What Does John 15:20 Mean?
Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his lord. If they pursued me, they will also pursue you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.THE KEY
The word’s reception travels with its bearer: the servant can be pursued as the lord is, and the lord’s word can be kept through the servant.
THE MEANING
Your place as Jesus’ servant does not lift you above his experience. His word meets two kinds of response through you: some pursue you, while others keep what you say as they keep what he said.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that serving Jesus places you beyond the treatment he receives.
THE ROOT
διώκω
diōkō
GROWS FROM
διωκ-
Pursue or chase.
“pursued” in this verse is diōkō. The word beneath “persecuted” means pursuit: the pressure that meets Jesus reaches those who serve him too. The verse describes opposition as a response that follows the same path from lord to servant.
ALSO GROWS
diōgmos: Pursuit carried out as persecution.
διωγμός
It names the hostile pursuit that can follow Jesus’ servants as it followed him.
diōktēs: One who pursues or persecutes.
διώκτης
It makes visible the person doing the pursuing in the verse’s repeated pattern.
τηρέω
tēreō
GROWS FROM
τηρε-
Watch over, guard, keep.
The word rendered “kept” carries the sense of guarding or watching over. The verse holds this response beside persecution: the word can be guarded and carried from Jesus to those who speak for him.
ALSO GROWS
tērēsis: The act of keeping or observing.
τήρησις
It shows that “keeping” can mean sustained attention to a word, not merely hearing it once.
diatēreō: To preserve or keep something intact.
διατηρέω
This related form illuminates how Jesus’ saying can remain guarded as it passes to his servants.
THE PATTERN
The servant shares the treatment and reception of the one they serve.
A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.For to this you were called, because the Anointed One also suffered for us, leaving you a pattern to trace, so that you might follow in his footprints.THE THREAD
Flourishing are you when they revile you, and pursue you, and speak every evil word against you, lying, for my sake.Matthew uses the same verb, διώκω (diōkō, “pursue, persecute”), for what can happen to Jesus’ followers. John reveals the pattern beneath it: the pursuit that meets the lord can reach the servant too.
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