John 16:3

3 καὶ ταῦτα ποιήσουσιν ὅτι οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὸν πατέρα οὐδὲ ἐμέ.

John 16:3 Meaning and Commentary

John 16:3

And these things will they do unto you
Christ here opens the true spring and source of the furious zeal of the Jews, against the apostles, in putting them out of their synagogues, and taking away their lives; it was pure wilful ignorance of the Father and himself;

because they have not known the Father nor me;
though they boasted of their knowledge of God; yet they knew him not as the Father and sender of Christ, at least they would not own him as such: nor Jesus as the true Messiah, and sent of the Father, to redeem and save his people from their sins; and since they neither knew the Father, nor Christ, it is no wonder they did not know, own, and acknowledge, the disciples of Christ, but used them in the ill manner they did; their zeal was not according to knowledge, it was a blind and misguided one: and this is mentioned, not to extenuate or excuse their sin, though it shows they were not out of the reach of mercy, because they, as the apostle says of himself, "did it ignorantly in unbelief", ( 1 Timothy 1:13 ) ; but as an argument with the disciples to bear their ill usage with patience, and to pity them and pray for them.

John 16:3 In-Context

1 Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα μὴ σκανδαλισθῆτε.

2 ἀποσυναγώγους ποιήσουσιν ὑμᾶς · ἀλλ’ ἔρχεται ὥρα ἵνα πᾶς ὁ ἀποκτείνας ὑμᾶς δόξῃ λατρείαν προσφέρειν τῷ θεῷ.

3 καὶ ταῦτα ποιήσουσιν ὅτι οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὸν πατέρα οὐδὲ ἐμέ.

4 ἀλλὰ ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἡ ὥρα αὐτῶν μνημονεύητε αὐτῶν ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπον ὑμῖν. Ταῦτα δὲ ὑμῖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπον, ὅτι μεθ’ ὑμῶν ἤμην.

5 νῦν δὲ ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πέμψαντά με καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐρωτᾷ με · Ποῦ ὑπάγεις;