20Three Cardinal Christian Virtues  (John 16:25–33)

“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (16:25–33)

Because God is the God of truth (Ex. 34:6; 2 Sam. 7:28) who cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18), it follows that His Word is also true and free from error—being absolutely right in all it commands and accurate in all it describes (Ps. 119:142; John 17:17). It is true not only when it speaks to spiritual and moral issues, but also in matters of science and history. The God who created this universe (Gen. 1:1; Acts 17:24–25) and who orchestrates human history for His purposes (Isa. 46:10; Acts 17:26) is the same God who has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. There is therefore a unified field of knowledge between the general revelation of the Creator God found in the natural world (cf. Ps. 19:1–6) and the revelation of His plan of salvation and judgment found in the Bible (cf. Ps. 19:7–10). Because God is its author, His Word reveals His perfection and carries His authority, meaning that the truth it reveals is absolute.

But postmodernism rejects that concept. One of the legacies of the rationalism crafted by the Enlightenment philosophers has been the artificial division of the realm of truth into two completely separate spheres. On the one hand is the world of facts, of objective, public knowledge that is binding on all and is verifiable rationally. On the other hand is the realm of values, which postmodernism views as private, subjective matters of personal preference, neither necessarily rational nor verifiable. The former realm encompasses science, history, and autonomous human reason. Religion, morality, and the arts are relegated to the private realm of values; they are seen as nothing more than culturally conditioned preferences, with no right to be considered either objective or universally binding.

This divided view of truth has created a profound intellectual schizophrenia in modern man. Scientific naturalism tells him he is nothing more than a sophisticated biochemical machine, with a mind that is nothing more than a “three-pound computer made of meat,” as one scientist put it. But that notion does not find resonance in the human mind because men are made in the image of God, and cannot live consistently with such a materialistic, mechanistic view of themselves. They cannot stop behaving as though people have value and dignity, and the freedom to make choices—even though such beliefs contradict their naturalistic worldview. As Nancy Pearcey explains,

The consequence of it all is a bleak world of hopelessness and despair. People yearn for the very significance, meaning, and purpose in their lives that their worldview cannot offer them. As a result, they resort to irrational “leaps of faith,” searching desperately for some experience, feeling, intuition, or idea to believe in and to live for, to give them hope and meaning. But all they succeed in doing is hewing out for themselves “broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). The worldly pleasures they tirelessly pursue can never satisfy them (cf. Eccl. 2:1–26). Real hope, the experience of genuine love, and a true sense of purpose in life come only through believing in “the glorious gospel of the blessed God” (1 Tim. 1:11).

Faith, hope, and love are thus central to the Christian faith. It is that triad of Christian virtues (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thess. 1:3; 5:8) that underlies the closing words of the Lord Jesus Christ’s final teaching time with His disciples. As He continued to comfort the disciples, Jesus reassured them of the Father’s love for them, bolstered their sagging faith, and held out the hope of their ultimate victory over the trials and tribulations they would face.

LOVE

“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me.” (16:25–27a)

During their time with Jesus, the disciples had often failed to understand Him. Several illustrations make this point. On one occasion, after He told them that “it is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man” (Matt. 15:11), “Peter,” speaking for the rest, “said to Him, ‘Explain the parable to us’” (v. 15). That prompted the Lord’s rebuke, “Are you still lacking in understanding also?” (v. 16). Matthew 16 records another example of their miscomprehension. On that occasion “the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread,” an oversight that caused them to misunderstand Jesus’ warning, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (vv. 5–6). Missing the point entirely, “they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, ‘He said that because we did not bring any bread’” (v. 7). Rebuking them for their obtuseness, Jesus said to them,

It was only then that they “understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (v.12).

Again, “as they were coming down from the mountain [after the transfiguration], He gave [to Peter, James, and John] orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant” (Mark 9:9–10). Speaking of His impending death, Jesus told the disciples, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later” (Mark 9:31). But, typically, “they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him” (v.32).

Earlier in John’s gospel, there is another time when the disciples failed to grasp the significance of the Lord’s declaration. He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). It was not until Jesus “was raised from the dead [that] His disciples remembered that He said this; and … believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken” (v. 22). Additionally, they failed to grasp the significance of the triumphal entry, “but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him” (John 12:16). Just a few moments earlier that very evening, the disciples had been baffled by Jesus’ statements, “‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father.’ ” So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about” (16:17–18).

On some occasions the disciples’ initial lack of understanding was due to the fact that the Lord had spoken to them in figurative language. Paroimia (figurative language) refers to veiled, pointed, enigmatic, cryptic sayings—statements for which the meaning is not immediately apparent, but must be diligently searched out. The purpose for such sayings was to judgmentally and mercifully (cf. Luke 12:47–48) veil the truth from unbelievers, who are spiritually blind as a result of their own unbelief and rebellion (cf. Matt. 15:14; 23:16–26; John 9:39–41; Eph. 2:1–3). When the disciples asked Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” (Matt. 13:10), Jesus replied,

Even the disciples, as noted above, failed to understand much of Jesus’ teaching until He explained it to them (cf. Matt. 13:36–43). It was not until after Christ’s death and the coming of the Spirit that things hard for the disciples to understand during His life became clear. They actually understood Jesus’ ministry and teaching better then than they had when He was with them. In their post-Pentecost Spirit-empowered ministry, they unfolded the teachings of Christ and expounded the rich truths of His person and work.

Then Jesus promised them that an hour was coming when He would no longer speak to them in figurative language. The disciples, before the cross, were unable to fully grasp the profound significance of the Son’s work of redemption. Nor did they comprehend the depth of the Father’s love expressed in sending the Son to die as a sacrifice for sin (see the discussion of 16:12 in chapter 18 of this volume). But in that future hour (the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost), the veil would be lifted and Jesus would tell them plainly of the Father. The disciples would understand more fully Jesus’ relationship to the Father (cf. Matt. 11:27; John 1:1–2, 18; 3:35; 5:17–20, 36–37, 43; 6:27, 46, 57; 8:16–19, 28, 38, 42, 54; 10:15, 17–18, 25, 30, 38; 12:49–50; 13:1; 14:6–12, 20, 28, 31; 15:9–10, 15; 16:15; 17:5, 21, 24–25; 20:21) and the Father’s love for them (cf. John 14:21, 23; 16:27; Rom. 5:8; 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Heb. 1:1–3; 1 John 3:1;4:10).

In that day, Jesus promised, you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me. That statement clarifies what it means to pray in Jesus’ name (cf. the expositions of 14:13–14; 15:16; and 16:23–24 in previous chapters of this volume). It does not mean that believers ask Jesus to request of the Father on their behalf, as though the Father were indifferent to their requests. If that were all that praying in the name of Jesus meant, it would be an inestimable privilege. But the full privilege believers have is that of making their requests directly to the Father consistent with the will of the Son. They have that privilege because the Father Himself loves them, because they have loved Christ—love that they demonstrate through their obedience to Him (John 3:36; 14:21, 23; Heb. 5:9; James 2:14–26; 1 Peter 1:1–2. For a thorough discussion of the relationship of obedience to saving faith, see my books The Gospel According to Jesus, rev. ed. [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], and The Gospel According to the Apostles [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1993, 2000]).

One of the horrendous falsehoods of Roman Catholicism is that God is indifferent and harsh, Jesus is committed to justice, but Mary is compassionate, as are the lesser saints. Thus, to appeal to them is best. That is a lie, since believers have direct access to their Father, who loves them because they are in Jesus Christ (1 John 4:10, 19), who also loves them perfectly (John 13:1). According to Paul it is “in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him …. for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 3:11–12; 2:18). The writer of Hebrews exhorted his readers,

The tearing of the veil in front of the Holy of Holies (Matt. 27:51) symbolized that the way into God’s presence stands open through the death of Christ.

The biblical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:6) eliminates the need to go through intermediaries—such as Mary, the saints, or human priests—to obtain access to the Father. The great Reformer Martin Luther assaulted the Roman counterfeit when he wrote, “It says in 1 Peter 2:9, ‘Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, and a priestly kingdom.’ It follows that all of us who are Christians are also priests” (“The Pagan Servitude of the Church,” in John Dillenberger, Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings [Garden City, N. Y.: Anchor, 1961], 345). That Christians have direct priestly access to the Father does not, however, obviate the need for Christ’s intercession on their behalf as their Great High Priest (Isa. 53:12; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; cf. 1 John 2:1–2).

As noted above, the Father’s motive for allowing believers access to Him is that He loves them. Loves translates a form of the verb phileō, which is the love of deep, caring affection. It is the love of emotion, which is consistent with agapaō, which is the love of the will. Phileō describes the love of parents for their children and children for their parents (Matt. 10:37) and of friends for each other (John 11:3, 36). God loves (agapaō) sinners (John 3:16), but expresses a special, fatherly affection (phileō) for His children—so much so that He sent His Son to die as the sacrifice for their sins (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:9–10). Because of that they can boldly and fearlessly enter His presence in complete confidence, as children for whom He cares deeply (cf. Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).

FAITH

and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. (16:27b–32)

Despite whatever pessimism or skepticism they may have about ultimate truth, all people exercise a great measure of human faith in the mundane matters of everyday life. People trust that the food they eat, the water they drink, and the medicine they take is safe, that the planes they board will not crash during flight nor land in the wrong city, and that the houses they live in will not suddenly collapse. On a higher level, people believe in love, themselves, money, or even in some sort of nebulous higher power. Oliver Wendell Holmes’s vague statement, “It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes life worth living,” is the flimsy credo of many, if not most, in this culture.

But in contrast to such aimless and contentless fatuity, the believer’s faith is firmly rooted in the love of God manifested in the person of Jesus Christ and recorded in Scripture. The Lord’s words I came forth from the Father and have come into the world express the central doctrines of the Christian faith. That He came forth from the Father (cf. Matt. 10:40; Mark 9:37; John 4:34; 5:24, 30; 6:38, 39, 44; 7:29, 33; 8:26, 29; 9:4; 12:44; 13:20; 16:5; 17:18, 21, 23) affirms Christ’s deity (John 1:1, 14), and apart from embracing that doctrine, no one can be saved. (For a defense of the deity of Christ, see John 1–11 [Chicago: Moody, 2006], chaps. 1, 15). Jesus warned those who rejected Him, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He [i.e., Yahweh of the Old Testament; cf. Ex. 3:14] you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). To reject the biblical truth that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh is to believe in another false and damning gospel (Gal. 1:6–9). It is to be satanically deceived and “led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3) and to believe in “another Jesus” whom the apostles did not preach (v. 4). In his first epistle John wrote,

In his second epistle the apostle added, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7). The church is to not embrace those who propagate such heretical teaching:

In contrast to the disciples, the Jewish authorities vehemently refused to believe that Jesus was sent by the Father (cf. John 8:14; 9:29) and placed themselves under the judgment of God.

The reason Christ came into the world was to do the work of redemption. Before His birth the angel told His earthly father, Joseph, “[Mary] will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The Lord defined His mission when He said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 9:10), and, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). A few days earlier at the triumphal entry, Jesus had said, “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour …. I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:27, 47).

The rest of the New Testament reiterates the truth that Christ came to redeem lost sinners. John wrote, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him…. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:9, 14). “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance,” Paul affirmed, “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). To the Galatians he wrote, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–5).

The Lord’s statement, I am leaving the world again and going to the Father, completes a remarkably concise summary of the gospel in verse 28. Jesus, God the Son, was sent into the world by the Father to accomplish the work of redemption, and having done so, returned to His place of full glory with the Father. Jesus longed to return to the Father, and often spoke of it (e.g., John 7:33; 14:12, 28; 16:5, 10; 17:11, 13; cf. 13:3).

The disciples’ reply, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech,” suggests that at long last they were beginning to understand. The plan of redemption was becoming clear; the time when the Lord would speak plainly to them (see the discussion of v. 25 above) was drawing near. Already He had spoken to them of His origin, His mission, His return to the Father, the Father’s love for them, and their access to Him. Jesus had done so directly and without using a figure of speech. Their confident assertion, Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God, is far more than an affirmation of their appreciation for the Lord’s teaching. It is nothing less than a full affirmation of Christ’s omniscience and hence His deity. It represents the apex of the disciples’ recognition of Jesus as a member of the Godhead.

Yet the disciples’ bold notion that all questions had been answered was premature, since the complete revelation of Christ’s person and work awaited the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. John Calvin notes, “The disciples certainly did not yet understand fully what Christ had been saying; but although they were not yet capable of this, the mere scent of it refreshed them” (John, The Crossway Classic Commentaries [Wheaton: Crossway, 1994], 386). William Hendriksen adds,

Knowing their hearts, Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?” The Lord’s poignant question underscored that the disciples’ faith, though genuine (cf. 17:8), was still immature. The sad reality was that only a few hours later they would all forsake Him and be scattered, each to his own home, and … leave Him alone (Matt. 26:56; cf. v. 31; Zech. 13:7). But after the Spirit came, the disciples would courageously proclaim the truth about Jesus Christ (e.g., Acts 2:22–36; 3:12–26) despite fierce opposition (e.g., Acts 4:1–21; 5:17–40).

Although the disciples would leave Him alone, Jesus would not be alone at all, because the Father was ever with Him (cf. 8:29)—except when He was bearing sin on the cross. The reality that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21), caused Jesus to cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). In that moment, “the Lord was pleased to crush Him” because He was “render[ing] Himself as a guilt offering” (Isa. 53:10). Thus “He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors” (v. 12) such that many have been justified because He paid the penalty for their iniquities (v.11).

HOPE

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. (16:33)

Understanding God’s love and placing one’s faith in Him—the things of which Christ had just spoken to the disciples—brings peace despite the hostility of the world and the relentless tribulation it brings. These words were spoken just one evening after our Lord had told the disciples how much tribulation there was to be in the world before His return:

Still, in the midst of all that, believers will enjoy divine peace. That is more than enough reason to take courage and have hope. The believer’s hope is in the Lord (Pss. 31:24; 38:15; 39:7; 42:5, 11; 43:5; 62:5; 71:5; 130:7; 146:5; Lam. 3:24; 1 Tim. 1:1), His Word (Pss. 119:49; 130:5; Rom. 15:4), the salvation He provides (Ps. 119:166; Eph. 1:18; 4:4; Titus 1:2), and the eternal glory that awaits in heaven (Col. 1:5, 27; 1 Thess. 5:8). That hope is made possible because Jesus Christ has overcome the world and conquered sin (John 1:29; Heb. 1:3; 9:26, 28; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 3:5; Rev. 1:5), death (John 14:19; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54–55; 2 Tim. 1:10), and Satan (Gen. 3:15; Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8). In Him, Christians too are over-comers (Rom. 8:37; 1 John 4:4; 5:4–5; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7), for whom the Lord will work all things to their good (Rom. 8:28).

After the resurrection and the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the disciples would be radically transformed from men of fear to men of courage. Though they abandoned Jesus on the night of His arrest, they would boldly stand before the Jewish leaders less than two months later. In Acts 2, the Twelve (with Matthias replacing Judas Iscariot) “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (v. 4). None other than Peter, who had denied Christ on three occasions (Mark 14:66–72), publicly took “his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared” to the crowds in Jerusalem that they should repent (v. 14; cf. v. 42). A little while later, he and John healed a lame man in the temple (Acts 3:6) and boldly preached the gospel there (vv. 11–26). They were quickly arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. But instead of cowering in fear, they bravely proclaimed the truth to the same Jewish leaders who had crucified Jesus. “There is salvation in no one else,” declared Peter of Christ. “For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Noting his courage, the Jewish leaders were astonished. “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed” (v. 13).

That same supernatural courage and boldness is reflected in the examples of Stephen (Acts 7:54–60), Philip (8:5, 26–30), Ananias (9:10–19), Barnabas (13:46), Silas (16:25), Apollos (18:25–26), and Paul (26:19–21). Filled with the Holy Spirit and marked by personal conviction, these men were not intimidated by the threats of the world. Instead, they bravely proclaimed the truth of the gospel and rejoiced when they were persecuted (cf. 5:41), being confident of the promise that “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

The peace and hope that characterized them is the same that has characterized true believers in every age. Being assured of what they believed and hoped for, and convinced of what they did not see (cf. Heb. 11:1), the saints of old “were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground” (vv. 37–38). Believers today can find that same courage of conviction when their “faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:21). They need not fear persecution or even death, because they know “the God of hope” (Rom. 15:13) and Jesus Christ, “the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27; cf. 1 Tim. 1:1). Having trusted in the death and resurrection of Christ, they are eternally secure in His love—knowing that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate [believers] from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus [their] Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).

Significantly, Jesus’ last words to His disciples in the upper room, before praying for them and departing for Gethsemane, were words of love, faith, and hope. In the face of their greatest trial in the next few days, the Lord reminded them of those three foundational truths—truths that would subsequently mark their ministries for the rest of their lives and also mark all the saints to follow them. Having done all He could to prepare them for what was about to take place, Jesus now turned in prayer to His Father, knowing that only He could truly protect the disciples in the following hours.