I have called you friends - I have admitted you into a state of the most intimate fellowship with myself; and have made known unto you whatsoever I have heard from the Father, which, in your present circumstances, it was necessary for you to be instructed in.
Verse 16
Ye have not chosen me - Ye have not elected me as your Teacher: I have called you to be my disciples; witnesses and depositories of the truth. It was customary among the Jews for every person to choose his own teacher.
And ordained you - Rather, I have appointed you: the word is εθηκα, I have Put or placed you, i.e. in the vine.
Theodorus Mopsuensis, as quoted by Wetstein, observes that εθηκα is here used for εφυτευσα; (I have planted); "and, in saying this, our Lord still makes use of the metaphor of the vine; as if he had said: I have not only planted you, but I have given you the greatest benefits, causing your branches to extend every where through the habitable world."
The first ministers of the Gospel were the choice of Jesus Christ; no wonder, then, that they were so successful. Those whom men have since sent, without the appointment of God, have done no good. The choice should still continue with God, who, knowing the heart, knows best who is most proper for the Gospel ministry.
To be a genuine preacher of the Gospel, a man must -
1. Be chosen of God to the work.
2. He must be placed in the true vine - united to Christ by faith.
3. He must not think to lead an idle life, but labor.
4. He must not wait till work be brought to him, but he must go and seek it.
5. He must labor so as to bring forth fruit, i.e. to get souls converted to the Lord.
6. He must refer all his fruit to God, who gave him the power to labor, and blessed him in his work.
7. He must take care to water what he has planted, that his fruit may remain - that the souls whom he has gathered in be not scattered from the flock.
8. He must continue instant in prayer, that his labors may be accompanied with the presence and blessing of God - Whatsoever ye shall Ask.
9. He must consider Jesus Christ as the great Mediator between God and man, proclaim his salvation, and pray in his name. - Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, etc. See Quesnel.
Verse 18
If the world hate you - As the followers of Christ were to be exposed to the hatred of the world, it was no small consolation to them to know that that hatred would be only in proportion to their faith and holiness; and that, consequently, instead of being troubled at the prospect of persecution, they should rejoice, because that should always be a proof to them that they were in the very path in which Jesus himself had trod. Dr. Lardner thinks that πρωτον is a substantive, or at least an adjective used substantively, and this clause of the text should be translated thus: If the world hate you, know that it hated me, your Chief. It is no wonder that the world should hate you, when it hated me, your Lord and Master, whose lips were without guile, and whose conduct was irreproachable. See the doctor's vindication of this translation, Works, vol. i. p. 306.
Verse 19
Ye are not of the world - therefore, etc. - On this very account, because ye do not join in fellowship with those who know not God, therefore they hate you. How true is that saying: - "The laws of Christ condemn a vicious world,
And goad it to revenge!"
Gambold.
Verse 20
If they have kept my saying - Or, doctrine. Whosoever acknowledges me for the Christ will acknowledge you for my ministers.
Some translate the passage thus: If they have Watched my sayings, i.e. with an intent to accuse me for something which I have said, they will Watch yours also: therefore be on your guard. Παρατηρειν has this sense, as we have had occasion to observe before; and perhaps τηρειν has the same sense here, as it is much more agreeable to the context.
Verse 21
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.
Verse 22
But 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.
Verse 25
Written in their law - See on [Joh 10:34] (note). These words are taken from [Psa 69:4]. This psalm is applied to Christ, [Joh 2:17]; [Joh 19:28]; to the vengeance of God against Judea, [Act 1:20]. The psalm seems entirely prophetic of Christ. His deep abasement is referred to, [Psa 69:2-5]; his prayer for his disciples and followers, [Psa 69:6]; that for himself, in the garden of Gethsemane, [Psa 69:15-19]; his crucifixion, [Psa 69:20-22]; the vengeance of God against the Jews, from [Psa 69:23-29]; the glorious manner in which he gets out of all his sufferings, [Psa 69:30]; the abolition of the Mosaic rites and ceremonies, [Psa 69:31], compared with [Isa 66:3]; and, finally, the establishment of the Gospel through the whole world, in [Psa 69:33] and following verses. The reader will do well to consult the psalm before he proceeds.
Verse 26
But when the Comforter is come - See on [Joh 14:16] (note).
He shall testify and ye also shall bear witness - He shall bear his testimony in your souls, and ye shall bear this testimony to the world. And so they did, by their miracles, their preaching, their writings, their lives, and by their deaths. Our Lord appears to reason thus: In every respect the unbelief of the Jews is inexcusable. They believe not my doctrine, notwithstanding its purity and holiness. They believe not in the Father who sent me, notwithstanding I have confirmed my mission by the most astonishing miracles. One thing only remains now to be done, i.e. to send them the Holy Spirit, to convince them of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and this he shall do, not only by his influence upon their hearts, but also by your words: and when they shall have resisted this Spirit, then the cup of their iniquity shall be filled up, and wrath shall come upon them to the uttermost.
But in what sense can it be said that Christ wrought more miracles than any other had done, [Joh 15:24]? - for Elijah and Elisha raised the dead; cured diseases; and made fire to come down from heaven. Did Christ do greater miracles than Moses did in Egypt - at the Red Sea - at the rock of Horeb, and at the rock of Kadesh? Did Christ do greater miracles than Joshua did, in the destruction of Jericho - in the passage of Jordan - in causing the sun and moon to stand still? To all this it may be answered, Christ's miracles were greater:
1. As to their number.
2. As to their utility - they were wrought to comfort the distressed, and to save the lost.
3. Christ wrought all his miracles by his own power alone; and they wrought theirs through his power only.
4. Christ wrought his numerous miracles in the space of three or four years, and in the presence of the same people; and the others mere wrought from time to time in different centuries.
Some critics have confined the whole of this chapter to the apostles of our Lord, and the work of propagating Christianity to which they had been called. The whole comment of Rosenmuller on this chapter proceeds on this plan; and at once shows how nugatory it is. What learned labor has there been in the world, to banish the spirit of Christianity from the earth, while the letter was professed to be scrupulously regarded!
1. The spiritual union spoken of by Christ is not merely necessary for his primitive disciples, but also for all who would be Christians on earth, and beatified spirits in heaven.
2. The brotherly love here inculcated is the duty and interest of every Christian soul on the face of the earth.
3. The necessity of adorning the Christian profession, by bringing forth corresponding fruits, is the duty of all who name the name of the Lord Jesus.
4. The appointment to, and preparation for, the work of the sacred ministry, must ever be primarily with Christ: for those who have no higher authority than that which they derive from man are never likely to be useful in Christianizing the world.
5. The persecution to which the apostles were exposed has been the common lot of Christians from the foundation of Christianity.