I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Ver. 14. I have given them thy word, &c.] I have put my word into their mouth, therefore the world hateth them; Persecution being the black angel (as Calvin said) that dogs the gospel. When our Saviour preached at Nazareth, so long as he was opening his text, they admired him; but when he came to apply it close to their consciences, they pulled him out of the pulpit, and would have broken his neck down the hill, Luke 4:29. The book that the angel gave John to eat "was sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly," Revelation 10:9; to note that the knowledge of divine truths is pleasant, but the publishing of them, whereby the fruit thereof might come to the rest of the members (like the concoction and distribution of meat digested in the stomach), is full of trouble.