Discovery BoxJohn 15:20-22 
Context15:20 Remember what 1 I told you, ‘A slave 2 is not greater than his master.’ 3 If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed 4 my word, they will obey 5 yours too. 15:21 But they will do all these things to you on account of 6 my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. 7 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. 8 But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.
1 tn Grk “Remember the word that I said to you.”
2 tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.
3 sn A slave is not greater than his master. Jesus now recalled a statement he had made to the disciples before, in John 13:16. As the master has been treated, so will the slaves be treated also. If the world had persecuted Jesus, then it would also persecute the disciples. If the world had kept Jesus’ word, it would likewise keep the word of the disciples. In this statement there is the implication that the disciples would carry on the ministry of Jesus after his departure; they would in their preaching and teaching continue to spread the message which Jesus himself had taught while he was with them. And they would meet with the same response, by and large, that he encountered.
4 tn Or “if they kept.”
5 tn Or “they will keep.”
6 tn Or “because of.”
7 tn Jesus is referring to God as “the one who sent me.”
8 tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).
sn Jesus now describes the guilt of the world. He came to these people with both words (15:22) and sign-miracles (15:24), yet they remained obstinate in their unbelief, and this sin of unbelief was without excuse. Jesus was not saying that if he had not come and spoken to these people they would be sinless; rather he was saying that if he had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of the sin of rejecting him and the Father he came to reveal. Rejecting Jesus is the one ultimate sin for which there can be no forgiveness, because the one who has committed this sin has at the same time rejected the only cure that exists. Jesus spoke similarly to the Pharisees in 9:41: “If you were blind, you would have no sin (same phrase as here), but now you say ‘We see’ your sin remains.”
