John 15:18 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 15:18

Comments

The world’s hatred for Christ and his church is something which for some reason many Christian people are very reluctant to grasp. The intrinsic and total hatred of the world for Christ and for his church is something that we recoil from, and it is a great mistake to do so.It is probably a little unfortunate that the verse begins with the word ‘if’ – ‘If the world hates you’; it may, it may not. The Greek indicates that there is one thing which is absolutely certain and it is that the hatred of the world is inevitable. You have to take the word ‘if’ here more in the sense of ‘when’. That is not a reflection of the Greek, but it is the sense – ‘When the world hate you’. The word ‘if’ is really speaking about something which has not happened to the disciples yet. They have been protected up to this point. The hatred of the world has been focussed on Christ not on them. But with his death and resurrection, and their being his representatives and the proclaimers of the Gospel, it is going to be directed at them. It is not just likely; it is inevitable, it will happen, because they hate him. Why would the disciples be hated as Christ himself was hated? Because they are going to be his witnesses. The church is going to proclaim the message of Christ, the person of Christ, the salvation which is in Christ, and so it will draw fire. The world does not want to respond to such a call. They would be preaching Christ’s message – repentance and remission of sins. That is humbling, belittling, convicting, and the world would react against that, just as it had reacted against Christ.

Application

At the beginning of the twentieth century, here in London a lot of Bible-believing churches started to think the same way, leaving behind the old doctrines of a fallen nature, and of the inherent antagonism to God, they started organising what were called Christians Institutes (nothing to do with the modern Christian Institute which deals with Christian legal matters). The idea was you could get to do anything you wanted to do in church. We see the seeker-sensitive business of the 1980s in the United States – nothing new under the sun. You could go to church weeknight to play badminton, play football, do handcrafts, do knitting, embroidery, everything was organised. The idea was that you draw the community in, and they would get to know you and like you, and think, ‘Oh this Christianity has a smiling face, and it is nothing threatening, nothing to make us anxious’, and they would accept the message. But it brought about the death of the churches. Most of the churches that had institutes very quickly went liberal, and on into the twentieth century they shrank and died. You cannot put a different face on the gospel of Christ. It is calling men and women to repentance and to leave the old life, and to serve the Lord and to seek him, and to leave the world’s side, and you cannot alter that.

Friendship evangelism in its different forms comes back again and again. Start with friendship, and be as they are, and befriend people. Yes, we want to befriend people and we do not want to be unkind to people, and of course we have got to be pleasant and sensible and wise in the presentation of truth, but no, the warning of Scripture is, you will fill the church with wood, hay and stubble. You have altered the message of the gospel in a subtle way. Now, of course, it finds its expression in the contemporary Christian worship movement, and the adoption of all the worldly entertainment forms, and the rock concert in aid of the gospel. You are saying to the world, you can keep the world and you can have Christ and salvation and eternal life too. There is constant inclination to try to do this, and it is foolishness.

Often hatred wears a polite face. I know myself of many efforts that have been made by leading scientists and others who do not agree with the theory of evolution to canvass the BBC and others to take their programs, to let them present their views. Do you think they made any progress? Of course not. A polite form of words, but inevitable rejection and rebuff every time. And yet eagerly the BBC will let Professor Dawkins roam round the world finding mad, unhinged religious extremists in order to present them as the face of biblical religion, in order to belittle the faith and ridicule it and diminish it. They love to put those kinds of programs on. It is the hatred of the world. The opposition is also in government. Only a few years ago, the government of the day legislated to make it illegal in this country to teach in a school anything other than atheistic evolution. It is the law here. It was not even the law in Soviet Russia, but it is the law here in England.

Questions

The word translated ‘hate’ comes from the verb to detest. There is detestation of Christ once people really understand who he is and what he stands for. It always has been the case, but we Christians go on thinking in this romantic way so often.

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Purpose

Introduction

John 15:18 Commentary and Bible Study