Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 17:13-14

"But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." — John 17:13-14 (ASV)

And these things I speak in the word, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Never did anyone more thoroughly mix with men than Christ did, and never had anyone greater sympathy with human beings than he had, yet everyone knows that he never was "of the world." He was distinct from all who were around him, and he says that his disciples were as he was: They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Christ's people have a life that others have not; they have a relationship to God that others have not; they are swayed by motives which others do not understand; and they are journeying onward toward a perfection to which others do not even desire to attain. So they are not of the world, and the world treats them as speckled birds, and hates them even as it hated their Lord and Master.