“Word” (logos) here means the entire message Jesus has revealed to the disciples. The gift Jesus gave them was the revelation of God. There can be no greater gift.

“the world has hated them” = the disciples are in opposition to the world and vice versa. They are on opposite sides. Since the world hated their Master, it will also hate them. The amount of hatred the world has toward the Christian is directly proportional to the amount of the life of Christ that the Christian has living in Him. How much does the world hate you?

“not of the world” This phrase is easy to understand when applied to Jesus, for He is of heavenly origin. But the disciples were born on this planet. How can they be said to be “not of this world”? In a sense they are indeed of the world through natural birth, but, as Jesus instructed Nicodemus, men must be born all over again if they are to enter or even see the Kingdom of God (3:1-8) and in this sense the disciples are not of the world. Jesus is not talking about being worldly; that is more a matter of perspective, whereas this is speaking of origin and character.

Robertson observes that, “These verses (17:14-19) picture the Master’s ideal for believers and go far towards explaining the failure of Christians in winning the world to Christ. Too often the world fails to see the difference or the gain by the change.”

“any more than I” = Jesus became completely like us (Heb 2:10-18). The only major difference after He came to earth was that He was not of this world, but the rebirth takes care of even that discrepancy between Him and those who become His brothers and sisters.

Hebrews 2:10-18  In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.  Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.  He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”  And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”  Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.  For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.  For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.  Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.