner beheld him even in his infant state, than they rejoiced to see him, and understood that God had sent forth his salvation. But because Jesus Christ did not answer the expectation of that evil generation because he did not come arrayed in pomp and clothed with power, because he had not the outward garnishing of a prince and the honors of a king, they shut their eyes against him, he was “a root out of a dry ground,” he was “despised and they esteemed him not.” Nor did their sin stop there. Not content with denying his Messiahship, they were exceeding hot against him in their anger; they hunted him all his life, seeking his blood; nor were they content till their fiendish malice had been fully glutted by sitting down at the foot of the cross, and watching the dying throes and the expiring agonies of their crucified Messiah. Though over the cross itself the words were written, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” yet they knew not their king, God’s everlasting Son; and knowing him not, they crucified him, “for had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Now, the sin of the Jews is every day repeated by the Gentiles; that which they did once, many have done every day. Are there not many of you now present this day, listening to my voice, who forget the Messiah? You do not trouble yourself to deny him; you would not degrade yourselves, in what is called a Christian country, by standing up to blaspheme his name.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And spoken unto them - Declared unto them the will of God, and made known his requirements. Jesus had not less certainly shown by his own arguments that he was the Messiah than by his miracles. By both these kinds of proof their guilt was to be measured. See Joh 15:26. No small part of the gospel of John consists of arguments used by the Saviour to convince the Jews that he came from God. He here says if he had not used these arguments, and proved to them his divine mission, they had not had sin. Had not had sin - This is evidently to be understood of the particular sin of persecuting and rejecting him. Of this he was speaking; and though, if he had not come, they would have been guilty of many other sins, yet of this, their great crowning sin, they would not have been guilty. We may understand this, then, as teaching: 1. That they would not have been guilty of this kind of sin. They would not have been chargeable with rejecting the signal grace of God if Jesus had not come and made an offer of mercy to them. 2. They would not have been guilty of the same degree of sin. The rejection of the Messiah was the crowning act of rebellion which brought down the vengeance of God, and led on their special national calamities. By way of eminence, therefore, this might be called the sin - the special sin of their age and nation. Compare Mat 23:34-39; Mat 27:25. And this shows us, what is so often taught in the Scriptures, that our guilt will be in proportion to the light that we possess and the mercies that we reject, Mat 11:20-24; Luk 12:47-48. If it was such a crime to reject the Saviour then, it is a crime now; and if the rejection of the Son of God brought such calamities on the Jewish nation, the same rejection will involve the sinner now in woe, and vengeance, and despair. No cloak - No covering, no excuse. […]
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Εἰ | ei | only | G1487 → | 508 times |
| μὴ | me | unless | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| ἦλθον | elthon | I come | G2064 → | 628 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐλάλησα | elalesa | I said | G2980 → | 294 times |
| αὐτοῖς, | autois | to them, | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ἁμαρτίαν | hamartian | sin | G266 → | 173 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| εἴχοσαν· | eichosan | they had; | G2192 → | 707 times |
| νῦν | nun | now | G3568 → | 145 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| πρόφασιν | prophasin | excuse | G4392 → | |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔχουσιν | echousin | they have | G2192 → | 707 times |
| περὶ | peri | for | G4012 → | 332 times |
| τῆς | tes | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἁμαρτίας | hamartias | sin | G266 → | 173 times |
| αὐτῶν. | auton | of them. | G846 → | 5565 times |
Εἰonly
eiG1487 →508 times
μὴunless
meG3361 →1066 times
ἦλθονI come
elthonG2064 →628 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐλάλησαI said
elalesaG2980 →294 times
αὐτοῖς,to them,
autoisG846 →5565 times
ἁμαρτίανsin
hamartianG266 →173 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
εἴχοσαν·they had;
eichosanG2192 →707 times
νῦνnow
nunG3568 →145 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
πρόφασινexcuse
prophasinG4392 →
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔχουσινthey have
echousinG2192 →707 times
περὶfor
periG4012 →332 times
τῆςthe
tesG3588 →19766 times
ἁμαρτίαςsin
hamartiasG266 →173 times
αὐτῶν.of them.
autonG846 →5565 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
James 4:17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.
it leads to
- John 9:41
“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
- John 13:17
If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
- 2 Peter 2:21
It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.
- John 9:41
Through
Romans 1:20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
it leads to
- Romans 1:19
For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
- Isaiah 40:26
Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one…
- Psalms 19:1–6
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
- Psalms 8:3
When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—
- Romans 1:19
Through
Acts 17:30Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
it leads to
- Acts 14:16
In past generations, He let all nations go their own way.
- Acts 14:16
Where this verse is studied
About John
This page draws on 18 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.2.27; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John 89; Bonaventure, Commentary on John, Chapter 15; Bonaventure, Commentary on John, Chapter 16; Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 194: “Human Responsibility” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); 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 (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.3.6; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on John and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John.