A Study of John 16:4b-15

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

John 16:4b-15 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

Jesus did not say all that He said in the previous verses about persecution earlier because He was still going to be with the disciples for a time. But at this point He was about to leave them, yet none of them asked Him, “Where are you going?”.  But because He did say all these things about going away and coming persecution, sorrow filled their hearts. However, Jesus said it was to their advantage that He goes away, because He if leaves then He can send the Helper. And when the Helper came, He would convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. The world will be convicted of sin because it does not believe in Jesus, of righteousness because Jesus is going to the Father and will be seen no longer, and of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

Jesus still had many things to say to the disciples but they could not bear them at this moment. When the Spirit of Truth came to them though, He would lead them into all truth, for He does not speak on His own authority, but He would come and glorify Jesus, declaring what comes from Jesus to the disciples. All that the Father has belongs to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit takes what comes from Jesus and proclaims it to His disciples.

Textual Analysis and Implication (what is being said and what does this mean?):

In the verses prior to this, both at the end of chapter 15 and the beginning of this chapter, Jesus warned the disciples about coming persecution, and now in verse 4b He says, “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.” Jesus did not need to tell them about the persecution that would come for following Him while He was with them because while He was with them the brunt of the persecution was directed at Him. This meant they were largely protected from it. But now Jesus will be leaving them soon, and His arrest and crucifixion will be the last time He deflects persecution from them and takes it on Himself. After this, followers of Jesus will be directly persecuted for His name’s sake, and He wanted to prepare them for what will soon come.

Next, in verse 5, Jesus said, “But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’.” At first glance this statement seems like a contradiction because Peter asked this question in John 13:36 and Thomas asked it in John 14:5, but if we pay attention to the literary nuances we will see there is no contradiction here. In the contexts of John 13:36 and 14:5 the inquiring disciples were not really interested in where Jesus was going, but rather, in why He was leaving them. We might compare their questions to a child who thought their parent was going to take them to the park, but when the parent is unexpectedly called away, asks, “Hey, where are you going? I thought we were going to the park.”. In such a case the child is not so much concerned with the parent’s destination, but instead wants to know why they are leaving them.

In other words, it is more of a protest than a question. This accurately describes the nature of the disciples’ earlier questions. They were not asking “What will happen to you now?”. Instead they were focused only on their personal loss, rather than the Messiah’s fate. To this point, from all four gospels we can see none of the disciples grasped the fact that the Messiah would not only be a conquering king, but also a suffering servant who would die for the sin of the people before being resurrected, so it is no surprise they did not understand why He would soon be leaving them to return to the Father.

Continuing on, in verses 6-7, Jesus said, “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” Whatever confusion or lack of interest in Jesus’ destination that may have existed for the disciples, they were sincerely and deeply grieved over the news He would be leaving them. But Jesus wanted them to know it would be to their advantage for Him to go away. This is because if He does not leave, the Helper, God the Holy Spirit, will not come to them, but once He leaves He will send the Holy Spirit.

It is not that it is impossible for Jesus to be physically present at the same time as the Holy Spirit is spiritually present. Instead, this all has to do with God’s plan and what He spoke through the OT prophets concerning His coming kingdom and the coming of the Spirit (Is. 11:1–10; 32:14–18; 42:1–4; 44:1–5; Ezk. 11:17–20; 36:24–27; 37:1–14; Joel 2:28–32). It is only once Jesus has died, risen, and ascended back to the right hand of the Father that the Holy Spirit will come. Many have thought it would be better to live in ancient Galilee and see Jesus in the flesh, but this statement from Jesus tells us He disagrees. Here He insists it is better to be alive in this age and experience the indwelling of His Spirit.

Before the coming of the Spirit, even as Jesus walked the Earth, most people ignored His teaching and claims to divinity. But now, after the coming of the Spirit and the inauguration of His kingdom, millions have been enabled to overcome that unbelief and come to saving faith in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit working in them. With this in mind, Jesus will say two more things about the coming Holy Spirit in verses 8-11 and 12-15.

In verses 8-11 Jesus said, “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” While Biblical scholars debate what exactly Jesus means by “convict,” it seems reasonable to agree with D.A. Carson that Jesus is speaking of shaming the world and convincing it of its guilt in order to lead it to repentance. Specifically, the Holy Spirit will convict the world of its guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgement.

In the same way Jesus caused division in the world (Jn. 15:20) by exposing its works as evil (Jn. 7:7, 15:22), the Holy Spirit will continue this work through the disciples of Jesus as they live out and proclaim the gospel. It was necessary for Jesus to complete His earthly mission in His death/exaltation before the Holy Spirit would come, and this departure of Jesus and arrival of the Spirit would be for the good of the disciples (Jn. 16:6-7). With the arrival of the Spirit would come an extension and proliferation of Jesus’ ministry that excelled the greatest expectations of any of the disciples, and again, this ministry would involve convicting the world of its sin, righteousness and judgement.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin primarily because it does not believe in Jesus. If the world believed in Him it would believe what He said about its sin and turn to Him and be saved. But as things stand, the world’s unbelief leaves it under condemnation (Jn. 3:18, 36) and perpetuates its willful ignorance of the truth. Therefore the sin of the world not only prevents it from receiving eternal life, but also from seeing it is in fact dead and wholly bereft of life. The Holy Spirit cuts through the world’s unbelief to make it see matters as they truly are; its unbelief in Jesus is sin, and sin leads to death and eternal punishment. As such this work of the Spirit is gracious and merciful as it is only by first recognizing our desperate need that any of us will be able to then see our need for a Savior, repent, and come to saving faith in Jesus, and in so doing no longer be the “world.”

It may at first seem strange that the Helper will also convict the world of righteousness, but it will help us understand if we consider how John speaks of righteousness in this gospel. John often quotes or alludes to Isaiah, and Isaiah 64:6 declares that the “righteousness” of the people is as a menstruous cloth compared to true righteousness. And this definition of worldly, human righteousness is entirely in line with what we’ve seen in John’s gospel thus far.

For example, the temple itself, which was the center of Jewish religion and righteous worship, needed to be cleansed and would be replaced with Jesus’ body (Jn. 2:13-23). Also, the Sabbath regulations conjured up by the Pharisees condemned Jesus for healing a man who was paralyzed for 38 years on the Sabbath (Jn. 5:16). The religious leaders who had the law of Moses wanted to kill Jesus (Jn. 7:19). There were also Pharisees who believed in Jesus but kept silent because they were afraid of the persecution they would face if their belief was made public. With these, and many other such examples of worldly righteousness exhibited, it is entirely understandable why the Holy Spirit would also come to convict the world in regard to righteousness.

Importantly, the Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness because Jesus is going to the Father. One of the things Jesus did during His earthly ministry was expose the darkness of the world with His righteous light. In doing so, He showed worldly religion to be the empty, lifeless thing, wholly bereft of true righteousness, that it is. But now Jesus was about to return to the Father, so this work would continue by the power of the Holy Spirit (again, the “Helper”). The Spirit accomplishes this conviction most often through the words and actions of followers of Jesus who, as they live out Christ’s example in this fallen world, demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus. Jesus is the Master and the ultimate example for all who believe in Him to follow, and as He has returned to the right hand of the Father in Heaven, He continues His work of convicting the world of its false righteousness and need for salvation by the Holy Spirit through His followers.

Lastly, for verses 8-11, the Holy Spirit also convicts the world of its judgement because the ruler of this world is judged. The Spirit convicts the world of its judgement, because its erroneous judgment is most clearly seen in the spiritual blindness that wrongly condemned Jesus the holy and righteous Son of God. In response to this very thing Jesus previously said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (Jn. 7:24). The judgement of the world is morally wrong and corrupt, but the judgement of Jesus is righteous and true. The Holy Spirit now convicts the world of its wrong judgement, and in the victory of Jesus on the cross the ruler of this world is condemned. All wrong judgment stems from him who has been a liar and murderer from the beginning, and if we align our values with his false judgment we are his children (Jn. 8:42-47). The world is in desperate need to be convicted of this false judgement, because for it we are all already condemned (Jn. 3:36), and we need to learn of this condemnation so we can then learn of the salvation that is found only in Jesus.

After this explanation of the soon to come convicting work of the Holy Spirit, in verse 12, Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” In His time on Earth Jesus provided a central foundation of teaching for His followers, but there would be more to come through the apostles, and the apostles would be enabled by the Holy Spirit to bring this teaching in what is now the completed New Testament.

The disciples could not “bear” all this teaching at this moment, but just as Jesus previously said in John 14:26, the Holy Spirit would come to remind them of what He had already taught them, and teach them “all things.” While all of Scripture comes from Jesus, this does not mean every word came personally from Him. The Holy Spirit worked through a select few individuals after Jesus’ death/exaltation to fill out the rest of the New Testament revelation. Some of this revelation would include things like the fact that Gentiles would be brought into the New Covenant community without having to first become Jews, or that old covenant dietary laws were no longer required (Acts 10).

In verse 13 Jesus continued to describe the teaching and revelatory work of the Spirit saying, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” This guiding of the disciples into all the truth was completed in one sense when the New Testament revelation was completed, but in another sense it is still happening today as the Spirit of truth continues to lead followers of Jesus in understanding the truth centered on Jesus. Importantly, this guiding into all the truth does not refer to the specific details of our lives, but rather, the truth and significance of Who Jesus is, and what He said and did.

As the Holy Spirit does this He “will not speak on his own authority.” Just as Jesus said and did only what God the Father told Him (Jn. 3:34–35; 5:19–20; 7:16–18; 8:26–29, 42–43; 12:47–50; 14:10), so too the Spirit will speak what He “hears.” In the same way that Jesus was shown to be the revelation of God in the flesh by speaking and acting in perfect unity with the Father, the Spirit is affirmed in this unity as well by speaking in total dependence on the other members of the triune Godhead. This ensures the complete unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the revelation the Holy Spirit provides.

The Spirit also declares to the disciples “what is yet to come.” This has often been taken to refer to end times revelation, and while that does happen with the apostles, in this context it seems to primarily refer more broadly to all that happens and will happen as a result of Jesus’ death/exaltation. This includes the Holy Spirit’s witness of Jesus to and through His disciples (Jn. 16:8-11; 15:26-27), and how members of His kingdom should live and conduct themselves in accordance with Jesus’ teaching. The Holy Spirit “declares” these things and leads followers of Jesus in them as He helps us make sense of the victorious revelation and work of God in His Son.

Lastly for this section of John 16 where Jesus explains the work the Helper will do, in verses 14-15, He says, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Just as Jesus came to glorify the Father, the Spirit comes to glorify the Son and declare what belongs to Him to His followers. It is not that Jesus’ revelation was imperfect, but rather, His revelation was received imperfectly. So, the Holy Spirit helps to illuminate more perfectly what we have received imperfectly and implant it in our hearts and minds.

In doing this the Spirit magnifies the character and work of Jesus to us. As Jesus said and did what the Father told Him (Jn. 5:19-20), in the Spirit’s declaration of what comes from Jesus, He is also therefore declaring the revelation of God the Father (vs. 15). Importantly, in glorifying the Son, the glory of the Father is not diminished, but instead is enhanced. For the Father declared that all should honor the Son as they honor the Father (Jn. 5:23), and Jesus, the Son, is primarily concerned with glorifying His Father (Jn. 14:13, 17:1, 4).

These verses speak primarily of the work the Holy Spirit will do through the apostles, the first eyewitnesses. But the Holy Spirit also continues to work in all disciples of Jesus today. We of course are not teaching with apostolic authority like they were, but having learned from Jesus and the teaching of His apostles, we now grow in faith and obedience to Christ and continue to declare the truth of the gospel to the world by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should help us to think of the gift of the indwelling Helper, God the Holy Spirit, to all believers as a magnificent privilege. While Jesus was on Earth He could only be present with certain individuals at certain times, but now by His Spirit He is present with every believer at all times. One day we will see Him face to face, but for now we have this unsurpassable treasure in jars of clay, that is, God the Holy Spirit in us. And He is in us not only to comfort us, strengthen our faith, and lead us in the truth, but also to work through us to reach out to the people around us.

This passage should also cause us to think about how we are living in light of the Holy Spirit’s mission in this world. If He is in us who believe, our lives should be lived in light of His mission to proclaim the gospel and glorify Jesus. Having been saved ourselves, Jesus has placed us in this world for a short time before He calls us to home to use us in reaching out to save others. And He has given us His Spirit to empower us in this mission. With this in mind, in prayerful reliance on the Holy Spirit, we must endeavor to live lives that make much of Christ as we show His love and proclaim the truth He’s revealed to us, to others.

Self Reflection:

1. Is glorifying God in everything I do my number one priority in life?
2. If God the Holy Spirit is in me, do my priorities reflect His priorities?
3. What opportunities currently exist in my life to show the love of Christ in practical ways, and to share the gospel with others?