John 16:3

John 16:3, in plain English

Jesus says they do these things because they have not known the Father or Me. Their hostility comes from a deep misunderstanding of who God really is.

Why it's here

This helps you respond to persecution with compassion rather than rage. The people opposing you don't know what they're doing. They don't know God the way you do.

Who's speaking

Jesus explains the root cause behind religious persecution.

Where it sits in the story

It is easier to forgive when you understand. These people do not know the Father. If they did, they would never act this way. Their violence is proof of their blindness, not their strength.

The scholarly reading

Jesus identifies the root cause of the persecution: the persecutors 'have not known' (ouk egnōsan) the Father or Jesus. Their religious zeal is misdirected because it is uninformed by true knowledge of God.

Language and setting

Ignorance of God is the consistent explanation for the world's hostility throughout the farewell discourse (cf. 15:21). True knowledge of the Father would produce love, not violence, toward Jesus' followers.

Voice

Jesus diagnoses the spiritual condition that produces religious persecution.

Significance

Jesus traces all persecution back to one root: ignorance of God. Those who truly know the Father would never persecute His children. Religious violence is not a sign of devotion but of profound misunderstanding of God's nature.

1“I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.

2They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

3They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.

4But I have told you these things so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5Now, however, I am going to Him who sent Me; yet none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’

Read all of John 16 — Jesus warns of persecution and promises the Spirit of truth. A woman in labor forgets her anguish when the child arrives — and so will they.