Charles Ellicott Commentary John 16:3

"And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me." — John 16:3 (ASV)

Because they have not known the Father, nor me.—Compare Note on John 15:21. He repeats that ignorance of God is the cause of the world's hatred and persecution, and adds here that it is ignorance of God revealed in Himself. There is a special force in the mention of this ignorance in connection with the previous verse.

Men think that in exclusion, and anathemas, and persecutions, and deaths of men made like themselves in the image of God, they are offering to God an acceptable sacrifice.

They can know nothing of the true nature of the living Father who pities every child, and wills not the death of a sinner, and gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. They know nothing of the long-suffering and compassion of the Son of Man, who pleaded even for His murderers, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”