Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
When they shall separate you (otan aforiswsin umav). First aorist active subjunctive, from aforizw, common verb for marking off a boundary. So either in good sense or bad sense as here. The reference is to excommunication from the congregation as well as from social intercourse.
Cast out your name as evil (ecbalwsin to onoma umwn wv ponhron). Second aorist active subjunctive of ekballw, common verb. The verb is used in Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Plato of hissing an actor off the stage. The name of Christian or disciple or Nazarene came to be a byword of contempt as shown in the Acts. It was even unlawful in the Neronian persecution when Christianity was not a religio licita.
For the Son of man's sake (eneka tou uiou tou anqrwpou). Jesus foretold what will befall those who are loyal to him. The Acts of the Apostles is a commentary on this prophecy. This is Christ's common designation of himself, never of others save by Stephen (Acts 7:56) and in the Apocalypse (Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14). But both Son of God and Son of man apply to him (John 1:50, 1:52; Matthew 26:63 f.). Christ was a real man though the Son of God. He is also the representative man and has authority over all men.
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