What Does John 15:25 Mean?
But this comes to pass, so that the word written in their instruction may be filled, "They hated me without cause."
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
But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.THE KEY
The hatred described as “without a cause” also carries the sense of something given freely: it is not earned by the one who receives it.
THE MEANING
This verse names hatred that has no cause in the person it targets. Its presence does not prove that the hated person deserves it; the written word gives this undeserved hostility a name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“If I am hated, I must have caused it.” This verse separates another person’s hostility from the guilt of its target.
THE ROOT
δωρεάν
dōreán
GROWS FROM
δωρ
dōr
Gift; something freely bestowed.
The phrase translated “without a cause” is δωρεάν (dōreán), which also means “freely” or “without payment.” Its gift-family includes δωρεά (dōreá, “gift”) and δῶρον (dōron, “gift”): the hostility here is presented as gratuitous, not as a debt the target has earned.
ALSO GROWS
dōreá: Gift; something freely bestowed.
δωρεά
It shares the gift-family with the word translated “without a cause,” making the sense of freely given hostility audible.
dōron: Gift; present.
δῶρον
This related gift-word reinforces the sense of something bestowed, here describing hostility with no cause in its target.
πληρωθῇ
plērōthē
GROWS FROM
πληρ
plēr
Fill; bring to fullness or completion.
“filled” in this verse is plērōthē. The word translated “fulfilled” comes from a family whose central image is filling something to fullness. The written word reaches its full expression in the event the verse names, rather than remaining only a line on a page.
ALSO GROWS
plērēs: Full; complete.
πλήρης
It shares the filling-family and makes the idea of fulfillment as reaching fullness concrete.
plērōma: Fullness; that which fills.
πλήρωμα
It carries the same root into the state of being filled, illuminating how a written word comes to its full expression.
THE PATTERN
Hostility and harm can be real without having a cause in the person they strike.
Let my enemies not rejoice over me falsely; let those who hate me for nothing not wink with the eye.Flourishing are you when they revile you, and pursue you, and speak every evil word against you, lying, for my sake.For this is favor, if one bears up under grief with God in view, suffering what is out of alignment.THE THREAD
Let my enemies not rejoice over me falsely; let those who hate me for nothing not wink with the eye.The Psalm carries the same clause as John: Hebrew חִנָּם (ḥinnām) means “for nothing” or “without cause.” Greek δωρεάν (dōreán) also carries the sense “freely,” and the two expressions meet in the same discovery: the hatred is not earned by its target.
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