That faithful disciples of Christ will be universally hated because of their allegiance to Christ is a central teaching of the New Testament. Jesus taught it. John taught it. Paul taught it. Peter taught it. Explicitly, as I will show below. I am speaking here about an irrational aggression towards those who openly believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and who do everything they can to live devout lives because of that, knowing that they can live no other way.

This hostility towards openly devout believers in, and followers of, the Lord Jesus Christ is both secret and not so secret. I say this because you may respond thus: “Well I’m a devout believer in and follower of the Lord Jesus but most people seem to be okay with me and aren’t hostile”. Firstly, I can assure you that if you really are a devout believer in and follower of the Lord Jesus, and that everyone clearly becomes aware of it, then that hostility will not be far away. It may not show itself for now, and it may not be 24/7, but it will be there. That I can guarantee. For if you are a “devout believer in and follower of the Lord Jesus”, you will openly affirm all the teachings of Jesus, which not only includes the supposedly “nice” sayings of Jesus which anyone could accept (e.g., “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”, Matthew 5:7), but also the more difficult teachings too, which the world will absolutely find offensive, such as (a) His claim to being the unique spiritual way (John 14:6), and (b) that apart from Himself anyone else with messianic claims is an complete impostor, “a thief and a robber” of souls (John 10:8), and (c) His many utterances about “eternal torment” (e.g., Matthew 25:46), plus much more. Thus, people can be very nice with you until you happen to touch on a nerve and trigger their underlying hatred of the truth of Christ and their scorn about your devotion to Him.

Just to be clear at the outset here, I am speaking about an irrational hostility towards the disciple of Christ. I am not referring to a reasonable hostility towards you which could arise if you may have truly wronged someone in some way. Though this would become irrational if you genuinely sought reconciliation with that person and rather than accept it they simply continue to play the victim and be hostile. Very often, in such circumstances, your seeking of reconciliation will make them even more hostile than before. So my reference to the hostility of the world in general towards devout disciples of Christ and the teachings of the Christian Bible concerns an irrational hatred which can even be described as demonic because ultimately it does involve the demonic, as I will show below.

First, let us look at what is said in the New Testament about this hostility and even hatred towards disciples of Christ because of their allegiance to Him. First, Jesus plainly stated to His disciples, “In the world, you will have affliction” (John 16:33). Being a disciple of Christ is not supposed to be an easy ride, for your faith and devotion will trigger folks left, right, and centre. Even more explicitly, Jesus says to His disciples, “You will be hated by everyone because of My name” (Matthew 10:22), because of your subordination to Jesus’ authority. However, He followed up both of those sayings with words of encouragement. In John 16:33, His follow-up was, “But be encouraged for I have overcome the world”. And in Matthew 10:22, His follow-up was, “But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved”. So those two encouragements are to be taken to heart. For in the midst of the irrational hostility from the world, you have the knowledge that Jesus has already overcome that mad world and that you are inspired to persevere to the end in spite of the hostility, for in doing so you will have proved that you are the real thing! Jesus gives a bit more context about this irrational hostility of the world towards His disciples when He says the following:

“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:18-19).

So there you have the reason for all this hostility toward the disciple of Christ for simply being His disciple. It is because the people of the world — those happily (for now) embedded in this fallen world as if it was all that there is — know that you do not belong in their world. To them, you are like an alien intruder into their hallowed space. The world hates you because you are not of their world and because of the plain implication that you have been chosen by Christ to be out of this world, of which His kingdom is not a part. Can you see this? For it explains everything. You are an offensive intruder into their debauched domain, which they think is all that there is. You speak of things which mean nothing to them and which make no sense to them and for which they may even think you need psychiatric treatment! This is why the Apostle John says, “Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). It should therefore come as no surprise, for you represent everything that they find repulsive and entirely absurd!

Jesus provides another background to all this hostility when He says, “They will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me” (John 15:21). In other words, their hostility or hatred is sadly because they are godless. That is the long and short of it. You have a relationship with God; they do not. They are still ‘orphans’ and spiritually Fatherless, but you have been adopted into the family of God as His children (see Romans 8:15-17). There has to be, at the very least, unconscious jealousy there of a very powerful kind; the kind which leads to irrational hostility.

John also provides a further background to understanding this irrational hostility simply for being a proclaimed follower of the Lord Jesus. He writes, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). This is what I meant above when I said that “hostility of the world in general towards devout disciples of Christ and the teachings of the Christian Bible concerns an irrational hatred which can even be described as demonic”. The power which Satan has in and over the lives of those who reject Christ and who prefer this fallen world to any better one is massive. So one is dealing with something much bigger than mere human hostility. For here we come to the nub, kernel, crux, gist, pith and marrow of the matter. This is the difference between the people of the world and those who follow the One whose kingdom is not of this world: The people of the world are under the power of Satan who has blinded them and darkened their hearts (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 4:18), being already spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13a), whereas the disciples of Christ have been made alive (Ephesians 2:5), delivered from that bondage to Satan, their former master (Colossians 2:13b), and have been renewed in the spirit of their minds and have put on a new self (Ephesians 4:23-24). The people of the world can sense that you have left their realm for another and have been transformed and they hate you for it, even though their understanding of that hatred may not be conscious and even if they do not show it 24/7. You have turned your back on everything that they believe in and stand for and you now advocate what they consider to be insane or pie-in-the-sky. So you are like traitors to their world as far as they are concerned; and they hate you from the bottom of their hearts for your “treachery”, which is how they must surely unconsciously regard it.

The Apostle Paul said clearly that “All who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13). This is the thing. They persecute you because of your devotion to Christ and His kingdom which is not of this world, whereas they willingly uphold, follow, vote for, and believe in the veracity and teachings of evil people and impostors, counterfeits, who are deceived by Satan and lies, and whose teachings are nothing but deception. The people of the world know that you see through everything that they stand for and they absolutely hate you for it! They will not necessarily show it all the time, but when ‘push comes to shove’ they will spit it out, which can blindside the naïve, the sensitive and untaught. So do not be shocked about this. As the Apostle Peter said:

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Whatever that fiery trial — whether it is bigtime persecution by being arrested for proclaiming the Gospel on the High Street, or receiving scorn from family members, friends and relatives, or being on the end of insults simply for being spiritually wise — it should never take you by surprise. So many disciples imagine that the Lord will protect them and they will have a really sweet time here on earth. Big mistake! If you, as a disciple of Christ, are continually having a sweet time and everyone in the world loves you, there is something very wrong in your life (John 6:26)! There is a very relevant and revealing section in John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” regarding the two characters of ‘Christian’ and ‘Hopeful’, which says this: “Then Christian and Hopeful outwent them again, and went till they came at a delicate plain, called Ease, where they went with much content; but that plain was but narrow, so they were quickly got over it” (from Chapter 7 of Part 1). Do you see what Bunyan is teaching here? There may be occasional times of contentment, according to the Lord’s will and according to His assessment of our needs, but in general such times will be comparatively short. For the disciple of Christ, ‘delicate plains called Ease’ are narrow and quickly got over. Generally speaking, such brief times are a temporary respite from periods of affliction or other oppression; but they are also preparatory and strength-inducing for further times of affliction. Sounds hard? Welcome to the Christian life! Embrace it with everything you have. Believe me, if this whole journey for us through what Bunyan calls “the wilderness of this world” was spent on the “delicate plain called Ease”, we would not grow, we would not mature, we would not gain wisdom and we would become fat, stupid, and… well… worldly.

EPILOGUE

If you now feel in need of some succour at this concluding point in our study, here is the sweetness: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me” (Matthew 5:11). Or as Luke put it: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22). If you receive hostility because you are a genuine Christian and therefore a disciple of Christ, you are blessed! As Peter concurs, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (1 Peter 4:14). As Jesus put it in His follow-up to Matthew 5:11, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you” (Matthew 5:12). In other words, you are in good company!

Finally, if you know any unbelieving people who are never remotely hostile to you for your faith but who may even seem to be favourable towards you then you can regard those folks potentially as what I call “disciples-in-waiting”. They are currently existing in a no-man’s-land of spiritual perplexity. They are still ‘in the world’ but they can see that you have something which they do not. The fact that they are not hostile about that and even inquisitive is a tremendously good sign and is a blessing for you to develop. In other words, such folks are an evangelistic gift, so receive them with gladness in your hearts and nurture them.

I sincerely hope that in this brief article you now have some sensible context as to why all that aggression, hostility or even outright hatred is directed at you simply because you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider this: Technically speaking, at the moment of your regeneration — your being “born from above”, John 3:3 — you could have just been removed from this world as you no longer belong here. And it is true: You do not actually belong in this world from that moment on. Jesus clearly stated that His disciples “are not of this world” just as He is not of the world (John 17:14). However, in spite of that, you continue to remain in the world. Why should that be? It is surely so that you can be a fisher of souls and/or be of use to the Christian community. So we have to remain here for now, like a square peg in a round hole, a fish out of water.

God’s people are always “longing for a better country, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). But it is not just a longing but an actual spiritual future reality. As that text goes on to say, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them”. That city is the “New Jerusalem” in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21:2). Jesus confirms that when He said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2). In the meantime, we soak up all the hostility and horror of this world, and the alienating feeling of not belonging in it, precisely because we have the assurance of that future place. In the meantime, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials [testings] of many kinds” (James 1:2)!

(PS: I can confidently proclaim all this to you here today because I have first much-neededly preached it to myself with much efficacy! 😉).

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© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2026
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]

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