In John 15:26-16:15, we read about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and please remember Jesus is speaking to the eleven apostles; it’s wrong to take all He says to them and apply it to all disciples, e.g. John 14:26. In John 15:26-27, we see the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
The word ‘Counsellor’ is ‘Parakletos’ and it means, ‘called to one’s side,’; this is used in law courts for defence counsel or one who pleaded another cause, some versions use the words, ‘helper’, ‘comforter’, ‘advocate’.
Notice in John 15:26 that Jesus would send the Holy Spirit, but in John 14:26, it says that the Father would send, which indicates the unity of the Father and the Son. He is ‘the Spirit of truth,’ so called because He would guide the apostles into all the truth, John 16:13.
Notice also the words, ‘bear witness’, ‘witnesses,’ John 15:26-27 / Acts 1:8 / Acts 2:32. The Counsellor is promised to the disciples, He came on the day of Pentecost as the men sat together, Acts 2:1-4.
He comes to each person today as they are immersed into the Christ, Acts 2:38-39, and His church, the body of Christ, and they gain a young shoot needing to be cared for on that great vine, the counsellor gives comfort to those in need.
The chapter closes with a command and exhortation from the Lord to all to be testifiers of the great truth they have experienced; those with the knowledge need to testify.
From John 15:26-16:15, we read about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and please remember Jesus is speaking to the eleven apostles, it’s wrong to take all He says to them and to apply it to all disciples, e.g. John 14:26.
The end is now drawing close for the Lord and He is very aware that He has little time before being separated from the apostles and so, Jesus takes some time to encourage and teach His disciples before the separation.
In John 16:1-4, Jesus refers to the thing He said in the previous chapter, warning that the world will hate the ones who love the Lord, John 15:18-25. As someone once said, ‘forewarned is forearmed.’ He repeats frequent warnings of coming persecution. The word for ‘fall away,’ John 16:1, is the same word from which we get the word ‘scandal,’ and the same word is used in 1 Corinthians 1:23, a stumbling block.
Jesus holds nothing from them. He seems concerned that the apostles are fully aware of the future and the horrors which will befall them, so that they aren’t discouraged when all doesn’t go their way. He tells the disciples they will be ‘put you out of their synagogues,’ John 16:2, which means excommunication. ‘The time is coming when a man who kills you will think he is thereby serving God’, John 16:2 / Acts 23:1 / Acts 26:9.
He prophecies about people trying even to kill them, John 16:2, the most well-known of whom was Saul, Acts 9:1-2, later to become the apostle Paul. The reason why the world at large rejected Jesus was never a secret; the people didn’t know God, and thus couldn’t recognise his Son, John 16:3. They could have recognised Him, but refused.
As one rejects the Son, he also rejects the Father, so sadly, many people missed the truth, even though it was so very close. This statement seems in the light of Peter asking ‘Lord, where are you going’, just a few hours earlier in John 13:36, and Thomas making a similar mention in John 14:5.
He repeats the reason why men will persecute them because they were ignorant of both the Father and Jesus, John 16:3. Then He repeats His reason for warning them of coming trials, that ‘you may remember that I forewarned you’, John 16:4.
However, at the time these questions were asked, the men had a very superficial understanding of Jesus’ destination; they were of the impression that He was going somewhere else on earth, John 16:5-6. Or if they did understand, they may have been too distressed at the time to understand an answer.
Their grief had an element of selfishness; they were thinking more about themselves than about Him, ‘none of you asks me, where are you going?’ John 16:5.
Previously, they had asked questions about His departure, John 13:36 / John 14:5. He had then said that He was returning to the Father and would send another Helper, John 14:16-18. Now that the truth has been explained, the question needs to be asked again.
The mention of Jesus’ imminent departure had brought sorrow to the apostles as they considered their loss, John 16:6, rather than the joy that comes from an understanding of the world’s gain. The words, ‘these things’, John 16:6, refer to the predictions of His own departure and for them coming persecution, which had deeply affected them, ‘sorrow filled your hearts’, John 16:6.
In John 16:7-15, we read about the coming of the Spirit. Jesus says in John 16:7 that ‘it is to your advantage,’ or ‘good for you’, this is the word, ‘sumphero,’ also used in John 11:50. It’s an ‘expedient’, meaning profitable, good for you. His departure was necessary in order that the Holy Spirit might come.
Jesus’ physical presence imposed limitations, e.g. He could only be in one place at a time, but in the coming of the ‘Parakletos’, Christ will be able, as Spirit with Spirit, to hold with His people everywhere a communion as close as once He did with His immediate disciples, John 14:18 / Romans 8:9-11 / Galatians 4:16.
Jesus now goes on to explain the benefits they will enjoy on His departure, John 16:7. If He were to stay here, the Spirit would not be sent, but Jesus Himself sent the Spirit, which enabled them to do greater works, gave greater knowledge and drew them all closer together in their Spirit, John 14:12-28. It also allowed Jesus to prepare a place for them, John 14:3.
The Holy Spirit will convict the world of guilt in three ways.
1. Regarding sin. 2. Regarding righteousness. 3. Regarding judgment.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to ‘convince the world’, John 16:8. This is the word, ‘elegcho,’ which is also used in Luke 3:19. It means to ‘reprove’, John 3:20, ‘expose’, John 5:11. He will be used to prove the world wrong.
1. Sin.
As the word spreads under the guidance of the apostles and later the believers. The Spirit assists people to realise the depth of sin in their lives, 1 John 1:8-10. The result of the realisation is repentance and acceptance of the whole truth, as seen in Acts 2, when men called out, ‘brothers, what shall we do?’ Acts 2:37.
When the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sinfulness, Romans 3:10 / Romans 3:23, the sinner must do their part in displaying godly sorrow, 2 Corinthians 7:10, where they don’t want to hurt God anymore by sinning against Him.
Notice the particular sin which Jesus is speaking about in John 16:8. It’s the sin of not believing who He is, John 3:16-19. If Jesus is the Son of God, then the greatest sin in the world is to reject Him, Mark 16:16.
2. Righteousness.
If the Holy Spirit didn’t convict people of sin, then people can’t be convicted of righteousness. The world has its own standards about what is right and wrong, but the problem is that we have our own personal standards. We all have different standards of what is right or wrong, but God has one standard, and that standard is what we all should be striving for.
The word, ‘world’, John 16:8, represents the Jews who were about to put Jesus to death. They believed He ought to die, that He was an evildoer and that killing Him and His followers was the right thing to do; we know the opposite was true.
The righteousness that was the Christ’s, was thoroughly stamped on the world the day that Jesus was resurrected, Romans 3:21-23. This victory of the one the world labelled unrighteous would convict the world with respect to true righteousness.
The return of Jesus to the Father was the ultimate proof that He is the perfect pattern or standard of righteousness. When people look at Jesus, they see what God’s standard of holiness is. And when we accept that no one has lived up to the standard that Jesus set, Romans 3:21-23, the Holy Spirit convicts us that we all have fallen short of His standard.
The Holy Spirit says that all the good things that we do, are just like filthy rags to God, Isaiah 64:6. In other words, the work of the Spirit convicts us that our righteousness is totally insufficient in God’s eyes, 1 John 1:9.
The Holy Spirit helps us turn away from our sins and turn towards God so that we can learn to live right. But we really need to stop measuring our own goodness against other people’s goodness. The Holy Spirit can only convict us of our shortcomings when we start measuring our own goodness with God’s goodness.
3. Judgement.
The world judged the Son guilty and condemned; by doing this, the world became guilty of condemning the Father, which is the same as condemning itself. Thus, by staying with the advice given by the devil, one stands convicted. And so, the Holy Spirit is going to remind the world that because they condemned the only righteous man who has ever lived, they were going to be judged too.
He will convince the world of divine judgment by showing that the ruler of this world stands condemned. Who is the ruler of this world? It’s the devil himself, 2 Corinthians 4:4, and he is used here because he is the ultimate example of evil, the ultimate example of someone rejecting the Father.
He will convince them of divine judgment by showing that the Prince of this world stands condemned. In the preaching of the Word, the Holy Spirit is counsel for the prosecution! Acts 2:37 / Acts 5:33 / Acts 7:54 / Ephesians 5:17.
The Holy Spirit will convict the world that the devil has already been judged, but everyone else who rejects Jesus as their Saviour will be judged too, Matthew 7:21-23. The Holy Spirit, through His Word, is the One who judges our thoughts and attitude, not me, Hebrews 4:12-13.
He wants us to feel convicted because He knows that on judgment day, we too, like the rest of the world, will have to give an account of ourselves. He wants to convict us of our sinfulness and unrighteousness like He convicted Isaiah, Isaiah 6:5. He wants to convict you of your sinfulness and unrighteousness like He convicted Peter, Luke 5:8.
We’ve got to see ourselves as we really are; we’ve got to measure ourselves against God’s standards, not our own. We have no power to convict anyone of anything, and so we must learn to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to do the convicting, 1 Corinthians 2:4. Only the power of the Holy Spirit working in human hearts can bring about conviction of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment.
In John 16:12-15, Jesus seems weighed down by the burden of all that He wants to tell them. The impression given is that this is a very emotional time for the Lord, and He may have been battling to keep back the tears at this point. He can’t tell all He wants to, because the disciples would not be able to understand it or accept it all in one moment; the volume of information is just too big, John 16:12.
We see that Jesus had a teaching which they were then unable to ‘bear’, and in John 16:13, we see ‘the Spirit of truth’, bringing the divine revelation, 1 Corinthians 2:13. The Spirit would be with the apostles; they didn’t need all knowledge, but they needed all knowledge about Jesus and His mission on earth. And so, the truth in its fullness was made known to the apostles, John 16:13.
The Spirit would guide the apostles ‘into all the truth,’ John 16:13. This is a promise to the apostles, not disciples generally, John 14:26 / John 15:27 / Acts 2:4. We see the Spirit’s ministry is ‘Christocentric’. Through the preaching of the apostles, He will draw attention, not to Himself, but to the Lord Jesus: ‘He will glorify me,’ John 16:14.
The words, ‘ it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you’, John 16:14, refer to the revealing to the apostles of all ‘the truth’, John 16:13. The words, ‘all that the Father has is mine’, or ‘belongs to me’, John 16:15, only makes sense if Jesus has Deity.
If not, He was either out of His mind or the most arrogant deceiver ever known. Jesus and the Father, as well as the Spirit, make up God, and as a result, all three have equal knowledge. This knowledge will now be shared with the apostles, John 16:15.