John 15:22

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. ¹  But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

If I hadn't come and told them all this in plain language, it wouldn't be so bad. As it is, they have no excuse.

If I had not come and been their teacher they would have had no sin: but now they have no reason to give for their sin.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. ¹  But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.

¹ 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.”