Bible Commentaries
John 16

Verse 1

These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended - or 'scandalized;' referring back both to the warnings and the encouragements He had just given.

Verse 2

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

They shall put you out of the synagogues, [ aposunagoogous (G656) poieesousin (G4160) humas (G5209)] - (see the note at John 9:22; see also 12:42):

Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service, [ latreian (G2999) prosferein (G4374)] - or 'that he is offering a [religious] service unto God;' as Saul of Tarsus did (Acts 26:9-10; Galatians 1:9-10; Philippians 3:6).

Verse 3

And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. See the note at John 15:21, of which this is nearly a verbal repetition.

Verse 4

But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

But these things have I told you, that, when the time [ hoora (G5610 ), or 'the hour'] shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them - and so be confirmed in your faith and strengthened in courage.

And those things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. He had said it pretty early (Luke 6:22), but not so nakedly as in John 16:2.

Verse 5

But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

But now I go my way to him that sent me. While He was with them the world's hatred was directed chiefly against Himself; but His departure would bring it down upon them as His representatives.

And none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? They had done so in a sort, John 13:36; John 14:5; but He wished more intelligent and eager inquiry on the subject.

Verse 6

But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.

But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. And how, it may be asked, could it be otherwise? But this sorrow had too much paralyzed them, and He would rouse their energies.

Verse 7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away -

`My Saviour, can it ever be That I should gain by losing thee?' - KEBLE

For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

See the note at John 7:39, and Remark 3 at the end of that section; and at John 14:16.

This passage, says Olshausen, 'is one of the most pregnant with thought in the profound discourses of Christ. With a few great strokes He depicts all and every part of the ministry of the Divine Spirit in the world; His operation with reference to individuals as well as the mass, on believers and unbelievers alike.' It is laid out in three particulars, each of which is again taken up and explained in detail.

Verse 8

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of SIN, and of RIGHTEOUSNESS, and of JUDGMENT.

The word rendered 'reprove' [ elengxei (G1651)] means more than that. Reproof is indeed implied, and doubtless the work begins with it. But 'convict,' or, as in the margin, 'convince,' is the thing intended: and as the one word expresses the work of the Spirit on the unbelieving portion of mankind, and the other on the believing, it is better not to restrict the term to either.

First,

Verse 9

Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Of SIN, because they believe not on me. By this is not meant that He shall deal with men about the sin of unbelief only; nor yet about that sin as, in comparison with all other sins, the greatest. There is no comparison here between the sin of unbelief and other breaches of the moral law, in point of criminality. The key to this important statement will be found in such sayings of our Lord Himself as the following: "He that believeth is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only begotten Son of God: He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life: He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:18; John 3:36; John 5:24). What the Spirit, then, does in the discharge of this first department of His work, is to bear in upon men's consciences the conviction that the one divinely provided way of deliverance from the guilt of all sin is believing on the Son of God; that as soon as they thus believe, there is no condemnation to them; but that unless and until they do so, they underlie the guilt of all their sins, with that of this crowning and all-condemning sin super-added. Thus does the Spirit, in fastening this truth upon the conscience, instead of extinguishing, only consummate and intensify the sense of all other sins; causing the convicted sinner to perceive that his complete absolution from guilt, or his remediless condemnation under the weight of all his sins, hangs upon his believing on the Son of God, or his deliberate rejection of Him.

But what, it may be asked, is the sinner to believe regarding Christ, in order to so vast a deliverance? The next department of the Spirit's work will answer that question.

Second,

Verse 10

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, because I go to my Father, and ye see, [ theooreite (G2334 ), or 'behold'] me no more. Beyond doubt, it is Christ's personal righteousness which the Spirit was to bring home to the sinner's heart. The evidence of this was to lie in the great historical fact, that He had "gone to His Father, and was no more visible to men:" for if His claim to be the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, had been a lie, how should the Father, who is "a jealous God," have raised such a blasphemer from the dead, and exalted him to His right hand? But if He was the "Faithful and True Witness," the Father's "Righteous Servant," "His Elect, in whom His soul delighted," then was His departure to the Father, and consequent disappearance from the view of men, but the fitting consummation, the august reward, of all that He did here below, the seal of His mission, the glorification of the testimony which He bore on earth, by the translation of its Bearer to the Father's bosom.

This triumphant vindication of Christ's rectitude is to us divine evidence, bright as heaven, that He is indeed the Saviour of the world, God's Righteous Servant to justify many, because He bare their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11). Thus the Spirit, in this second sphere of His work, is seen convincing men that there is in Christ perfect relief under the sense of sin, of which He has before convinced them; and so far from mourning over His absence from us, as an irreparable loss, we learn to glory in it, as the evidence of His perfect acceptance on our behalf, exclaiming with one who understood this point, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God," etc. (Romans 8:33-34). 'But, alas!'-may some say, who have long been "sold under sin," who have too long been willing captives of the prince of this world-`Of what avail to me is deliverance from any amount of guilt, and investiture even in the righteousness which cannot be challenged, if I am to be left under the power of sin and Satan? for he that committeth sin is of the Devil, and to be carnally minded is death.' But you are not to be so left. For there remains one more department of the Spirit's work, which exactly meets, and was intended to meet, your case.

Third,

Verse 11

Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Of JUDGMENT, because the prince of this world is (or 'hath been') judged. By taking the word "judgment" to refer to the judgment of the great day-as is done even by good interpreters-the point of this glorious assurance is quite missed. Beyond all doubt, when it is said, "The prince of this world hath been judged" [ kekritai (G2919)] - or, in our Lord's usual sense of that term, condemned-the meaning is the same as in a former chapter, where, speaking of His death, He says, "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out [ ekbleetheesetai (G1544) exoo (G1854)]; and in both places the meaning clearly is, that the prince of this world is, by the death of Christ, judicially overthrown, or condemned to lose his hold, and so, "cast out" or expelled from his usurped dominion over men who, believing in the Son of God, are made the righteousness of God in Him: so that, looking to Him who spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in His cross, they need henceforth have no fear of his enslaving power. (See Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8.)

Thus is this three-fold office of the Spirit entirely of one character. It is in all its departments Evangelical and Saving: bringing home to the conscience the sense of sin, as all consummated and fastened down upon the sinner who rejects Him that came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; the sense of perfect relief in the righteousness of the Father's servant, now taken from the earth that spurned Him to that bosom where from everlasting He had dwelt; and 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. To one class of men, however, all this will carry conviction only; they "will not come to Christ" - revealed though He be to them as the life-giving One-that they may have life. Such, 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 another class this blessed teaching will have a different issue-translating them out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son.

Verse 12

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. This refers not so much to truths not uttered by Himself at all, as to the full development and complete exposition of truths which at that stage could only be expressed generally or in their germs.

Verse 13

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth - so called for the reason mentioned in the next clause,

Is come, he will guide you into all truth, [ pasan (G3956) teen (G3588) aleetheian (G225)] - rather, 'all the truth;' for the reference is not to 'truth in general,' but to 'that whole circle of truth whose burden is Christ and His redeeming work:'

For he shall not speak of himself, [ af' (G575) heautou (G1438)]. The meaning is not, 'He shall not speak concerning Himself,' but 'He shall not speak from Himself;' in the sense immediately to be added.

But whatsoever he shall hear (or receive to communicate), that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come, [ ta (G3588) erchomena (G2064)] - 'the things to come;' referring specially to those revelations which, in the Epistles partially, but most fully in the Apocalypse, open up a vista into the Future of the Kingdom of God, whose horizon is the everlasting hills.

Verse 14

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. Thus the whole design of the Spirit's office is to glorify Christ-not in His own Person, for this was done by the Father; when He exalted Him to His own right hand-but in the view and estimation of men. For this purpose He was to "receive of Christ" - that is, all that related to His Person and Work - "and show it unto them," or make them, by His inward teaching, to discern it in its own light. The internal or subjective nature of the Spirit's teaching-how His office is to discover to the souls of men what Christ is outwardly or objectively-is here very clearly expressed; and, at the same time, the vanity of looking for revelations of the Spirit which shall do anything beyond throwing light in the soul upon what Christ Himself is, and taught, and did upon earth.

Verse 15

All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take, [ leempsetai (G2983), as in John 16:14 ] - or, according to what appears the better supported reading, 'receiveth' [ lambanei (G2983)], a lively way of saying 'He is just about to receive'

Of mine, and shall show it unto you. A plainer expression than this of absolute community with the Father in all things cannot be conceived, although the "all things" here have reference to the things of the Kingdom of Grace, which the Spirit was to receive that He might show them to us. We have here a wonderful glimpse into the inner relations of the Godhead. The design of this explanation seems to be to prevent any mistake as to the relations which He sustained to the Father.

Verse 16

A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.

A little while, and ye shall not see me, [ theooreite (G2334)] - 'and ye behold Me not:'

And again, a little while, and ye shall see me; because I go to the Father. [The last clause - hoti (G3754) egoo (G1473) hupagoo (G5217) pros (G4314) ton (G3588) patera (G3962) - is omitted by Tischendorf and Tregelles, and bracketed by Lachmann. But the evidence in its favour is, in our judgment, preponderating; and the question of the disciples in John 16:17 seems to presuppose it.]

Verse 17

Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?

Then said some of his disciples among themselves - afraid, perhaps, to question the Lord Himself on the subject, or unwilling to interrupt Him,

What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me (or, 'and ye behold Me not:') and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?

Verse 18

They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.

They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? [ to (G3588) mikron (G3397)] - rather, 'The,' or 'That little while?'

We cannot tell what he saith - [ ouk (G3756) oidamen (G1492) ti (G5100) lalei (G2980)] - 'We know not what He speaketh of.'

Verse 19

Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?

Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him - showing with what tender minuteness He watched how far they apprehended His teaching, what impressions it produced upon them, and what steps it prompted to.

And said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while ...

Verse 20

Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be tuned into joy.

Verse 21

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow ...

Verse 22

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. The joy of the world at His disappearance seems to show that the thing meant was His removal from them by death. In that case, the joy of the disciples at seeing Him again must refer to their transport at His reappearance among them on His resurrection, when they could no longer doubt His identity. But the words go beyond this: for as His personal stay among them after His resurrection was brief, and His actual manifestations but occasional, while the language is that of permanence, we must view His return to them at His resurrection as virtually uninterrupted by His ascension to glory (according to His way of speaking in John 14:18-20). But the words carry us on even to the transport of the widowed Church when her Lord shall come again to receive her to Himself, that where He is, there she may be also.

Verse 23

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

And in that day (when He should return to them by resurrection, but be in glory), ye shall ask (or 'inquire of') me nothing - `ye shall not, as ye do now, bring all your inquiries to Me in Person, as one beside you.'

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. See the notes at John 14:13-14; John 15:7. Thus would they be at no real loss for lack of Him among them, in the way of earthly contact, but vastly the better.

Verse 24

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. Ordinary readers are apt to lay the emphasis of this statement on the word "nothing;" as if it meant, 'Hitherto your askings in My name have been next to nothing, but now be encouraged to enlarge your petitions.' Clearly the emphasis is on the words "in My Name," and the statement is absolute: 'hitherto your prayers to the Father have not been offered in My Name;' for, as Olshausen correctly says, prayer in the name of Christ, as well as prayer to Christ, presupposes His glorification. Ask - `When I shall have gone to the Father, ye shall have but to ask in this new, all-prevailing form;'

And ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. So that the new footing on which they would find themselves with Jesus-no longer beside them to be consulted in every difficulty, but with them, notwithstanding, as an all-prevalent Medium of communication with the Father-would be vastly preferable to the old.

Verse 25

These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.

These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs - or 'parables;' that is, in obscure language; as opposed to speaking "plainly" in the next clause:

But the time cometh - `but there cometh an hour,'

When I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show (or 'tell') you plainly of the Father - that is, by the Spirit's teaching. How "plain" that made all things, compared with anything they took up from Christ's own teaching, will be seen by comparing Peter's addresses after the Day of Pentecost with his speeches while his Lord was going out and in with the Twelve.

Verse 26

At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:

At that day ye shall ask in my name. He had before bidden them do so: here He intimates that this is to be the appropriate, characteristic exercise of the believing Church, in its conversation with the Father.

And I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you - that is, as if the Father were of Himself indisposed to hear them, or as if His own solicitations were needed to incline an unwilling Ear. Christ does pray the Father for them, but certainly not for this reason.

Verse 27

For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. This love of theirs is that which is called forth by God's eternal love in the gift of his Son, mirrowed in the hearts of those who believe, and resting on His dear Son.

Verse 28

I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father: - `Ye have believed that I came out from God, and ye are right; because I came indeed forth from the Father, and am soon to return whence I came.' This echo of the truth alluded to in the preceding verse seems like thinking aloud, as if it were grateful to His own spirit on such a subject and at such an hour.

Verse 29

His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.

His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. It was not much plainer than before-the time for perfect plainness was yet to come: but having caught a glimpse of His meaning-for it was little more-they eagerly express their satisfaction, as if glad to make anything of His words. How touchingly does this show both the simplicity of their hearts and the infantile character of their faith!

Verse 30

Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

Now are we sure that thou knowest all things - the very thought of their hearts, in this case, and how to meet it;

And needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. There was more sincerity in this than enlightened knowledge of the meaning of their own words. But our Lord accepted it so far as it went.

Verse 31

Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?

Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? - `It is well ye do, because that faith is soon to be tested, and in a way ye little expect.'

Verse 32

Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

Behold, the hour cometh ('there cometh an hour,') that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, [ eis (G1519) ta (G3588) idia (G2398)] - 'his own [home'] as in John 19:27, what he formerly left for My sake, as Bengel explains it.

And shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone. A deep and awful sense of wrong experienced is certainly expressed here, but how lovingly! That He was not to be utterly deserted-that there was One who would not forsake Him-was to Him matter of ineffable support and consolation; but that He should be without all human countenance and cheer, who as Man was exquisitely sensitive to the law of sympathy, would fill themselves with as much shame, when they afterward recurred to it, as the Redeemer's heart in His hour of need with pungent sorrow. "I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Psalms 69:20.)

Because the Father is with me - how near, and with what sustaining power, who can express?

Verse 33

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

These things I have spoken unto you - not the immediately preceding words, but this whole discourse, of which these were the very last words, and which He thus winds up; That in me ye might have peace - in the sublime sense before explained on John 14:27.

In the world ye shall have tribulation, [ hexete (G2192)] - but this reading has very slender support: the true reading undoubtedly is, 'In the world ye have tribulation' [ echete (G2192)]; for being already "not of the world, but chosen out of the world," they were already beginning to experience its deadly opposition, and would soon know more of it. So that the "peace" promised was to be far from an unruffled one.

But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world - not only before you, but for you, that ye may be not only encouraged, but enabled to do the same. (See 1 John 5:4-5.) The last and crowning act of His victory, indeed, was yet to come. But it was all but come, and the result was as certain as if all had been already over-the consciousness of which, no doubt, was the chief source of that wonderful calm with which He went through the whole of this solemn scene in the upper room.

Remarks:

(1) The language in which the blessed Spirit is spoken of throughout all this last discourse of Our Lord is quite decisive of His DIVINE PERSONALITY. Nor does Stier express himself too strongly when he says that he who can regard all the personal expressions applied to the Spirit in these three chapters - "teaching," "reminding," "testifying," "coming," "convincing," "guiding," "speaking," "hearing," "prophesying," "taking" - as being no other than a long-drawn figure, deserves not to be recognized as an interpreter of intelligible words, much less an expositor of Holy Scripture.

(2) As there is no subject in Christian Theology on which accurate thinking is of more importance than the relation of the work of the Spirit to the work of Christ, so there is no place in which that relation is more precisely defined and amply expressed than in this chapter. For, first, we are expressly told that the Spirit's teaching is limited to that which He receives to communicate (John 16:13); that what He receives is "of that which is Christ's" [ ek (G1537) tou (G3588) Emou (G1700)] - or, in other words, that the Spirit's teaching relates wholly to Christ's Person and Errand rate the world; and lest this should seem to narrow undesirably and disadvantageously the range of the Spirit's functions, we are told that Christ's things" embrace "all the Father's things" (John 16:15) - that is to say, all that the Father contemplated and arranged from everlasting for the recovery of men in His Son Christ Jesus. Thus are the Spirit's functions not narrow, but only definite: they are as wide in their range as the work of Christ and the saving purposes of God in Him; but they are no wider-no other. Accordingly, when our Lord lays out in detail the subject-matter of the Spirit's teaching, He makes it all to center in HIMSELF: "He shall convince the world of sin, Because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because (by My "uplifting," John 12:31-32) the Prince of this world is judged."

But secondly, this being so, it clearly follows that the whole design of the Spirit's work is to reveal to men's minds the true nature and glory of Christ's work in the flesh, as attested and crowned by His resurrection and glorification; to plant in men's souls the assurance of its truth; and to bring them to repose on it their whole confidence for acceptance with the Father and everlasting life.

Thus, as Christ's work was objective and for men, the Spirit's work is subjective and in men. The one is what divines call the purchase, the other what they call the application of redemption. The one was done outwardly once for all, by Christ on earth; the other is done inwardly in each individual saved soul, by the Spirit from heaven. And thus have we here brought before us the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT-one adorable Godhead, distinct in operation even as in Person, yet divinely harmonious and concurrent for the salvation of sinners. (3) How beautifully does Jesus here teach us to travel between the sense of His Personal absence and the sense of His spiritual presence. He would have us feel the desolating effect of His Personal absence, but not be paralyzed by it, inasmuch as His spiritual presence would be felt to be unspeakably real, sustaining, and consolatory. And by directing them to ask all things of the Father in His name, during the period of His departure, He would teach them to regard His absence for them in heaven to be vastly better for them than His presence with them as they then enjoyed it. At the same time, since even this would be a very inadequate compensation for His Personal Presence, He would have them to rest in nothing short of this, that He was coming again to receive them to Himself, that where He was, there they might be also.

(4) In Christ's being "left alone" in His last sufferings, may there not be seen a divine arrangement for bringing out in manifest and affecting fulfillment that typical provision for the great day of atonement: "And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the configuration when he (the high priest) goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out"? (Leviticus 16:17).

(5) How sweet is the summation of this wonderful discourse in its closing word-the last that Jesus was to utter to the whole Eleven before He suffered: "These things have I spoken unto you, that IN ME ye might have peace" - not untroubled peace, because "in the world they were to have tribulation;" but the assurance that "He had overcome the world" would make them too more than conquerors.