Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 17:14

"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 17:14 (ASV)

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. He was a stranger here, and his people are also strangers and foreigners.

We are not so much to be unworldly as to be other-worldly. We belong to another world, to another kingdom, even the kingdom of heaven.

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.

If nobody hates you for being a Christian, are you a Christian at all? If you find that you run with the general herd and swim with the current, can you be a follower of that Christ who was despised and rejected of men?

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.

This does not look like trying to please the world, to adapt our method to the spirit of the age, to come as near to the world as much as we can, to dabble in its politics, and join in its schemes. This has to me a very different tone in it from all that.