The world cannot hate you. — Because they were of the world. To have hated them, would have been to have hated itself. (Comp. John 3:19-20.)
But me it hateth, because I testify... — He had placed Himself in a position of antagonism to it, and must necessarily do so. His words and acts must be a witness against the evil of its deeds. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. But men who love darkness must also hate light. Its very presence makes the darkness visible; and nothing cuts to the very quick, like that which makes the heart condemn itself.