The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 306

by extending the truth amongst unbelievers. Jesus here refers to two wnys in which hie disciples should experience the hostility of an unbelieving world. I. Ecclcsiastic11l censure and excommunication. Doubtless the reference here is to the ,Jews. Even during our Lord's ministry, those who confessed him were in some instances excluded from the eynngogues. And when the Church was constituted by the descent of the Spirit, and especially when the broad designs of Christianity as a religion, not for Israel only, but for mankind, were clearly exhibited, then the hostility of the bi"oted amon" the Jewish lenders and the Jewish populace knew no bounds. Reverencing everything connected with the Law and the prophets, the preachers of Christ would fain have resorted to the synagogues as of old, would fa.in have reasoned out of the Scriptures with a view of proving that Jesus WM the Messiah, and of showing how his religion realized all the types and predictions of Judaism. But the merit and the glory of Christianity was, in the eyes of legalists and formalists, its chief offence; and a sharp line was drawn, over which the followers of the Nazarene were not suffered to step. 2. Temporal and corporal infliction, reaching even to death. The Jews did, as we know from the record of the Acts, even very early in the history of the Christian faith, ca1Ty their enmity so far as to inflict capital punishment upon a Christian advocate. But it seems as if our Lord, in this prediction, looked forward to events which should follow the proclamation of the gospel among the Gentiles. The annals of the Church of Christ are rich indeed in instances of martyrdom. And it has passed into a proverb, that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Chnrch." II. THE MOTIVE TO PERSECUTION. Our Lord admitted that the motive to much of the persecution that should assail the professors of the faith was a conscientious and even a religious motive. Events have confirmed this attribution of motive. No doubt there have been persecutors who have acted from interested, selfish motives. But there have been those who have persecuted Christians in the belief that they were doing God a service, offering to him en acceptable sacrifice in the blood of the" faithful unto death." The Jews particularly were, in many instances, influenced in their hostility to Christians bye reverence for what they believed, however erroneously, to be the perfect religion, capable of no addition, no improvement. The professions and claims made first by Jesus, and afterwards by his servants on his behalf, were of a very high and authorita- tive character. "Christ was either the Son of God or he was a blasphemer; and we know that the latter view was taken by many of the Jewish unbelievers. It is no justification of evil conduct that those guilty of it ere sincere; yet sincere ignorance is an extenuation, though not::;a vindication, of guilt. Alas! what evils have been wrought in the name, not only of liberty, but ofreligion! Ill. THE EXPLANATION OF PERSECUTION. Our Lord was a Revealer of all hearts. He looked below the profession, and even below the belief. He penetrated deep into the spiritual nature of men, and was familiar with the hidden springs of thought and of action. There was a reason, not in every case known to the agents themselves, for the actions which they committed. The Lord Jesus was able to account for conduct by searching the inner nature. And so doing he discovered, in the spiritual ignorance of the persecutors, the true and all-sufficient reason for their attitude and proceedings. "They have not known the Father, nor me." They cannot "know" Christ by the knowledge, that is, of spiritual appreciation and sympathy, who persecute and slay his friends and the promulgators of his faith. They must utterly misunderstand him, his character, and his mission, if they suppose that God can be pleased when Christians are persecuted. For it is not to be believed that the Father can look with satisfaction upon injuries dono to his own Son in the person of his followers. Had the Jews known Christ, they would not have slain the Lord of glory. And none who truly knew our Lord could have persecuted his faithful people in order to do his Father service.-T. Vers. 5, 6.-The absorbing pr -~<p of sorrow. There was s~pathy between our L~rd and his apostles, but that sympathy was not perfect. Even 10 the la.test of the qmet conversations between the Master and the disciples, it is evident that the perception of the learners was now and again very dull, and that their response to his communic11.tion was very inadequate. There is a tone of expostulation, almost of upbraiding, in this as in other portions of the recorded discourse. I. 'frrE 0HAilACTEn OF THE REVELATIONS WUICH CHRIST HERE REFERS TO, 1. Co11• 316 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. JOHN. [oe. xvi. 1-33.