Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Cantate Sunday - John 16:4-15
Cantate Sunday
Daily Lectionary Readings: Leviticus 20:1-16, 22-27; Luke 11:37-54; (Smalcald Articles: 2/4:1-9)
John 16:4-15:
[4] 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. [5] But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ [6] But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. [7] 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. [8] And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; [10] concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; [11] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
[12] “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. [13] 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. [14] He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. [15] All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (ESV)
Today's meditation is not from the daily lectionary readings but a continuation of our sermon for Cantate Sunday on John 16:4-15. Please read the sermon first, then come back here if you haven't already heard it. We will unpack more about the work of the Holy Spirit, looking at three words in the Greek in particular, which isn't an exercise a sermon normally gets into, but we should find interesting and edifying nonetheless. We will focus on John 16:811, specifically the three words “sin,” “righteousness,” and “judgment.”
[8] And when [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin [ἁμαρτία, hamartia] and righteousness [δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosyne] and judgment [κρίσις, krisis]: [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; [10] concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; [11] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
During my studies this week, I found the following very useful in thinking about this passage: “These three words, ἁμαρτία [sin], δικαιοσύνη [righteousness], κρίσις [judgment], comprehend the three great steps of advance in spiritual truth among men. Of itself the world does not know what Sin is, what Righteousness is, what Judgment is. Nor can either of these be revealed to any man except by the Spirit of God working within him. Each man’s conscience has some glimmering of light on each of these; some consciousness of guilt, some sense of right, some power of judgment of what is transitory and worthless: but all these are unreal and unpractical, till the ἔλεγχος [elenchos]1 of the Spirit has wrought in him.”2
These verses illuminate why the Holy Spirit is at work in the world concerning these things. He is shaming the world in order to convince it of its own guilt and calls it to repentance. The next portion tells us what the world is guilty of, namely sin and unrighteousness, using causal language to show the reason why the Holy Spirit is engaged in this convicting work.
The Spirit convicts the world of sin because the people who make up the world do not believe in Jesus. If they did believe, they would believe what He has to say about their sin, repent, and turn to Him. Their unbelief brings condemnation3 as well as reveals willful ignorance of their unbelief. The world cannot perceive that it walks in darkness and needs the life Christ brings. The work of the Holy Spirit regarding sin is gracious because He is trying to bring people to recognition of their sin problem and their need for a Savior. When this is accomplished, they are no longer “of the world” only “in the world.”
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of righteousness because Jesus is returning to the Father in heaven. Though they no longer have Jesus in person, they still have the Scriptures. The Spirit convicts the world of its self-righteous hypocrisy, like unto the Pharisees who come to believe in Jesus yet are afraid they will be kicked out of the synagogue and lose their positions.4 “[O]ne of Jesus' most startling roles with respect to the world was to show up the emptiness of its pretensions, to expose by his light the darkness of the world for what it is (3:19–21; 7:7; 15:22, 24). But now Jesus is going; how will that convicting work be continued? It is continued by the Paraclete, who drives home this conviction in the world precisely because Jesus is no longer present to discharge this task. Undoubtedly this kind of conviction is driven home to the world primarily through Jesus' followers who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, live their lives in such growing conformity to Christ that the same impact on the world is observed as when Jesus himself lived out his life before the world. Thus when Christians obey the 'new commandment,' 'all men' learn that they are Jesus' disciples (13:35; cf. 1 Jn. 4:12).5
Finally, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of its judgment because Lucifer now stands condemned.6 The judgment is about spiritual blindness, which is displayed by the world's treatment of Jesus. Jesus taught us to stop judging by appearances and make "a right judgment.”7 Jesus’ judgment is righteous and true.8 The world's judgment is perverted by sin and therefore wrong and immoral. The Holy Spirit convicts the world because of its judgment because the devil stands condemned in the triumph of Christ's death and resurrection. The devil is a liar from the beginning, and when we parrot his values, we are his children, not Christ's.9 Since the devil is defeated, the false judgment of the world is exposed for what it is. Therefore, the need for conviction of this judgment is urgent, as the world stands condemned already,10 and desperately needs to learn it is sinful while there is still time to repent and dwell instead in Christ.
1ἔλεγχος, ου, ὁ ① the act of presenting evidence for the truth of something, proof, proving. Faith is a proving (or conviction about) unseen things=faith means to be sure about things unseen (in contrast to confidence in the temporal) Heb. 11:1. ② the act of charging a person with wrongdoing, accusation. ③ expression of strong disapproval, reproof, censure, correction. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 315.
2Henry Alford, Alford’s Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical Commentary, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Guardian Press, 1976), 866–867.
3John 3:18, 36.
4John 12:42-43.
5D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 537–539.
6John 16:11.
7John 7:24.
8John 8:16.
9John 8:42-47.
10John 3:36.