John 16:3

My Notes

What Does John 16:3 Mean?

John 16:3 explains the source of persecution with a diagnosis that reframes everything: "And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me."

The Greek hoti ouk egnōsan ton patera oude eme — "because they have not known the Father, nor me" — uses ginōskō in the negative: they did not come to know, they never achieved experiential knowledge. The persecution described in 16:2 (synagogue expulsion, murder as religious duty) isn't driven by malice in a vacuum. It's driven by ignorance — a specific kind of ignorance: not knowing God.

The Greek oude — "nor" — links the two: not knowing the Father and not knowing Jesus are the same ignorance. You can't know one without the other. The persecutors believe they know God — they persecute in His name (16:2, "thinketh that he doeth God service"). But Jesus says their zeal proves their ignorance. They've constructed a god in their imagination and are serving that construction with lethal commitment. The real God — the Father — is unknown to them. And the real Son is the one they're killing.

The verse provides the most compassionate possible framing for persecution: they're not evil. They're blind. The hatred comes from ignorance, not from informed rejection. They genuinely believe they're serving God while destroying God's people.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Have you experienced hostility from religious people who believed they were serving God by opposing you? How does Jesus' diagnosis — 'they have not known the Father' — reframe that?
• 2.Is it possible to be sincerely devoted to a god of your own construction? Where might you be doing that?
• 3.The most dangerous condition is ignorance plus certainty. Where do you see that combination producing harm in the world today?
• 4.Jesus says 'they have not known Me.' Is there an aspect of Jesus you haven't truly known that might be creating blind spots in your own religious zeal?

Devotional

They'll kill you and think they're serving God. That's what Jesus just said in verse 2. And verse 3 explains why: because they have not known the Father, nor Me.

The persecutors aren't atheists. They're religious. Devoutly, passionately, lethally religious. They believe they're on God's side. They believe the killing is worship. They believe the expulsion from the synagogue is protecting God's honor. And they're wrong — not because their zeal is fake, but because the god they're zealous for doesn't exist. They built a version of God in their imagination and are serving that version with their whole lives. The real God — the one Jesus reveals — is a stranger to them.

That's the most dangerous condition in the spiritual world: sincere devotion to an imaginary god. The Pharisees who orchestrated Jesus' crucifixion weren't cynical power-grabbers (most of them). They were true believers in a god of their own construction — a god who required the death of the very Son the real God sent. Their sincerity made them more dangerous, not less. Because a person who kills you while doubting might hesitate. A person who kills you while worshipping won't.

Jesus frames this compassionately: they do these things because they don't know. Not because they're pure evil. Because they're profoundly ignorant while feeling profoundly certain. That combination — ignorance plus certainty — is the engine of religious persecution in every generation.

If you're being persecuted by religious people — people who genuinely believe they're serving God by opposing you — Jesus says: they don't know the Father. Not "they're bad people." They don't know God. And the thing they're worshipping with such lethal devotion isn't the Father. It's a construction. Pity them. They're serving something that isn't there.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture