Pentecost 2023
16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” To convict (elencho) means “to expose the facts, to convince someone of the truth, to accuse, refute, or to cross-examine a witness.” As a prosecuting attorney, the Holy Spirit carries out his convicting work in at least three ways:
1. The Holy Spirit proves the world wrong by exposing the world’s error and convincing people they are sinners. Even general admissions of guilt are evidence of the Spirit’s work.
2. The Holy Spirit legally convicts people of their sin, representing the righteous judgment of God. In legal terms, the Holy Spirit’s role is to read aloud the verdict of the court. There is no appeal to the Holy Spirit’s judgment.
3. The Holy Spirit shows people their sin in order to bring them to repentance. He personalizes God’s accusation from “all are guilty” to “you are guilty.” He breaks through our defenses and rationalizations and confronts us with at least a glimpse of our true selves in relation to God’s standards.
For purposes of evangelism, the third way that the Spirit works is the one that matters. By themselves, the first two communicate little more than a strong sense of God’s justice. But the third explanation not only includes the first two, it also brings to bear God’s mercy. God graciously makes us aware of our sin that he might make us receptive to his grace. The Holy Spirit prepares the human heart and then applies the healing work of Jesus Christ to that person.
16:9 “Of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” The greatest sin is the refusal to believe in Jesus (3:18). Those who reject Jesus are in danger of eternal separation from God.
THE JUDGMENT OF SATAN
Satan has been judged so that his darkness cannot overcome believers’ light.
Reference
Quotation
Explanation
Luke 10:18
“I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning” (NRSV)
Pride was Satan’s downfall. Jesus spoke of his fall from glory and pointed to his total destruction.
John 12:31
“The prince of this world will be driven out” (NIV)
Jesus’ crucifixion gave him the victory over Satan.
John 16:11
“The prince of this world now stands condemned” (NIV)
Jesus announced that Satan’s judgment was complete.
Hebrews 2:14
“He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (NKJV)
Jesus’ crucifixion shattered Satan’s deadly power.
1 John 3:8
“The Son of God was revealed for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil” (NRSV)
Jesus’ purpose was fulfilled in overcoming Satan.
Revelation 20:10
“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone .. . forever and ever” (NRSV)
Jesus will have the complete and final victory over Satan.
16:10 “Of righteousness.” There are two ways to understand “convict the world … of righteousness”: (1) The Spirit’s function will be to show all people that Christ alone provides the standard of God’s righteousness. The Holy Spirit must make unbelievers recognize God’s perfect standard before they will admit their own deficiency. As long as people can maintain the idea that God is somehow less than perfect, they can hide from their own condition. The Holy Spirit lifts that veil and displays to the human heart God’s holiness. (2) It can also mean that the Spirit will show the world the futility of religious self-righteousness. The Holy Spirit will show the inadequacy of ceremony and ritual in making one right with God (see Matthew 5:20; Romans 10:3; Philippians 3:6–9).
16:11 “[Of] judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” The Spirit will show that, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, Satan has already been judged and condemned. Though Satan still actively attempts to harden, intimidate, and delude those in this world (1 Peter 5:8), we are to treat him like a condemned criminal, for God has determined the time of his execution (see Revelation 20:2, 7–10).
Convicting us of our sin, convicting us of God’s righteousness, and convicting us of Satan’s (and our) impending judgment describes three approaches that the Holy Spirit uses. We do not all require all three in order to be convinced that we need God’s grace. The Holy Spirit does not crush those who only require prodding. Some are simply more stubborn and resistant than others. God demonstrates his grace by approaching each of us with that level of conviction necessary for our response.
One question that we will all have to answer at some point is not how many times we heard the gospel, but how we responded to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit?
This convicting may be done with the help of believers, through whom the Holy Spirit works. Jesus had already told his disciples, “When the Counselor comes … he will testify about me. And you also must testify …” (15:26–27 NIV).
8. Reprove] RV ‘convict.’ The Gk. word, which also occurs 3:20; 8:9 (AV) 8:46, means to prove a person in the wrong, hence to convict. The Holy Ghost will ‘convince’ or ‘convict’ the world, by placing before it the claims of Christ with a force and clearness that cannot be evaded. The result will be twofold. Some will be ‘convicted by their own consciences’ (8:9), or ‘pricked to the heart’ (Ac 2:37), and so repent and believe (Ac 2:38). Others will be hardened in their sin and unbelief (Ro 11:8), and be ‘convicted’ of wilful blindness in the sight of God and good men.
9–11. The Holy Ghost, through the apostolic preaching, and through the new power of holiness manifested in the lives of believers, will convince mankind, (1) of their sin and folly in rejecting Christ; (2) that Christ is a sincere and righteous teacher, and not, as they had thought, an impostor, as will be clearly demonstrated when the Father has raised Him from the dead and set Him at His right hand in heaven; (3) that the unspiritual system of religion which they have hitherto professed, and which has led them to reject Christ, is of the devil and not of God, that God Himself has condemned it, and that therefore they must condemn it too.
This passage is an extremely difficult one, and various other interpretations of it are given.
2 (16:8–11) Holy Spirit: the Holy Spirit convicts and convinces the world. The word reprove (elegxei) means both to convict and to convince a person.
⇒ Convict means to prick a person’s heart until he senses and knows he is guilty. He has done wrong or failed to do right.
⇒ Convince means to hammer and drive at a person’s heart until he knows the fact is true.
The Holy Spirit convicts and convinces the world of three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.
a. There is the conviction of sin.
1) The Holy Spirit convicts the world of its sin, that man is sinful. The Holy Spirit convicts a man that he …
• misses the mark, that is, comes short of the glory of God.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Ro. 3:23).
• trespasses, that is, wanders off the right path.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ep. 2:1).
• transgresses, that is, breaks the law of God.
“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (He. 2:2–3).
2) The Holy Spirit convinces the world that a man’s unbelief is wrong. The Holy Spirit convinces the world that Jesus really did die for sin. The Holy Spirit takes a man who does not believe on Jesus and convinces him that Jesus is the Savior—that his sins are really forgiven when he believes on Jesus.
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (Jn. 8:24).
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:1–2).
b. There is the conviction of righteousness.
1) The Holy Spirit convicts the world of its lack of righteousness, that a man has no righteousness whatsoever that is acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit convicts a man that his righteousness …
• is self-righteousness only
• is human righteousness only
• is the righteousness of works that are only human and therefore have an end
• is the righteousness of human goodness and therefore passes away when he dies
• is inadequate, insufficient, and unacceptable to God
“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (Ga. 3:11; see Ga. 2:16).
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities” (Is. 64:6–7; see vv.9–12).
2) The Holy Spirit convinces the world that Jesus’ righteousness is acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit convinces a man …
• that Jesus really was received up into heaven by the Father because He was righteous
• that Jesus has secured righteousness for every man
• that man can approach God through the righteousness of Jesus
• that Jesus is the Ideal and Perfect Man, the very Son of Man Himself. (See note—Jn. 1:51.)
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Co. 5:21).
“To whom it [righteousness] shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Ro. 4:24–25).
c. There is the conviction of judgment.
1) The Holy Spirit convicts the world that judgment is coming, that a man is to face the personal judgment of God. The Holy Spirit convicts a man …
• that he is both responsible and accountable to God and man
• that there is to be a real day of judgment sometime out in the future
• that he is to stand face-to-face with God and be judged
• that he is to be judged for sin and lack of righteousness, for what he has done and not done
“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Ro. 14:12).
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (He. 9:27).
2) The Holy Spirit convinces the world that Jesus has borne the judgment of sin and death for man. The Holy Spirit convinces a man …
• that Jesus died bearing the penalty and judgment of sin for him.
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Pe. 2:24).
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Pe. 3:18).
• that Jesus, by His death, destroyed the power of Satan over sin and death (see DEEPER STUDY #1—Jn. 16:11 for more discussion).
“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (Jn. 12:31).
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (He. 2:14–15).
• that man can be freed from sin and death, that he can be forgiven for his sin and given eternal life through the death of Jesus.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ep. 1:7).
(See DEEPER STUDY # 2, 3—Jn. 12:31; notes—12:31–33; 14:30–31 for more discussion.)
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.