John 16:5-16. Coming of the Holy Spirit
When I was a young Christian at university, some people said to me,
“If you haven’t spoken in tongues then you haven’t received the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t Scripture say in Acts 2:4, ‘All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’”
should have asked these people what actual language they spoke, as Acts 2 teaches that foreigners heard the gospel explained in their own languages! I needed to know, ‘Is what is called ‘speaking in tongues’ today the same as that original supernatural gift at the first Pentecost when they spoke real languages?’
Anyone who wants to learn about the Holy Spirit is wise to start with the following passage from John’s gospel that describes what Jesus taught. Then they will then be much less likely to be blown off course by experiences or new teachings.
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” John 16:7-15
Please note that Jesus always calls the Holy Spirit ‘he’.
“When he comes .. .” John 16:8
“When he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13 and read on!
‘He’, ‘his’, is the emphasis because he is the Spirit of God the Father and the Spirit of God’s Son, Jesus. So no-one should call the Holy Spirit ‘it’.
Jesus said, ‘When the Holy Spirit comes . . .’, this begs the question, ‘When did the Holy Spirit come?’ Although the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament as being given to a few special individuals, this clearly refers to Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would be given to every Christian. Consequently, as we look at what Jesus says in John 16, we can interpret it by what took place at Pentecost. Together these will help us to find a right understanding.
Another important preliminary question is to determine who Jesus is talking to. Who is the ‘you’ in verse 7, 12 and 15? There can be no doubt that Jesus is addressing his disciples at a special time in history. Jesus is going to guide his disciples ‘into all truth’, he has more he wants to say to his disciples. Although specifically spoken to his inner circle of followers, what he says has much significance for us.
One of the lessons Jesus has already taught is that he would force a division in the world. Jesus had just told his disciples,
“Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also . . . But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.’ John 15:20-24
Jesus was hated because of who he claimed to be and because of his judgments. As Jesus’ followers, we testify to Jesus, repeating his claims and passing on what he teaches, and so we will be persecuted too. Yet the reason why God had selected his disciples is that they should all fulfil these ends whatever the cost. Later we are taught that this is also a major reason why all subsequent Christians have been chosen.
“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27
Jesus now divides what he says about the Spirit’s work into two sections. The first is the subject of this chapter. We have been chosen to produce fruit, which we have already seen refers to going out to testify and win people for Jesus. This use of the word ‘fruit’ is surely taken from the first chapter of the Bible when he created men and women and said to them,
“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply’.” Genesis 1:28
The Spirit’s Work in a Hostile World
“Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:8
This is the only place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is spoken of as being at work in unbelievers although the story of Acts illustrates that that is a major part of his work. He will also act as a ‘Counselor’. The Greek word for ‘Counselor’ is ‘parakletos’, which literally means ‘one called alongside to help’. In the Authorised Version this word is translated ‘comforter’, and in the English Standard Version ‘helper’. However in one of John’s letters the same word is given a legal flavour, where he is an advocate or barrister.
“But if anyone does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence.” 1 John 2:1
He is our counsel against the charge of God against us because of our sin.
However in John 16:8 he is the counsel for the prosecution - he is out to convict people.
“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:8
Some years ago I was involved in a trial in the High Court in London. How grateful I was for a brilliant barrister who was on my side and clearly highlighted the wrongs others had done to me. He made my opponents look and feel embarrassed at how they had behaved. I needed him. Similarly the Holy Spirit prosecutes those in the world because of their sin - he makes people realise how badly they have behaved towards God.
When Peter spoke to the crowd at Pentecost the Holy Spirit was clearly at work. As Peter spoke of Jesus to a crowd of self-righteous people, they were cut to the heart. They felt bad and said, “What shall we do?” That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
“He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:8
Jesus explains this in the following verses.
Sin
Some are not clear about the difference between sin and sins? ‘Sin’ is the root problem. It means to live in God's world and yet take no notice of God - to ignore him. ‘Sins’ are those symptoms that result from ‘sin’. Hating, lying, cheating, lust, sex outside marriage, not loving others - these are examples of ‘sins’. Verse nine makes this clear. Sin is the underlying rejection of God’s rule, a rejection of God’s son.
“. . . in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.” John 16:9
I was recently giving a talk to a local group of atheists. One said,
“It is my opinion that there is no God.”
Another went further, saying,
“As there is no God, I can now behave as I like!”
In the 1950s a psychologist, Stanton Samenow, and a psychiatrist, Samuel Yochelson, sharing the conventional wisdom that crime is caused by environment, set out to prove their point. They began a 17-year study involving thousands of hours of clinical testing of 250 inmates here in the District of Columbia. To their astonishment, they discovered that the cause of crime cannot be traced to environment, poverty, or oppression. Instead, crime is the result of individuals making, as they put it, wrong moral choices. In their 1977 work The Criminal Personality, they concluded that the answer to crime is a, “Conversion of the wrong-doer to a more responsible lifestyle.”
In 1987, Harvard professors James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein came to similar conclusions in their book ‘Crime and Human Nature’. They determined that the cause of crime is a lack of proper moral training among young people during the morally formative years, particularly ages one to six.i
God always scoffs at sinful thinking however people try to justify it, saying many centuries earlier,
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? Kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One (Messiah). . . ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say ‘and throw off their fetters.’
The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath saying,’ I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Psalm 2:1-6
That King, or Messiah, is the Lord Jesus and those who refuse to acknowledge him do so at their peril. That is sin according to Jesus. Earlier in John's Gospel we read,
“This is the verdict - ‘Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19
It is because people want to live in the dark that they are willing to take a leap in the dark-into a selfish, meaningless existence. God asks us to take a reasonable step into the light.
It is not enough to say, “Oh, I believe in God.” That can mean anything. Saving faith is to trust Jesus as the God who entered his world in the flesh, to belong to him, to live for him in his way and to want to tell others about him.
Righteousness
“In regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father.” John 16:10
In a conversation with some overseas students recently, one said,
“I try to live a good life - so won’t God accept me?”
No! The Bible is very clear; our righteousness is nothing like good enough for God. Righteousness is only found in Jesus. A lady who was dying in our local hospice had become a Christian two weeks earlier. Wanting to give her confidence as she faced death, I wrote her name on a piece of paper and placed this in the middle of a Bible I was holding. The Bible was then closed on the paper holding her name.
“Let this Bible represent the Lord Jesus. When God looks at you now - he doesn't see your sin but the righteousness of Jesus in whom you are resting.”
Those Muslims who have gone on killing sprees sincerely think they are serving God. The Jewish people in Jerusalem thought the same when they handed Jesus over to be crucified. God had a different opinion. He had handed Jesus over to the authorities so that Jesus could become ‘our righteousness’ by dying as our substitute. The proof that this is true is that God raised Jesus from the dead.
How can a sinful person ever hope to be accepted by the righteous God? It is only through Jesus, by accepting his righteousness as ours. Jesus himself had said,
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
So the Holy Spirit convicts the world of both sin and righteousness.
Judgment
“ . . . And in regard to judgment because the Prince of this world now stands condemned.” John 16:11
What does this mean? Jim Packer reminds us “The Bible is it own interpreter.” A few chapters earlier John had said,
“Now is the time for the judgment of this world: now the prince of this world will be driven out. But when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.” John 12:31
It is clear that that day, when Jesus died on the cross, was God’s day of judgment. The verdict has been given. Sin, rebellion against God, leads to death - eternal separation from God.
At Pentecost, Peter was telling his listeners that sin has been judged.
“With many other words he warned them, he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’” Acts 2:40
All who live by the spirit of this world are doomed eternally. A decision must be made. It is the Holy Spirit who prompts us to repent and turn to Christ for one more work - forgiveness. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in a sinful world. He is evangelistic. It is a work that all of us who have Christ's Spirit in us are committed to.
Without the Holy Spirit at work, convicting people of sin, righteousness and judgment, our efforts to spread the gospel will be hopeless. This is why we must pray that God will convict others as we share with them the message about Jesus. This gives rise to an important question. If the Holy Spirit is an evangelistic spirit, then evangelism is at the top of my agenda = but we can so easily lose this desire. As we become older, we can lose that boldness and fire that Jesus and his apostles showed. We must never forget that everything we do in this life echoes in eternity.
Terry Bowland in his book ‘Make Disciples – Reaching The Postmodern World for Christ’ii writes this:
“Many today baulk at the teaching of the church. ‘Do you mean to say,” they ask, ‘that all those outside the church have no hope whatsoever? What about all the sincere folks who never come to Christ? What of the billions in the worlds of Islam, Buddism and Hinduism? What of those who have never heard? What of my neighbors and friends who are good-hearted people, but who have never made Christ their Lord and Savior? Are you saying that they are lost? Why, if that’s true, then this ‘gospel’ has made you Christians the most narrow-minded, bigoted people on the face of the earth.”
“Perhaps, we should reply by saying, that far from being narrow-minded and bigoted, Christians are, in fact, the most loving people in the world.” “Suppose you are a doctor and an individual comes to you one day and describes his symptoms. After taking a blood test you realize that this fellow has acute diabetes. You prescribe insulin injections. ‘Insulin!’ he cries. ‘I don’t want to take insulin.’ You assure him that he must take insulin. ‘But, I don’t want to take insulin,’ he complains. ‘Can’t I take some other drug. How about penicillin? How about a double dose of Tylenol? Won’t those do?’ Again you reaffirm that without the insulin, he will die. Then he exclaims, ‘Why doctor, I believe you are the most narrow, closed-minded, bigoted physician I have ever met.’
Now, here’s the question: Is the doctor narrow and bigoted or is the doctor loving, because he is telling the man the truth – the only truth which will give him life!”
BVP
i Christianity Today, August 16, 1993
ii Terry A. Bowland, ‘Make Disciples!: Reaching the Post-modern world for Christ’, College Press, 1999
