John 16:2 Cross References

John 16:2

2: For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing God a service.

They said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.

"I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many of the believers in Jerusalem to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.
Many times I had them whipped in the synagogues to try to get them to curse Christ. I was so violently opposed to them that I even hounded them in distant cities of foreign lands.

"Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. At his feet I learned to follow our Jewish laws and customs very carefully. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just as all of you are today.
And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, binding and delivering both men and women to prison.

I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal.
For they don't understand God's way of making people right with himself. Instead, they are clinging to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. They won't go along with God's way.

God blesses you who are hated and excluded and mocked and cursed because you are identified with me, the Son of Man.

"'But Lord,' I argued, 'they certainly know that I imprisoned and beat those in every synagogue who believed on you.
And when your witness Stephen was killed, I was standing there agreeing. I kept the coats they laid aside as they stoned him.'
"But the Lord said to me, 'Leave Jerusalem, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!'"
The crowd listened until Paul came to that word; then with one voice they shouted, "Away with such a fellow! Kill him! He isn't fit to live!"
They yelled, threw off their coats, and tossed handfuls of dust into the air.

And when the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their witness.

Many people, including some of the Jewish leaders, believed in him. But they wouldn't admit it to anyone because of their fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue.

Hear this message from the LORD, and tremble at his words: "Your close relatives hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. `Let the LORD be honored!' they scoff. `Be joyful in him!' But they will be put to shame.

The lying witnesses said, "This man is always speaking against the Temple and against the law of Moses.
We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us."

We respond gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world's garbage, like everybody's trash--right up to the present moment.

"Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because of your allegiance to me.

And he told them, "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand!"
Then they put their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, they rushed at him.
They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The official witnesses took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
And he fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!" And with that, he died.

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath. He was eager to destroy the Lord's followers, so he went to the high priest.
He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them--both men and women--back to Jerusalem in chains.

You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion--how I violently persecuted the Christians. I did my best to get rid of them.
I was one of the most religious Jews of my own age, and I tried as hard as possible to follow all the old traditions of my religion.

Yet they say to each other, `Don't come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!' They are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away.

Jesus replied, "Believe me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem.

"You were born in sin!" they answered. "Are you trying to teach us?" And they threw him out of the synagogue.

And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.

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