John 16:4

But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) But these things have I told you . . .—He recurs to the thought of John 16:1. (Comp. also John 13:19; John 14:29.) He strengthens them by forewarning them. When the persecution comes they will remember His word, and find in it support for their faith and evidence of His presence with them.

These things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.—While with them, He would spare them, and it was against Himself that the hatred of His foes was directed. When He shall have left them they will represent Him, and must stand in the foreground of the battle.

These words seem to be opposed to Matthew 10 and parallel passages, where our Lord did tell the Apostles at the time of their call of the persecutions which awaited them. (See especially John 16:17; John 16:21; John 16:28.) The passages are not, however, really inconsistent, for “these things” in this verse (comp. John 16:3; John 16:1, and John 15:21) refers to the full account He has given them of the world’s hatred and the principles lying at the foot of it, and the manner in which it was to be met by the Spirit’s witness and their witness of Him. These things which the infant Church would have to meet, and meet without His bodily presence, He told them not at the beginning.

Benson Commentary

John 16:4-6. But these things have I told you — And forewarned you of them; that when the time shall come — In which they shall happen; ye may remember that I told you of them — And so may turn what has so discouraging an aspect into a further confirmation of your faith. And these things I said not at the beginning — Of my ministry; because I was with you — And could easily suggest proper instructions and consolations, as new circumstances of difficulty arose; and because, being with you, I could bear the chief shock of persecution in my own person, and so screen you from it. But now I go to him that sent me — But now, that my ministry is drawing toward a conclusion, and I am going to leave you, I could no longer defer speaking of these things to you; because it is of great importance you should know them, in order that when they come to pass you may not be surprised and stumbled. And none of you asketh me — Now when it is most seasonable; whither goest thou? — Though I mentioned to you my departure once before, (John 13:33,) none of you has inquired of me the reasons of my departure, nor the effects of it; nor is concerned to make those inquiries about that better world, which surely might well become you in such a circumstance. But because I have said these things — Have spoken of leaving you for a time, and have informed you of the persecutions you will meet with when I am gone; sorrow hath filled your heart — Hath engrossed your thoughts, and filled you with sadness.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:1-6 Our Lord Jesus, by giving his disciples notice of trouble, designed that the terror might not be a surprise to them. It is possible for those who are real enemies to God's service, to pretend zeal for it. This does not lessen the sin of the persecutors; villanies will never be changed by putting the name of God to them. As Jesus in his sufferings, so his followers in theirs, should look to the fulfilling of Scripture. He did not tell them sooner, because he was with them to teach, guide, and comfort them; they needed not then this promise of the Holy Spirit's presence. It will silence us to ask, Whence troubles come? It will satisfy us to ask, Whither go they? for we know they work for good. It is the common fault and folly of melancholy Christians to look only on the dark side of the cloud, and to turn a deaf ear to the voice of joy and gladness. That which filled the disciples' hearts with sorrow, was too great affection for this present life. Nothing more hinders our joy in God, than the love of the world, and the sorrow of the world which comes from it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These things - These things which are about to happen, John 16:1-2. He had foretold them that they would take place.

Ye may remember ... - By calling to mind that he had foretold these things they would perceive that he was omniscient, and would remember, also, the consolations which he had afforded them and the instructions which he had given them. Had these calamities come upon them without their having been foretold, their faith might have failed; they might have been tempted to suppose that Jesus was not aware of them, and of course that he was not the Messiah. God does not suffer his people to fall into trials without giving them sufficient warning, and without giving all the grace that is needful to bear them.

At the beginning - In the early part of the ministry of Jesus. The expression these things here refers, probably, to all the topics contained in these chapters. He had, in the early part of his ministry, forewarned them of calamities and persecutions Matthew 10:16; Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 9:15, but he had not so fully acquainted them with the nature, and design, and sources of their trials; he had not so fully apprised them of the fact, the circumstances, and the object of his death and of his ascension to heaven; he had not revealed to them so clearly that the Holy Spirit would descend, and sanctify, and guide them; and especially he had not, in one continued discourse, grouped all these things together, and placed their sorrows and consolations so fully before their minds. All these are included, it is supposed, in the expression "these things."

Because I was with you - This is the reason which he gives why he had not at first made known to them clearly the certainty of their calamities and their joys; and it implies:

1. that it was not needful to do it at once, as he was to be with them for more than three years, and could have abundant opportunity gradually to teach these things, and to prepare them for the more full announcement when he was about to leave them.

2. that while he was with them he would go before them, and the weight of calamities would fall on him, and consequently they did not so much then need the presence and aid of the Holy Spirit as they would when he was gone.

3. that his presence was to them what the presence of the Holy Spirit would be after his death, John 16:7. He could teach them all needful truth. He could console and guide them. Now that he was to leave them, he fully apprised them of what was before them, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit to do for them what he had done when with them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. these things I said not … at—from.

the beginning—He had said it pretty early (Lu 6:22), but not quite as in Joh 16:2.

because I was with you.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Whatsoever I have discovered to you formerly, of my going to my Father, the coming of the Holy Ghost, your sufferings from the world, I have told you of before; you will see that they will most certainly come to pass: then you will remember what I have said unto you; and I have told you them on purpose that you may remember them, and thereby know, that although I am in the form of a man, yet I also am God blessed for ever, and did know things that should afterward come to pass, and could tell you the truth about them. And having been with you, I have not from the first of your converse with me told you these things; that is, those which relate to the world’s dealing with you (which he had told them, Matthew 10:16, &c, but that was after some good while’s converse with them); nor yet had he spoken to them at first about his death, resurrection, and ascension, because he was with them, and to stay with them some time, during which time he bare the brunt of all; the whole hatred of the Jews was poured out upon him: and for those other things relating to his death, and ascension, and the sending of the Spirit, he, who taught his disciples as they were able to bear them, Mark 4:33, had concealed these things till by his other doctrine he had prepared them to receive this revelation, and there was a necessity of his relieving them against his bodily absence, by the promise of that other Comforter the Holy Ghost.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But these things have I told you,.... Christ enlarged on this disagreeable subject, and was the more particular in enumerating the evils his apostles were to endure for his name's sake:

that when the time shall come; some copies read it, "their time"; so the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic render it; that is, the time when wicked men will be suffered to vent all their rage and malice:

ye may remember that I told you of them; which might serve greatly to confirm them in the faith of him as the omniscient God, and the true Messiah, and encourage them to depend on his veracity and faithfulness in his promises; that since the evil things which he spoke of came upon them, so they might hope, believe, and expect, that all the good things he had assured them of, should be accomplished; and also to engage them to bear their sufferings with the greater patience, since they were appointed by God, and foretold by their Lord and master.

And these things, adds Christ,

I said not unto you at the beginning; when he first called them to be followers of him; for though when he ordained them, and sent them forth to preach the Gospel in the cities of Judea, which was some time after he had called them by his grace, he did acquaint them with some of the troubles and exercises they should meet with; as that they should be hated by all men, persecuted from city to city, beat in the synagogues, delivered up to councils, and brought before kings and governors; see Matthew 10:17; yet he did not so fully and distinctly speak of these things, as here and at this time: his reason for such a conduct was this,

because, says he,

I was with you: wherefore he never spoke so fully and distinctly of their troubles, because he was with them, and took them upon himself; and indeed, whilst he was with them, the rage and malice of the Jews were not so much against his disciples, as himself; nor did he for the same reason speak so largely of the Comforter, and of the comforts they should receive from him, because as they had not the exercises they should afterwards have, so they had him to be their comforter.

Geneva Study Bible

But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 16:4. Ἀλλά] At, breaks off the enumeration (Baeumlein, Partik. p. 15). Jesus will not go further into details, and recurs to the thought in John 16:1. The explanation: “although it is not to be expected otherwise, I have nevertheless foretold it to you” (Lücke, De Wette), is the less agreeable to the text, since ταῦτα λελάλ. had just been already said, and that without any antithetic reference of the kind. The explanations of Tholuck and Lange, again, are importations: “but so little would I terrify (?) you hereby, that I have only (?) said it to you,” etc.

ταῦτα] What was said in John 16:2-3.

αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπ. ὑμ.] Attraction. See Winer, p. 581 f. [E. T. p. 665 ff.]

ἐγώ] with weighty emphasis: I, the Person, with whom your faith is concerned. Comp. John 16:1, ἵνα μὴ σκανδαλ.

ἐξ ἀρχῆς] John 15:27. The question, how this declaration of Jesus may be reconciled with the announcements found in the Synoptics, even from the time of the Sermon on the Mount, of predestined sufferings (Matthew 5:10 ff.; Luke 6:22 ff.; Matthew 10:16 ff.; Luke 12:4 ff.; Matthew 21:12 ff; Matthew 24:9), is not solved by saying that here φοβερώτερα ἐκείνων (Euth. Zigabenus, comp. also Chrysostom) are announced (see, on the contrary, Matthew 10:16-18; Matthew 10:28); or that Christ spoke at an earlier period minus aperte et parcius (Bengel, comp. Grotius), and in much more general terms (Ebrard), but now more expressly set forth in its principles the character of the world’s attitude towards the disciples (Tholuck, comp. Lange); or, that He has now stated more definitely the cause of the hatred (Lampe); or, that He utters it here as a parting word (Luthardt); or even, that at an earlier period, because the thoughts of the disciples had not yet dwelt upon it, it was “for them as good as not said” (Hengstenberg); but the difference lies clearly before us, and is simply to be recognised (comp. also Godet), to be explained, however, from the fact that in the Synoptics more general and less definite allusions belonging to the earlier time appear with the more definite form and stamp of later expressions. The living recollection of John must here also preponderate as against the Synoptics so that his relation to theirs here is that of a corrector.

ὅτι μεθʼ ὑμῶν ἤμην] It would have been unnecessary in the time of my personal association with you, since it is not till after my departure that your persecution (up to that time the hatred of the world affected Himself) is to commence. “Because you have me with you, they cannot well but leave you in peace, and can do nothing to you, they must have done it to me previously, but now it will begin,” etc., Luther. Comp. Chrysostom, Euth. Zigabenus, Grotius. As yet they had suffered no persecution; hence the thought, “I could console you” (Lücke, De Wette, and older expositors), is not to be introduced. The interpretation also: “now first, when I promise you the Spirit, can I thus openly speak to you” (Bengel, Tholuck), is not in harmony with the words.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 16:4. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα … ὑμῖν. This repeats John 16:1, but He now adds an explanation of His silence up to this time regarding their future: ταῦτα δὲ ὑμῖν … ἤμην. ἐξ ἀρχῆς = ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς of John 15:27, Holtzmann. If there is a difference, ἐξ ἀρχῆς indicates rather the point of time (cf. its only other occurrence, John 6:64) while ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς indicates continuity. The fact of the silence has been disputed: but no definite and full intimations have hitherto been given of the future experience of the Apostles, as representing an absent Lord. The reason of His silence was ὅτι μεθʼ ὑμῶν ἤμην, “because I was with you”. While He was with them they leant upon Him and could not apprehend a time of weakness and of persecution. See Matthew 9:15.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. But] Making a fresh start; But, to return (to John 16:1).

have I told] See on John 16:6.

when the time] Rather, when their hour, according to the better reading; i.e. the hour appointed for these things (John 16:2).

ye may … of them] Better, ye may remember them, that I told you. ‘I’ is emphatic, ‘I Myself, the object of your faith.’

And these things … beginning] Better, But these things I told you not from the beginning. Not exactly the same phrase as in John 15:27 (ἀπ' ἀρχῆς) but ἐξ ἀρχῆς (here and John 6:64 only): the one expresses simple departure, the other consequence and continuity. There is no inconsistency between this statement and passages like Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9; Luke 6:22, &c. ‘These things’ will cover a great deal more than the prediction of persecutions, e.g. the explanation of the persecutions, the promise of the Paraclete, &c.

because I was with you] See notes on Matthew 9:15.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 16:4. Μνημονεύητε) ye may remember, with faith: ch. John 13:19, “Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass ye may believe that I am He.”—οὐκ εἶπον) I said not, although knowing it. A most wise method of Christ was this. He had told them, even a little before, of the hatred of the world, but less openly, and more sparingly. [Now that they were fortified by the promise of the Holy Spirit against that hatred He speaks more openly concerning that subject.—V. g.] Matthew 10:17; Matthew 10:21; Matthew 10:25; Matthew 24:9.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - But - the ἀλλὰ suggests a kind of pause, as if he had said, "I will go into no further details" (Meyer) - these things - these prophecies of approaching persecution - I have spoken to you, that (here ἵνα has its proper relic force) when [their] hour is come, ye may remember [them] how that I told you. This awkward form is that due to the perplexities of the position of αὐτῶν in the text. Frequently our Lord thus prepared his disciples for the future, called upon them to remember his predictions as pledges of his Divine mission, but still more as consolations and supply of strength when they would most of all need it. These things I told you not from the beginning; not "at the beginning," ἐν ἀρχῆ, nor ἀπ ἀρχῆς, but ἐξ ἀρχῆς (cf. Isaiah 40:21; Isaiah 41:26; Isaiah 43:9), from the beginning of my ministry (as Mark 1:1), and continuously throughout it. If "these things" are restricted to the prediction of cruel persecution, they are certainly contradicted by the language of Matthew 10:17, 21, 28; Luke 6:22; Matthew 5:10, etc.; Matthew 21:36; 24:9; Luke 12:4, etc. The numerous explanations of the commentators, that Christ had now given a more detailed, particular, and tragic outlook, cannot be sustained. Nor does the supposition that John is here the corrector of the synoptic narrative satisfy (Meyer); nor that of Godet, that Matthew, in his tenth chapter, was gathering together all that Christ had said of this nature, antedating instructions that the Lord had given, at all explain the corresponding passages in Luke's Gospel. The language of the last clause, because I was with you, throws more light upon it. This does not surely mean "because I was bearing for you the brunt of the opposition," - it would be unnecessary altogether to say that. All along they must have bitterly felt the antagonism which their Lord encountered. The difficulty is removed by including in the ταῦτα of Ver. 4 what certainly is involved in the ταῦτα of Ver. 1; and the reference is to the whole of his instructions touching his departure and the coming of the other Paraclete, and the principle from which the hatred of the world would spring; the explanation of the anticipated hostility which he had now offered, and the way in which they might overcome it. So long as he was with them they could not be made to understand the Divine riches of the consolation which was now so near. From the beginning he had not given all this class of instruction, because he was with them. While at their side, it was premature to speak of the special help they would require in their bereaved condition. John 16:4

Vincent's Word Studies

But (ἀλλὰ)

Marks a breaking off of the enumeration of fearful details; but (to say no more of these things),I have spoken these, etc.

At the beginning (ἐξ ἀρχῆς)

Properly, from the beginning. So Rev. The phrase only here and John 6:64.