John 16:1

ταῦτα. These discourses generally, especially the last section, about the world’s hatred of Him and them: see on John 15:11; John 15:17.

σκανδαλισθῆτε. The verb combines the notions of ‘trip up’ and ‘entrap.’ Σκάνδαλον is a later form of σκανδάληθρον (Aristoph. Ach. 687), which is the bait-stick in a trap, to touch which makes the trap close. Σκάνδαλον hence comes to mean any snare set to catch or trip up. The metaphor occurs often in LXX. and in S. Matt. and S. Mark, thrice in S. Luke, and twice in S. John (John 6:61 : comp. 1 John 2:10). The fanatical hatred of the Jews might make Jewish Apostles stumble at the truth.