Sermon Tone Analysis

John 15:26-16:15

What Does the Spirit of God Do?

When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

They will put you out of the synagogues.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.[1]

Jesus promised His disciples that after He returned to the Father, He would send the Helper.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, is now with each one who is a Christian.

Though we Christians confess that the Spirit of God is with us, we are often uncertain of the truth of the declaration.

Many of us are uncertain how to define the work of the Spirit.

That is the purpose of the message today—to discover what the Spirit does.

We know that in the world the Spirit of God convicts outsiders of sin, of righteousness and of judgement [see *John 16:8*].

Some people think of the Spirit of God as a sort of internal killjoy—a sort of divine conscience.

Since he “convicts” sinners of their sin, of the need for righteousness, and of judgement, we think that He must also make us miserable when we act or speak in a manner dishonouring to Christ our Lord.

Perhaps there is some truth to this thought, but according to Jesus, His Spirit does so much more.

I want to investigate with you the work of the Spirit that we Christians will doubtless find most pertinent to our walk of faith.

In order to accomplish this admittedly great task, I invite you to consider some words Jesus spoke during the hours immediately preceding His passion.

During that all together too brief period of time, He prepared His disciples for His exodus, giving them vital instruction and making every effort to encourage them not to be disheartened at what was coming.

As part of His encouragement, He taught them about the coming Helper—the Holy Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God Convicts Mankind — Our text informs us that the Spirit of God will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

This is an acceptable translation, but I fear that we are likely miss the full impact of John’s words because of our lack of familiarity with the Greek language.

However, John’s intent may be difficult to capture in our English tongue without becoming overly wordy.

The Greek term translated convict is difficult to translate.

The evidence for this difficulty in discovering what John meant is witnessed through the variety of translations for the verb.

The *King James Version* uses reprove.

*The New Testament in Basic English* teaches us that the Holy Spirit will make the world conscious of sin.

If you happen to read either the *Revised Standard Version* or the *New Living Translation*, you will see those translators chose convince, whereas the *New Revised Standard Version*, together with the *New Century Version* uses prove.

*The Message* translates this verse by stating that the Holy Spirit will expose the error of the godless world’s view of sin, righteousness, and judgement.[2]

It is obvious from even this brief review of various translations that what John wrote must be difficult to translate.

It is not that the concept John sought to communicate is challenging, but rather that our English language fails to adequately convey the Apostle’s intent.

One factor in the difficulty in translating is that the Greek is compressed in this verse.

John writes in a fashion that can only be said to be terse at this point.

However, he does expand this thought through the following verses.

At issue is the fact that the verb chosen has several alternate, perfectly acceptable meanings.

The verb [ελέγχω] as used in classical Greek does mean to expose, and initially the emphasis was on putting to shame, treating with contempt, or cross-examining.

In time, the verb came to mean to refute or to correct.

Therefore, the verb came close to being a synonym for another verb [παιδεύω] used by Stephen as he presented his defence before the Synagogue of the Freedmen.

That word means to educate, as when he spoke of Moses being instructed in all the education of the Egyptians [see *Acts 7:22*].[3]

By the time John was writing, the verb had come to reflect the entire range of meanings seen in the translations cited earlier; the context determined the intended meaning..  Paul, for instance, used the verb in *Ephesians 5:13* to mean “expose” (When anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible), or to mean “to rebuke,” as in *1 Timothy 5:20* (As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear), or even of “convincing” opponents of their error ([The elder] must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it [*Titus 1:9*], and rebuke [those who are insubordinate] sharply, that they may be sound in the faith [*Titus 1:13*]).

The verb was used in *Hebrews 11:1*, to convey the idea of “conviction,” as seen in many recent translations [e.g.

*nasb*, *hcsb*, *esv*].[4]

D. A. Carson, says of the verb in question which is used in *John 16:8*, “Commentators most commonly propose to render the verb in this passage by ‘to expose,’ ‘to convince,’ or ‘to convict.’

…[P]art of the difficulty in securing a credible interpretation rests on the ambiguities of the /English/ words.

‘To expose’ has no /necessarily/ negative overtones (e.g.

‘to expose one’s body to the rays of the sun’), but it can be used in contexts where the exposure engenders profound shame.

‘To convince someone can sound like a merely intellectual exercise, and this seems a bit anaemic if there ought to be a personal shamed recognition of person guilt.

‘To convict’ could be understood in a purely judicial sense of bringing down a negative verdict, regardless of whether or not the convicted party admits any guilt…”

Carson concludes: “The meaning, then, is as follows.

Just as Jesus forced a division in the world (*15:20*) by showing that what it does is evil (*7:7*; *15:22*), so the Paraclete continues this work.

Indeed, he most commonly does so through the witness of disciples (*15:26, 27*); he always does so in connection with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, since his whole purpose is to bring glory to him (*16:14*).”[5]

I urge each listener to understand that the verb does indeed mean to convict.

However, the verb is not so much a judicial term as it is a term pointing out the shame attached to actions and attitudes we know to be wrong and hope that others do not notice.

It speaks of action that is responsive less because it is imposed by an outside entity than because it is derived logically through consideration of the action.

The Spirit of God will convict the world concerning sin because they do not believe in me.

It is amazing to see how the world reacts to the presence of godly people.

The righteous are derided, even hounded and persecuted, and all the while, those persecuting are ashamed of their actions.

Have you ever had someone respond harshly toward you when you spoke of your own convictions?

Perhaps they accused you of being judgemental, when in fact you simply stated that you held convictions other than what they were demonstrating.

That was nothing less than a demonstration of the Spirit’s convicting work.

The very harshness of their reaction revealed that they were convicted.

I am currently watching the American Presidential race with considerable interest.

It is amazing to witness the number of people who when speaking of the sitting President, as his opponent does so often, acknowledge that he is a man of faith.

Despite their admission, they are offended that, unlike the previous occupant of the Oval Office, this man actually believes the Christian message.

We had in Canada two opposition politicians who were similarly ridiculed because they spoke openly of the fact that they believed the Christian message.

Had these men been Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist or Sikh, their religious persuasion would have never been mentioned.

However, because they dared confess that they had faith in the Living Son of God, the media and governing politicians scoffed at them and declared that Parliament was no place for faith.

Why do those living in the world react so harshly to the Faith of Christ the Lord?

The reason is that they are convicted that their own actions fail to honour God.

Their rage serves as an excellent example of the ministry of the Holy Spirit using believers to convict mankind once the precepts of God’s Word have been inculcated into their lives.

Inhabitants of the world are compelled to acknowledge the poverty of their lives—if only to themselves—as they realise they have not believed the message of life.

God’s Spirit convicts the inhabitants of the world of their sinful condition.

“The idea of sin here is not merely concerning erroneous acts, but of the fundamental act of choosing another god.”[6]

People choose to exalt their own desires over the call of God, deliberately choosing to follow their own precepts instead of honouring God’s will—they choose not to believe.

Failure to believe is tantamount to refusal to receive.

This is the thrust of John’s words in the opening chapter of this Gospel.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God [*John 1:11-13*].

An example of the Spirit convicting of sin is found at the conclusion of Peter’s Pentecostal sermon.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do” [*Acts 2:36, 37*]?

The Spirit convict[s] the world concerning righteousness, because [Jesus has gone] to the Father.

Upon first reading, this appears to be a strange thing for John to say.

However, I remind you that the world does have a form of righteousness.

There is a standard by which the world lives, and though most inhabitants of the world will not speak of that standard as righteousness, it is nevertheless, for them, a form of righteousness.

Jesus died and was raised to life by the power of the Spirit [see *Romans 1:4*].

Risen from the dead, He has ascended into Heaven where He now reigns at the right hand of the Father.

Remaining in the world and awaiting His return is His Bride, the church.