Worthy.Bible » STRONG » John » Chapter 16 » Verse 4-31

John 16:4-31 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

4 But G235 these things G5023 have I told G2980 you, G5213 that G2443 when G3752 the time G5610 shall come, G2064 ye may remember G3421 that G3754 I G1473 told G2036 you G5213 of them. G846 And G1161 these things G5023 I said G2036 not G3756 unto you G5213 at G1537 the beginning, G746 because G3754 I was G2252 with G3326 you. G5216

5 But G1161 now G3568 I go my way G5217 to G4314 him that sent G3992 me; G3165 and G2532 none G3762 of G1537 you G5216 asketh G2065 me, G3165 Whither G4226 goest thou? G5217

6 But G235 because G3754 I have said G2980 these things G5023 unto you, G5213 sorrow G3077 hath filled G4137 your G5216 heart. G2588

7 Nevertheless G235 I G1473 tell G3004 you G5213 the truth; G225 It is expedient G4851 for you G5213 that G2443 I G1473 go away: G565 for G1063 if G3362 I go G565 not G3362 away, G565 the Comforter G3875 will G2064 not G3756 come G2064 unto G4314 you; G5209 but G1161 if G1437 I depart, G4198 I will send G3992 him G846 unto G4314 you. G5209

8 And G2532 when he is come, G2064 he G1565 will reprove G1651 the world G2889 of G4012 sin, G266 and G2532 of G4012 righteousness, G1343 and G2532 of G4012 judgment: G2920

9 Of G4012 sin, G266 G3303 because G3754 they believe G4100 not G3756 on G1519 me; G1691

10 Of G4012 G1161 righteousness, G1343 because G3754 I go G5217 to G4314 my G3450 Father, G3962 and G2532 ye see G2334 me G3165 no more; G3765

11 Of G4012 G1161 judgment, G2920 because G3754 the prince G758 of this G5127 world G2889 is judged. G2919

12 I have G2192 yet G2089 many things G4183 to say G3004 unto you, G5213 but G235 ye cannot G3756 G1410 bear them G941 now. G737

13 Howbeit G1161 when G3752 he, G1565 the Spirit G4151 of truth, G225 is come, G2064 he will guide G3594 you G5209 into G1519 all G3956 truth: G225 for G1063 he shall G2980 not G3756 speak G2980 of G575 himself; G1438 but G235 whatsoever G3745 G302 he shall hear, G191 that shall he speak: G2980 and G2532 he will shew G312 you G5213 things to come. G2064

14 He G1565 shall glorify G1392 me: G1691 for G3754 he shall receive G2983 of G1537 mine, G1699 and G2532 shall shew G312 it unto you. G5213

15 All things G3956 that G3745 the Father G3962 hath G2192 are G2076 mine: G1699 therefore G5124 G1223 said I, G2036 that G3754 he shall take G2983 of G1537 mine, G1699 and G2532 shall shew G312 it unto you. G5213

16 A little while, G3397 and G2532 ye shall G2334 not G3756 see G2334 me: G3165 and G2532 again, G3825 a little while, G3397 and G2532 ye shall see G3700 me, G3165 because G3754 I G1473 go G5217 to G4314 the Father. G3962

17 Then G3767 said G2036 some of G1537 his G846 disciples G3101 among G4314 themselves, G240 What G5101 is G2076 this G5124 that G3739 he saith G3004 unto us, G2254 A little while, G3397 and G2532 ye shall G2334 not G3756 see G2334 me: G3165 and G2532 again, G3825 a little while, G3397 and G2532 ye shall see G3700 me: G3165 and, G2532 Because G3754 I G1473 go G5217 to G4314 the Father? G3962

18 They said G3004 therefore, G3767 What G5101 is G2076 this G5124 that G3739 he saith, G3004 A little while? G3397 we cannot G3756 G1492 tell G1492 what G5101 he saith. G2980

19 Now G3767 Jesus G2424 knew G1097 that G3754 they were desirous G2309 to ask G2065 him, G846 and G2532 said G2036 unto them, G846 Do ye enquire G2212 among G3326 yourselves G240 of G4012 that G5127 G3754 I said, G2036 A little while, G3397 and G2532 ye shall G2334 not G3756 see G2334 me: G3165 and G2532 again, G3825 a little while, G3397 and G2532 ye shall see G3700 me? G3165

20 Verily, G281 verily, G281 I say G3004 unto you, G5213 That G3754 ye G5210 shall weep G2799 and G2532 lament, G2354 but G1161 the world G2889 shall rejoice: G5463 and G1161 ye G5210 shall be sorrowful, G3076 but G235 your G5216 sorrow G3077 shall be turned G1096 into G1519 joy. G5479

21 A woman G1135 when G3752 she is in travail G5088 hath G2192 sorrow, G3077 because G3754 her G846 hour G5610 is come: G2064 but G1161 as soon as G3752 she is delivered G1080 of the child, G3813 she remembereth G3421 no more G3765 the anguish, G2347 for G1223 joy G5479 that G3754 a man G444 is born G1080 into G1519 the world. G2889

22 And G2532 ye G5210 G3303 now G3568 therefore G3767 have G2192 sorrow: G3077 but G1161 I will see G3700 you G5209 again, G3825 and G2532 your G5216 heart G2588 shall rejoice, G5463 and G2532 your G5216 joy G5479 no man G3762 taketh G142 from G575 you. G5216

23 And G2532 in G1722 that G1565 day G2250 ye shall G3756 ask G2065 me G1691 nothing. G3762 Verily, G281 verily, G281 I say G3004 unto you, G5213 G3754 Whatsoever G3745 G302 ye shall ask G154 the Father G3962 in G1722 my G3450 name, G3686 he will give G1325 it you. G5213

24 Hitherto G2193 G737 have ye asked G154 nothing G3756 G3762 in G1722 my G3450 name: G3686 ask, G154 and G2532 ye shall receive, G2983 that G2443 your G5216 joy G5479 may be G5600 full. G4137

25 These things G5023 have I spoken G2980 unto you G5213 in G1722 proverbs: G3942 but G235 the time G5610 cometh, G2064 when G3753 I shall G2980 no more G3765 speak G2980 unto you G5213 in G1722 proverbs, G3942 but G235 I shall shew G312 you G5213 plainly G3954 of G4012 the Father. G3962

26 At G1722 that G1565 day G2250 ye shall ask G154 in G1722 my G3450 name: G3686 and G2532 I say G3004 not G3756 unto you, G5213 that G3754 I G1473 will pray G2065 the Father G3962 for G4012 you: G5216

27 For G1063 the Father G3962 himself G846 loveth G5368 you, G5209 because G3754 ye G5210 have loved G5368 me, G1691 and G2532 have believed G4100 that G3754 I G1473 came out G1831 from G3844 God. G2316

28 I came forth G1831 from G3844 the Father, G3962 and G2532 am come G2064 into G1519 the world: G2889 again, G3825 I leave G863 the world, G2889 and G2532 go G4198 to G4314 the Father. G3962

29 His G846 disciples G3101 said G3004 unto him, G846 Lo, G2396 now G3568 speakest thou G2980 plainly, G3954 and G2532 speakest G3004 no G3762 proverb. G3942

30 Now G3568 are we sure G1492 that G3754 thou knowest G1492 all things, G3956 and G2532 needest G5532 not G3756 G2192 that G2443 any man G5100 should ask G2065 thee: G4571 by G1722 this G5129 we believe G4100 that G3754 thou camest forth G1831 from G575 God. G2316

31 Jesus G2424 answered G611 them, G846 Do ye G4100 now G737 believe? G4100

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).