John 17:14 - Exposition

I have given them thy word ( δέδωκα , a permanent endowment); and the implication is that they have received it ( John 17:8 ). The phrase is rather more condensed than before, and carries all the consequences previously mentioned, and others as well to which the Lord had referred ( John 16:1-5 ). As a matter of fact, the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. This constant contrast between the mind of Christ and the spirit of the world pervades the New Testament. Christ had exposed its hypocrisies, and denounced its idols, and inverted its standards, and repudiated its smile, and condemned its prince, and was now indifferent to its curse. His disciples, as far as they shared his sentiments, came in also for its malediction and hatred (cf. the conflict with the Pharisees in the synoptic narrative).