Michael's Abbey Bible Study - Gospel of John Chapter 16

1 "These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. This verse refers to the teaching in chapter 15 at a minimum. It likely refers to all the teaching since Judas went off to conspire with the Jewish leaders, including this teaching in chapter 16 as well.
One of the reasons for telling them these things was to prepare them for the turmoil to come, both around the crucifixion and even more after Jesus ascends to heaven.
2 They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. Jesus is literally saying they will be banished from the synagogue. This was excommunication at this time. To be forbidden to participate in the temple and synagogue was to exclude them from Judaism, which would make them unable to be part of Israel and be under the grace of God. Later a formal formula would be come up with to do this.
The second half of this verse is a warning of how bad it will be. It's not just that people will kill them. It is that they will think that in doing so they will be doing their religious duty to God. People who wrongly think they doing good are far more motivated than mere criminals. That they are actually wrong and are fighting against God will not matter. Paul, Saul of Tarsus, will later be one of these.
Today we see people, especially of college-age, screaming and committing crimes in the name of justice, when what they are striving for is actually a great evil. Because they are ignorant they think they are doing good. Thus they justify the evil they commit, and that committed by the people they support. If they knew God, they too would know that such things are promoting great evil. Even the dullest among them ought to see that doing evil deeds such as vandalism, assault, terrorist acts, and even murder is proof that they are on the side of evil. But the deluded always think their methods are justified. The end does not justify the means. But they justify themselves in their own minds. They make false equivalences between their own evil and the straw-man of a fake evil they think they are working against. Anyone who tries to be reasonable, let alone denies their fake villain deserves to have evils acts committed against them as well. And reasonable people are also branded as a villain just as evil as the fake one they fight. Paul was like them. But Jesus turned him from his deluded ways and he became a great man of God, writing more of the New Testament than anyone other than Dr. Luke. Knowing the real Jesus is the cure for all sorts of craziness.
3 These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. This reason why these Jews will kill Jesus' disciples is a major charge against the killers. They will be zealots who claim to be in service to God. But they have never even known God the Father, nor the Son. They actually serve their own false God, and follow a fake religion made up in the heads of men. They worship in the temple and synagogues, but it is all a fraud and cover for them to follow their own will and not God's. They read from the scrolls of scripture, but see what they want to and reject the truth. This is exactly the same situation we face in the west today. Most western churches are completely given over to a false God just like this, and no church in the west is without these self-worshipers. These that are in church leadership make others like themselves, just like the Pharisees did. Any self-worship is really Satan worship in the end. There are no gradients or sliding scales. It is a binary choice. Follow God is one choice, and all others are really to follow Satan.
4 But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. This is another reason Jesus was forewarning them of these things, so they will remember that He told them before they happened. This would be a comfort and reassurance when these things happen, and a reminder that Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God who knew what was happen in advance.
The reason Jesus didn't tell them these things before was because He was with them. These warnings are about what would happen after He left. And He tells them now to prepare them for it.
5 "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' Jesus is returning to the Father. Jesus saying they don't ask where this time is a reference to the previous times they asked and He explained. In other words, He is saying that they get it now, or at least the majority of them. Sometimes it seems to us that Jesus' disciples were thick-headed. However, many of us had the advantage of growing up in a Judeo-Christian culture. And we all have had the opportunity to read the scriptures again and again. And still we find we missed things or got some things wrong. Many of Jesus' teachings were new revelation. And some were counter to the twisted version of Judaism taught by the Pharisees they had grown up in. So it is understandable some things were difficult to comprehend.
6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Jesus' acknowledged their sorrow. This also acknowledged that they understood what He had been telling them. You can't be sorrowful about something you don't understand.
7 But 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. In other words, as great as it has been to have the Son of God there with them face to face, having the Holy Spirit will be better. I'm sure that didn't seem possible to them. We often resist God's will because we don't want to lose what we have. But God's will is always better for us.
This makes it sound like Jesus has to leave in order for the Spirit to come, as if there is a functional requirement. Perhaps this is a source of the Modalism heresy. However, the Spirit had been operating in the world and in people throughout history, including while Jesus was walking the Earth. So it can't be that they are not able to both be here. The meaning is that it is better for us is that Jesus' crucifixion will pay the penalty we deserve for our sins, and that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all of Jesus' disciples and will remain in us rather than coming on certain people sometimes. The world was ready for the next part of God's plan. And it was so much better than the previous part of His plan.
Jesus' death on the cross was the payment for all of man's sins then, in the future, and in the past. The grace given to those who died believing and serving God before Jesus was also paid for at the cross. This is not a strange concept. When we go to a restaurant today we eat and enjoy the food based on the promise of future payment. We pay after the fact for a meal we already had the same way the payment for the sins of everyone who came before was made at the cross.
8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; The roles of the Holy Spirit as described before this verse are helper, teacher, reminder of Jesus' teachings, indweller of Christians, and Spirit of truth. In other books of scripture the Spirit gives His gifts as He wills, is the giver of hope, builder of faith, and guide, especially guiding us away from where we shouldn't go. Here the Spirit is the one who convicts the world. Convict, elegxei in Greek, means to reprove, convict and refute. In John 3:20 this was in the sense of exposing evil. In this verse it is in the sense of bringing someone to recognize their wrongdoing. Thus, this role of the Spirit is to convict and convince the world that they are wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgement.
9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; The Spirit convicts about sin because the world does not believe in Jesus. A patient will not accept a treatment they dislike unless the doctor convinces them it is necessary and better than the disease. Even worse, they won't even go to the doctor until they are convinced they need to. We all know someone who never sees a doctor when they are ill, let alone gets a checkup. The Spirit works on people to convict them of their sin, and therefore of their very real need for Jesus. This is both believers and unbelievers. Even believers need to be reminded of their need for grace sometimes.
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; The Spirit convicts us about righteousness because Jesus left to go back to the Father and isn't here to do it anymore. Anyone who thinks Jesus was all about love and acceptance hasn't read the Gospels. Jesus convicted people about their unrighteousness and pointed them to the right path telling them to sin no more. Many rejected it. Now the Spirit fulfills that role for those who are disciples of Jesus.
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. The ruler of this world is Satan. And he has been judged. As Jesus said in 12:31 the world has been judged and the ruler of this world will be cast out. The beginning of Satan being cast out was Jesus' crucifixion, and will be complete at the end times, which is called eschaton in theology.
Satan has been judged, and any who follow him are likewise judged. Those who follow Jesus, truly follow Him, are forgiven for their sins and are not judged for those because Jesus paid the price and wiped the slate clean. They are only judged on what they did right to give them their reward. But many are fooled into thinking they are disciples of Jesus when they are really choosing Satan's side. The greatest trick of Satan and his minions is to convince us that evil is good and good is evil.
Isaiah 5:20-21 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!
People who are too full of themselves, arrogant and sure their own thoughts are the truth are self-deluded. We only have to open our eyes to see this happening all around us in secular society and in churches. The Spirit convicts us of the judgement due for sin. But He does not force us to accept it. We have the free will to deceive ourselves. Satan is the father of lies. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.
12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. The reason for not sharing more is that the disciples couldn't take it then. Why is not addressed because Jesus didn't share it. However, we can make a good guess. The trials that would face Jesus' disciples at the hands of the Jewish leaders and the Roman government were daunting. However, the opportunities and wondrous expansion of the gospel all over the world, not to mention how quickly it would happen, was also something they weren't ready handle.
13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. Since they couldn't handle it all now from Jesus, the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth will tell them later revealing what they need to know and guiding them in the truth. They would not be left unknowing just because they couldn't handle it yet. This is still the case for us now. There are things we cannot handle, but are revealed to us later. When we are young Christians we read past the hard truths in scripture that we comprehend later as mature Christians.
The middle of the verse details that the Spirit does not operate independently of the Father and Son. He works in concert with them and in the will of the Father. What the Spirit says is what He has heard from the Father. Thus anyone who claims the Spirit told them something that contradicts scripture is lying. First, the scripture was written by the inspiration and guidance of the Spirit, so He would be contradicting Himself. And that is not possible. Second, the Spirit does not contradict the Father. And the Spirit made sure that scripture was in alignment with the Father's will.
14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. The Spirit will glorify the Son. This is at least partly by teaching and reminding us of the teachings of Jesus. And it would also include the knowledge Jesus had that He was unable to share because His disciples were not able to handle it yet, such as how to deal with the coming trials and blessings.
Jesus here declares that all that the Father has He has as well. Therefore the Spirit will also have the knowledge Jesus has and will disclose it to us. This reassured them that the Spirit would be working in concert with the Father and Son, and therefore the disciples could trust and rely on Him just as they trusted and relied on Jesus. And we have the same assurance, even if we can mistake our own selfish thoughts and desires for the Spirit. Scripture is our primary guide to determine what is really from the Spirit and what is really our own desires. The gift of discernment is also a check on false spirits. Those that don't have this gift can seek counsel from those that do.
While this verse seems to indicate a functional description of the workings of the trinity, we should not build a doctrine on a short and incomplete description. Jesus was trying to explain something that human minds cannot really understand until eschaton.
Many translations, including the NASB, put a break here. And many printings put a title header in here as well. These breaks and headings are editorial choices and are not in the original text. They are additions by the translators just like the chapter and verse numbers. Thus we should not take them as scriptural. Verses 16-33 document the same teaching session as 1-15.
16 "A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me." In this verse Jesus was speaking literally. He was referring to two roughly equal periods of time before two events. The first is the time between this teaching and His crucifixion, after which the disciples would not see Him. The second is the time from the crucifixion until His resurrection, after which they would see Him again.
17 Some of His disciples then said to one another, "What is this thing He is telling us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?" 18 So they were saying, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is talking about." "Some" in the NASB is not literally in the Greek text, but is implied. The disciples refers to the larger group of disciples, not just the 12. From verse 6 it seems the majority were understanding that Jesus was talking about leaving them in this and previous teaching sessions. However, Jesus often spoke in parables and in figurative language. So it is understandable that some would think that He was being figurative in verses 16 and 10.
19 Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, "Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'? Even though none of the disciples had asked Jesus directly, He knew their hearts and what was said secretly between them. So He was able to say the question out loud that they did not. Scripture doesn't say why they wouldn't directly ask. However, Jesus had been frequently harsh with their inability to understand, marking it as a failing on their part. In this instance Jesus is patient and understanding. The Son of God changes His approach as needed.
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. In answering the question He again begins with the Greek amen, amen to emphasize that what He was about to say was true. Jesus foretells that they will be in sorrow at His death, while the world that is in opposition to Christ and the disciples would rejoice. But their grief will become joy at His resurrection. This would not be just because He had returned, but because it means that death itself had been defeated.
21 Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Here Jesus compares their sorrow and grief from the crucifixion followed by the joy of the resurrection to a woman giving birth. The pain is not even remembered in the joy that follows.
22 Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. That they had grief then before the crucifixion means at least some of them understood what Jesus was teaching them and they were already mourning His loss. And he encouraged them that this dark period would last only a short time. That it was necessary He had taught them previously.
That the joy that follows cannot be taken away from them is a statement about the true nature of joy. It is not dependent on our circumstances. Since we live in the sure knowledge that we will join Jesus in resurrection and that cannot be changed by the trials and tribulations of this life, our joy is based on eternal and unshakable truth. This does not mean we won't ever turn away, let it go, or forget about it for a time. But that is a choice, not something external taking it away.
23 In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Jesus was saying that on the day He returns in resurrection they will be full of joy and they will believe Him without question. The resurrection will be the greatest proof and the answer to many questions. As Jesus said in 14:19-20, they will know that Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father.
Again, asking in the name of Jesus does not mean that all we have to do is ask for what we want and put "in the name of Jesus" on the end. As in chapters 14 and 15, this means operating in the will of God. It is just like a person legally representing another person. The representative cannot operate outside the will of the on one being represented.
24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. Jesus' disciples had prayed many times, both as Jews before knowing Christ and after as Christ's disciples. It is certain that they had asked for many things in those prayers as well. What Jesus is saying is they had not asked in His name yet, that is, within His will. This is logical as they didn't know His will before. These years of walking with Jesus were training them in how to be disciples walking in His will. And a big part of what it means to be His disciples would be revealed in the Christ event, His death and resurrection.
That these things they ask for would make their joy full means that asking for things to advance His kingdom and seeing them come to pass would reinforce the joy we have in the certainty of salvation and eternal life.
25 "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. Some translations use "parables" instead of "figurative language", but figurative language better conveys the meaning as Jesus was also using analogy and allegory to explain, such as the woman giving birth in verse 21, and not just what we would call a parable.
The hour where He will speak to His disciples in plain language about the Father seems to refer to the time when the Holy Spirit indwells all Christians. However, it may simply be that we had no frame of reference to understand what Jesus was trying to teach us. And after the Christ Event we will have the context to understand His teachings. This could also refer to the scriptures that will soon be written by Dr. Luke, Paul and others connecting the dots for us.
26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. What Jesus is saying here is that when we ask in His name, that is within His will, He won't be a mediator between us and the Father. We can go directly to the Father ourselves. The Father loves us because we loved Jesus. The love used both times here is phileo, which is brotherly love or friendship love. The love of friendship from the Father is conditional on us having that same love for the Son, Jesus, and believing He came forth from the Father. That is to believe that Jesus is the Son and is God.
28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father." This is the definition of the incarnation, God becoming man. The Son came from the Father and heaven and became man on earth. And after the Christ Event He ascended back to heaven and the Father.
29 His disciples *said, "Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. The confusion of the disciples in verses 17-18 where they thought Jesus was using figurative language seems to have been cleared up as they here understood that this was plain speech.
30 Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God." It seems that the disciples were saying that now they understand. If so, their understanding was incomplete. There was still a lot they didn't know. However, Jesus' foreknowledge of events, knowing what they wanted to ask exactly as they wanted to ask it but didn't, and the wisdom Jesus spoke had made them understand some things. These things were that Jesus was omniscient, knowing all things, and that He came from God. This is not saying that Jesus wasn't God Himself. Only God is omniscient. This was acknowledging the divinity of Jesus.
31 Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe? Jesus is challenging their statement of belief. This is partly because not all had yet been revealed to them, and partly because their belief was about to be tested and most would not hold up at first.
32 Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. This is less an accusation than a foretelling of the dark time about to happen, and was already in progress as Judas Iscariot was plotting with the Jewish leaders. That they would leave Jesus is not a condemnation. He will be dead, and this will feel like a permanent situation. However, He won't actually be alone as the Father will still be with Him.
In Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 Jesus on the cross is quoted as saying "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" Those verses are not a contradiction of this verse here. Chapter and verse numbers weren't added to scripture until centuries later. The way to refer to a passage in scripture at this time was to quote a small portion of it, and people would get the reference. Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 which is a Messianic prophecy to tell everyone at the crucifixion that they had just seen that prophecy be fulfilled.
33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." This is the closing of this teaching. The purpose of the teaching was to give Jesus' disciples peace and comfort in the coming tribulation, both during the death of Christ and in the persecution that accompanied the expansion of Christianity throughout the world. No matter what trials or opposition we encounter, we know how the book ends. We know our side wins. The world is our enemy. But Jesus defeated the world on the cross.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation.

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