They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus reveals a chilling reality: persecution will escalate from social exclusion to believing murder is a holy act. The word choice for "offering service" actually refers to a sacrificial offering, meaning those who kill believers would genuinely believe they were performing a religious duty to God.
They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure, warning them that sorrow will fill their hearts as they face persecution for his name. He explains that this suffering is not random but part of God's plan, leading to greater good and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples will be ostracized from Jewish communities and even face death, with their persecutors believing they are serving God by doing so.
Imagine being cast out from your spiritual home, your community of faith. Jesus warns his followers this will happen.
Jesus tells his disciples they will be "put out of the synagogues." This wasn't just a mild inconvenience; it meant being excommunicated, cut off from religious life and often from community life as well. For the Jewish people of Jesus' day, the synagogue was central to their identity and their connection to God. To be expelled was a profound rejection, marking them as outsiders, even heretics, by those who remained.
This expulsion was an early sign of the growing divide between Jesus' followers and the established religious authorities. It foreshadowed a time when their loyalty to Christ would make them unwelcome in places they once belonged.
What happens when doing evil feels like doing good? Jesus reveals a chilling reality about future persecution.
Jesus doesn't stop at excommunication. He delivers a stark prophecy: "the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God." This is a radical and disturbing statement. It means that the violence against believers would reach a point where the perpetrators genuinely believed they were performing a holy duty, a form of worship to God.
This twisted mindset is fueled by profound misunderstanding. As Jesus explains in the next verse, "they have not known the Father, nor me." When people don't know the true God, they can invent their own version of divine service, one that tragically involves harming or even killing those who follow Jesus. This isn't just about hatred; it's about a warped religious conviction that mistakes brutality for piety. History, from Saul of Tarsus to later persecutors, tragically illustrates this terrifying possibility.
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Understand the original words
synagōgē · Greek Noun
The central meeting place for Jewish religious life, education, and worship. Being excluded from this community meant total social, legal, and religious isolation from the covenant people.
hōra · Greek Noun
In John's Gospel, this often points to the critical, divine moment of Christ’s glorification, passion, or the fulfillment of prophetic events. It signifies a point in time determined by God's sovereign plan.
latreia · Greek Noun
Refers to acts of worship or religious duty offered to God. In this context, it highlights the irony of persecutors believing that murdering followers of Christ is a pious act of religious devotion.
This verse speaks directly to the intense period following Jesus' earthly ministry, where his followers, particularly Jewish believers, faced ostracization and violent opposition from within the Jewish religious establishment, who genuinely believed they were upholding God's law by persecuting the new movement.
c. AD 30-33
Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection
The foundational events of Christianity, leading to the early formation of the movement separate from Judaism.
c. AD 33-36
Early Persecution of Christians
Following Jesus' ascension, the early followers faced increasing opposition, including imprisonment and the stoning of Stephen, as recorded in Acts.
c. AD 47-49
Council of Jerusalem
A significant event where the early church leadership debated and decided on the integration of Gentiles into the Christian community without full adherence to Jewish law.
c. AD 60-62
Paul's Imprisonment and Defense
The Apostle Paul recounts his own fervent persecution of early Christians before his conversion, showing the mindset Jesus predicts in this verse.
c. AD 62-66— this verse
Jewish Rejection of Jesus and Persecution of Followers
As Jesus predicts, many Jewish leaders and followers viewed the early Christians as heretics, leading to excommunication and violence, believing they were serving God.
AD 70
Destruction of the Second Temple
The Roman destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem marked a definitive break between Judaism and nascent Christianity, intensifying the distinct identities and conflicts.
This passage directly illustrates Jesus' words as Paul recounts his own zealous persecution of Christians, believing he was doing God a service.
1 Corinthians 15:9Paul reflects on his past, stating he persecuted the church of God, highlighting the mindset Jesus predicted where actions against believers were seen as service to God.
Philippians 3:6Similar to Acts 26, Paul mentions his zeal in persecuting the church, underscoring the theme of misguided religious fervor leading to harm.
Matthew 10:17Jesus forewarns his disciples about being handed over to councils and scourged in synagogues, echoing the specific form of persecution mentioned in John 16:2.
1 John 3:1This passage speaks to the world's hatred of believers and how this animosity is rooted in a lack of knowing God, connecting to the reason behind the persecution Jesus describes.
cambridgeJohn 16:2: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."
2 . out of the synagogues ] Or, out of the synagogue , i.e. excommunicate you. Comp. John 9:22 ; John 12:42 . yea, the time cometh ] Better, nay, there cometh an hour . Comp. John 16:25 . ‘You might think excommunication an extreme measure; but ( ἀλλά ) they will go far greater lengths than this.’ that whosoever ] Literally, in order that every one who .…
jfbJohn 16:2: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."
- They shall put you out of the synagogue—(Joh 9:22; 12:42).the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service—The words mean religious service—"that he is offering a service to God." (So Saul of Tarsus, Ga 1:13, 14; Php 3:6).
Jesus reveals a chilling reality: persecution will escalate from social exclusion to believing murder is a holy act. The word choice for "offering service" actually refers to a sacrificial offering, meaning those who kill believers would genuinely believe they were performing a religious duty to God.
Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure, warning them that sorrow will fill their hearts as they face persecution for his name. He explains that this suffering is not random but part of God's plan, leading to greater good and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples will be ostracized from Jewish communities and even face death, with their persecutors believing they are serving God by doing so.
Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure, warning them that sorrow will fill their hearts as they face persecution for his name. He explains that this suffering is not random but part of God's plan, leading to greater good and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples will be ostracized from Jewish communities and even face death, with their persecutors believing they are serving God by doing so.
"They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God." — Jesus reveals a chilling reality: persecution will escalate from social exclusion to believing murder is a holy act. The word choice for "offering service" actually refers to a sacrificial offering,…
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Last reviewed October 2026