JOHN XVI.
1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever kiJleth you will think that he doeth God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor rae.
4 But these things liave I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. Aud these things I said not
unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if 1 go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
The opening verses of this chapter contain three important utterances of Christ, which deserve our special attention.
For one thing, we find our Lord delivering a remarkable prophecy. He tells His disciples that they will be cast out of the Jewish Church, and persecuted even to the death: — " They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."
How strange that seems at first sight! Excommunication, sufiering, and death, are the portion that the Prince of Peace predicts to His disciples. So far from receiving them and their message with gratitude, 6* the world would hate them, despitefully use them, and put them to death. And, worst of all, their persecutors would actually persuade themselves that it was right to persecute, and would inflict the crudest injuries in the sacred name of religion.
How true the prediction has turned out! Like every other prophecy of Scripture, it has been fulfilled to the very letter. The Acts of the Apostles show us how the unbelieving Jews persecuted the early Christians. The pages of history tell us what horrible crimes have been committed by the Popish Inquisition. The annals of our own country inform us how our holy Reformers were burned at the stake for their religion, by men who professed to do all they did from zeal for pure Christianity. Unlikely and incredible as it might seem at the time, the great Prophet of the Church has been found in this, as in everything else, to have predicted nothing but literal truth.
Let it never surprise us to hear of true Christians being persecuted, in one way or another, even in our own day. Human nature never changes. Grace is never really popular. The quantity of persecution which God's children have to suffer in every rank of life, even now, if they confess their Master, is far greater than the thoughtless world supposes. They only know it who go through it, at school, at college, in the counting-house, in the barrack-room, on board the ship. Those words shall always be found true: " All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution." (2 Tim. iii. 12.)
Let us never forget that religious earnestness alone is no proof that a man is a sound Christian. Not all zeal is right: it may be a zeal without knowledge. No one is so mischievous as a blundering, ignorant zealot. Not all earnestness is trustworthy: without the leading of God's Spirit, it may lead a man so far astray, that, like Saul, he will persecute Christ himself. Some bigots fancy they are doing God service, when they are actually fighting against His truth, and trampling on His people. Let us pray that we may have light as well as zeal.
For another thing, we find our Lord explaining His sjyecial reaso7i for delivering the prophecy just referred to, as well as all His discourse. "These things," He says, *' I have spoken unto you, that ye should not be oflTended."
Well did our Lord know that nothing is so dangerous to our comfort as to indulge false expectations. He tlierefore prepared His disciples for what they must expect to meet with in His service. Forewarned, forearmed! They must not look for a smooth course and a peaceful journey. They must make up their minds to battles, conflicts, wounds, opposition, persecution, and perhaps even death. Like a wise general. He did not conceal from His soldiers the nature of the campaign they were beginning. He told them all that was before them, in faithfulness and love, that when the time of trial came, they might remember His words, and not be disappointed and offended. He wisely forewarned them that the cross was the way to the crown.
To count the cost is one of the first duties that ought to be pressed on Christians in every age. It is no kindness to young beginners to paint the service of Christ in false colors, and to keep back from them the old truth, "Through much tribulation w^e must enter the kingdom of God." By prophesying smooth things, and crying " Peace," we may easily fill the ranks of Christ's army with professing soldiers. But they are just the soldiers, who, like the stony-ground hearers, in time of tribulation will fall away, and turn back in the day of battle.
No Christian is in a healthy state of mind who is not prepared for trouble and persecution. He that expects to cross the troubled waters of this world, and to reach heaven with wind and tide always in his favor, knows nothing yet as he ought to know. We never can tell what is before us in life. But of one thing we may be very sure: we must carry the cross if we would wear the crown. Let us grasp this principle firmly, and never forget it. Then, when the hour of trial comes, we shall " not be offended."
In the last place, we find our Lord giving a special reason why it vms expedient for Him to go avjay from His disciples. " If I go not away," He says, " the Comforter will not come unto you."
We can well suppose that our gracious Lord saw the minds of His disciples crushed at the idea of His leaving them. Little as they realized His full meaning, on this, as well as on other occasions, they evidently had a vague notion that they were about to be left, like orphans, in a cold and unkind world, by their Almighty Friend. Their hearts quailed and shrunk back at the thought. Most graciously does our Lord cheer them by words of deep and mysterious meaning. He tells them that His departure, however painful it might seem, was not an evil, but a good. They would actually find it was not a loss, but a gain. His bodily absence would be more useful than His presence.
It is vain to deny that this is a somewhat dark saying. It seems at first sight hard to understand how in any sense it could be good that Christ should go away from His disciples. Yet a little reflection may show us that, like our Lord's sayings, this remarkable utterance was wise, and right, and true. The following points, at any rate, deserve attentive consideration.
If Christ had not died, risen again, and ascended up into heaven, it is plain that the Holy Ghost could not have come down with special power on the day of Pentecost, and bestowed His manifold gifts on the Church. Mysterious as it may be, there was a connection in the eternal counsels of God, between the ascension of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit.
If Christ had remained bodily with the disciples. He could not have been in more places than one at the same time. The presence of the Spirit whom He sent down, would till every place where believers were assembled in His name, in every part of the world.
If Christ had remained upon earth, and not gone up into heaven. He could not have become a High Priest for His people in the same full and perfect manner that He became after His ascension. He went away to sit down at the right hand of God, and to appear for us, in our human nature glorified, as our Advocate with the Father.
Finally, if Christ had always remained bodily with His disciples, there would have been far less room for the exercise of their faith and hope and trust, than there was when He went away. Their graces would not have been called into such active exercise, and they would have had less opportunity of glorifying God, and exhibiting His power in the world.
After all there remains the broad fact that after the Lord Jesus went away, and the Comforter came down on the day of Pentecost, the religion of the disciples became a new thing altogether. The growth of their knowledge, and faith, and hope, and zeal, and courage, was so remarkable, that they were twice the men they were before. They did far more for Christ when He was absent, than they had ever done when He was present. What stronger proof can we require that it was expedient for them that their Master should go away I
Let us leave the whole subject with a deep conviction that it is not the carnal presence of Christ in the midst of us, so much as the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, that is essential to a high standard of Christianity. What we should all desire and long for is not Christ's body literally touched with our hands and received into our mouths, but Christ dwelling spiritually in our hearts by the grace of the Holy Ghost.
1. — [These things...spoken...not... offended.'] The chapter we now begin is a direct continuation of the last chapter, without break or pause. Our Lord's object in this first verse is to cheer and revive the minds of the Apostles, and to prevent them being discouraged by the persecution of the unbelieving Jews. " I have spoken the things which I have just been speaking, in order to obviate the depressing effect of the treatment you will receive. Lest you should be stumbled and otfended by the conduct of your enemies, I have told you the things you have just heard."
Stier remarks that " these things " include both the warning of the world's hatred and the promise of the witnessing Spirit. Foreknowledge of the world's hatred would prevent the disciples being surprised and disappointed. The promise of the Spirit would cheer and encourage.
The word " oflfended " is literally " scandalized." It is a remarkable instance of a word which has greatly changed its meaning since the last translation of the Bible, to the great perplexity and injury of many Bible readers.
How great a stumbling-block it often is to young and unestablished Christians to find themselves persecuted and ill-used for their religion, it is needless to point out. Our Lord knew this, and took care to arm the eleven apostles with warnings. He never kept back the cross, or concealed the difllculties in the way to heaven.
2. — [They shall put...out...synagogu6.'] In this verse our Lord tells the disciples most plainly what they must expect. " They will excommunicate you, and cast you out of the Jewish Cliurch, and expel you from their assemblies." The Greek words are curious: " They will make you out-of -synagogue men." How great a grief and loss this was to a Jew we have little idea, unless we have studied the work of Christianity among the Jews in modern times. Nothing affects a Jew so much as expulsion from the synago;'ue, or excommunication.
There is no nominative liere to wliicli we can refer " tliey." It is an Hebraism equivalent to '■ You will be put out."
Hengstenberg observes, " The disciples were not to depart voluntarily out of the synagogue, but to await what would happen to them on a full proclamation of the Gospel. This gives a very intelligible hint to the faithful in times of the Church's decline: viz., that they should keep far from their thoughts the idea of arbitrary secession. The new formation is right only when the casting out has gone before."
Calvin remarks, " We have no reason to be alarmed at the Pope's excommunications, with which he thunders against us on account of the Gospel. They will do us no more injury than those ancient excommunications which were made against
the apostles." The curse causeless shall not come.
[Yea...ti7ne comet7i..MUeth...service.] In* this clause our Lord warns the eleven that they must not be surprised if even death was the final result of discipleship. There would be no length of persecution to which their enemies would not go. " The hour comes when he who has killed you will think that in so doing he offers God an acceptable service."
How true this has proved, the history of all religious persecution has abundantly showed. Who can doubt that Saul before his conversion was sincere? "I verily thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." (Acts xxvi. 9.) The persecutions carried on in Spain, and Portugal, and France, and England, by Romanists against Protestants, are painful examples of the same thing. Men have actually thought that killing people was doing a holy and a good action.
The extent to which conscience may be blinded, until a man actually thinks that he is doing a godly deed, when in reality he is committing a huge sin, is one of the most painful phenomena in human nature. Many of those who burned our Reformers in the days of Queen Mary were sincere and in earnest. " Earnestness" is not the slightest proof that a man is right in his religion. It is one of the most monstrous- idols of modern times. The folly of those who are content with " earnestness," and ^ay that all " earnest " men go to heaven, is abundantly shown by this text.
Ferus remarks that " good intentions and meanings are no better than impiety, if they do not spring from God's Word."
3. — [And these things will they do, etc.] Here, as in a former verse, our Lord points to blind ignorance as the true cause of the enmity of the Jews against Himself and His disciples. " They do not rightly know my Father, in spite of their professions of religious knowledge; nor Me, whom the Father hath sent. Hence they hate and persecute." (See Ch. xv. 21.)
4. — [But these things have I told, etc.'] Here once more our Lord repeats His reasons for telling tlie disciples what they must expect. " I have told you what treatment you will receive, in order that you may not be surprised when the time of trial conies, but may remember that I foretold you all, and not be cast down. Nothing unforeseen, nothing unpredicted, you will feel, happens to us. Our Master told us it would be so."
The word " I," in the sentence, " that ye may remember that I told you," is emphatic in the Greek. It seems to mean, " Remember that I myself, your Master, told you."
Our Lord adds the reason why He had not dwelt on these trials before. " I did not tell you much of these things at the beginning of your discipleship, because I was with you, and would not disturb your minds with painful tidings while you were learning the first principles of the Grospel. But now that I am about to leave you, it is needful to forewarn you of things you are likely to meet with."
Of course it cannot be said that our Lord had never and in no sense before this time foretold persecution and the cross to His disciples. But it must mean that He did not think it needful to dwell much on the subject, so long as He was with them and taking care of them.
5. — [But now I go...whither goest thou? "] These words seem to convey a reproof to the disciples for not inquiring more earnestly about the heavenly home to which their Master was go ing, Peter, no doubt, had said with vague curiosity, " Whither goest Thou? " (John xiii. 36); but his question had not originated in a desire to know the place, so much as in surprise that His Lord was going at all. Our Lord seems here to say, " If your hearts were in a right frame, you would seek to understand the nature of my going and the place to which I go."
Let us observe that the disciples, with all their grace, were slow to use their opportunities, and to seek the knowledge which they might have obtained. They had not because they not.
Let us observe that our Lord spoke of His departure as a " going back to Him that sent Him," His mission being finished and His work done.
6. — [But because...sorrow...your heart.] Here our Lord continues the reproof of the last verse. The minds of the eleven were absorbed and overwhelmed with sorrow at the thought of their Master going, and they could think of nothing else. Instead of seizing the little time that was left, in order to learn more from His lips about His place and work in heaven, they were completely taken up with sorrow, and could think of nothing else but their Master's departure.
We should do well to mark how mischievous overmuch sorrow is, and to seek grace to keep it in proper control. No affection, if uncontrolled, so disarranges the order of men's minds, and unfits them for the duties of their calling.
7. — [^Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, etc.'] In this verse we set our Lord mercifully condescending to show His disciples the necessity for His leaving them. It was expedient. It was for their good. It was for the real ultimate benefit of themselves and the whole Church that He should go away. If He did not go away the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost, so often promised, could not come down on them and the world. If He went away He would send the Comforter. If he did not go away the Comforter would not come.
There is undeniably much that is deep and mysterious about the contents of this verse. We can only speak with reverence of the matter it unfolds. It seems clearly laid down that the Holy Ghost's coming down into the world with influence and grace, was a thing dependent on our Lord's dying, rising again, and ascending into heaven. It seems to be part of the eternal covenant of man's salvation that the Son should be incarnate, die, and rise again; and that then, as a consequence, the Holy Spirit should be poured out with mighty influence on mankind, and the Gentile Churches be brought into the fold, and Christianity spread over a vast portion of the world. This seems plainly taught, and this we must simply believe. If any one asks " why the Holy Ghost could not be poured down without Christ's going away? " it is safest to reply, that we do not know.
One thing is very clear. The universal invisible presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church, is better than the visible bodily presence of Christ with the Church. Christ's body could only be in one place. The Holy Ghost can be everywhere at one and the same time. — Wliatever the disciples might think, it was far better for Christ to go up to heaven, and sit at God's right hand as their Priest, and send down the Holy Ghost to be with the Church till He came again, than for Christ to tarry with them as He had done. — Flesh and blood might have liked better to keep Christ on earth, eating and drinking, and walking and talking in Palestine. But it was far better for the souls of men that Christ should finish His work, go up to heaven, take up His ofiice there in the holy of holies, and send down the Holy Spirit on the Church and the world.
Calvin remarks, " Far more advantageous and far more desirable is that presence of Christ, by which He communicates Himself to us through the grace and power of His Spirit, than if He were present before our eyes."
Alford remarks, " The dispensation of the Spirit is a more blessed manifestation of God than was ever the bodily presence of the risen Saviour.
Bishop Andrews remarks, " We sliall never see tlie absolute necessity of the Holy Ghost's coming, until we see the inconvenience of His not coming."
The expression, " I tell you the truth," is a very solemn, emphatic one. It is like, "' Verily, verily I say, whether you believe me or not, it is true."
The expression, " I will send," seems again to point to the equal procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son and the Father. In another place it is, " The Father will send." Here, " I will send."
After all no text throws more light on this deep verse than Psalm Ixviii. 18: " Thou hast ascended up on high, and received gifts for men; that the Lord God might dwell among them." These words surely point out that the Holy Ghost's dwelling among men was a gift purchased by the Son.
Does not the verse teach us that those who make much of the " corporal presence " of Christ, so called in the Lord's Supper, as a thing we should hold and believe, are in great error? There is something of far more importance to the Church, between the first and second advents, than any corporal presence of Christ, and that is the presence of.the Holy Ghost. This is the real presence we should make much of, and desire to feel more. Our question should be not, " Is Christ's body here? " — but, "is the Spirit, the Comforter here?" — Excessive craving after Christ's bodily presence before the second advent, is in reality a dishonoring of the Holy Ghost. We should make much of the Spirit.
Ecolampadius remarks, " Those who try to defend an eating of Christ, or a presence of Christ, in the Sacramental bread,, as if His body was at the same time with us and in heaven, are manifestly at variance with this text."
Henry remarks here: " The presence of the Holy Spirit is a greater comfort and advantage to us than the presence of Christ in the liesli. Christ's bodily presence was comfortable, but the Spirit is more intimately a Comforter than Christ in His tieshly presence; because the Spirit can comfort all believers at once in all places, while Christ's bodily presence can comfort but few, and that only in one place at once. The benefit of Christ's presence was great, but the advantage of the Spirit's renovation and holy inspiration is much greater."
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of rigtiteousuess, and of judgment.
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, beoause the prince of this world is judged.
12 1 have yet many things to say ■unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
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.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
When our Lord in this passage speaks of the Holy- Spirit " coming," we must take care that we do not misunderstand His meaning. On the one hand, we must remember that the Holy Ghost was in all believers in the Old Testament days, from the very beginning. No man was ever saved from the power of sin, and made a saint, except by the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Abraham, and Isaac, and Samuel, and David, and the Prophets, were made what they were by the operation of the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, we must never forget that after Christ's ascension the Holy Ghost was poured down on men with far greater energy as individuals, and with far wider influence on the nations of the world at large, than He has ever poured out before. It is this increased energy and influence that our Lord has in view in the verses before us. He meant that after His own ascension the Holy Ghost would "come " down into the world with such a vastly increased power, that it would seem as if He had " come " for the first time, and had never been in the world before.
The difficulty of rightly explaining the wondrous sayings of our Lord in this place is undeniably very great. It may well be doubted whether the full meaning of His words has ever been entirely grasped by man, and whether there is not something at the bottom which has not been completely unfolded. The common, superficial explanation, that our Lord only meant that the work of the Spirit in saving individual believers is to convince them of their own sins, of Christ's righteousness, and of the certainty of judgment at last, will hardly satisfy thinking minds. It is a short-cut and superficial way of getting over Scripture difficulties. It contains excellent and sound doctrine, no doubt, but it does not meet the full meaning of our Lord's words. It is truth, but not the truth of the text. It is not individuals here and there whom He says the Spirit is to convince, but the loorld. Let us see whether we cannot find a fuller and more satisfactory interpretation.
For one thing, our Lord probably meant to show us what the Holy Ghost would do to the world of unbelieving Jews. He would convince them " of sin, and righteousness, and judgment."
He would convince the Jews " of sin." He would compel them to feel and acknowledge in their own minds, that in rejecting Jesus of Nazareth they had committed a great sin, and were guilty of gross unbelief.
He would convince the Jews of "righteousness." He would press home on their consciences that Jesus of Nazareth was not an impostor and a deceiver, as they had said, but a holy, just, and blameless Person, whom God had owned by receiving up into heaven.
He would convince the Jews of "judgment." He would oblige them to see that Jesus of Nazareth had conquered, overcome, and judged the devil and all his host, and was exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour at the right hand of God.
That the Holy Ghost did actually so convince the Jewish nation after the day of Pentecost, is clearly shown by the Acts of the Apostles. It was He who gave the humble fishermen of Galilee such grace and might in testifying of Christ, that their adversaries were put to silence. It was His reproving and convincing power which enabled them to '* fill Jerusalem with their doctrine." Not a few of the nation, we know, were savingly convinced, like St. Paul, and " a great company of priests " became obedient to the faith. Myriads more, we have every reason to believe, were mentally convinced, if they had not courage to come out and take up the cross. The whole tone of the Jewish people towards the end of the Acts of the Apostles is unlike what it is at the beginning. A vast reproving and convincing influence even where not saving, seems to have gone over their minds. Surely this was partly what our Lord had in view in these verses when He said, "The Holy Ghost shall reprove and convince."
For another thing, our Lord probably meant to foretell lohat the Holy Ghost would do for the whole of manhind,, both Gentiles as well as Jews.
He would reprove in every part of the earth the current ideas of men about sin, righteousness, judgment, and convince people of some far higher ideas on these points than they had before acknowledged. He w^ould make men see more clearly the nature of sin, the need of righteousness, the certainty of judgment. In a word, He would insensibly be an Advocate and convincing Pleader for God throughout the whole world, and raise up a standard of morality, purity and knowledge, of which formerly men had no conception.
That the Holy Ghost actually did so in every part of the earth, after the day of Pentecost, is a simple matter of fact. The unlearned and lowly Jews, whom He sent forth and strengthened to preach the Gospel after our Lord's ascension, " turned the world upside down," and in two or three centuries altered the habits, tastes, and practices of the whole civilized world. The power of the devil received a decided check. Even infidels dare not deny that the doctrines of Christianity had an enormous effect on men's ways, lives, and opinions, when they were first preached, and that there were no special graces or eloquence in the preachers that can account for it. In truth, the world was " reproved and convinced," in spite of itself; and even those who did not become believers became better men. Surely this also was partly what our Lord had in view when He said to Ilis discij^les, " When the Holy Ghost comes. He shall convince the world of sin, and righteousness, and judgment."
Let us leave the whole passage, deep and difficult as It is, with a thankful remembrance of one comfortable promise which it contains. "The Spirit of truth," says our Lord to His weak and half-informed followers, " shall guide you into all truth." That promise was for our sakes, no doubt, as well as for theirs. What ever we need to know for our present peace and sanctification, the Holy Ghost is ready to teach us. All truth in science, nature, and philosophy of course is not included in this promise. But into all spiritual truth that is really profitable, and that our minds can comprehend and bear, the Holy Spirit is ready and willing to guide us. Then let us never forget, in reading the Bible, to pray for the teaching of the Holy Ghost. We must not wonder if we find the Bible a dark and difficult book, if we do not regularly seek light from Him by whom it was first inspired. In tliis, as in many other things, "we have not because we ask not."
Notes. John xvi. 8-15.
8. — [A77d when lie is come.] These words would be rendered more literally, " And He having come." Here, as in other places, we must remember that the " coming " of the Holy Ghost does not mean His coming for the first time into the world. He was in all the old Testament saints, and no one ever believed or served God without His grace. Wherever there has been a true servant of God, there has been the Holy Ghost. The " coming " here mentioned means His coming down with larger power and infiaence on all mankind after the ascension of Christ, and specially on the day of Pentecost. From tliat day began an enormous extension of His influence and operation on human nature: an influence so much wider than it ever was before, that He is said to have " come."
Lightfoot remarks that " the Holy Spirit had absented Him- Self from the Jewish nation for four hundred years! " Hence the phrase " come " had a special significance.
[He will reprove...judgment.^ This sentence is perhaps one of the most ditficult in the whole of St. John's Gospel. Men will probably never agree about it entirely till the Lord comes. There is something in it which seems to baffle all interpreters.
The commonest explanation is that which regards the passage as describing the ordinary operations of the Holy Ghost in saving God's people. It is He who convinces people that they are sinners; convinces them that they must be saved by Christ's righteousness, and not their own; and convinces them that there is a judgment to come. This interpretation is the one adopted by Alford" and many others. — No doubt it contains truth, but it is not at all clear to me that it is the truth of the passage. It is open, in short, to grave objections, and, in common with some commentators, I cannot feel satisfied with it. For popular addresses this view may do pretty well. But, I venture to think, no man who sits down and calmly weighs the meaning of words, can fail to see that it is open to very serious objections.
Inward conviction is certainly not the meaning of the word rendered " reprove." It is rather refutation by proofs, convicting by unanswerable argument as an advocate, that is meant.
Believers and God's people are not said to be the subjects of the Spirit's reproving work. It is the "world" that is to be reproved; and this very world, in this last sermon, is continually put in contrast with Christ's people.
Add to all this, that the latter part of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh verses can hardly be said to suit and square in with the verse we are considering. If our Lord had simply said, " The Spirit shall convince your hearers of their own sins, of my imputed righteousness, and of a day of judgment," it would have been plain enough. But unfortunately there are several things added which really do not chime in with this mode of interpretation. I repeat, that no intelligent Christian, of course, will think of denying that conviction of sin is a special and saving work of the Holy Ghost on the hearts of believers. But it does not therefore follow that it is the thing taught in this passage. It is truth, but not the truth of the text.
I believe the meaning to be something of this kind. — " After tlie day of Pentecost tlie Holy Ghost, tlie great Advocate of Me and my people, shall come into this world with such mighty power that He shall silence, convince, and stop the mouths of your enemies, and oblige them, however unwillingly, to think of Me and my cause very differently from what they think now. In particular. He shall convince them of their own sin, of my righteousness, and of the victory which I have won over Satan. He shall, in short, be a crushing Advocate whom the world shall not be able to resist or gainsay."
That this was one effect of the Holy Ghost coming down on the day of Pentecost, appears so frequently in the Acts of the Apostles that it is needless to quote texts. It is clear from the wliole narrative of the earlier portion of Acts, that after the day of Pentecost there was a peculiar, restraining, irresistible power accompanying the work of the Apostles, which the unbelieving Jews, in spite of all their numbers and influence," were unable to withstand. Nor was this work of the Holy Ghost confined to the Jews. Wherever the Apostles and their fellow-laborers went, the same convincing power accompanied them, and obliged even the heathen to acknowledge Christianity as a great fact, even when they did not believe. Pliny's famous letter to Trajan about the Christians, is a remarkable illustration of this.
I prefer this interpretation to the one above mentioned, as held by Alford and most commentators, for two simple reasons. One is that it suits the language of the passage, and the other view does not. The other reason is that it harmonizes with the context. Our Lord is encouraging the disciples against the world by the presence of the Comforter, And one special part of the encouragement is, that the Comforter shall do for them the work of an advocate, by silencing, crushing, refuting, and convincing their enemies.
After all, the enormous change which took place in the state of " the world " within a few centuries after Pentecost, is a strong proof to my own mind of the correctness of the view I advocate. About sin, Christ, and judgment, the opinions of men were completely transformed, even though men were unconverted. And who did this? The Holy Ghost. Nothing can account for the change but the miraculous interposition of the Holy Ghost. — I frankly confess that this view of the passage before us is not that of the vast majority of commentators. But in these matters I dare not call any man master, and must say what I think. Those who wish to see the view I maintain more fully argued out and supported, are advised to consult " Poole's Annotations," and Suicer's " Thesaurus " on the Greek word which we translate " reprove." Schleusner also seems to support the view.
Scott remarks here, " It is worthy of notice that an immense proportion of the human race, since the pouring oat of the
Holy Spirit after our Lord's ascension, have been led to form such sentiments about sin, rigliteousness, and a future judgment, as the world up to that time had not the most remote conception of; so that a far higher standard of morals has been fixed throughout numerous nations than was at all thought of before."
9, — [Of sin...beUeve not...Me.] I think this verse means, " The Holy Ghost shall first and foremost convince the world concerning sin, by obliging my enemies to see, though too late, that in not believing Me they made an enormous mistake, and committed a great sin. He shall make them feel at last that in rejecting Me, they rejected One whom they ought to have believed."
10. — [Of righteousness...no more.] I think this verse means, " The Holy Ghost, secondly, shall convince the world concerning my righteousness, that I was a righteous Man, and not a deceiver. And this He will do after I have left the world, when the Jews can no longer see Me, and form any opinion of Me. I go to the Father, you knoAv, and you will soon see me no more. But after 1 am gone the Holy Ghost will oblige my enemies to feel that I was a just and righteous Person, and was unjustly elain." Even the centurion who saw our Lord crucified, declared, "Certainly this was a righteous man." (Luke xxiii. 46.)
11. — [Of judgment...judged] I think this verse means, " The Holy Ghost, in the last place, shall convince the world concerning the judgment and overthrow of Satan's usurped power, by setting up a new kingdom everywhere, even my Church, by emptying the heathen temples of their worshippers, and by drying up the power of idolatry, and delivering vast portions of the world from its dominion." "
The " Prince of this world," of course means the devil. How great His power was over mankind before Christ came into the world, and how great a change Christ's death and resurrection produced in the general condition of mankind, are things which at this period of time we can hardly realize. The coming of the " kingdom of God," or " kingdom of heaven," was a reality 1800 years ago, of which we can now form little idea. The Holy Ghost produced a general conviction that a new order of tilings had begun, and that the old king and tyrant of the world was dethroned and stripped of much of his power.
Such is the view that I take of this passage. I do not pretend to deny that there are difficulties about it. I only maintain that these difficulties are fewer than those which surround the common idea attached to the passage.
Poole's " Annotations " perhaps throw more light on the passage than any commentary I have met with. But even he says
13. — [/ liaioe yet many tilings...you^ This clause seems to refer to the higher, fuller, deeper views of Christian truth which our Lord doubtless revealed to His disciples during the forty days between His resurrection and ascension, when He was continually " speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."
The absurdity and unreasonableness of concluding from this text that there are many other truths which Christ after His resurrection revealed to the Apostles, but which are not recorded in Scripture, is well exposed by Ecolampadius and other Protestant commentators.
[ Ye cannot hear them now.] This word " bear " means literally " carry." It does not therefore signify things that the disciples could not " apprehend," but things that their minds were not yet strong enough to endure and digest.
Do we not see here that there are steps and degrees in Christian attainment? A man may be a good man, and yet not able to endure the whole truth. We must teach people as they are able to bear, and be patient.
13. — \IIoiDheit...He...gnide...nll truth.'] Here our Lord gives another promise concerning the Holy Ghost. He shall guide disciples into all truth. He will lead and direct them into the full knowledge of all the doctrines of the Gospel, and all the truth they need to know.
It is needless to say that " all truth " here does not mean all scientific truth. It applies specially to spiritual truth.
This great promise does not appear to me to signify " inspiration," or the imparting of that power to write and teach infallibly which the Apostles possessed. I much prefer the view, that it is a wide promise belonging to the whole Church in every age. It means that special office of "teaching" by which the Spirit illuminates, guides, and informs the understandings of all believers. That the minds of true Christians are taught and enlightened in a manner wonderful to themselves as well as others, is a simple matter of Christian experience. That enlightenment is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the first step in saving religion. At the same time we must never forgot that the disciples received an immense increase of spiritual knowledge after the day of Pentecost, and saw everything in religion far more clearly than they did before.
Alford observes, " No promise of universal knowledge, nor of infallibility, is liereby conveyed; but it is a promise to them and us, that the Holy Spirit shall teach and lead us, not as children under the tutors and governors of legal and imperfect knowledge, but as sons, making known to us all the truth of God. (Gal. iv. 6.)
It is worth notice that in the Greek it is literally, " guide into all THE truth; " as if it specially meant *' the truth concerning Me."
Poole remarks that the Greek word rendered " guide," is one of great emphasis, signifying not only a guide who will discover truth as the object of the understanding, hut one who will bow the will to the doctrines of truth.
{For...not speak...IIimself... hear...speak.'] Here begins a list of things said about the Holy Ghost, which our weak capacities can hardly take in.
The clause before us seems meant to show the close and intimate union existing between the Spirit and the two other Persons in the blessed Trinity. " He shall not speak from Himself, independently of Me and my Father. He shall only speak such things as He shall hear from us."
The phrases " speak " and " hear " are both accommodations to man's weakness. The Spirit does not literally " speak " or literally " hear." It must mean, " His teachings and guidings shall be those of One who is in the closest union with the Father and the Son."
{He will show...things to come.] The second thing said about the Spirit, is that He will show " things to come." I can only suppose that this points to the prophetical revelation of the future of the Church which the Spirit was to impart to the disciples. He did so when He inspired St. Paul, St. Peter, St. Jude, and St. John to prophecy. The expression probably includes the destruction of Jerusalem, the removal of the Mosaic dispensation, the scattering of the Jews, the calling in of the Gentile Churches, and the whole history of their rise, progress, and final decay.
14. — {He...glorify Me.] The third thing said of the Spirit, is that He shall " glorify Christ." He shall continually teach, and lead, and guide disciples to make much of Christ. Any religious teaching which does not tend to exalt Christ, has a fatal defect about it. It cannot be from the Spirit.
{He shall receive...mine... s7i020 you.] This is the fourth thing said of the Spirit in this place. He will take of the truth about Christ, and show it or reveal it to disciples. I can attach no other meaning to the phrase " mijie." It is in the singular number, — " that thing which is mine," — and I cannot see what it can mean but " truth concerning Me."
Aiford remarks, " This verse is decisive against all additions
and pretended revelations, subsequent to and beside Christ; it being the work of the Spirit to testify to the things of Christ, and not to anything new or beyond Him."
15. — [All things...Father...mine, etc.] Tlie object of this deep verse seems to be to show the entire unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the revelation of truth made to man. " The Holy Spirit shall show you things concerning Me, and yet things at the same time concerning the Father, because all things that the Father hath are mine."
Both this verse and the preceding one are strikingly calculated to humble a Bible reader, and make him feel how little he knows, at his very best, of the full meaning of some Scriptures. There are things in them which we must feel we do not comprehend. Beyond the great principle, that it is the special office of the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ, and to show disciples the whole truth concerning Christ, it is very hard to get.
May not the clause, " All things that the Father hath are mine," be specially put in to prevent our supposing that there can be any real separation between the things of Christ and the things of the Father? It is like " I and my Father are One." " All mine are Thine, and Thine are mine." — '* Think not," our Lord seems to say, " when I speak of the Spirit showing you • my things,' that He will not show you the things of my Father. That would be impossible. There is so close an union between the Father and the Son, that the Spirit cannot show or teach the things of the one without the things of the other. In a word. He proceeds from the Father as well as from the Son."
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 i'ather.
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 wliile, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
18 They said therefore. What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them. Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see mo: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
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.
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 rememberetli no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
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.
23 And in that day ye Rha'll ask me notliing. Verily, verilv I say unto you. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
24 Hitherto Lave ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Not all Christ's sayings were understood by His disciples. We are told this distinctly in the passage we have now read. — " What is this that he saith? We, cannot tell what he saith." — None ever spake so plainly as Jesus. None were so thoroughly accustomed to His style of teaching as the Apostles. Yet even the Apostles did not always take in their Master's meaning. Surely we have no right to be surprised if we cannot interpret Christ's words. There are many depths in thera which we have no line to fathom. But let us thank God that there are many sayings of our Lord recorded which no honest mind can fail to understand. Let us use diligently the light that we have, and not doubt that " to him that hath more shall be given."
We learn, for one thing, in these verses, that ChrisVs absence from the earth will he a time of sorroio to believers^ but of joy to the world. It is written, " Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice." To confine these words to the single point of Christ's approaching death and burial, appears a narrow view of their meaning. Like many of our Lord's sayings on the last evening of His earthly ministry, they seem to extend over the whole period of time between His first and second advents.
Christ's personal absence must needs be a sorrow to all true-hearted believers. " The children of the bridechamber cannot but fast when the bridegroom is taken from them." Faith is not sight. Hope is not certainty. Reading and hearing are not the same as beholding. Praying is not the same as speaking face to face. There is somethings even in the hearts of the most eminent saints, that will never be fully satisfied as long as they are on earth and Christ is in heaven. So long as they dwell in a body of corruption, and see through a glass darkly, -so long as they behold creation groaning under the power of sin, and all things not put under Christ; — ■ so long their happiness and peace must needs be incomplete. This is what St. Paul meant when he said, " We ourselves, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Rom. vii. 23.)
Yet this same personal absence of Christ is no cause of sorrow to the children of this world. It was not to the unbelieving Jews, we may be sure. When Christ was condemned and crucified, they rejoiced and were glad. They thought that the hated reprover of their sins and false teaching was silenced for ever. It is not to the careless and the wicked of our day, we may be sure. The longer Christ keeps away from this earth, and lets them alone, the better will they be pleased. " We do not want this Christ to reign over us," is the feeling of the world. His absence causes them no pain. Their so-called happiness is complete without Him. All this may sound very painful and startling. But where is the thinking reader of the Bible who can deny that it is true? The world does not want Christ back again, and thinks that it does very well without Him. What a fearful waking up there will be by-and-by!
We learn, for another thing in this verse, that Chrisfs personal return shall he a source of boundless joy to His helievi7ig people. It is written, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." Once more we must take care that we do not narrow the meaning of these words by tying them down to our Lord's resurrection. They surely reach much further than this. The joy of the disciples when they saw Christ risen from the dead, was a joy soon obscured by His ascension and withdrawal into heaven. The true joy, the perfect joy, the joy that can never be taken away, will be the joy which Christ's people will feel when Christ returns the second time, at the end of this world.
The second personal advent of Christ, to speak plainly, is the one grand object on which our Lord, both here and elsewhere, teaches all believers to fix their eyes. We ought to be always looking for and " loving His appearing," as the perfection of our happiness, and the consummation of all our hopes. (2 Peter iii. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 8.) That same Jesus who was taken up visibly into heaven, shall also come again visibly, even as He went. Let the eyes of our faith be always fixed on this coming. It is not enough that we look backward to the cross, and rejoice in Christ dying for our sins; and iqnoards to the right hand of God, and rejoice in Christ's interceding for every believer. We must do more than this. We must look forward to Christ's return from lieaven to bless His people, and to wind up the work of redemption. Then, and then only, will the prayer of eighteen centuries receive its complete answer, — " Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Well may our Lord say that in that day of resurrection and reunion our " hearts shall rejoice." — " When we awake up after His likeness we shall be satisfied." (Psalm xvii. 15.)
We learn, lastly, in these verses, that lohile Christ is absent believers tnust ash much in prayer. It is written, " Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."
We may well believe that up to this time the disciples had never realized their Master's full dignity. They had certainly never understood that He was the one Mediator between God and man, in whose name and for whose sake they were to put up their prayers. Here they are distinctly told that henceforward they are to " ask in His name." Nor can we doubt that our Lord would have all His people, in every age, understand that the secret of comfort during His absence is to be instant in prayer. He would have us know that if we cannot see Him with our bodily eyes any longer, we can talk with Him, and through Him have special access to God. " Ask and ye shall receive," He proclaims to all His people in every age; " and your joy shall be full."
Let the lesson sink down deeply into our hearts. Of all the list of Christian duties there is none to which there is such abounding encouragement as prayer. It is a duty which concerns all. High and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, — all must pray. It is a duty for which all are accountable. All cannot read, or hear, or sing; but all who have the spirit of adoption can pray. Above all, it is a duty in which everything depends on the heart and motive within. Our words may be feeble and ill-chosen, and our language broken and ungrammatical, and unworthy to be written dowm. But if the heart be right, it matters not. He that sits in heaven can spell out the meaning of every petition sent up in the name of Jesus, and can make the asker know and feel that he receives.
" If we know these things, happy are we if we do them." Let prayer in the name of Jesus be a daily habit with us every morning and evening of our lives. Keeping up that habit, we shall find strength for duty, comfort in trouble, guidance in perplexity, hope in sickness, and support in death. Faithful is He that promised, "Your joy shall be full;" and He will keep His word, if we ask in prayer.