John 16:4b–15

16:8–11 The Spirit Will Convict the World. Jesus has told the disciples that those who hated and persecuted him would do likewise to his followers (15:18–25). He has explained that the world has hated him because he made them aware of their sin (v. 22). He has promised the help of the Spirit to enable the disciples to bear witness (vv. 26–27), and his own words have been spoken in order to keep them from falling away (16:1–4). He has just stated that his going away is to their advantage (vv. 5–7) before returning to the idea that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin (vv. 8–11). The world has hated Jesus because he has convicted them of their sin, and the world will hate his disciples because through them the Spirit will further convict the world of sin.

The Spirit in the disciples will show that the world has sin. The disciples are not righteous in the way Jesus was righteous, but they do have the righteousness that comes through faith. Moreover, the disciples will bear witness to the coming judgment (v. 8), in which the world will be condemned for its refusal to believe in Jesus (v. 9). Earlier Jesus had declared, “Whoever believes in [the Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (3:18).

Remarkably, the term “righteousness” (dikaiosynē) occurs in John’s Gospel only at 16:8 and 10 (but cf. “righteous” [dikaios] in 5:30; 7:24; 17:25). The righteousness of God is established and displayed through the cross of Christ (16:10; cf. Rom. 3:25–26). That Jesus is going to the Father (John 16:5) means that he is going to the cross, where righteousness will be demonstrated.

The casting out of this world’s ruler by the cross (cf. 12:31) guarantees that all who rebel against Jesus will face judgment (16:11). The cross puts true righteousness on display, exposing and condemning wickedness as God’s holiness and love are portrayed (v. 10). The cross condemns the rebel, Satan, because it shows him to be an unrighteous usurper whose rebellion was unjustified and will be unsuccessful.

Those who receive Jesus (1:12–13) are those who formerly belonged to the world but are now not of the world precisely because they have been convicted by the Holy Spirit of the sin of unbelief (16:9). They were convicted by the Holy Spirit of the righteousness of God in Christ on display through the death of Jesus as the substitute for God’s people, the ransom for sinners, the propitiation of God’s wrath, and the satisfaction of God’s holiness (v. 10). The Holy Spirit has brought the conviction that Satan, the architect and founder of those who would live for themselves, has been weighed and found wanting, judged by the Lord Christ, unseated from his dark throne, and cast out (v. 11; 12:31).

Followers of Jesus are those who have been convinced by the Holy Spirit that Jesus should be believed, that Jesus established righteousness at the cross, and that Jesus triumphed over that despicable rogue who betrayed the one who is true and beautiful and good. Christians have seen that they deserve to be punished along with Jesus, have turned from the way that leads to death, and have thrown themselves at the feet of the Conqueror, who has shown them mercy.

16:12–15 The Spirit Will Glorify Jesus. In 16:12 Jesus acknowledges that his time is running out. He has much more to say, but there is not time for the disciples to deal with it all emotionally and intellectually. Jesus, however, has just said that he will send the Spirit if he goes away (v. 7), and he now says that the Spirit will help them by leading them into “all the truth” he has to reveal to them (v. 13). The “all . . . truth” into which the Spirit will lead them is directly connected to the “many things” Jesus has to say that they “cannot bear . . . now” (v. 12).

The Spirit will behave as Jesus has done. Just as Jesus has neither acted nor spoken on his own authority (7:17–18; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10), neither will the Spirit speak on his own authority (16:13). Just as Jesus declared what he heard from the Father (8:26; 15:15), so the Spirit will speak what he hears (16:13). Jesus adds that the Spirit will reveal “the things that are to come” (v. 13), and in the book of Revelation John is indeed carried along by the Spirit (cf. 2 Pet. 1:21) to prophesy all that Jesus reveals to him (cf. 1 Pet. 1:10–12).

Jesus then adds that the Spirit will reveal what belongs to Jesus (John 16:14), indicating that the Spirit will hear and speak things that pertain to Jesus (v. 13). Jesus goes on to say that the Father has shared with him all he has (v. 15), indicating that as the Spirit seeks the glory of Jesus, he will also glorify the Father because Jesus and the Father share everything. By taking what belongs to Jesus—the truth about who he is, what he has done, what he will do, and how it fulfills all that was written in former days—and declaring it to the disciples, the Spirit glorifies Jesus (v. 14).

The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to glorify Jesus. If something does not glorify Jesus, it does not come from the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls on the Father to glorify him and states his intention to glorify the Father (e.g., 17:1), but nowhere do we ever read that the Father or the Son seek the glory of the Spirit. Father and Spirit seek the glory of Jesus. Jesus and the Spirit seek the glory of the Father. But the Father and Jesus are never said to seek the glory of the Spirit. This indicates that within the Trinity, although there is perfect equality and shared divine nature, there are distinct roles and functions gladly embraced. The Spirit does not begrudge the fact that Father and Son do not seek his glory but, rather, gladly gives himself to seeking their glory.

Consider what Jesus has said to his disciples concerning the Holy Spirit throughout these chapters. Having told them that he is going away (13:33), Jesus tells the disciples that he will petition the Father, who will send them the Spirit to be with them forever (14:15–17). Having told the disciples that he will manifest himself to those who love and obey him, and that he and the Father will make a home with such people (14:21, 23), Jesus says that the Father will send the Spirit in the name of Jesus, and the Spirit will teach them everything and remind them of all that Jesus has said (14:26). Having warned them that the world would hate them just as it hated him (15:18–25), Jesus assures the disciples that he will send the Spirit, who goes out from the Father, to bear witness and to enable the disciples to bear witness as well (15:26–27). Returning to their sadness at his departure (16:4–6), Jesus reminds the disciples that his going away makes it possible for him to send the Spirit to them (v. 7) in order to convict the world of sin (vv. 8–11). Having said that he has more to communicate to them than what they can presently handle (v. 12), Jesus promises that the Spirit will come to glorify Jesus by guiding the disciples into all truth concerning Jesus and by remaining true to the Father and the Son (vv. 12–15).

In 14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7, Jesus refers to the Spirit as the paraklētos, which the ESV and NASB render as “Helper,” the KJV as “Comforter,” the CSB and NIV 1984 as “Counselor,” and the NIV 2011 as “Advocate.” All of these connotations can be demonstrated from the word paraklētos: the Spirit is God’s indwelling covenant presence to the disciples (comforter; 14:16), their teacher and reminder (helper; 14:26), a witness enabling them to testify (counselor; 15:26), and the one who convicts the world and glorifies Christ (advocate; 16:7–15).