Luke 6:22 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. They shall separate you - Meaning, They will excommunicate you, αφορισωσιν ὑμας, or separate you from their communion. Luke having spoken of their separating or excommunicating them, continues the same idea, in saying that they would cast out their name likewise, as a thing evil in itself. By your name is meant their name as his disciples. As such, they were sometimes called Nazarenes, and sometimes Christians; and both these names were matter of reproach in the mouths of their enemies. So James (James 2:7) says to the converts, Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called? So when St. Paul (in Acts 24:5) is called a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, the character of a pestilent fellow, and, that of a mover of sedition, is joined to it; and, in Acts 28:22, the Jews say to Paul, As concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against; and this is implied in 1 Peter 4:14, when he says, If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ, i.e. as Christians; agreeably to what follows there in 1 Peter 4:16, If any man suffer as a Christian, etc. In after times we find Pliny, Epist. x. 97, consulting the Emperor Trajan, whether or no he should Punish the Name Itself, (of Christian), though no evil should be found in it. Nomen Ipsum, etiam si flagitiis careat, Puniatur. See Pearce.