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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Calvin Complete Commentary - John 7:7 - 7:7
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7.The world cannot hate you. When he says that the world cannot hate them, he reproves them for being altogether carnal; for peace with the world can only be purchased by a wicked consent to vices and to every kind of wickedness.
But me it hateth, because I testify. The world here denotes men who are not born again, who retain their natural disposition; and accordingly he declares that all who have not yet been regenerated by the Spirit are Christ’ adversaries. And why? Because he condemns their works And if we acquiesce in the decision of Christ, we are under the necessity of acknowledging that the whole nature of man is so sinful and wicked, that nothing right, or sincere, or good, can proceed from it. This is the only reason why any of us is pleased with himself, so long as he is in his natural state.
Because I testify of it, that its works are evil. When Christ says that the world hateth him on this account, he means that the Gospel cannot be faithfully preached without summoning the whole world, as guilty, to the judgment-seat of God, that flesh and blood may thus be crushed and reduced to nothing, according to that saying,
When the Spirit shall come, he will reprove the world of sin,
(Joh_16:8.)
We learn from it also, that so great is the pride natural to men, that they flatter and applaud themselves in their vices; for they would not kindle into rage, when they are reproved, were it not that they are blinded by excessive love of themselves, and on that account flatter themselves in their sins. Even among the vices of men, the chief and most dangerous is pride and arrogance. The Holy Spirit alone softens us, so as to endure reproofs patiently, and thus to offer ourselves willingly to be slain by the sword of the Church.