Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

 ³  “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.

 ⁴  “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”  John 16:1-4.

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Here is what John Calvin in his Commentary states on this phrase:  “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue”:

“2.  They will drive you out of the synagogues.  This was no light offense to disturb their minds, that they were to be banished like wicked men from the assembly of the godly, or, at least, of those who boasted that they were the people of God, and gloried in the title of The Church;  for believers are subject not only to persecutions, but to ignominy and reproaches, as Paul tells us, (1 Corinthians 4:12, 18.)  But Christ bids them stand firm against this attack;  because, though they be banished from the synagogues, still they remain within the kingdom of God.  His statement amounts to this, that we ought not to be dismayed by the perverse judgments of men, but ought to endure boldly the reproach of the cross of Christ, satisfied with this single consideration, that our cause which men unjustly and wickedly condemn, is approved by God.

Hence too we infer, that the ministers of the Gospel not only are ill treated by the avowed enemies of the faith, but sometimes also endure the greatest reproaches from those who appear to belong to the Church, and who are even regarded as its pillars.  The scribes and priests, by whom the apostles were condemned, boasted that they were appointed by God to be judges of the Church; and, indeed, the ordinary government of the Church was in their hands, and the office of judging was from God, and not from men.  But by their tyranny, they had corrupted the whole of that order which God had appointed.  The consequence was, that the power which had been given to them for edification, was nothing else thorn a cruel oppression of the servants of God;  and excommunication, which ought to have been a medicine for purifying the Church, was turned to an opposite purpose, for driving away from it the fear of God.

Since the apostles knew this by experience, in their own age, we have no reason to be greatly alarmed at the Pope’s excommunications, with which he thunders against us on account of the testimony of the Gospel;  for we ought not to fear that they will do us any more injury than those ancient excommunications which were made against the apostles.  Nay more, nothing is more desirable than to be driven out of that assembly from which Christ is banished.  Yet let us observe that, though the abuse of excommunication was so gross, still it did not effect the destruction of that discipline which God had appointed in his Church from the beginning;  for, though Satan devotes his utmost efforts to corrupt all the ordinances of God, we must not yield to him, so as to take away, on account of corruptions, what God has appointed to be perpetual. Excommunication, therefore, not less than Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, must be brought back, by the correction of abuses, to its pure and lawful use.”  (Emphasis added.)

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Jesus referred to the immediately preceding Scripture (John 15:18-27) when he stated:  “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.”  In other words, Jesus taught His disciples and the rest of us that we should not be surprised not stumble when we are cast out of places of worship, because the world indeed hates us. 

Others may not be persecuted to the extent of the apostles, Luther, Calvin, and others, and they may feel very unworthy to place themselves in that group, but they may face difficulties in staying in their local church or finding a new church due to their own doctrine which drives them away from their current church and makes it difficult finding a new church.  We first think of Christians in other countries who suffer the most, but it is not limited to them. 

But, there is hope!   

Calvin stated above:  “But Christ bids them stand firm against this attack;  because, though they be banished from the synagogues, still they remain within the kingdom of God.”  

Calvin also stated above:  “… we ought not to fear that they will do us any more injury than those ancient excommunications which were made against the apostles …”.  Just as Calvin looked up to the apostles as an example to give him courage, we too can look up to Calvin and our other fathers in the faith who endured the persecution.  We can be encouraged that God helped them and will help us too.

A few verses later we also read:  “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth;  for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak;  and He will disclose to you what is to come.”  John 16:13.

This Scripture for today also gives the rest of the Body of Christ (the true Church) compassion for them and a desire to pray for them, send missionaries to them, and otherwise encourage and help them.