2 They shall put G4160 you G5209 out of the synagogues: G656 yea, G235 the time G5610 cometh, G2064 that G2443 whosoever G3956 killeth G615 you G5209 will think G1380 that he doeth G4374 God G2316 service. G2999
I G1473 verily G3303 G3767 thought G1380 with myself, G1683 that I ought G1163 to do G4238 many things G4183 contrary G1727 to G4314 the name G3686 of Jesus G2424 of Nazareth. G3480 Which thing G3739 I G4160 also G2532 did G4160 in G1722 Jerusalem: G2414 and G2532 many G4183 of the saints G40 did G2623 I G1473 shut up G2623 in prison, G5438 having received G2983 authority G1849 from G3844 the chief priests; G749 and G5037 when they G846 were put to death, G337 I gave G2702 my voice G5586 against them. And G2532 I punished G5097 them G846 oft G4178 in G2596 every G3956 synagogue, G4864 and compelled G315 them to blaspheme; G987 and G5037 being G1693 exceedingly G4057 mad against G1693 them, G846 I persecuted G1377 them even G2532 unto G1519 G2193 strange G1854 cities. G4172
I G1473 am G1510 verily G3303 a man G435 which am a Jew, G2453 born G1080 in G1722 Tarsus, G5019 a city in Cilicia, G2791 yet G1161 brought up G397 in G1722 this G5026 city G4172 at G3844 the feet G4228 of Gamaliel, G1059 and taught G3811 according G2596 to the perfect manner G195 of the law G3551 of the fathers, G3971 and was G5225 zealous G2207 toward God, G2316 as G2531 ye G5210 all G3956 are G2075 this day. G4594 And I G3739 persecuted G1377 this G5026 way G3598 unto G891 the death, G2288 binding G1195 and G2532 delivering G3860 into G1519 prisons G5438 both G5037 men G435 and G2532 women. G1135
For G1063 ye have heard G191 of my G1699 conversation G391 in time past G4218 in G1722 the Jews' religion, G2454 how that G3754 beyond G2596 measure G5236 I persecuted G1377 the church G1577 of God, G2316 and G2532 wasted G4199 it: G846 And G2532 profited G4298 in G1722 the Jews' religion G2454 above G5228 many G4183 my equals G4915 in G1722 mine own G3450 nation, G1085 being G5225 more exceedingly G4056 zealous G2207 of the traditions G3862 of my G3450 fathers. G3967
For G1063 I bear G3140 them G846 record G3140 that G3754 they have G2192 a zeal G2205 of God, G2316 but G235 not G3756 according G2596 to knowledge. G1922 For G1063 they being ignorant G50 of God's G2316 righteousness, G1343 and G2532 going about G2212 to establish G2476 their own G2398 righteousness, G1343 have G5293 not G3756 submitted themselves G5293 unto the righteousness G1343 of God. G2316
And I G2504 said, G2036 Lord, G2962 they G846 know G1987 that G3754 I G1473 imprisoned G2252 G5439 and G2532 beat G1194 in every G2596 synagogue G4864 them that believed G4100 on G1909 thee: G4571 And G2532 when G3753 the blood G129 of thy G4675 martyr G3144 Stephen G4736 was shed, G1632 I G846 also G2532 was G2252 standing by, G2186 and G2532 consenting G4909 unto his G846 death, G336 and G2532 kept G5442 the raiment G2440 of them that slew G337 him. G846 And G2532 he said G2036 unto G4314 me, G3165 Depart: G4198 for G3754 I G1473 will send G1821 thee G4571 far hence G3112 unto G1519 the Gentiles. G1484 And G1161 they gave G191 him G846 audience G191 unto G891 this G5127 word, G3056 and G2532 then lifted up G1869 their G846 voices, G5456 and said, G3004 Away with G142 such G5108 a fellow from G575 the earth: G1093 for G1063 it is G2520 not G3756 fit G2520 that he G846 should live. G2198 And G1161 as they G846 cried out, G2905 and G2532 cast off G4495 their clothes, G2440 and G2532 threw G906 dust G2868 into G1519 the air, G109
And G1161 Saul, G4569 yet G2089 breathing out G1709 threatenings G547 and G2532 slaughter G5408 against G1519 the disciples G3101 of the Lord, G2962 went G4334 unto the high priest, G749 And desired G154 of G3844 him G846 letters G1992 to G1519 Damascus G1154 to G4314 the synagogues, G4864 that G3704 if G1437 he found G2147 any G5100 of this way, G3598 whether G5037 they were G5607 men G435 or G2532 women, G1135 he might bring them G71 bound G1210 unto G1519 Jerusalem. G2419
And G5037 set up G2476 false G5571 witnesses, G3144 which said, G3004 This G5127 man G444 ceaseth G3973 not G3756 to speak G2980 blasphemous G989 words G4487 against G2596 this G3778 holy G40 place, G5117 and G2532 the law: G3551 For G1063 we have heard G191 him G846 say, G3004 that G3754 this G5126 Jesus G2424 of Nazareth G3480 shall destroy G2647 this G3778 place, G5117 and G2532 shall change G236 the customs G1485 which G3739 Moses G3475 delivered G3860 us. G2254
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on John 16
Commentary on John 16 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 16
Joh 16:1-33. Discourse at the Supper Table Concluded.
1-5. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended—both the warnings and the encouragements just given.
2. They shall put you out of the synagogue—(Joh 9:22; 12:42).
the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service—The words mean religious service—"that he is offering a service to God." (So Saul of Tarsus, Ga 1:13, 14; Php 3:6).
4. these things I said not … at—from.
the beginning—He had said it pretty early (Lu 6:22), but not quite as in Joh 16:2.
because I was with you.
5. But now I go my way to him that sent me—While He was with them, the world's hatred was directed chiefly against Himself; but His departure would bring it down upon them as His representatives.
and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?—They had done so in a sort (Joh 13:36; 14:5); but He wished more intelligent and eager inquiry on the subject.
6, 7. But because I have said these things … sorrow hath filled your heart—Sorrow had too much paralyzed them, and He would rouse their energies.
7. It is expedient for you that I go away—
My Saviour, can it ever be
That I should gain by losing thee?
Keble.
Yes.
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you—(See on Joh 7:39; Joh 14:15).
8. And when he is come, he will, &c.—This is one of the passages most pregnant with thought in the profound discourses of Christ; with a few great strokes depicting all and every part of the ministry of the Holy Ghost in the world—His operation with reference to individuals as well as the mass, on believers and unbelievers alike [Olshausen].
he will reprove—This is too weak a word to express what is meant. Reproof is indeed implied in the term employed, and doubtless the word begins with it. But convict or convince is the thing intended; and as the one expresses the work of the Spirit on the unbelieving portion of mankind, and the other on the believing, it is better not to restrict it to either.
9. Of sin, because they believe not on me—As all sin has its root in unbelief, so the most aggravated form of unbelief is the rejection of Christ. The Spirit, however, in fastening this truth upon the conscience, does not extinguish, but, on the contrary, does consummate and intensify, the sense of all other sins.
10. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more—Beyond doubt, it is Christ's personal righteousness which the Spirit was to bring home to the sinner's heart. The evidence of this was to lie in the great historical fact, that He had "gone to His Father and was no more visible to men":—for if His claim to be the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, had been a lie, how should the Father, who is "a jealous God," have raised such a blasphemer from the dead and exalted him to His right hand? But if He was the "Faithful and True Witness," the Father's "Righteous Servant," "His Elect, in whom His soul delighted," then was His departure to the Father, and consequent disappearance from the view of men, but the fitting consummation, the august reward, of all that He did here below, the seal of His mission, the glorification of the testimony which He bore on earth, by the reception of its Bearer to the Father's bosom. This triumphant vindication of Christ's rectitude is to us divine evidence, bright as heaven, that He is indeed the Saviour of the world, God's Righteous Servant to justify many, because He bare their iniquities (Isa 53:11). Thus the Spirit, in this clause, is seen convincing men that there is in Christ perfect relief under the sense of sin of which He had before convinced them; and so far from mourning over His absence from us, as an irreparable loss, we learn to glory in it, as the evidence of His perfect acceptance on our behalf, exclaiming with one who understood this point, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God," &c. (Ro 8:33, 34).
11. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged—By supposing that the final judgment is here meant, the point of this clause is, even by good interpreters, quite missed. The statement, "The prince of this world is judged," means, beyond all reasonable doubt, the same as that in Joh 12:31, "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out"; and both mean that his dominion over men, or his power to enslave and so to ruin them, is destroyed. The death of Christ "judged" or judicially overthrew him, and he was thereupon "cast out" or expelled from his usurped dominion (Heb 2:14; 1Jo 3:8; Col 2:15). Thus, then, the Spirit shall bring home to men's conscience: (1) the sense of sin, consummated in the rejection of Him who came to "take away the sin of the world"; (2) the sense of perfect relief in the righteousness of the Father's Servant, now fetched from the earth that spurned Him to that bosom where from everlasting He had dwelt; and (3) the sense of emancipation from the fetters of Satan, whose judgment brings to men liberty to be holy, and transformation out of servants of the devil into sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. To one class of men, however, all this will carry conviction only; they "will not come to Christ"—revealed though He be to them as the life-giving One—that they may have life. Such, abiding voluntarily under the dominion of the prince of this world, are judged in his judgment, the visible consummation of which will be at the great day. To another class, however, this blessed teaching will have another issue—translating them out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
12-15. when he, the Spirit of truth, is come … he shall not speak of himself—that is, from Himself, but, like Christ Himself, "what He hears," what is given Him to communicate.
he will show you things to come—referring specially to those revelations which, in the Epistles partially, but most fully in the Apocalypse, open up a vista into the Future of the Kingdom of God, whose horizon is the everlasting hills.
14. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you—Thus the whole design of the Spirit's office is to glorify Christ—not in His own Person, for this was done by the Father when He exalted Him to His own right hand—but in the view and estimation of men. For this purpose He was to "receive of Christ"—all the truth relating to Christ—"and show it unto them," or make them to discern it in its own light. The subjective nature of the Spirit's teaching—the discovery to the souls of men of what is Christ outwardly—is here very clearly expressed; and, at the same time, the vanity of looking for revelations of the Spirit which shall do anything beyond throwing light in the soul upon what Christ Himself is, and taught, and did upon earth.
15. All things that the Father hath are mine—a plainer expression than this of absolute community with the Father in all things cannot be conceived, though the "all things" here have reference to the things of the Kingdom of Grace, which the Spirit was to receive that He might show it to us. We have here a wonderful glimpse into the inner relations of the Godhead.
16-22. A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father—The joy of the world at their not seeing Him seems to show that His removal from them by death was what He meant; and in that case, their joy at again seeing Him points to their transport at His reappearance amongst them on His Resurrection, when they could no longer doubt His identity. At the same time the sorrow of the widowed Church in the absence of her Lord in the heavens, and her transport at His personal return, are certainly here expressed.
23-28. In that day—of the dispensation of the Spirit (as in Joh 14:20).
ye shall ask—inquire of
me nothing—by reason of the fulness of the Spirit's teaching (Joh 14:26; 16:13; and compare 1Jo 2:27).
24. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name—for "prayer in the name of Christ, and prayer to Christ, presuppose His glorification" [Olshausen].
ask—when I am gone, "in My name."
25. in proverbs—in obscure language, opposed to "showing plainly"—that is, by the Spirit's teaching.
26. I say not … I will pray the Father for you—as if He were not of Himself disposed to aid you: Christ does pray the Father for His people, but not for the purpose of inclining an unwilling ear.
27. For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me—This love of theirs is that which is called forth by God's eternal love in the gift of His Son mirrored in the hearts of those who believe, and resting on His dear Son.
28. I came forth from the Father, &c.—that is, "And ye are right, for I have indeed so come forth, and shall soon return whence I came." This echo of the truth, alluded to in Joh 16:27, seems like thinking aloud, as if it were grateful to His own spirit on such a subject and at such an hour.
29, 30. His disciples said, … now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb—hardly more so than before; the time for perfect plainness was yet to come; but having caught a glimpse of His meaning (it was nothing more), they eagerly express their satisfaction, as if glad to make anything of His words. How touchingly does this show both the simplicity of their hearts and the infantile character of their faith!
31-33. Jesus answered … Do ye now believe?—that is, "It is well ye do, for it is soon to be tested, and in a way ye little expect."
the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone—A deep and awful sense of wrong experienced is certainly expressed here, but how lovingly! That He was not to be utterly deserted, that there was One who would not forsake Him, was to Him matter of ineffable support and consolation; but that He should be without all human countenance and cheer, who as Man was exquisitely sensitive to the law of sympathy, would fill themselves with as much shame, when they afterwards recurred to it, as the Redeemer's heart in His hour of need with pungent sorrow. "I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Ps 69:20).
because the Father is with me—how near, and with what sustaining power, who can express?
33. These things I have spoken unto you—not the immediately preceding words, but this whole discourse, of which these were the very last words, and which He thus winds up.
that in me ye might have peace—in the sublime sense before explained. (See on Joh 14:27).
In the world ye shall have tribulation—specially arising from its deadly opposition to those who "are not of the world, but chosen out of the world." So that the "peace" promised was far from an unruffled one.
I have overcome the world—not only before you, but for you, that ye may be able to do the same (1Jo 5:4, 5).