John Chapter 15, Verse 22
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22: ει μη ηλθον και ελαλησα αυτοις αμαρτιαν ουκ ειχον νυν δε προφασιν ουκ εχουσιν περι της αμαρτιας αυτων
22: If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin:
but now they have no cloak for their sin.
22: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin:
but now they have no excuse for their sin.
And spoken unto them. Declared unto them the will of God, and made known his requirements. Jesus had not less certainly shown by his own arguments that he was the Messiah than by his miracles. By both these kinds of proof their guilt was to be measured. See Jn 16:26. No small part of the gospel of John consists of arguments used by Jesus to convince the Jews that he came from God. He here says if he had not used these arguments, and proved to them his divine mission, they had not had sin.
Had not had sin. This is evidently to be understood of the particular sin of persecuting and rejecting him. Of this he was speaking; and though, if he had not come, they would have been guilty of many other sins, yet of this, their great crowning sin, they would not have been guilty.
No cloak. No covering, no excuse. The proof has been so clear that they cannot plead ignorance; it has been so often presented that they cannot allege that they had no opportunity of knowing it. It is still so with all sinners.
