26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning. John 15:26-27 (NASB)
There was a time when I sat under the teaching of men who taught that the only difference between a lost person and a saved person was the presence of the Holy Spirit. While only Christians have the Holy Spirit there are other differences. The Christian is Born Again. He or she has been regenerated unto a New Creation. The Christian has faith that the unregenerate do not have….
This faith, working in the regenerate heart believes God and has the ability to cause the believer to obey God. The regenerate can repent, but the unregenerate (the lost) cannot. However, all living Christians still must coexist with their sin nature. Also, they live in a world that is hostile to God and all genuine Christians. These two facts seem to stack the deck against the believer ever being able to live in victory in this life.
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ 26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning. John 15:18-27 (NASB)
This statement by our Lord is part of His last words to His Apostles before going to the cross. In v18 Jesus makes it clear that the world hates God and all those who are of God. The Greek word translated “world” in this passage is κόσμος (kosmos). This word can be referring to the Universe or its beauty. However, since Jesus is referring to people here we know that He is using this word to refer to the sum total of persons living in the world. The word “hates” in v18 translates the Greek verb μισεῖ (misei) the third singular, present active indicative case of μισέω (miseō), which means to hate or detest. The word “if” at the beginning of Jesus statement can be translated as “forasmuch.” We might use the word “since” in place of “if” here. Jesus is telling His Apostles the fact that all people who are not of God detest them and detest God. Aren’t we seeing this playing out big time our culture right now as secular humanism seems to be the new religion everywhere?