If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

  • TYNDALE Tyndale New Testament (1534)

    Yf ye were of the worlde the worlde wolde love his awne. How be it because ye are not of the worlde but I have chosen you out of the worlde therfore hateth you the worlde.

  • GNV Geneva Bible (1599)

    If ye were of the worlde, the world woulde loue his owne: but because ye are not of ye world, but I haue chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

View more translations →

Cross-references (13)

Passages linked to John 15:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • 1 John 4:4-5 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
  • John 17:14-16 I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
  • Ephesians 1:4-11 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love, having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved, in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him. We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will,
  • Titus 3:3-7 For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
  • John 15:16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
  • Ephesians 2:2-5 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
  • 1 John 5:19-20 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
  • 1 Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
  • Luke 6:32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
  • 1 John 3:12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
  • 1 Peter 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
  • Revelation 20:7-9 And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. They went up over the width of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God and devoured them.
  • Revelation 12:17 The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep God’s commandments and hold Jesus’ testimony.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

↑ Top

Explain this verse (13 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 19. If you were of the world. This is…

19. If you were of the world. This is another consolation, that the reason why they are hated by the world is, that they have been separated from it. Now, this is their true happiness and glory, for in this manner they have been rescued from destruction.

But I have chosen you out of the world. To choose means here to separate Now, if they were chosen out of the world, it follows that they were a part of the world, and that it is only by the mercy of God that they are distinguished from the rest who perish. Again, by the term, the world, Christ describes, in this passage, all who have not been regenerated by the Spirit of God; for he contrasts the Church with the world, as we shall see more fully under the seventeenth chapter. And yet this doctrine does not contradict the exhortation of Paul,

Read full note →

Be at peace with all men, as far as lieth in you, (Romans 12:18;)

for the exception which he adds amounts to saying, that we ought to see what is right and proper for us to do that no man, by seeking to please the world, may give himself up to its corruptions.

But there is still another objection that may be urged; for we see that it commonly happens that wicked men, who are of the world, are not only hated, but accursed by others. In this respect, certainly, the world loveth not what is its own. I reply, earthly men, who are regulated by the perception of their flesh, never have a true hatred of sin, but only so far as they are affected by the consideration of their own convenience or injury. And yet the intention of Christ was not to deny that the world foams and rages within itself by internal quarrels. He only intended to show, that the world hates nothing in believers but what is of God. And hence, too, it plainly appears how foolish are the dreams of the Anabaptists, who conclude, from this single argument that they are the servants of God, because they displease the greater part of men. For it is easy to reply, that many who are of the world favor their doctrine, because they are delighted at the thought of having every thing in shameful confusion; while many who are out of the world hate it, because they are desirous that the good order of the state should remain unbroken.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 19 If ye were of the world, the world…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Men and women may be in the world, yet…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But all these things will they do unto you,....…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Because ye are not of the world, therefore the…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. Ye are not of the world -…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain If ye were of the world - If you…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. The world—Five times is the world named in…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. the world would love his own] In Joh_7:7…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19) If ye were of the world, the world…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If ye were of the worldi.e. still a part…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain If ye were of the world the world, would…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain the world kosmos = world-system. Joh 16:11; Joh 16:33;…

↑ Top

Share