“If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, that is the reason why the world hates you.”
The disciples had already seen the response of men to Jesus Himself. They knew therefore that true goodness was not popular. For a while the world will admire good men because they recognise something in them that their basic conscience approves, but let those good men in some way disturb their consciences and they will immediately turn against them. This hatred arises because they are ‘not of the world'. They do not have the same aims, the aims of self-indulgence, of self-aggrandisement, of self-advancement. Thus they are a constant rebuke to the world.
The world likes a little bit of goodness, but not too much, for then it becomes a nuisance and interferes with their plans. So the disciples should not be surprised to find themselves hated. Those who hated the One Who chose them, will also hate those who are chosen. They are hated because they are Christ's representatives, and because they teach the truth which often goes against what men believe. To the fact that Jesus was hated John bears constant testimony (John 1:5; John 1:10-11; John 3:11; John 5:16; John 5:18; John 5:43; John 6:66; John 7:1; John 7:30; John 7:32; John 7:47-52; John 8:40; John 8:44-45; John 8:48; John 8:52; John 8:57; John 8:59; John 9:22; John 10:31; John 10:33; John 10:39; John 11:50; John 11:57; John 12:37-43).
‘The world' here refers to the society of men who live apart from the teachings of Christ and of the Father. They are not under His rule, or in His Kingdom. Rather they are ruled by their own suppositions and ideas and ambitions, and lie in the arms of the Evil One (1 John 5:19). This is the common use of ‘the world' in John.
But again notice that the disciples are not of the world, and this is because Jesus has chosen them out of the world. This was a particular choosing as witnessed in John 15:16, but now it is clear that it is more than that. It connects with that mysterious divine choice which is spoken of elsewhere in Scripture. In the end those who are His are so because He has chosen them and given them to His Son (John 6:37; John 6:44; John 10:26-27 compare Romans 8:28-30; Romans 8:33; Romans 11:5; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Ephesians 1:4; James 2:5; 1 Peter 1:1-2). And as everything they do and are goes beyond what the world aims for, in the end they will be hated, especially by the authorities.