John 16:2

John 16:2. They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, an hour cometh that every one that killeth you should think that he offereth service unto God. It is of Jews that Jesus speaks, and the figure is therefore naturally taken from Jewish customs; but opposition on the part of Jews is in these discourses the type of all opposition to the truth. On the severity of the trial alluded to in the first clause of the verse, see on chap. John 9:22. Yet not merely excommunication but death in every one of its varied forms shall be their portion. Nay, they shall even be regarded by their murderers as a sacrifice to be offered to God; they shall be slain as a part of the worship due to Him. ‘Every one who sheds the blood of the impious is as if he offered a sacrifice,' is said to have been a Jewish maxim. Not in indifference only or in lightness of spirit shall they be slain, to make a Jewish or a Roman holiday, when perhaps their fate might be mourned over in soberer hours, but in such a manner that those who slay them shall return from the scene as men who have engaged in what they believe will gain for them the favour of heaven. It is impossible to imagine a darker picture of fanaticism. Yet the picture is heightened by the mention of ‘an hour,' an hour laden with the divine purpose, which must ‘come' to them as it had come to Jesus Himself.