Chapter 15
Verse 1 — “I am the true vine.” ‘I am’ is the present active indicative of e)imi. The word ‘true’ is an adjective, a)lhqinoj which means true, trustworthy, dependable. He is called here a vine. The Greek noun is a)npeloj. The Lord Jesus Christ uses this analogy for a number of reasons. First of all, the vine is the source of wine. Wine is used not only literally as it often is but sometimes it is used as an analogy to happiness. When the Lord Jesus Christ says, ‘I am the dependable vine’ it means He is dependable for perfect happiness. No believer has ever reached spiritual maturity and remained there very long without experiencing something of the great happiness which God provides for anyone who will reach that point.
“and my Father” — again, perfect linear aktionsart — keeps on being the husbandman.” The word ‘husbandman’ is georgoj, and it means farmer, cultivator of the soil, the one who does the planning and the planting and the cultivating and the harvesting.
Verse 2 — “Every branch” refers to the believer. Jesus Christ is the vine. God the Father is the husbandman. The word ‘branch’ is klhma, it refers to the believer in the Church Age. The branch connotes a number of things. a) Relationship with the vine. When we believe in Jesus Christ we have relationship with Him, we are in union with Him, just as the branch is in union with the vine. b) The branch indicates productivity. The productivity for the Church Age must come from the believer who is on the earth. The vine is in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. The believers are the conductors of productivity. Every branch is in the vine and this is our basic relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. However, the branches in the vine are of several types. We are all in union with Christ but we fall into different categories spiritually.
“that beareth not fruit” — ‘beareth not’ is a present active participle plus the negative mh. This is used to represent the reversionistic believer; he is a non-producer. A producer is one who applies the doctrine of scripture to daily experience. The greatest productivity in life comes from thinking, not doing. Production is in the soul. The word for ‘fruit’ is karpoj. The one not bearing fruit refers to a reversionistic believer. What keeps a Christian from thinking? No born again believer ever thinks with anything but Bible doctrine and the reversionistic believer is negative toward doctrine, therefore he lacks food for thought. The reversionist never uses his soul, he never has food for thought and therefore he is full of human viewpoint, full of divine discipline, full of misery. In other words, he never amounts to anything.
“he taketh away” — the branch which has not produced fruit, He cuts it out. That is a reference to the sin unto death. The reversionistic believer winds up under the sin unto death. By production is meant thinking doctrine, not hustling around. When you stop thinking God eventually pulls you out because you are a spiritual zombie, a dead branch. He doesn’t pull you out right away, you have three areas: a) The knocking type discipline, this is warning; b) The intense discipline; c) The dying discipline.
The doctrine of the sin unto death
1. The sin unto death is for believers only. It does not mean loss of salvation, it is maximum punitive discipline for the reversionistic believer — Psalm 118:17,18; 1 John 5:16.
2. However, the sin unto death does not mean loss of salvation — 2 Timothy 2:12,13.
3. Reversionism is the cause for the sin unto death — Jeremiah 9:16; 44:12; Philippians 3:18,19; Revelation 3:16.
4. There are four causes of the death of any believer. a) Our work on earth is finished — 2 Timothy 4:7; b) To glorify God in an unusual way — Philippians 1:20,21; c) Maximum discipline for reversionism or the sin unto death — 1 Chronicles 10:13; 1 John 5:16; d) Suicide — the reversionist superimposing his own will over divine will.
5. Case histories of the sin unto death. a) Annanias and Saphira — Acts 5:1-10; b) Phallic reversionism — 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; c) Ritual reversionism — 1 Corinthians 11:30,31; d) Mental attitude reversionism — 1 Chronicles 10:13,14; 1 Samuel 13:9-14. This is rejection of Bible doctrine; e) Foreign policy reversionism or antiestablishment reversionism — Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3 cf. Isaiah 38; f) Verbal reversionism — 1 Timothy 1:19,20.
6. Reversion recovery eliminates the discipline and removes all sins — 2 Corinthians 2:5-10; James 5:15,20.
7. The cancellation of the sin unto death. The first category can be recovered from by rebound, but the second ad third categories demand repentance, a change of mental attitude.
The branch which is broken off and taken away is the reversionist, and the taking away is the sin unto death.
“and every branch that beareth fruit” — the mature believer. Again, this is thinking doctrine. Doctrine on the launching pad.
‘he purgeth it” — he prunes it. Present active indicative of kaqairw which means to keep it clean by pruning it so that it will produce more fruit. The pruning is the mature believer getting occasional adversity, suffering, trial, etc. in order that he might be blessed even more. The mature believer has capacity for suffering and he has capacity for blessing in suffering. Therefore, pruning only makes the branch stronger and more productive.
“that it might bring forth more fruit” — adversity is designed by God to intensify the blessing and happiness of the mature believer.
Verse 3 — “Now ye are clean” — incorrect. The Greek adverb h)dh which means ‘already.’ Jesus is talking to saved disciples and that already the pruning is beginning for them. You are kaqaroj, not clean but pruned.
“through the Word” is dia plus the accusative of logoj — literally, “because of doctrine.” So they are prepared for pruning because of doctrine.
“I have communicated” — present active indicative of lalew which means to communicate.
Verse 4 — “Abide in me” — aorist active imperative of menw. This is not positional truth. You are never commanded to positional truth, you have it as of the moment of salvation. This is a command to move to maturity. The aorist tense here is an ingressive aorist — “begin to abide in me.”
“I in you” — the ECS. Christ indwells the believer but this passage isn’t teaching the indwelling of Christ, this passage is teaching the indwelling of the ECS.
“As the branch cannot bear fruit itself, except it abide in the vine” — the branch is the believer and it cannot bear fruit from the source of itself — dunamia o)uk. It is not able to bear. No believer in the Christian life can produce on the basis of his own ability. That is why it has to start in the soul and it has to be thinking divine viewpoint.
“except it abide in the vine” — this refers to the supergrace life. Present active subjunctive. “In the vine” refers to supergrace living.
“no more can ye except ye abide in me” — present active subjunctive of menw, and again, “in me” refers to the supergrace life.
Verse 5 — Jesus repeats what He said in verse 1; “you the branches.” No verb here. From this comes the supergrace concept:
“He that abideth in me, and I in him” — the supergrace life and the ECS.
“the same” — the believer in supergrace — “brings forth much fruit.
“without me” is an adverb which means ‘apart from me’ — xorij; “ye can do nothing.” This is the principle of grace. Apart from what God has provided in Bible doctrine you can do nothing. The reversionistic believer can do nothing, he does not produce in any possible way.
Verse 6 — “If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch.” The words ‘cast forth’ is the aorist passive indicative of ballw, and it is literally, “he is cast outside,” and this again is a reference to the sin unto death.
“and is withered” — this means to dry up, zerainw; “and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” This is a reference not to eternal judgement but it is the fact that when branches dried up in a vineyard they collected them all and threw them in a fire. In other words, they are removed. This is the analogy side, not what happens to the individual. Believers are not burned, branches are burned. When you burn the branches they are no longer in the vineyard. When a believer is removed by the sin unto death he is no longer on planet earth. It’s that simple.
Verse 7 — if you can think straight you can pray right. “If ye abide in me” — again, a third class condition. Maybe you are a supergrace believer and maybe you are not. All effective prayer in the supergrace realm because the believer has capacity. He has everything necessary to be a great prayer warrior. “Abide in me” is the supergrace life.
“my words [Bible doctrine] abide in you” — aorist active subjunctive of menw. The aorist tense is constative which means GAPing it daily.
“ye shall ask” is incorrect. It is the aorist middle imperative of a)itew and it should be translated “ask.” It means when you enter into supergrace “begin to ask.” This is an ingressive aorist. The middle voice: you are benefited by asking.
“what ye will” should be “if you will” — ‘if you desire to ask.’
“it shall be done” should be “it shall come to pass” — ginomai. The future tense is a gnomic future, an absolute. Middle voice: you are benefited. The indicative mood: reality.
Verse 8 — “Herein” is literally, “In this” — e)n plus the locative of o(outoj; “my Father is glorified” — in the function of the supergrace believer whether he is thinking or doing. Prayer is a perfect illustration because in prayer you both think and do. The issue in prayer in thinking. The Father is glorified because it is His plan. Grace is the plan of the Father. He is glorified — the aorist passive indicative of docazw. This is a gnomic aorist, it is an absolute principle. The passive voice: the Father receives the glory from His own plan. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that God the Father is glorified by the thinking of the supergrace believer.
“that” — purpose clause; “ye bear much fruit” — the bearing of much fruit is the function of the supergrace life.
“therefore shall you be” — future middle indicative of ginomai is “therefore you shall become.” Gnomic future.
“my disciples” — maqhthj, learners of doctrine.
Verse 9 – “As the Father hath loved me.” Kaqoj means an exact analogy, therefore it should be translated “even as” or “according as.” This sets up an analogy to the family of God and the plan of God. Jesus Christ calls the first person of the Trinity “the Father.” That is because He [the Father] is the author of the divine plan.
“hath loved” – aorist active indicative of a)gapaw, strictly a mental attitude love. This is that timeless aorist that goes into eternity past. There never was a time when Jesus Christ was not loved by the Father, or the Father by Jesus Christ. The active voice indicates that God the Father produces love from His own essence. The indicative mood is the reality of this love.
“so have I loved you” – now we have the disciples brought in, and the disciples do not have +R as their own personal characteristic [they have it as an imputation]. This is aorist active indicative, and it is a constative aorist in time. It refers to all the disciples, the pronoun is in the plural. How is it possible for Jesus Christ who is just as much God as the Father to love any member of the human race, including the disciples? The answer is found in the principle of propitiation. God the Father loves all believers on the basis of propitiation; God the Son loves all believers on the basis of positional truth/sanctification. So both God the Father and God the Son can love any member of the human race who is a believer without compromise of character. This is not amplified here but this is the basis whereby Jesus Christ makes this statement.
“continue ye in my love” – aorist active imperative of menw. It means to abide or remain. This is a little different from continue which means to move on. To abide means to benefit by it. Active voice: any believer can do it. Imperative mood: it is an order. It is also a constative aorist. It is “abide in the sphere of my love” – e)n plus the locative of a)gaph. As a mental attitude love is a pure mental attitude love, which means it is free from all sinfulness; minus mental attitude sins. Abide means to maintain the supergrace status right then and there. Whether you continue in supergrace depends on whether you abide every day in doctrine—“abide in the sphere of my love.”
Verse 10 – capacity for love. How do you have capacity for love? “If” is a 3rd class condition indicating the volition of the individual; indicating your attitude toward Bible doctrine.
“you keep my commandments” – with the 3rd class condition is the subjunction mood, therefore “ye keep” is the aorist active subjunctive of terew which means to guard something that belongs to you. Bible doctrine in your soul belongs to you. So the aorist active subjunctive of terew plus commandments refers to Bible doctrine in the soul.
“ye shall abide in [the sphere of] my love” – future tense, future from the time of one day at a time.
“even as I have kept my Father’s commandments” – I have kept is terew again, but this time it is the perfect active indicative: I have kept them in the past with the result that I keep them. Jesus Christ continued in supergrace all of the way to the cross.
“and abide in [the sphere of] his love” – this time the present tense of menw is linear aktionsart. He kept on in that direction.
Verse 11 – why does He make an issue out of love? Mental attitude love? Because mental attitude love indicates the condition of the soul. Mental attitude love [a)gaph] is strictly in the soul. Therefore it is a specialised love in contrast to filew [and its non filoj]. Filoj is a general love, it includes what is in the soul and what is on the outside as well.
Why does Jesus give them this dissertation on love?
Verse 11 – “These things [principles of Bible doctrine] I have spoken to you” – perfect active indicative of lalew, which means to communicate; they are communicated now with results that will go on later in your life. This is a teaching situation on the eve of the Church Age.
“that” is a purpose clause; “my joy [+H].” Jesus Christ is God. As God He always had +H, there never was a time when He didn’t have it; as man Jesus Christ has +H from His supergrace life. He wants this +H to go to His eleven believing disciples.
“might remain” – present active subjunctive of e)imi, might be, not remain. Present tense is linear aktionsart, keep on being in you. Subjunctive mood: it is potential. It depends on whether you as a believer are in supergrace and can stay there long enough for the blessings to roll, or whether you are in reversionism. So, that my inner happiness might keep on being in you.
“and that your joy [+H] might be full” – aorist passive subjunctive of plhrow. Plhrow means four things: a) To fill up the deficiency; b) To fully possess; c) To fully influence; d) To fill with a certain quality. This anticipates supergrace.[1]
Verse 12 – This passage begins with a dissertation on category #3 love and works back toward category #1. “This is” – present active indicative of e)imi, absolute status quo. Active voice: the principle remains forever.
“commandment” – e)ntolh, which means here decree. This is something God ordained before there were people to do it: “This keeps on being my decree.” The same concept is found in 1 John 3:23.
“that” introduces a purpose clause, and the concept clause is found in the present active subjunctive of a)gapaw, translated “that you love.” This is the positive side: soul love based upon capacity. On the negative side a)gapaw is the absence of mental attitude sins; on the positive side it is the mentality of the soul having the capacity to be relaxed toward other members of the human race, classified in this passage as one another and meaning one another of the same kind. Therefore this command is restricted to believers or members the family of God. We are discussing, then, family love. So this is restricted to those who are born again.
“as” – kaqwj, the adverb of analogy. The standard is now given; “I have loved you,” aorist active indicative of a)gapaw. The aorist is a gnomic aorist, an absolute. Jesus Christ loves the believer with an absolute love. This love reflects the capacity of Jesus Christ in His hypostatic union.
In verses 13-17 we have the friendship of Jesus Christ, and in verses 18-27 we have the hostility of the world.
Verse 13 – once Jesus Christ becomes the norm or standard amplification comes through illustration. “Greater love” is a comparative adjective from a)gaph—megaj plus a)gaph the noun. The greater love is obviously what Jesus Christ did for us. He wants us to have this soul love, the RMA, but He also wants us to show how far a RMA can carry you. Jesus Christ went further with this capacity for love in His soul than anyone else has ever gone in history. With a RMA you can go a long way in this life. It is the devil’s world but an RMA carries you through many things. Jesus Christ was carried all of the way to the thing that was most repugnant to Him. He expresses this a little later on when He says, “Father, if it be thy will let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.” The thing that carried Him all the way to the cross was His RMA. He had the greater love: the combination of a)gaph love with SG capacity.
“hath” is a little weak. The present active indicative of e)xw means to have and to hold. This gives stability. When He acquired this maximum capacity for love through the intake of doctrine, through His own SG life in His humanity, He not only had it but He held it. The present tense is linear aktionsart, which gives further stability. The active voice: Jesus Christ had this through the doctrinal content of His human soul. The indicative mood is the reality of greater love in His soul.
“no man” does not occur here. Literally it is no one, o)udeij refers to the human race, not the male specifically. “Greater love no one has [or holds].”
“than this” – ablative of comparison; “that a man lay down” – the indefinite relative pronoun tij, used to state the principle and relate the principle to an historic experience; “ay down” is the aorist active subjunctive of tiqhmi, a word which has a variety of meanings, all related to the word place. The aorist is a culminative aorist which regards the entirety but views it from its end result. The end result is that the love of Jesus Christ developed in His humanity from the virgin birth all of the way to Gethsemane where He uttered these words. The demonstration of it was that He obeyed the Father’s will and went to the cross.
“life” – yuxh, soul. Life in the human race depends upon the possession of the yuxh.
“for” – the preposition u(per is the preposition of substitution and should be translated “on behalf of his friends.”
The noun here is filoj. It refers to a bona fide love, category #3, human friendship. It is a total soul love in contrast to a)gaph which is a mental soul love. A)gaph is only the beginning of human love as it occurs in the mentality of the soul, but filoj is the total of human love, the greatness of human love.
Verse 14 – category #1 love now becomes the subject. Jesus is speaking to believers only. “Ye” is old English for “you all.” “You are” is the present active indicative of e)imi, which means you are and you keep on being.
“my friends” – filoj is used here now for the category #1 which Jesus Christ has for the believer. It is a total soul love. But if we are to realise this there is a condition into which we must enter to understand the true meaning. A)gaph is used for the maximum love which comes to the believer after salvation from propitiation; filoj is used for the expression of that love in pouring—pouring into the cup. Jesus Christ pours for His friends—filoj believers, but He does not pour for His a)gaph believers. God has a)gaph for all believers on the basis of propitiation. God has filoj only for the supergrace believers.
“if” – 3rd class condition; “ye do” – present active subjunctive of poiew, “if you keep on doing,” present tense, linear aktionsart. Active voice: the believer does it. The subjunctive mood goes with the 3rd class condition, you may or may not do it.
“whatsoever I command” – present active indicative of e)ntellomai which means to give orders. If God is giving the orders it means to decree. “If you keep on doing what I decree,” is the best way to translate it. God decrees after salvation that we GAP it to supergrace. That is our purpose for remaining on this earth. The only possible way that we are ever going to glorify God is by reaching the supergrace status. This is why we have all kinds of words, like “Grow is grace … study to show thyself approved” – all ways of expressing God’s decree. God decrees that all believers take in Bible doctrine and reach the supergrace capacity so that they can become filoj.
Verse 15 – the advance into the supergrace life. “Henceforth” is an adverb, o)uketi. It means no longer, not henceforth. These disciples are going to be apostles; they are going to GAP it.
“No longer do I call you [designate you] slaves [douloj]” – they have been the slaves of the Lord during the period of His ministry on earth.
“for the servant [slave] does not know what his master [Lord] does” – present active indicative of poiew, what he keeps doing.
“but” – adversative conjunction of contrast; “I have called you friends” – legw in the perfect active indicative means designated in the past with the result that you keep on being designated filoi—“friends.” The difference between douloj and filoj: douloj is ignorance; filoj is cognisance. That is the whole story of the Christian life. The issue after salvation is cognisance versus ignorance. Ignorance leads to reversionism; cognisance leads to supergrace.
“I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” – that is why they are friends. Jesus Christ has communicated to them doctrine. “I have designated you in the past with the result that you will continue to be filoj.”
“for all things” – the doctrine of the mystery; “I have heard” – the aorist active indicative of a)kouw indicates that Jesus Christ Himself in His humanity went to supergrace, learned maximum doctrine, learned the plan of God the Father for the Church Age, and communicated it. The aorist tense here is rather important. It means that Jesus Christ heard the whole realm of Church Age doctrine. The culminative aorist means that He learned it all. In His deity He always knew it, but here the emphasis is on His humanity in the hypostatic union.
“of my Father” – para is the preposition of immediate source and translated “from my Father.”
“and have made known” – ingressive aorist: He began to make known. He didn’t teach the whole realm of doctrine to the disciples, they will learn as time goes on. What Jesus began to teach Peter and Paul and John, etc. will record, and in 96 AD the canon of scripture will be completed and that will record everything that Jesus Christ heard. The disciples communicated what the Lord heard and assimilated in His own GAPing in His humanity. So, “all things I have [completely] heard from the source of my Father I have begun to make known to you.”
Verse 16 – supergrace production. “You have not chosen me” – aorist middle indicative of e)klegw. This is a gnomic aorist, it deals with an absolute. This is an absolute fact. The gnomic aorist says, You have nothing to do with the plan, it is my plan. Middle voice: the subject is benefited by the action of the verb, but with the negative the believer has not chosen Christ for his own benefit but Christ has chosen him for His glory, His benefit. How do we glorify God? How do we benefit Jesus Christ? Through our own free will on a daily basis going all the way to supergrace, getting that cup so that He can pour. He is glorified by pouring, by blessing the believer in the devil’s world. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that God has a plan for your life.
“but” – adversative conjunction of contrast; “I have chosen you” – gnomic aorist, this time on the positive side. It is an absolute fact that God has elected or chosen you. Middle voice: it is to your benefit only in the sense that God Himself has found a way to glorify Himself in the angelic conflict while simultaneously benefiting you.[2]
“and ordained” – aorist active indicative of tiqhmi, used here for appointment. Tiqhmi means that God has laid out for you a plan; it means basically to lay down or lay out. This is a gnomic aorist, an absolute fact. The active voice: God laid it out. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that no matter how insignificant or how inferior you may feel God has a plan and a purpose for your life.
“that” introduces a purpose clause; “you should go” – present active subjunctive of u(pagw. U(pagw means to go away, to depart, to go under the authority of. Going under the authority of: u(po here refers to doctrine in the soul. God is not personally present to supervise you, all of the supervision is carried on through Bible doctrine in the soul. We have everything we need to guide us in this plan through doctrine in the soul. The doctrine in the Bible will not help, it must be transferred to the soul through the function of GAP. When it does, you become a doer of the Word, you “bring forth fruit.”
“bring forth fruit” – present active subjunctive of ferw which means to bear, to show, plus karpoj which means fruit. This is not necessarily something on the outside, it is something in the soul. The subjunctive mood of this verb indicates that such a fact is potential and depends upon the intake of doctrine.
“and that your fruit should remain” – menw means to abide, and it means once you accumulate doctrine in the soul you then begin to accumulate dividends from doctrine. But, again, it is in the subjunctive mood indicating the fact that it is potential. The present tense is an iterative present, and means only when you are in supergrace.
Then we have an illustration from supergrace prayer, a second purpose clause: “that whatsoever [if, or anything] ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it.” The aorist tense is ingressive: a)itew, beginning to ask. You are in supergrace, you begin to ask and He gives it to you. The aorist active subjunctive is a culminative aorist. This is the effectiveness of supergrace prayer.
“in my name” – John 14:13,14 explains that every believer is a priest. Our high priest is Jesus Christ; we go through our high priest in prayer to the throne.
Verse 17 – the repeated command. “These things” – this explains why He has commanded love, because love has a capacity basis, the capacity basis is Bible doctrine. The more doctrine you have, the greater your capacity for love and the greater your capacity for blessing.
“I command you” – present middle indicative of e)ntellomai means I decree. Middle voice” for your benefit. Indicative mood: reality.
“that you love one another [of the same kind]” – a)gapaw. This, again, is based upon the amount of doctrine in the soul.
Verses 18-25, seven reasons for the world’s hostility. We should understand the use of the word world—o( kosmoj. The word gh is the word for the earth’s surface. Kosmoj does not refer to the world as a planet, to the surface or topography of the earth, and so on. Kosmoj means an organised system, and when we use the word world in this passage we are thinking of a system of thought designed by Satan himself who is the greatest creature genius of all creature history. It includes everything from religion, to systems of government, political thought, and concepts of life. But the world is first of all an organised system of thought. Secondly, the world is a system of organizations, all of which are outside the framework of the divine institutions—like international organizations, religious organizations, and so on. Thirdly, the world is a category of people—the unbelievers, e.g. John 17. Yet, the word kosmoj describes all of these—a system of thought, an organisational system, and a type of person.
Worldliness is different again. Worldliness: first of all you have to go negative toward doctrine, then you create scar tissue on the left bank of the soul. This opens up the mataiothj and through this comes human viewpoint, and human viewpoint in the soul exhaled out the right bank of the soul is worldliness. Worldliness, then, is a mental attitude in the Christian.
But the word kosmoj here refers to: a) a satanic system of thought; b) organizations satanic; c) the world of unbelievers.
Verse 18 – reason #1: because the kosmoj system hates Jesus Christ. “If the world hates you.” “If” is a 1st class condition, if and it does. The word world is kosmoj which in this passage means a system of thought which is antagonistic to Jesus Christ, satanic organizations which are antagonistic to Jesus Christ, and people who are antagonistic to Jesus Christ—all fall into the category of hating.
The structure of the kosmoj: John 14:30, Satan is the prince [ruler] of this world, and because of that and because knew that Satan would be the ruler of this world God designed certain things to protect the human race in Satan’s rule. God must protect the human race so that it can go from point creation to the end of the world and still have a human race. In order for the angelic conflict to be resolved there are certain increments of history that have to be fulfilled. There is another restrainer in the world during the intensification of the angelic conflict in the Church Age, and that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit but we will take this up from the standpoint of the divine institutions as the means of perpetuating the human race, and as the counteraction to Satan’s rule. There are two counteractions to Satan’s rule as far as people are concerned: the divine institutions and the whole concept of Christianity, the operation of the believer priest in the Church Age. We also have the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as mentioned briefly in 2 Thessalonians 2, as a restrainer.
There are four divine institutions:
1. Volition—human freedom and privacy, the right to live and to produce in compatibility with one’s own ability without interference from the law or any organised structure. The only exception is where free will takes a person into crime or some form of dishonesty. Volition is a recognition of the right of the individual to make his own decisions which are compatible with his ability, with his taste, with his ideas, with his concepts.
2. Marriage—the frame work for category #2 love, and it becomes the basic stabiliser of the human race. From the start marriage was designed for one man and one woman
3. Family—the basis for protecting the human race because the moment a member of the human race is born he is the most helpless, the most useless of all born creatures of any kind. Man is a very helpless creature at his start and must have all kinds of protection. He must have training, and so on. The family is designed to provide this, to provide discipline and the respect for the rights and property of others, and all of the other concepts that go into making orderly human life. The family is the training ground for all of this.
4. Nationalism—the human race cannot stand too much prosperity. When you get a breaking down of national entities or racial entities and a resultant international organization which someone gets control of it destroys the volition of the individual and the opportunities of the individual. This has been illustrated by Communist Russia and Communist China. Whenever something gets too big so that the nationalism concept is broken down the freedoms of the individual is destroyed and within the framework of those empires there is usually persecution of Christianity and no true evangelism, or very little of it.
Nationalism is designed to protect the rights, the freedom, and the privacy of a large number of individuals within the human race. Therefore
the national entity can have a definition of one or more types: a racial definition, a geographical definition, and a linguistic definition. The national entity must have a common law and a common culture. In the national entity there must be a system of law enforcement which must include the biblical principle of applying capital punishment where necessary. There must also be protection from outside encroachment. Law enforcement is protection from inside encroachment and is designed to protect the property, the person, and the rights of an individual. The overt protection must come from a military establishment. Administration is also necessary. It is the basis for a bona fide taxation. The economy must be a free enterprise system based upon supply and demand. There must also be a bona fide system of charity, as taught in Codex #3 of the Mosaic law. There must also be a separation of religion and state, a separation of social life and state, so that no such organization can influence the policy of the state.
These divine institutions are designed to protect human freedom, and under them human freedom is the most protected thing in the devil’s world so that bona fide evangelism can exist in every generation. Satan must attack not only these four divine institutions but he must attack the gospel, the content of the gospel, the message of the gospel, those who deliver the gospel, and so on.
Therefore, Satan as the ruler of this world, and having a system, hates the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan is anti-divine institution even as he is anti-Christ.
“If the world keeps on hating you [and it does]” – that is the protasis. The one who rules the world is Satan—Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19; John 8:44; 1 John 3:8 describes the person of Satan, the greatest genius of all creatures. The strategy of Satan, mentioned in 2 Corinthians 2:11, is found in many areas of scripture. This strategy has to do with the attack upon the divine institutions, as illustrated in the antediluvian civilisation where Satan made an attack upon all of them. He has a strategy with regard to national entities, to distort them from a protective system—divine institution #4, nationalism—into something into something that he can use to further his gain. This is when a national entity starts to get into things that destroy human freedom, such as socialism, government regulation of industry, government controls where human volition is involved (outside of crime, where it is bona fide). Satan has a strategy with regard to nations. His objective is to distort the true purpose of divine institution #4.
“If the world hates you” – Satan is constantly exercising his hate. The world does hate the believer, so this may as well be faced. Satan also has a strategy working through unbelievers—2 Corinthians 4:3, 4; Luke 8:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10; Colossians 2:8. The emphasis in this 1st class condition is the fact that the world, which includes Satan and the whole system—“hate(s) you,” the present active indicative of the verb misew which is the strongest word for hate in the Greek language. This is one of the few verbs that does not have to be compounded to give it intensity. It expresses the intensity of mental attitude and of thought pattern. So there is a system of thought that despises you. Part of that system of thought is legalism and religionism and do-goodism and bleeding-heartism. It is a system that despises you! Present linear aktionsart, it always will hate you. The world, the kosmoj system, is implacable toward you. “You” is in the plural, it means every believer. The active voice of this verb says that the kosmoj system will always hate you. The indicative mood: it is a reality; face it!
“ye [you all] know” – understand a point of doctrine. The word know here is in the imperative mood, and it should be translated “know ye”; “that it hated me before you” – Christ was the target in the angelic conflict before the Church Age began. It hated Christ from Genesis 3:15 until His resurrection, ascension and session. Now Christ is gone and every believer is still no the earth, and this verse is saying, then, that in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict you are a target, always will be a target, there never will be a time when you are not a target. You are a target for intense hatred and it is not just people hating you. Remember that it is a system that hates you, a type of thought. That system is religionism, legalism, and it despises you. So the first reason that the world hates the believer is because the kosmoj system hates Christ and we are related to Him.
Verse 19 – the second reason is because the believer priest in the plan of God no longer belongs to the world, the kosmoj system. “If ye were of the world” – 2nd class condition [but you are not]. “Ye were” is imperfect active subjunctive. The imperfect tense means to keep on being in the past. The active voice: the individuals spoken to here—the disciples. The subjunctive means that there was a time when you were in the world but you no longer are, and the subjunctive goes with the 2nd class condition. Literally, “If you were from the world,” and you are not. You are born again now; you are disciples now.
“the world would keep on having rapport love for you” – the type of love here is filew, rapport love. Why? Because, “the world would love its own.” Satan has his own system, the kosmoj, and the kosmoj despises you because you are in the plan as of the day you accepted Christ as saviour. So the kosmoj must therefore hate the believer, hate doctrine, hate anything that causes the believer to stand up to the kosmoj system. The believer may stupidly love the kosmoj because of ignorance of doctrine, and this is where we have social action today and social gospel. There is a difference, however, between loving the souls of men [witnessing therefore] and the system under which men operate. When people are saved they are snatched from the kosmoj system.
“but I have chosen you” – doctrine of election; “out of the world” – in eternity past when election was put into operation (Eph. 1:4,5) God the Father elected every believer in the Church Age. He elected Christ; every believer is in union with Christ.
“therefore the world hates you” – present active indicative of misew, it keeps on hating. The erected structure of the soul is what causes you to stand up to the intense hatred of Satan and the cosmic system.
Verse 20 – the 3rd reason for the hatred of the cosmic system. It is because of a principle: “The servant is not greater than his lord.”
“Remember” – mnhmoneuw means to call to mind something that you have learned, something that you already know. The reason you call it to mind is to apply it to the situation. This word suggests again that within your soul there is an erected structure from which you draw. On the basis of doctrine and grace orientation you remember and recall something which you then apply.
“the word that I said unto you” – dative of advantage; “the servant is not greater than his master.” Then He makes the application:
“if” is a 1st class condition; “they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you [and they have].” The verb is diwkw, which means to put pressure on, to persecute, and it refers to certain points of time which are all gathered up now into one entirety. Jesus was not persecuted every minute but there were times when the pressure was on. The future tense, “they will also persecute you,” means that they are not a target yet. As long as Christ is on the earth He is the target, but He says that in the future they will be. In the Church Age every believer is now the target.
“if they had kept my saying -- 1st class condition. The word to keep here is terew, to guard something that belongs to self. There are two things that Jesus developed: the gospel and the divine institutions. These belong to the human race. If they had kept my proclamations [teachings]. The 1st class condition recognises that they could have, and some did. And for those who did …
“they will keep yours also” – in other words, you have a nucleus with which to work. The disciples may be hated but they are going to have a job. They are going to be apostles; they will be communicators of doctrine.
Verse 21 – the fourth reason for this hatred: because the cosmos is ignorant of the plan of God.
“all these things” is a reference to Satan in the business of exalting self and opposing God. Satan is therefore in opposition to the plan of God. He has designed a plan to counter the plan of God. He has designed systems of culture, politics, education, in order to obscure the ridicule of the plan of God. He is the author of religion and legalism and he is doing everything he can to discredit grace and discredit the plan of God during the Church Age.
“will they do” – they refers to anyone who is involved in Satan’s system. Satan’s warfare adapts itself to times and conditions. Sometimes he seeks to destroy all believers on the earth, when history is right for it, and at other times he seeks to discredit believers on the earth. Sometimes he entices the believer away with false doctrine and sometimes he just wipes him out with those who have false doctrine.
“because they know not” – o)ida, inherently they know not.
Dr. L. S.
Chafer in his Systematic Theology,
vol. II, page 110, said, “The idea that man will stand on the basis of personal
worthiness has been the chief heresy opposing the central doctrine of grace
from the time of Christ’s death to the present hour.” He went on to say, “It so
permeates the Church that few who preach are able to exclude it from their
attempts at gospel preaching. It is safe to say that wherever the element of
human merit is allowed to into the presentation of the plan of salvation, the
message is satanic to that extent. The ministers of Satan proclaim personal
righteousness as the ground of the individual’s right relationship to God (2
Cor. 11:13-15).”
“because of my name, because they know not him that sent me” – they do not understand the Father nor the principle by which He operates. The Father operates on the basis of grace. There is no other way for God to take sinful, spiritually dead, hopeless, useless humanity, and make him a child of God. Grace found a way, i.e. the cross. They do not understand grace, “they know not.”
Verse 22 – the fifth cause of antagonism is because their old sin nature is exposed. The principle here is that the world cannot relax when you talk about its old sin nature.
“If” – 1st class condition; “I had not come and spoken unto them” – the word spoken, lalew, means to communicate doctrine.
“they had not known sin” – this is a conative imperfect and it means they would not have the awareness of the sin nature.
“but now” – due to the fact of His ministry; “they have no cloak for their sin” – i.e. to cover their old sin nature. In other words, Bible doctrine rips off the façade of self-righteousness, it exposes the person for what he really is, a person with a sin nature and spiritually dead. It topples their house of cards.
Verses 23, 24: the 6th reason for the world’s antagonism—the world hates God the Father and it hates God the Son.
Verse 23 – “He that hateth me hateth my Father also.” So Jesus Christ is the primary target, and they keep on hating Him—present active indicative of misew. Since God the Father sent the Son hatred of the Son is hatred of the Father. Rejection of the Son is rejection of the Father’s plan and the Father’s grace. So this is a statement of total hatred and total rejection of the plan of God on the part of the kosmoj system.
Verse 24 – “If I had not done among them the works.” This is a reference to every miracle performed by Jesus. They were not designed to alleviate suffering but they were designed to reveal Christ as saviour and the Father’s plan of grace.
“which none other man did” – no one else could ever do these things; “they had not sin: but now they have both seen and hated both me and the Father.”
“they had not sin” is they had not become aware of the sin nature.
“but now have they both seen” – perfect tense of o(raw which means to get a perfect panoramic view. They had a panoramic view of the plan of God.
“and hateth” – now for the first time the word hate [misew] is now in the perfect tense, hate in the past with the result that it goes on forever.
“both me and my Father” – the kosmoj system hates the Father and the Son and it will try to distort the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the intensified period of the angelic conflict.
Verse 25 – the last reason has to do with the Old Testament. The kosmoj hates the believer because the Old Testament prophesied it.
“But this cometh to pass” – not found in the original and not needed. “But that the word might be fulfilled” – the word refers to the Old Testament, like Psalm 69:4; 35:19; “might be fulfilled” means to receive fulfilment, passive voice.
“that it is written in their law, They hated me without a cause” – their was no basis for their hatred at all.
Verse 26 – God’s plan will continue on the earth. It comes from two sources: in verse 26, the ministry of the Spirit; in verse 27, the ministry of every believer.
“But when the Comforter is come” – God the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the Church Age; “whom I send unto you from the immediate source of the Father, even the Spirit of truth” – this is an operational title in connection with His communication of doctrine whereby we can have an ECS so that we can stand up against the pressure of cosmos diabolicus.
“even the Spirit of doctrine which proceedeth from the [immediate source of] the Father, he shall testify concerning me.” So we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit throughout the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
Verse 27 – the believer himself. “And ye also shall bear witness” – every believer as a witness for Christ.
“because ye have been with me from the beginning” – a reference, first of all to the disciples. When the Church Age begins they will bear witness. And this witnessing principle has been perpetuated from the disciples right down to us today. Here are two things which counter-attack in the devil’s world: the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the gospel through the individual believer.