Jesus Christ In The Writings Of John
THE MISSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Lesson Text:
John 15:26–16:20 (KJV)
Subject:
The Holy Spirit, Witness, Judge, Guide, Teacher
Golden Texts:
“He shall teach you all things.” (John 14:26)
“He will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13)
Lesson Plan:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE HOLY SPIRIT BEARING WITNESS OF JESUS (VS. 26, 27)
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS COMFORTER (VS. 1-7)
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS JUDGE (VS. 8-11)
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS GUIDE AND TEACHER (VS. 12-14)
6. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
Setting of the Lesson:
Time: Late Thursday evening; the last evening of Christ with His disciples; during the last supper, after Judas had gone out; just before the trial and crucifixion.
Place: The upper room in Jerusalem in which Christ celebrated the last supper with His disciples
Place in the Life of Christ: The evening before His betrayal and crucifixion.
Circumstances: In this lesson our Lord continues, without interruption of thought, the discourse we studied in the last lesson. He was standing with His disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem, on the point of departure to the garden of Gethsemane.
Inductive Study of the Lesson:
a. The doctrine of the Trinity.1
b. Christ’s testimony to the Holy Spirit.2
c. The Holy Spirit’s testimony to Christ.
d. Paul’s teachings regarding the Holy Spirit.
e. Our era: that of the Holy Spirit.
f. The practical influence of the Spirit in our lives.
g. Some Spirit-filled men.
1. INTRODUCTION
As mentioned above, this lesson is a continuation of the discourses considered in the last lesson. Jesus has told His disciples that He Himself was soon to die; and now, in verses 26 and 27 of the 15th chapter of John, and in the first verses of the 16th chapter, He tells them of the persecutions they would suffer for His sake. He does this so that when these events happen, they will not lose confidence in Him. Especially does He show in this lesson that His death is not a sign of the enemy’s power, but is essential to the institution and progress of His kingdom.
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 15:26, 27
2. THE HOLY SPIRIT BEARING WITNESS OF JESUS
In the preceding verse of John 15, our Lord has been opening the future to His followers.
“The prospect was a gloomy one. The world would be arrayed in hatred against them. They, a little band, insignificant, feeble, unlearned, with no advantages and no authority, would have to resist it. How could they hope to stand their ground, to say nothing of establishing their Master’s kingdom and propagating His views? This lesson is the answer.” (Calthrop)
15:26 … “But when the Comforter is come.” The word translated “Comforter” is literally, “Paraclete.” It comes from two Greek words meaning “one called to another’s side to aid him, as an advocate in a court of justice” (Marvin R. Vincent). The Holy Spirit is therefore our Advocate or Counsel, suggesting true reasoning to our minds, and true courses of action for our lives; convicting our adversary, the world, of wrong, and pleading our cause before God our Father. Jesus Himself is an Advocate (1 John 2:1), and the Holy Spirit is another Advocate (John 14:16). Such an Advocate is indeed a Comforter, giving us just the aid and solace we need the most. “The wider significance of ‘Helper’ is preferable.” (Forbes)
15:26 … “Whom I will send unto you from the Father.” “The ‘I’ is emphatic. At every opportunity, Jesus insists on the truth that the Spirit is His own continued influence.” (Westminister New Testament)
“Here it is the Son who sends the Paraclete from the Father. In John 14:16 the Father sends in answer to the Son’s prayer. In John 14:26 the Father sends in the Son’s name. These are three ways of expressing that the mission of the Paraclete is the act both of the Father and of the Son, who are one.” (Cambridge Bible)
“By the mere juxtaposition of such texts the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is built up.” (Reith)
The Doctrine of the Trinity “If it be clear that Christ taught the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, it is equally clear that He believed that there is only one God.” (Burrell)
“I have come to believe that the most fundamental and practical of all the doctrines of Christianity is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.” (Amory H. Bradford)
“The doctrine of the Holy Trinity makes a real knowledge of God, a real fellowship with God, possible. The Son in His human life gave a perfect revelation of the Father to men. The Spirit in the progress of the ages brings home that revelation of the society and to the believer. Our belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, forms the golden stair from earth to heaven.” (Westcott)
15:26 … “Even the Spirit of truth.” The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth because He brings truth home to the hearts of men, especially the truth regarding Jesus Christ, Who is The Truth.
15:26 … “Which proceedeth from the Father.” Because this affirmation is not, in so many words, made with regard to the Son, the Eastern or Greek Church maintains a separate communion, protesting against the creed of the Western Church. The emphatic claim Jesus makes, ‘Whom I will send,’ is an argument on the other side (Reith).
15:26 … “He shall testify [R.V.: “bear witness”] of me.” “The Holy Spirit never puts Himself forward or makes men conscious of Himself, but makes men conscious of Christ. He is like the sun, revealing by degrees the beauties of the landscape (Calthrop).
15:27 … “And ye also [R.V.: omits “shall”] bear witness.” This may be a command, “Do ye also bear witness,” or, as many scholars regard it, a statement of fact, “Ye also are bearing witness.” The disciples had already begun the witness-bearing, the difficult continuance of which Christ had been teaching. It is as true of us as of the first disciples that Christ is to be revealed by us to the world around us, and we in turn are to learn of Christ from our brother Christians.
“The poor man, and even the child, can testify of Christ as well as the richest and the oldest. The sick sufferer can glorify Him by practice and hopefulness, the reproduction of Christ’s meek temper. You who are in trade, witness to Christ by your strict integrity.” (Odenheimer)
Illustration
“When Commodore Foote was in Siam, he once had the king upon his vessel as a guest, and did not hesitate to ask a blessing at the table. ‘Why, that is just as the missionaries do,’ said the surprised king. ‘Yes,’ said Foote, ‘and I am a missionary, too.’” (Bibb)
15:27 … “Because ye have been with me from the beginning.” That is, from the beginning of Christ’s Ministry, and so they could tell men about the whole course of it. “The more intimate our acquaintance with men, the clearer our perception of their imperfections and shortcomings. But association with Jesus had revealed nothing but beauty and glory. There was nothing that they had seen that they could not report.” (Speer)
The witness of the Holy Spirit
The great work of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to Christ. He did not come to speak of Himself; He came to speak of Jesus. A good deal of our confusion as to the character and work of the Holy Spirit would be avoided if we would remember this (Speer).
All nations have legends of the gods fighting at the head of their armies, and through the dust of battle, the white horses and the shining armor of the celestial champions have been seen. The childish dream is a historical reality. It is not we that fight; it is the Spirit of God that fighteth in us (Maclaren).
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 16:1-7
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS COMFORTER
16:1 … “These things [the warnings and encouragements given in the preceding chapter] have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.” R.V.: “made to stumble.” Both the dangers and evils to which they would be exposed, hatred, and persecution from the world (v. 2; and 15:18-20); and also the way of safety and help through the Holy Spirit, and by love, obedience, prayer and hope.
“Being prepared for persecution, they would not be so likely to be staggered by it when it came” (Century Bible). The stumbling would be falling away from Jesus, as Judas had already done. The Greek verb used here has been translated into English in our word, “scandalize.” It comes from a Greek noun that means, “The stick in a trap on which the bait is placed, and which springs up and shuts the trap at the touch of an animal. Hence generally a snare, a stumbling-block” (Vincent). How His words would prevent them from stumbling is shown in v. 4.
He returns to some of the things that would tend to make them stumble. Not only would the wicked world hate and persecute them, but even those who represented God’s people, the earnest, religious people of the day, would join in the persecutio
16:2 … “They shall put you out of the synagogues.” This involved not only excommunication from the house of God, for a time or perpetually, but also expulsion from society. A person “put out of the synagogue” was a virtual exile from his friends and acquaintances, being shut out from religious and social privileges and regarded as the off-scouring of the world.
16:2 … “Yea, the time [R.V.: “hour”] cometh.” Vincent points out: “the hour cometh that. Literally, ‘there cometh an hour in order that.’ The hour is ordained with that end in view: it comes fraught with the fulfillment of a Divine purpose.”
16:2 … “That whosoever killeth you shall think that he doeth God service.” R.V.: “offereth service unto God,” a phrase implying the worship of God, as we speak of church “services.” This prophecy was fulfilled numberless times, notably in the case of Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor (Acts 25:9; 26:9-11); and by the proverb found in the Rabbinical books, “Whoever sheds the blood of the impious does the same as if he had offered a sacrifice” (Abbott). The reason for this opinion was that to the minds of the persecutors the disciples were propagating a false religion which would bring ruin to the synagogues, to their own position, and to the people. Such pestilent influence must be stamped out at any cost. God and heaven and native land all demanded it, as they would demand the destruction of wild beasts, or a band of robbers. It is by such reasoning that good men have sometimes become persecutors; but their goodness was very imperfect – a head of gold with feet of clay. “Christ never promised worldly pleasure or prosperity as the meed of His service. They might incidentally come in His service, but never as the reward of it.” (Richardson)
Illustrations
“If one may believe in God and seek to please Him and yet be a murderer, it is evidence that a faith in God is not enough. The Moslems are earnest theists and their religion has no prayers for women and provides for polygamy. A belief in God does not save them from such immorality. All depends on what kind of a God men believe in.” (Speer)
“This hatred of the world for God’s people has characterized every age. Abel is slain by Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. Joseph is put into a pit by his brethren, and into a prison by his master’s wife; the Hebrew is smitten by the Egyptian; David is hunted by Saul as a partridge on the mountains; Micaiah is hated by Ahab because he always testifies against him; Jeremiah lives a very suffering stricken life, until he is slain in Egypt for remonstrating against a policy he could not alter; each of the little company then listening to Christ is forecast for a martyr’s death, with, perhaps, the exception of John himself, whose life was martyrdom enough; Stephen sheds the blood of his pure and noble nature; and from that day to this the blood of the saints has poured in streams, until the last harrowing records of the indescribable tortures and death of Armenian martyrs.” (Meyer)
16:3 … “And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” Compare John 15:21. This is a good word for average humanity, implying that men will become good and kind, as Saul did, as soon as they are really brought to understand God’s love as shown in Jesus Christ. Compare Christ’s prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
The verb implies that “they had the opportunity of knowing, but they had failed to see that God is Love, and that Jesus came not to shut out, but to bring in; not to destroy, but to save” (Cambridge Bible). They were ignorant of the love, pity, mercy, longsuffering of God. They did not understand His spirit or His methods of working. In their very service to God they were displaying ignorance of God; not a mere mental ignorance, but an ignorance that implied a different moral state. There are those still today who reject Christ because they do not know Him. They have seen Him in caricature; they have seen misrepresentations of Him in the lives and teachings of His professed followers. Not a few unbelievers have been made in this way, and we must distinguish between such and hat larger number who has not known Him because they would not look at Him, because they did not wish to know or obey Him.
There was comfort in this verse for the disciples, because it implied that the persecutions did not arise from any wrong in themselves.
16:4 … “But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.” Remembering Christ’s prophecy, they would know that He had foreseen their trials and provided for them all necessary strength and comfort. Brooks compared this with the fitting out in a tropical harbor of a ship destined for the arctic. The stores of food and clothing will be taken from ship-storage months afterward, when they are needed.
For “these things,” see v. 1. There was no little danger that the disciples would be utterly cast down in discouragement if not in despair when they saw their Master on a cross instead of a throne, and found themselves hated and persecuted instead of prime ministers in a glorious kingdom. “Might not poor Galileans, conscious of folly and sin, often say to themselves, ‘We must be wrong; the rulers of the land must be wiser than we are; should we turn the world upside down for an opinion of ours? (Maurice) They might feel what Pliable, in the Slough of Despond, said to Christians, “Is this the blessedness of which you have been speaking?” and be tempted like him to turn back from the heavenly city.
Jesus gave them help and strength by forewarning:
a. He guarded them against sudden temptation and unexpected evils. They could be fully prepared to meet them.
b. These very things would show that they were in the right way. They were signs of the true path, blazes on the trees in the forest.
c. The fulfillment of these predictions would prove to them that the promises of comfort, help, and success would also come true; as the Rabbi looking at the ruins of Jerusalem, found in them the assurance that as the threatening had come to pass, so the promise of restoration and glory would also be fulfilled. Out of the very darkness came a light.
d. They would find comfort in the coming of the Holy Spirit, whose coming Jesus had promised.
16:4 … “And these things I said not unto you at [R.V.: “from”] the beginning.” He had foretold their persecution (Matt. 10:16-39; Luke 6:22), but He had not told them of His departure, of the coming of the Spirit, and of the triumphs into which the Spirit world lead them. The solemn nearness of His death would make them more ready to apprehend these great truths (Matt. 9:15).
There was no need to explain this till the time came for them to use it. Nor would they have been capable of receiving it before.
16:4 … “Because I was with you.” The Expositor’s Greek Testament states: “While He was with them they leaned upon Him and could not apprehend a time of weakness and persecution. See Matthew 9:15.”
16:5 … “But now I go my way [NKJV: “away”] to him that sent me.” In other words, the Father, whose mission to the world I have accomplished and whose message to you I have delivered (Whitelaw) – having completed the work He sent Me to do; the going of the Savior was as blessed as His coming. It is but an hour or two before His betrayal.
16:5 … “And none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?” This very question had been asked by Peter (John 13:36; compare 14:5), but not in the right sense or the proper spirit. When He put the question Peter had no conception of the higher and more glorious state of being on which Jesus was about to enter. His mind was filled with the thought of separation and of the consequent state of desolation in which He and His fellow disciples would be left. Hence unmixed sorrow had filled their hearts (Century Bible).
In other words, earlier in the evening, in the same words, Peter had asked the question, but in a different spirit, and with a different aim, without special thought of the place where Jesus was going. This was practically a different question expressed in the same words. But a better explanation is, that Jesus had no reference to what had been said under other circumstances, but at this time, in view of what He was now saying, none asked Him where He was going. They were thinking of the present darkness and trouble, and not looking at the light, the glory, the kingdom beyond. Hence the Lord says that sorrow has filled their heart.
16:6 … “But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.” So much sorry “that there is no room for thoughts of My glory and your future consolation” (Cambridge Bible). The thought of their own separation from Him, and of the dark future that lay before them, so filled their hearts that it left room for no thoughts of Him, and the brightness of the glory to which He was returning (Clark). Here is a practical lesson to every mourner, as in chapter 14:28: do not allow a selfish sorrow to fill your heart so completely that you cannot follow in His thoughts the loved one to his/her heavenly home. Stier reminds us that “these are the same disciples who, when their risen Lord had ascended to heaven, without any pang at parting with Him, returned with great joy to Jerusalem (Luke 24:52).”
16:7 … “Nevertheless I tell you the truth.” Christ emphasizes the important statement that is coming next. Although you are filled with sorrow at the thought of My departure, yet it is true that
16:7 … “It is expedient for you that I go away.” It would not have been expedient for Christ to go away unless He was Divine, and could be present, and unless the Comforter would come, Who carries on the work of Christ on earth. Of course, it was better for Christ Himself to return to His heavenly home, but His disciples should comfort themselves with the knowledge that the risen Christ, through the Holy Spirit, could do more for them than the man-Christ living with them could do.3
Illustration
“The young wife whose husband is called from her may believe that it is better for him to be with Christ. He is doing more exalted service. He sees the Lord’s face. His wife, who stays behind, has to meet life’s tasks and responsibilities alone, and misses the joy of companionship. But she, too, has her gain. The finer possibilities of life are brought out in her. Burden-bearing develops her womanly strength.” (Miller)
Why Jesus must go away in order that the Comforter might come:
a. There may have been reasons in the counsel of God, wholly unknown to us. Whether we know them or not, God always has the best reasons for whatever He does. But we can see
b. That the Comforter could not do the great work He was to do in the new dispensation till the atonement was made, by which He leads men to Christ; nor till the resurrection and the ascension, which were proofs He was to use in convincing men; nor till Christ was glorified, and so made to appear the Divine, all-powerful Savior He is.
c. “The withdrawal of His limited bodily presence necessarily prepared the way for the recognition of a universal presence” (Westcott). The disciples would not feel the need of the Spirit if the Savior remained visible to them.
Why it was expedient for Jesus to go away:
a. Because, as we have just seen, His going prepared the way for the coming of the Comforter.
b. Because only away, glorified in heaven, would they see Him as He really was. Distance leads not only enchantment, but oftentimes reality to the view. One must stand at a distance to see a cloud or a mountain in its grandeur and glory. “Death must dissolve the illusion of familiarity, and gather around the man of Nazareth the mystery and awe of the world unseen, before they could rise to the apprehension of His awful greatness, and see in Him at once the Son of Man and Son of God.” (Caird)
c. In His bodily presence He could be with only a few, such as His near and personal friends; while now He is equally near to all, and present everywhere to help.
d. Because in His bodily presence they lived by sight, rather than by faith; they could go to Him in every emergency, and consult Him as to every difficulty. They needed to be taught to live by faith, to be self-reliant and manly, to gain all that strengthening of character which flows from working ourselves rather than having work done for us by another. And we see a marvelous change in their character after the Day of Pentecost. They were suddenly developed from children into men.
e. Only by going away could He make the atonement on the cross.
f. By going away He became a great King, with power and glory, to Whom all can be loyal, Whom all can worship and love, and without any of the dangers and evils that would flow from worldly magnificence and a royal court.
16:7 … “For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.” “The withdrawal of the bodily presence of Christ was the essential condition of His universal spiritual presence” (Expositor’s Greek Testament). “The text must be completed before the sermon can be preached” (Meyer). “What the disciples would soon spell in terms of defeat, despite the Master’s assurance and explanation, He was teaching them to spell in letters of victory. If the Master withholds from me from day to day a single coveted blessing, it is only in order that He may give larger blessings (Foulkes).
No one word expresses the idea of the original. He is the Comforter, consoler. The idea of pleading, arguing, convincing, instructing, convicting, is prominent in every instance in the Gospel, as we see in v. 8.
16:7 … “But if I depart [R.V.: “go”], I will send him unto you.” vs. 5, 7 have three different words for leaving; this one means to “go for a purpose,” the purpose being to send the Spirit.
There were influences of the Spirit upon the earth before this. The difference between former times and the new dispensation of the Spirit was in the power of His influences; their universality, being given to all, and not to a few; the instrumentalities He had to work with; and perhaps Alford is right in saying that “the gift of the Spirit at and since Pentecost was and is something totally distinct from anything before that time.”
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 16:8-11
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS JUDGE
“By His revelation of Christ the Holy Spirit creates three convictions. Each of these is necessary to the regeneration of man. There must be the sense of sin, or he will not seek the Savior. There must be a belief that righteousness is possible, or the converted sinner will die of despair. There must be the assurance that sin is doomed, and shall be finally vanquished, or the baffled warrior will give up the long conflict as hopeless.” (Meyer)
16:8 … “And when he is come.” “The advent of the spirit to the heart of the Church on the Day of Pentecost was as distinct and marked an event as the advent of the Son of God Himself to the manger-bed of Bethlehem. Let every reader of these words be sure of having taken the full advantage of His presence, just as we would wish to have availed ourselves to the uttermost of the physical presence of Christ, had out lot so befallen.” (Meyer)
16:8 … “He will reprove the world.” The word here translated “reprove,” and “convict” in the Revised Version, properly signifies, “to convince one of truth in such a way as to convict him of wrong-doing. It implies that answer of conscience to the reproving, convincing voice, by which a man condemns himself (John 3:20; 8:26). The Greek word includes all three meanings, reprove, convince, convict” (Abbott). The world is the great mass of humanity, and here we have a description of the moral victory to be gained over the world by the Holy Spirit. Godet points out that “the preaching of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, and its results are the best commentary on this promise.”
16:8 … “Of sin [R.V.: “convict the world in respect of sin”], and of righteousness, and of judgment.” The Holy Spirit, when He came, was to show the world new truth, convicting and shaming truth, concerning these three great matters. Foulkes pointed out that “He is a convicting as well as a comforting Spirit. Like the pillar of fire that turned its darkness toward the pursuing Egyptians, so the Holy Spirit turns a convicting face toward sin and unbelief.” On this subject, Whitefield stated: “He may well be termed a Comforter even in this work, because it is the only way to true comfort.”
“Sin means absence of righteousness, and liability to judgment. Sin is the world’s state as it is; righteousness as it out to be; judgment as it must and shall be that righteousness may obtain.” (Reith)
16:9 … “Of sin.”
What is it? “To convince the world of sin, to produce a living and lively conviction of it, to teach mankind what sin is; to show it to man, not merely as it flashes forth every anon in the overt actions of his neighbors, but as it lies smoldering inextinguishably within his own bosom; to give him a touch where-with he may explore – to convince a man of sin in this way, by proving to him that it lies at the bottom of all his feelings; to convince the world of sin, by showing it how sin has tainted its heart and flows through all its veins – this is the work of the Spirit.” (Hare)
What does it mean to convict sin?
It is to produce such a consciousness of the fact of sin, of its extent and pervasiveness, of its vileness, its guilt and its danger, that men will hate and forsake their sin. It is conviction of sin rather than of sins. It is a conviction of sin rather than of punishment for sin. It imparts a hatred of sin more than a fear of its consequences, though the latter often leads to the former.
Its necessity
No one will seek earnestly to be saved from sin unless there is a feeling of the greatness and danger of personal sin. No power but the Holy Spirit can produce this conviction.
The means
16:9 … “Because they believe not on me.” The lack of belief in Christ, when He is made known, lies at the root of all sin, revealing its nature. Christ is thus the touchstone of character (Westcott).
a. Christ being the sum of all goodness, to reject Him is to reject goodness itself. Most men approve and love some forms of virtue, and imagine that, therefore, they have divine goodness.
b. To reject Christ is to reject God, Who sent Him, and to refuse to surrender ourselves wholly to Him is the soul of sin.
c. That heart not touched by the love of God in Christ is certainly dead in sin.
d. Christ is presented to us as a definite object of choice, so that not to believe Him is to choose freely not to obey God and leave all sin.
e. Christ’s perfect character is a mirror in which we may see how imperfect we are; a standard by which we may measure how defective we are. The light makes the darkness visible.
The Holy Spirit is to teach the world that the essence of sin is unbelief in Christ.4 He is to convict the world of this central sin, which branches out into all sinfulness.
Illustrations
England’s Sir W. Robertson Nicoll tells of a pleasure-seeker who mocked at the efforts of a saintly man for his reformation. “I see,” said the saint gravely, “that I must deal with you in earnest.” He made the young man place his head on his knee, whereupon the saint merely prayed for some moments in silence. The young sinner left without a word, but from that moment was a changed man. As he bent at the saint’s knee he had beheld all the torments of hell.
Robert E. Lee was able to touch the heart of young men in a similar way. In later years, he served as President of Washington College. Robertson wrote: “Lee’s discipline of ‘my boys’ (as he called his students) consisted of a fatherly talk rather than a customary paddling. A student called before Lee for misconduct later confessed: ‘I wish he had whipped me. I could have stood it better. But he talked to me so kindly, and so tenderly, about my mother, and the sacrifices which she, a widow, is making to send me to college, and of how I ought to appreciate her love . . . that the first thing I knew I was blubbering like a baby.’”
16:10 … “Of righteousness.” Of God’s righteousness, and the righteousness we should have, and which Christ came to implant within us.
Its nature
The word translated righteousness means “righteousness in general, including the whole range of that conception, without reference to any particular form of its embodiment” (Cremer’s Lexicon). It includes both outward perfection of action and inward perfection of motive.
The need of conviction of righteousness:
a. That we may realize the absolute goodness and love of God our Master, and that He must love good and hate sin with all His infinite nature, so that we may be impelled to righteousness both by fear and love.
b. We need to see the perfect standard in order to realize how far short we are, and how great our need of the renewing power of the Holy Spirit.
c. We need to be made to feel that righteousness is possible to us through Jesus, and therefore it is our duty to possess it.
The method of conviction
16:10 … “Because I go to my [R.V.: “the”] Father.” His going to His Father was the means by which the Spirit convicts men of righteousness.
a. Christ could not be comprehended while He still lived in the flesh among men.
b. Christ’s going away was by His death on the cross. He died in obedience to His Father, and in love to men, which is the highest of all righteousness. This high ideal, this perfect example, could thus be used by the Spirit to convince men of the reality of righteousness, and their duty to have it.
c. Christ’s death showed how much He valued our righteousness, and how great is the evil of sin; for He world not have gone to such expense to save from any small evil, or to gain us any small benefit.
d. By going away He sent the Spirit to us, Who alone could make men feel their need of righteousness, and implant in them the new life which would produce it.
The resurrection and ascension of Christ would prove our Lord’s righteousness, and the world would henceforth have in Him a new and perfect standard of character and conduct. “The law of Eden is to the law of the Sermon on the Mount as a jewsharp to an organ.” (Bushnell)
16:10 … “And ye see me no more.” The disciples were grieved because they were to see their beloved Master no longer; He shows them that His departure from their sight means His vastly larger influence over the world.
16:11 … “Of judgment.” Judgment here is, on the one hand, the world’s judgment or estimate or discrimination of things (as in relation to Christ, His death, His kingdom, His success, His righteousness), and on the other side, God’s judgment to which it is opposed (Alford). The Spirit will convince men that the world’s judgment is false, and that God will condemn all sin, and will punish all who remain in sin, and will not seek the righteousness of which He has convinced them.
16:11 … “Because the prince of this world.” Satan, who controls, and uses the worldly forces in opposition to God’s influences (12:31).
16:11 … “Is [R.V.: “hath been”] judged.” The prince of this world, the incarnation of worldliness, crucified, the world’s Savor. That one face was the final and everlasting condemnation of worldliness. “To adhere to this worldliness rather than to Christ’s is to cling to a doomed cause, a sinking ship” (Expositor’s Greek Testament). “The Master is sure of one thing. His enemy is a convicted and condemned criminal. He may still plot mischief within the confines of his prison cell, but his doom is sealed” (Foulkes). “Our great adversary has a mortal wound. We may easily overcome him if we fight in the right way.” (Chapman)
In the history of the race, the methods, principles, and policies of the world, and its prince are being perpetually tried and perpetually proved false by their results. The crucifixion of Christ, the consummate work of the Evil One, was at once his apparent victory and his real defeat. In the crucifixion he pre-eminently had his own way, and by the crucifixion he is defeated throughout the ages. “Thus it is in and by the cross that he is pre-eminently judged” (Abbott). The world, seeing the punishment and misery of their prince, will be convinced that God’s judgment will smite them if they continue in sin. If Satan, the prince, cannot escape, who can? This convincing of judgment is not for the pleasure of seeing men condemned, but for the purpose of convicting men of sin, putting a Cain mark upon sin, opening their eyes to see its terrible nature, in order that they may hate and forsake it, and turn to righteousness of the reality and blessedness of which they are convinced. It is the Holy Spirit that convinces. Men may mentally know the truth about these things, while little impression is made upon the conscience and the will. To make this impression, to awaken and move men, is the work of the Spirit.
“A day is coming when the world will be compelled to acknowledge a different standard of judgment: when it will discover, with terror and dismay that its past standard has been completely false; that what it approved was passing away; that what it despised is abiding forever. Then the world will see that its very prince has been judged in a manner against which there was no appeal, and that, instead of being the conqueror, he had throughout been the conquered.” (Schaff)
“And those abiding voluntarily under the dominion of the prince of this world are judged in his judgment, the visible consummation of which will be at the great day. But to those who truly believe, He brings the sense of emancipation from the fetters of Satan whose judgment brings to men liberty to be holy, and transformation out of servants of the devil into sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.” (Brown)
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 16:12-15
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS GUIDE AND TEACHER
“God the Holy Spirit can teach any one, however illiterate, however uninstructed.” (Spurgeon)
16:12 … “I have yet many things to say unto you.” The Expositor’s Greek Testament states: “There is, then, much truth which it is desirable that Christians know and which yet was not uttered by Christ Himself. His words are not the sole embodiment of truth, though they may be its sole criterion.” “The things referred to were doubtless higher, fuller, and deeper views of Himself and His kingdom.” (Clark)
“Christians should have no fear of the doctrine of development. The Spirit was to develop, that is, to unfold, the person and the doctrine of the Savior for them. But only that which is infolded can be unfolded. What is not within cannot be taken out. Let us thank God that in the church and in all life and in the history of the world, the unfolding is done by the same Divine hand that did the infolding.” (Speer)
16:12 … “But ye cannot bear them now.” The Greek verb means to take up, carry, and is used of the Jews taking up stones to throw at Jesus and of Judas bearing the money bag (John 10:31; 12:6). “The metaphor is that of some weight – it may be gold, but still it is a weight – laid upon a man whose muscles are not strong enough to sustain it. It crushes rather than gladdens” (Maclaren). No one can understand trigonometry till he has studied algebra and geometry. For the reception of the higher truths we must be prepared by the reception of the lower truths. The disciples learned much in the days of the crucifixion, the resurrection, and Pentecost, and became able to receive still more from the Holy Spirit.
They were too blinded with their sorrow at His departure to clearly see some truths. Others they could not possibly understand till after His resurrection. They needed training and experience first. They must stand on some truths before they could see others. Had Jesus told them about the atonement, about the coming in of the Gentiles, about the relation of the new kingdom to the Jewish church, as unfolded in their later history, they could not possibly have caught His meaning, and their misunderstanding would have crushed them in blind despair.
16:13 … “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come.” Literally, “the Spirit of the truth,” of the Christian truth, teacher of knowledge of Christ Who is the Truth. “A most exquisite title” (Bengel). The Spirit that knows the truth, that is entirely truthful in His nature, whose work is to reveal truth.
16:13 … “He will [R.V.: “shall”] guide you into all truth.” R.V.: “all the truth.” It is not to be a sudden revelation of truth, but a gradual disclosure, as a guide leads one step by step into a new country. It is not to be a partial, grudging introduction to truth, with much of it jealously shut away from us, but “all truth” is gloriously open before God’s children.
“The term guide (to show the road) presents the Spirit under the image of a guide conducting a traveler in an unknown country. This country is truth, all the truth, the truth in its entirety. It is not omniscience or any kind of speculative or scientific truth which is promised, but the full knowledge of living, practical truth as it is in Christ, and as it relates to our soul’s salvation.” (Schaff)
“What Christ taught the disciples we now have in the four Gospels; what He left unsaid, the additional teaching of the Spirit, we have in the books that follow.5 The Gospels, as well as the Acts and Epistles, come to us through the agency of the Spirit.” (Clark)
Its complete fulfillment was in the giving of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.6 Moreover, this guidance is given to the church of our Lord throughout all ages, opening to them the mystery of God, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2, 3).
16:13 … “For he shall not speak of [R.V.: “from”] himself.” “As distinct from what proceeds from the Father” (Cambridge Bible). Hence there will be a perfect unity in the teaching, and the same truths Christ taught will still be taught by the Spirit, but unfolded as the disciples are able to receive them. Hence, too, we may be sure that His guidance is reliable, being from God. What Christ humbly said of His own teaching (John 7:17); 14:10), He also says of that of the Holy Spirit.
16:13 … “But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak [Moffatt translates: “He will say whatever He is told”]: and he will shew [“show”] you [R.V.: “declare unto you”] things to come” R.V.: “the things that are to come.” Such a revelation John himself received (Rev. 1:10, etc.), and the leaders of the church were guided by the Holy Spirit in forming the church of our Lord, whose pattern has lasted through many centuries.
“He will always be showing us things that are coming; giving us an apprehension of truths that we have not yet reached, though they be truths that are the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Maurice). Not new revelations, but new applications of what had already been revealed – made new by the teaching of Christian experience.
16:14 … “He shall glorify me.” Thus Peter, John, Paul, and the other leaders of the church, being led by the Holy Spirit, spent their time in preaching, not the Holy Spirit, but Christ.
The work of the Spirit glorifies Christ by always confirming and unfolding His Word; by making men see His character and work; by confirming His authority; by converting men and leading them to acknowledge Him as Lord of lords and King of kings.
16:14 … “For he shall receive [R.V.: “take”] of mine.” Moffatt translates: “draw upon what is Mine.” Christ’s words, Christ’s acts, and the spirit of Christ’s mission – these are the reservoirs from which the Holy Spirit draws as He pours out His inspiration upon men.
That is, what He teaches will be Christ’s words, and not a new Gospel. It is by this test that we can test any professed revelation. That which is contrary to Christ’s words and spirit cannot be the work of the Spirit.
16:14 … “And shall shew [“show”] it [R.V.: “declare it”] unto you.” Foulkes pointed out that “we may know how near the Spirit is to us by finding how dear Christ is to us. The dearer the Savior, the nearer the Spirit!”
Illustration
Meyer imagines children in school on a hot day growing weary over the hard names and the heavy classifications of botany. “Shut up your books,” some one may say, “and come with me.” He leads them out among the flowers of the meadows and woods, and they learn more of botany by an hour of contact with the plants themselves than they would by three hours of poring over books. Thus the Spirit teaches. There is no need of a new revelation. Christ has already taught the world enough about love and sacrifice, purity and prayer. The Spirit does all that is necessary, He takes us and brings us face to face with the words and deeds of the great Teacher.
The Holy Spirit in our lives
The following quotes fit the beginning of the 21st Century so well, yet they were written many years ago:
“This is especially the age of the Holy Spirit. There can be no waning of His grace and power. The pot of oil is in the church of our Lord, but she has ceased to bring her empty vessels. The mine is beneath our feet, but we do not work it as before. The electric current is vibrating around, but we have lost the art of switching ourselves on to its flow.” (Meyer)
“We contemplate, the Spirit reveals. We meditate, the Spirit explains. Then we answer with new dedication, and the Spirit transforms us into the realization of the truth revealed. So life grows into the likeness of Jesus Christ.” (Morgan)
“Never has a heavenly communication been so given as to render superfluous thought and inquiry. The Guide is infallible, but the creature is not.” (Lorimer)
Illustrations
“The Holy Spirit is the sunlight which falls upon the darkness of eternity past: He is the searchlight which tracks out its path from human need to the Divine supply in the righteousness of God in Christ. He is the telescope to bring from afar the heavenly glories of the ascended Christ and to show them unto me. He is the microscope to bring the righteousness of God that is hidden in the letter of the written Word of God and make it transcendent in the face of Jesus the incarnate Word. He is the kaleidoscope to bring forth, to the eyes of faith, in a million forms, the many-sided righteousness of God in the Beloved. He is the spectroscope to reveal the presence and the perfect blending of all the attributes of God and man in Christ.” (Foulkes)
“Oh, blessed news, that God Himself is the Comforter. Blessed news, that He who strikes will also heal: that He who gives the cup of sorrow will also give the strength to drink it. Blessed news, that our Comforter is the Spirit who comforted Christ Himself.”(Kingsley)
16:15 … “All things that the Father hath are mine.” Hovey pointed out that “all the Father’s purposes and deeds of grace, accomplished, or yet to be accomplished, by the Savior in His mediatorial office.” Jesus would show His disciples that both His word and His work were Divine. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were One God, with one purpose.
16:16 … “A little while, and ye shall not see [“behold”] me [because in a very short time death would remove Him from their sight]: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me.” In the original, the word “see” (“behold”) in the former clause is different from the “see” in this clause: the first referring merely to physical, the second also to spiritual, sight. The “beholding” implies the long, constant, usual sight of Him which they then had in the flesh; the “seeing” the glimpses obtained by occasional appearances and visions, and the dimmer and more interrupted spiritual sight gained by faith. Alford points out that “the promise of seeing Him after a little while began to be fulfilled at the resurrection, then received its main fulfillment on the Day of Pentecost, and shall have its final completion at the great return of the Lord.”
16:17 … “What is this that he saith.” They were perplexed by the difficulties of realizing how what He said could be accomplished. Nothing but the actual experience could make it plain. Till then it was an enigma. Besides, how could His going to His Father have any connection with His return?
16:18 … “They said therefore.” They spoke it whisperingly among themselves, and were too much in awe of Jesus for the explanation.
16:19 … “Now Jesus knew.” He understood their difficulty, and proceeded to assert still more plainly that He was not going out of existence, but only going to the Father, and there sorrow would be turned into joy.
16:20 … “Ye shall weep [when ye see Me dying on the cross], but the world shall rejoice [thinking they have destroyed one who condemned their ways, and interfered with their sinful habits and pleasures]: … but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” Not merely changed for joy, but “changed into” so as itself to become, so that the very matter of grief shall become matter of joy (Gal. 6:14). They would see Him again. They would know the value of His atoning death as the source of salvation and joy. They would see too the blessedness of the gift of the Holy Spirit, who came from Him after His departure.
Other works of the Holy Spirit:
He is a comforter, helper, advocate (John 14:16; Acts 9:31; Rom. 8:26).
He bears witness with our spirits (Rom. 8:16; 1 John 3:24).
He is the source of abundant Christian life (Acts 2:42-47; Heb. 10:15, 16).
He is the source of Christian power (Rom. 15:19; Acts 1:8; 2:4; 1 Cor. 12:4, 11).
He is the source of holiness (Rom. 8:1; Gal. 5:16, 22, 23; Acts 11:24; Eph. 5:9).
6. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
a. v. 1: Jesus clearly shows the dangers and difficulties of the Christian life, so that they (and we) may not come unexpectedly and then fail.
b. v. 2: Bad things are sometimes done with a good purpose. But all truly good things are both good in themselves and done with a good motive.
c. v. 3: All misunderstandings and misrepresentations of God’s character lead to wrong actions.
d. vs. 6, 7: One can never understand his heaviest disciplines unless he considers the balances that God’s love supplies in mitigation of them (Robinson).
e. v. 7: But the sorrows God sends are expedient for us, because only through them will come the fullness and perfectness of joy.
f. It is better for us to walk by faith than by sight.
g. We may have the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Guide.
h. v. 9: One great need of the world is to know and feel its sin.
i. v. 10: Then it needs to believe in the reality of righteousness, and that it is possible to attain it through the Spirit.
j. v. 11: Then it needs to be convinced that God will judge it if it does not forsake its sins and seek righteousness.
k. v. 12: We gradually grow into the power to learn more. Each truth is a stepping-stone to higher truths.
l. v. 13: In all times of ignorance or doubt, we have a sure guide Who will lead us into all truth.
m. In this promise we see the assurance of the inspiration of the New Testament.
n. We have here a test regarding whether any influence is from the Holy Spirit; for if it is, it will agree with the teaching of Christ.
o. v. 20: The world rejoices in the seeming overthrow of good because it has reproved them.
p. That at which we rejoice is a test of our character.
q. Sibbs points out that “glory follows afflictions; not as the day follows the night, but as the spring follows winter. Winter prepares the earth for spring; and afflictions, when sanctified, prepare the soul for glory (John 15:2; Heb. 12:11).”
r. “If once we gain the conception that the Holy Spirit is our truest, our nearest, our tenderest, our most sympathetic, and our most loving Friend, we shall have a better understanding of the Holy Spirit’s relations to us than most of the disciples of Jesus are accustomed to bear in mind.” (Times)
s. We should study the work of the Holy Spirit more, and seek more earnestly for His presence in our hearts, our homes, our Bible class, and in the church of our Lord.
Footnotes:
1 For more information on the Trinity, see God’s Fullness in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
2 For more information on the Holy Spirit, see God the Spirit in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
3 See John 14:16, 17; and compare John 11:50.
4 See John 3:18, 19, 36; 15:22.
5 For more information about the work of the Spirit in developing the Bible, see God’s Word in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
6 See Revelation 1:10; 22:16, 17.
