Ch. 16:1-33. CLOSE OF CHRIST’S DISCOURSE.--THE PRESENCE, OFFICE, AND
WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT MORE FULLY DESCRIBED.
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[603] killeth you will think that he
doeth God service.
[603] Acts 26:9-11.
=1, 2. These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be
offended.= Scandalized; caused to fall into sin. See Matt. 5:29, note;
15:12; 17:27; John 6:61; 1 Cor. 8:13. The object of Christ’s teaching
in these chapters is not merely to impart consolation to the apostles
in their impending sorrow in his death, but to impart strength to his
disciples throughout all time in their experience of temptation.--=They
shall put you out of the synagogues.= Excommunicate you. This was not
in that age a mere ecclesiastical censure; it involved the most
serious consequences, in exclusion from all business and secular
relations with men. See ch. 9:22, note.--=Yea, the hour cometh that
whosoever killeth you will think that he is offering a sacrifice to
God.= Illustrated by Saul of Tarsus (see Acts 25:9), and by the
proverb found in the Rabbinical books, “Whoever sheds the blood of the
impious does the same as if he had offered a sacrifice;” not less
illustrated by the history of religious persecutions, in which the
persecutor has very generally believed that by slaying the heretic he
was appeasing God’s wrath against the community and the church. Such
an experience, if it came without forewarning, would endanger their
faith. “It would be a strange result; fellowship with their brethren
destroyed because they proclaimed the ground of fellowship; death
inflicted upon them because they preached that death was overcome.
Might not poor Galileans, conscious of folly and sin, often say to
themselves: ‘We must be wrong; the rulers of the land must be wiser
than we are. Ought we to turn the world upside down for an opinion of
ours?’”--(_Maurice._) This is always a temptation in times when
Christian principle seems counter to public sentiment, a temptation
not merely to abandon Christian principle in order to conform to
public sentiment, but to think the principle which commends itself to
so few and arouses the hostility of so many cannot be sound. [The
Greek student will find in Alford’s and Meyer’s interpretation of ἵνα,
_that_, a curious illustration of the straits to which the commentator
is put who insists on giving it always its accurate (_telic_), never
its more popular (_ecbatic_) signification. They are compelled, in
order to be consistent, to read this declaration, _The hour cometh in
order that whosoever_, etc., that is, that which shall happen in the
hour is regarded as the object of its coming; it is ordained for that
purpose.]
3 And these[604] things will they do unto you, because
they[605] have not known the Father, nor me.
[604] ch. 15:21.
[605] 1 Cor. 2:8; 1 Tim. 1:13.
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time
shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And
these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because
I was with you.
=3, 4. And these things will they do unto you because they have not
known the Father nor me.= The root of all religious intolerance is a
narrow, false, pagan conception of God. Intolerance is impossible in a
heart which rightly appreciates God as manifested in Christ Jesus, and
sincerely seeks to please him by imbibing his Spirit and imitating his
example and method. On the other hand, a conscience uninstructed by a
measurably correct conception of God becomes itself an instigator of
the most remorseless cruelty. The cause of the wrong is in not
receiving as a little child the teaching of Christ, and even of nature
(Matt. 5:45), respecting the comprehensiveness of the Divine love. All
intolerance is rooted in self-worship, making a god of our own
self-will.--=But these things have I told you that when the hour has
come ye may call to mind these things, that I have told you them. But
these things I have not told you from the beginning, because I was
with you.= What are _these things_? Most commentators understand
Christ to refer to his prophecies in verses 2 and 3, and they
understand his meaning to be, _I have forewarned you of those
persecutions, that when they come upon you you may remember that I did
forewarn you of them_. But this interpretation is not consistent with
the added words, _These things I have not told you from the
beginning_; for the prophecies of future perils which threatened them
are quite as clear in Matt. 10:17-22, 28; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:12-17,
as they are here. Meyer and Godet even suppose that Matthew has
inserted the warnings in his Gospel (ch. 10) out of their place,
taking them from Christ’s discourse here; and the explanations given
by other commentators, if they violate the text less, violate its
meaning more. Luthardt gives them all briefly. _These things_, I
think, are not merely the prophecy of the persecutions which are to
fall upon the disciples; they are the whole comforting and inspiring
instructions of this discourse respecting the person, advent,
presence, and indwelling grace and power of the Spirit of Truth and
Holiness. The phrase is used here as in ch. 14:25; 15:11, 17; 16:1, 6.
Combining these verses, we get Christ’s object in this whole
instruction in the truth of the Divine Immanence, namely, that the
disciples may be prepared for the progressive teaching of the Spirit
of Truth; that their Master’s joy in the Holy Spirit may be theirs,
and so their joy may be full; that their lives may abound in the
fruits of a love that is nourished only by the indwelling of the
Spirit; that in trial and persecution they may not be offended and
induced to abandon faith in him as their Master; and he urges them
when this trial hour comes upon them to recall to mind this teaching
respecting the indwelling and ever-abiding Comforter, teaching not
given before except in hints and suggestions, rudimentary and
fragmentary, because while he was yet with them in the flesh they
could and notably did depend upon him.
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[606] hath filled your heart.
[606] verse 22.
=5, 6. But now I go away.= Not _my way_; the idea of departure simply
is conveyed by the original.--=And no one of you asketh me, Whither
goest thou? but because I have said these things unto you sorrow hath
filled your heart.= The first clause is not literally true. Peter
directly, Thomas indirectly, had asked, Whither goest thou? (ch.
13:36; 14:5). It is to be interpreted by the latter clause. The
meaning is, Instead of turning your thoughts towards me and my future
glory, and asking after my Father and my home, which you would do with
rejoicing if you loved me supremely (ch. 14:28), your thoughts are on
your own loneliness in the future when I shall have left you, and
because of it sorrow has completely filled your heart, that is, to the
exclusion of every other thought. My words should bring you comfort;
they bring you pain. There is a pathetic reproach in Christ’s
language, easily comprehended by every pastor who has attempted to
point sorrowing souls to the invisible world, only to see their grief
burst out afresh at the awakened recollection of the earthly loss.
Notice, your _heart_, not hearts; the singular is used, as in Rom.
1:21, because they are so thoroughly a unit in their common feeling of
sorrow. Stier notices the contrast between the experience of these
same disciples now and at the subsequent parting at the ascension:
“These are the same disciples who afterwards, when their risen Lord
had ascended to heaven, without any pang at parting with him, returned
with great joy to Jerusalem (Luke 24:52).” A practical lesson to every
mourner here, as in ch. 14:28, is that he should not allow a selfish
sorrow to fill his heart so completely that he cannot follow in his
thoughts the loved one to his heavenly home.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for
you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him
unto you.
=7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is for your benefit that I
am going away.= The original is stronger than our English version; the
implication is plainly, as Alford gives it, “that the dispensation of
the Spirit is a more blessed manifestation of God than was even the
bodily presence of the risen Saviour,” and the reasons why it is so
are intimated in previous parts of this discourse. See especially ch.
14:16, 17, notes.--=For if I go not away the Comforter will not come
unto you.= He does not say will not come, but will not come _unto
you_. Hitherto the Spirit had been given only to men especially fitted
by their spiritual nature to receive its teachings and to become in
turn teachers to others. After the death and resurrection of Christ
the Spirit was given to the church universal, to all believers. See
Acts 2:8. The language therefore does not prove, according to Alford,
that “the gift of the Spirit at and since Pentecost was and is
something totally distinct from anything before that time.” The
difference consisted in its universal bestowal, whereas before it was
limited to a few. Why could not the Spirit be sent until Christ had
first gone away? Because it is impossible for men to live at the same
time by faith and by sight. So long as the disciples had a visible
manifestation of God with them, they would not and could not turn
their thoughts inward to that more sacred but less easily recognized
manifestation which could not be seen, and therefore could be known
only by spiritual apprehension.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment:
=8. And coming, that one shall convince the world respecting sin and
respecting righteousness and respecting judgment.= In this and the
three succeeding verses Christ describes briefly the office and work
of the Holy Spirit. As the advent of Christ was itself a preparation
for the dispensation of the Spirit, and as in his departure he points
his disciples to the indwelling of that Spirit as the source of their
hope, their joy, their love, their entire spiritual life, these
verses, in which he points out specifically the manner in which the
Spirit will develop this spiritual life, may be regarded as the heart
of this discourse. To attempt to give the various opinions of
conflicting commentators on this passage would almost inevitably
entangle the mind of the student in a mesh of contradictory
interpretations, and would obscure rather than clarify the meaning. I
have therefore, with Alford, “preferred giving pointedly what I
believe to be the sense of this most important passage, to stringing
together a multitude of opinions on it, seeing that of even the best
commentators no two bring out exactly the same shade of meaning, and
thus classification is next to impossible.” Much depends on the right
reading of the five words rendered in our English version _reprove_,
_world_, _sin_, _righteousness_, and _judgment_, and I believe that
very much of the difficulty in interpretation has grown out of
imputing to these words a theological and scholastic meaning instead
of taking them according to their most simple and natural meaning. (1)
The word _reprove_, which I have rendered _convince_, properly
signifies to convince one of truth in such a way as to convict him of
wrong-doing. It is rendered _tell_ him his _fault_ (Matt. 18:15);
_reprove_ (Luke 3:19; John 3:20); _convict_ (John 8:9); _convince_ of
sin (John 8:46; 1 Cor. 14:24); _rebuke_ (Titus 2:15; Rev. 3:19). Here,
then, the meaning is that the Holy Spirit will so bring to the world’s
consciousness the spiritual truths respecting sin, righteousness, and
judgment that the world will stand self-convicted. (2) _The world_ is
here, as always with John, the great mass of humanity, not necessarily
excluding believers, but in contrast with the distinctive body of
believers. This world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth, for it seeth
him not, neither knoweth him (ch. 14:17). Nevertheless it is this
unseen and unknown Spirit who can alone convince and convict the
world. The disciples “are to despair of its ever coming from them;
they are to be sure it will come from the Spirit with which He will
endue them. Not they, but He, will convince the world; because, though
the world may not receive Him neither know Him, it has been formed to
receive all quickening life from Him; it must confess His presence,
even if it would hide itself from His presence.”--(_Maurice._) (3)
_Sin_ is primarily a miss or wandering, but in the N. T. only in a
moral sense, that is, a wandering or turning away from the line of
truth and righteousness. It is the first office of the Holy Spirit to
show the world how this turning away from righteousness is the great
folly, the mistake in comparison with which all other mistakes are as
nothing (Prov. 1:32; 8:36). (4) _Righteousness_ is primarily
rectitude, uprightness, perfectitude of character. John’s use of the
term is indicated by his employment of it in 1 John 2:29; 3:7, 10, “He
that doeth righteousness is righteous.” To understand the language
here to refer to any doctrine of an imputed or transferred
righteousness is to import into the simple language of the Master
theological ideas born of scholasticism and belonging to a later date.
The meaning is that he who convicts the world of having departed from
righteousness will also bring to the world’s consciousness a
realization of the elements of true righteousness of character. (5)
_Judgment_ is primarily moral discrimination, whether exercised by God
or man; its use, to signify a tribunal, whether human (Matt. 5:21, 22)
or divine, as in the frequent use of it to signify the day of judgment
(Matt. 12:42; Luke 10:14; Heb. 9:27), is secondary. John always uses
it in the primary sense of moral and spiritual discernment, except in
1 John 4:17, where he defines his meaning by employing the phrase _day
of judgment_. The third truth of which the Holy Spirit will convince
the world will be the true divine canons of moral judgment. The
general declaration, then, is that the Holy Spirit when he comes will
convict the world, by bringing to its spiritual consciousness the
truth respecting sin, or wandering from God and his law;
righteousness, or the divine ideal of character; and judgment, or the
true principles of spiritual discrimination.
9 Of sin,[607] because they believe not on me;
[607] Rom. 3:20; 7:9.
10 Of righteousness,[608] because I go to my Father, and ye
see me no more;
[608] Isa. 42:21; Rom. 1:17.
11 Of judgment,[609] because[610] the prince of this world
is judged.
[609] Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:2; Rev. 20:12, 13.
[610] ch. 12:31.
=9-11. Concerning sin, because they have not had faith upon me.=
_Because_ indicates, not the reason why the Spirit shall convince of
sin, but the nature and evidence of the sin itself. It may be rendered
_in that_. The meaning is not, The Holy Spirit will convince of sin
because they have not had faith, but, That they have sinned in that
they have not had faith. The fact that the character of Christ does
not call forth the moral and spiritual affections of the soul is the
strongest evidence of that soul’s insensibility; and the fact that the
offer of free pardon and the impartation of a new spiritual life is
not accepted, demonstrates that continuance under condemnation and in
sin is the soul’s free choice. Thus the sin of the world both consists
in and is demonstrated by its rejection of Christ (ch. 3:18-21); not
by any intellectual opinion entertained respecting him, but by the
lack of spiritual appreciation and the failure to give to him and his
teaching the welcome of an affectionate and obedient faith.--=Concerning
righteousness, because I go away to my Father and ye see me no
more.= Christ is himself the ideal of human character, the divine
righteousness interpreted by a human life. But this righteousness was
not, and could not be, comprehended while Christ still lived in the
flesh among men. The eyes of men were fastened upon the apparent
ignominy of his position and circumstances, and the divine love which
is interpreted to us by his humiliation was to his contemporaries
obscured by it. It was necessary that he should go away to his Father
before the world could begin to appreciate the sacred meaning of a
life which was so wholly laid down for others. So, habitually, the
world learns the meaning of a life after it has ended, and honors
after death those whom it has despised while living, and forgets after
death those whom it has honored while living. The Holy Spirit
convinces the world respecting true righteousness of character, by
spiritually interpreting to it, through the ages, the glory of one who
could only be understood after he had gone away to the Father and the
world saw him no more. To appreciate his righteousness they must look
on him by faith and not by sight. The more common explanation (see
_Godet_ and _Meyer_) that he who was put to death as a sinner
was proved to be righteous by his resurrection and ascension is
inadmissible, because Christ here says nothing of his resurrection or
his ascension; he uses the same phraseology which he has previously
employed in this discourse in speaking of his death (ch. 13:33, 36;
14:28; 16:5); and because he adds emphasis to the truth that it is his
_departure from them_, not his visible exaltation or ascension to
which he refers, by adding to the words “because I go to my Father”
the explanatory clause “and ye see me no more.”--=Concerning judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged.= Comp. John 12:31. In the
history of the race, the methods, principles, and policies of the
world and its prince are being perpetually tried and perpetually
proved false by their results. Thus the world and its prince are ever
being judged, and humanity, by the progressive teaching of the Holy
Spirit, interpreting the book of God’s Providence, are being taught
the divine canons of moral and spiritual judgment. This work is
represented here, as in ch. 12:32, as being completed in the death of
Christ (κέκριται, perf.), because the crucifixion of Christ, the
consummate work of the Evil One, was at once his apparent victory and
his real defeat. In the crucifixion he pre-eminently had his own way,
and by the crucifixion he is defeated throughout the ages. Thus it is
in and by the cross that he is pre-eminently judged. On the phrase
_prince of this world_, see John 12:31; 14:30; and comp. Ephes. 2:2.
Interpreting it to mean Christ is contrary to all N. T. usage. In all
this threefold work the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ (ver. 14); it
convicts the world of sin, by showing what a Saviour it has rejected;
it teaches the world of righteousness, by showing the world in Christ
the divine ideal of sanctified humanity; and it educates the world in
judgment, by the perpetual contrast between the policies of the
world and the enduring and peace-bringing principles of Christ,
demonstrating in the cross that the weakness of Christ is stronger
than the strength of Satan, and the defeat of Christ is a victory over
Satan. See 1 Cor. 1:23-25.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye[611]
cannot bear them now.
[611] Heb. 5:12.
=12. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now.= This was Christ’s last conference with his disciples, and in his
interviews with them after the resurrection he added very little to
the instructions previously given to them. Clearly, therefore, he here
implies a progressive teaching to be afforded by him through the
Spirit to the church in the future ages. It is of this future teaching
he speaks in this and the next three verses. These truths the
disciples could not then bear, that is, _lift up and take away with
them_ (βαστάξω), because they had not yet the mental and spiritual
strength. Among the truths which were thus too much for them, and
which were mercifully concealed from their knowledge, was the long
period which must intervene before the spiritual work of the church
could be completed and the world be ready for the Second Coming of its
Lord. Christ’s language clearly implies that he held back phases of
truth for which his disciples were not ready, and thus affords a
clear example and divine authority for the religious teacher, who may
never suppress the truth because it is unpopular--this Christ never
did--but who may and should adapt his teaching of the truth to the
spiritual capacity of his hearers.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he[612]
will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, _that_ shall he
speak: and he[613] will shew you things to come.
[612] ch. 14:26.
[613] Rev. 1:1, 19.
=13. Howbeit when that one= (ἐκεῖνος, emphatic), =the Spirit, is come,
he will guide you into all the truth=. “The term guide (ὁδηγέω, _to
show the road_) presents the Spirit under the image of a guide
conducting a traveler in an unknown country. This country is
truth.”--(_Godet._) This guidance is given to the church throughout
all ages, leading them by gradual processes into ever higher and
broader conceptions of divine truth.--=For he shall not speak from
himself.= _From_ (ἀπό) marks the remote or ultimate origin or cause.
As Christ traces all the source of his own authority back to the
Father, who dwelleth in him (ch. 5:19, 30; 7:28; 14:20), so he traces
back to the same source the authority of the Holy Spirit. Thus he
guards his disciples against that subtle tritheism which regards the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as practically three deities. See
ch. 15:26. Both the Son and the Spirit take those things which they
receive of the Father and give to the believer, and the object of
their ministry is to bring the believer into fellowship with the
Father.--=And he will show you things to come.= Rather _the coming
things_. As the coming one (ὁ ἐρχόμενος) (Matt. 3:11; Rev. 1:4) is the
Messiah, and as the coming world (Mark 10:30) is the Messiah’s
kingdom, so the coming things (τὰ ἐρχόμενα) are those things which are
connected with the future advent and the final kingdom of the Messiah.
The Holy Spirit shall not merely bring all things which their Lord has
taught them to the disciples’ remembrance (ch. 14:26), but shall also
teach them concerning the things of the future; he shall inspire their
hope as well as clarify their memory. This promise of Christ was
primarily fulfilled in the prophetic hopes and anticipations inspired
in the early church, and in the prophetic character given to many of
the apostolic utterances, _e. g._, Rom. 11:25-32; 1 Cor. 15:50-53; 1
Thess. 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14. But this office of the Spirit was not
consummated in apostolic times; those who submit themselves to his
guidance and instruction will still press forward toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, ever looking for
that blessed and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. “He will not allow us to be satisfied with our advanced
knowledge or great discoveries, but will always be showing us things
that are coming; giving us an apprehension of truths that we have not
yet reached, though they be truths which are ‘the same yesterday,
to-day, and forever.’”--(_Maurice._)
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.
=14, 15. He shall magnify me.= That is, the office of the Spirit shall
be to magnify Christ, his character, his work. See above on verses
9-11. Any pretended dispensation of the Spirit which draws the thought
of the world away from Christ to some other and independent authority
is spurious, whether it be that of ecclesiastical tradition as of the
Church of Rome, or that of the mysticism which substitutes an inner
light for the word and authority of Christ, or that of spiritism,
introducing in lieu of that word communications with the spirit world.
That only is the message of the Holy Spirit which tends to magnify
Christ.--=He shall receive of mine, and shall it show unto you.= To
receive of Christ (λαμβάνω) is to accept, acknowledge, and follow his
instructions as a teacher. This use of the word is especially marked
in John’s employment of it in respect to Christ, _e. g._, ch. 1:12;
5:43; 13:20. The declaration, then, is that the Holy Spirit comes not
to gainsay or cancel, and not even, in strictness of speech, to add to
the instructions of Christ, but to accept them, and accepting,
interpret them, giving to them in the future apprehension of the
church a profounder significance than they had or could have in the
apprehension of his own contemporaries.--=All things that the Father
hath are mine; therefore said I=, etc. We are not, however, to imagine
that Christ’s teaching is confined to the words uttered by him in the
flesh and reported to us in the Gospels. All things that the Father
hath are his; the book of nature and the book of Providence are his as
truly as the spoken and reported word. And in receiving and
spiritually interpreting the testimony of nature and life, the Holy
Spirit is receiving from him and showing to us. If we understand his
teaching aright, we shall always see in it Christ magnified.
In these verses (7-15) Christ points out more specifically than he has
previously done to his disciples, and through them to us, the office
of the Holy Spirit and the nature of his dispensation. It is for our
benefit that the manifestation of God in the flesh and to the sense
has ceased, in order that the inward manifestation to the
faith--profounder, broader, and more universal--may take its place.
This invisible but indwelling Spirit comes that he may teach the world
the reality and greatness of its sin, the true conception of
righteousness, and the canons of a divine spiritual discernment. This
work of the Spirit is a perpetually progressive work, guiding, by
successive steps, the church into the way of all truth. In it the
Spirit speaks from and by authority of the Father, and concerning the
future, turning the thoughts of the believer ever toward a larger
knowledge and a higher and diviner life; albeit in all he acts not as
a revealer of a new Gospel, but as an interpreter of the teachings of
Christ, in the written word and in all the things of God, in nature
and life, which are themselves the things of Christ; so that the
dispensation of the Spirit is not an addition to but an essential part
of Christianity, the revealing in its fullness to the ever-growing
spiritual apprehension of the church the truth of and from Christ.
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
Father.
=16. Yet a little while and ye shall not see me= (θεωρέω), =and again
a little while and ye shall perceive me= (ὁράω), =because I go away to
the Father=. There is some doubt respecting the last clause, _because
I go to the Father_; it is omitted by Alford, Meyer, Luthardt, and
Tischendorf, queried by Lachmann, retained by Godet. But the fact that
the phrase reappears in the disciples’ expression of their perplexity,
in the next verse, seems to me to furnish very nearly conclusive
evidence that it belongs here. Those who omit it here suppose that the
disciples put with what he has just now said, what he had previously
said in ver. 10. Observe the contrast between the first and second
seeing; two different verbs are both rendered _see_; the one signifies
properly an external perception by the senses; the other is also used
to indicate a mental or spiritual perception, and that appears to be
its meaning here. In a little while Christ should be no longer visibly
present with his disciples; a little while more, and, in the
dispensation of the Spirit inaugurated at Pentecost, they should again
perceive him by spiritual apprehension. It is evident that Christ does
not refer to his Second Coming, both because he changes the form of
the verb, so indicating another and unsensuous seeing, and because
not a little but a long while was to elapse between the departure of
the Lord and his Second Coming.
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 while, 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[614] that they were desirous to ask him,
and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that
I said, A little[615] while, and ye shall not see me: and
again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
[614] ch. 2:24, 25.
[615] verse 16; ch. 7:33; 13:33; 14:19.
=17-19.= The disciples, however, had no other thought of any second
advent of their Master than that in which they should sensuously see
as well as spiritually perceive him. They therefore ask among
themselves what he means by this distinction between _seeing_ and
_perceiving_ him. Their difficulty was the same as that previously
expressed by Judas, with the analogous declaration of Christ that he
would manifest himself to them (ch. 14:22). It was enhanced by
Christ’s statement that this new manifestation to the spirit should be
in a little while; for in his discourse on the Last Day (see Matt.,
ch. 24, notes) he had plainly implied that a long interval of trial
and persecution must intervene before his Second Coming in power and
glory. They therefore inquire in whispers of one another what he means
by this, “_Ye shall not see me, and ye shall perceive me_,” and what
by “_A little while_.” Their fear to ask Christ is one of the many
indications of the peculiar awe which his presence inspired in them;
their love was reverential, not familiar; the love of a child for an
honored teacher, not that of an equal (Mark 9:32; Luke 9:45). See
further, note on verses 29, 30, below.
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye[616] shall weep
and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
[616] Luke 24:17, 21.
=20. Ye shall weep and lament * * * ye shall be sorrowful.= These
three different words are used to express the same substantial idea;
not to convey different shades of meaning, but to give emphasis, and
to indicate the largeness and breadth of the impending anguish of the
disciples. _To weep_ (κλαίω) is a general word including every
external expression of grief; _to lament_ (θρηνέω) is somewhat more
specifically to wail, and is used respecting the lamentation of hired
mourners (see notes on Mark 5:38; Luke 23:27); _to be sorrowful_
(λυπέω) is more spiritual, and expresses the feeling of the heart
rather than any outward expression. The disciples lamented the death
of Christ at the time of his crucifixion, and their lamentation was in
striking contrast with the malignant joy of the world (comp. Matt.
27:39-44 with John 19:25-27). They experienced in the apparent shame
of their Master’s ignominious death a deep, heartfelt sorrow, but it
was turned into joy when later they saw in the cross the manifestation
of the wisdom and glory of God (1 Cor. 1:23-25).
21 A woman[617] when she is in travail hath sorrow, because
her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the
child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a
man is born into the world.
[617] Isa. 26:17.
22 And ye[618] now therefore have sorrow: but I will see
you again, and your[619] heart shall rejoice, and your
joy[620] no man taketh from you.
[618] verse 6.
[619] ch. 20:20; Luke 24:41, 52.
[620] 1 Pet. 1:8.
=21, 22. A woman when she brings forth hath sorrow.= The figure of a
woman in travail is used in the O. T. to illustrate sudden and great
anguish (Isa. 21:3; 26:17; 66:7; Hos. 13:13; Micah 4:9, 10). Christ
lays hold upon this familiar figure and gives it a new signification,
indicating that the pain is but a preparation for and a presage of a
greater joy. And this is generally the N. T. use of the figure (Matt.
24:8, note; Rom. 8:22). The contrast is an instructive illustration of
the difference between the O. T. and the N. T. We are not mystically
to interpret the figure here by saying that the travail of the Son of
God was necessary in order to bring the Messiah forth as a King and
lawgiver. However true this may be, it is not the truth here enforced.
Christ speaks not of his own suffering for sinners, but of the
suffering of the disciples in and because of him; and this suffering
he declares will be forgotten when it has accomplished its purpose and
brought forth its fruits in and for them. See the same general truth
illustrated by Rom. 5:3-5; Heb. 12:11. Observe that, as above, the
sorrow is not merely displaced by joy, but is _turned into joy_; the
travail is not merely followed by gladness, but brings forth that
which is the cause of the gladness. Comp. Rom. 8:18, where the glory
is represented as revealed in us because of the sufferings, and Heb.
12:11, where the fruits of chastening are promised only to those that
are “exercised thereby.” Comp. Rev. 7:14.--=I will see you again, and
your heart shall rejoice.= But he does not say, Ye shall see me again.
He is speaking not of his second and visible coming, but of his
spiritual and invisible presence. His words are interpreted to us by
history, and the distinction between the two is plain; to the apostles
they were not so interpreted, and upon the traditional report of such
words as these the apostolic church may have built its hope of
Christ’s Second Coming in their own time. _I will see you_ expresses
Christ’s sympathy for his church in all their experiences, whether of
joy or sorrow. See Rev. 1:12, 13; 2:1. He weeps with those that weep,
and rejoices with those that rejoice; not a hair of the head perishes,
not a sparrow in the church falls without his knowledge. _Your heart
shall rejoice_ foretells such experiences as those of Peter and other
apostles (Acts 5:41), Stephen (Acts 6:15), Paul and Silas (Acts
16:25), etc.--=And your joy no one taketh away from you.= Because it
is Christ’s joy (ch. 15:11), a joy in God (Phil. 3:1; 4:1), which is
_in_ the new-born soul, not merely given _to_ it, and therefore cannot
be taken from it by any experience whatever (Rom. 8:28, 37-39).
23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my
name, he will give _it_ you.
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; ask,[621] and
ye shall receive, that your[622] joy may be full.
[621] Matt. 7:7, 8; James 4:2, 3.
[622] ch. 15:11.
=23, 24. And in that day ye shall inquire nothing of me. Verily,
verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father he will give
it to you in my name.= In our English version two different Greek
words are rendered by the word _ask_ in this verse, suggesting a
contrast which does not exist in the original. Christ does not
distinguish between two epochs in Christian experience; in the earlier
and more imperfect one prayer being offered to Christ, in the later
and perfected one prayer being offered directly to the Father. He
specifies two distinct blessings which shall attend upon the
dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The disciples, perplexed by Christ’s
enigmatical language, had desired but feared to ask an explanation
(verses 17, 18). Christ tells them that when the Holy Spirit shall
have come with his illuminating and quickening influences, they shall
no longer be perplexed by truths which now they cannot understand. In
that day they shall no longer need to interrogate him for an
interpretation. Then he adds that this dispensation shall be one of
great power in prayer: Whatsoever ye shall request the Father he will
give it you. “There is not in this verse a contrast drawn between
asking _the Son_, which shall cease, and asking _the Father_, which
shall begin; but the first half of the verse closes the declaration of
one blessing, namely, that hereafter they shall be so taught by the
Spirit as to have nothing further _to inquire_; the second half of the
verse begins the declaration of a new blessing, that whatsoever they
shall _seek_ from the Father in the Son’s name, he will give it
them.”--(_Trench._) And in fact one of the first and most notable
influences of the descent of the Spirit was to make clear to the minds
of the apostles those spiritual truths concerning the character of
Christ and his kingdom which had theretofore been hidden from their
eyes. And ever since, growth in spiritual life has made clear sayings
which are dark and incomprehensible to the unspiritual. The reading,
_He will give to you in my name_, is preferable to the reading of the
Received Text, _Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name_, (_Tischendorf_,
_Meyer_, _Alford_.) But the fact that the Father gives in the name of
Christ, by whom He made, sustains, and governs the world (Col.
1:16-20; Heb. 1:1, 2), and through whom all his redeeming love is
manifested to his earthly children, presupposes that they present
their requests through him as their Mediator, that is, in His
name.--=Until now ye have asked nothing in my name; ask and ye shall
receive, that your joy may be full.= Not until the descent of the Holy
Spirit did the disciples recognize Christ as a Divine Mediator and
Intercessor. Prayer out of Christ is offered to a God from whom the
soul is separated by a consciousness of sin (Isa. 59:2). Such prayer
is often one of wrestling and of anguish; and the deeper the
consciousness of sin the greater the mental and spiritual stress.
Christ lays emphasis here upon the fact that his disciples are to pray
in his name, that is, standing in his stead, the prophecies of the O.
T. fulfilled and their sins and iniquities blotted out as a thick
cloud (Isa. 44:22), and they themselves brought into filial relations
with the Father, reconciled unto God, and receiving the Spirit of
Adoption whereby they cry Abba Father (Rom. 8:15). Thus prayer, which
in the O. T. was often characterized by fear and wrestling (Gen.
18:27, 30, 32; Exod. 32:31, 32; Psalms 42, 43), is in the N. T. almost
always characterized by joy and thanksgiving (Ephes. 3:14-21; Col.
1:9, 12; 2 Thess. 1:11, 12). In the reading of this direction of
Christ respecting prayer we are to interpret the direction to ask in
Christ’s name and the declaration that the Father will give in
Christ’s name by the experience of the apostolic church, who did all
things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 20:31; Acts 2:38;
3:6; 5:28; 9:27; 10:43; 16:18; Rom. 1:8; 1 Cor. 6:11; Ephes. 1:21;
Phil. 2:9, 10; Rev. 2:3, 13; 22:4).
25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but
the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in
proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
26 At that day[623] ye shall ask in my name: and I say not
unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
[623] verse 23.
27 For the Father[624] himself loveth you, because ye have
loved me, and have believed that I[625] came out from God.
[624] ch. 14:21, 23.
[625] verse 30; ch. 17:8.
=25-27. These things have I spoken unto you in figures; * * * but I
shall show you plainly of the Father.= In the imperfection of human
language all teaching respecting spiritual things is of necessity in
figures. Christ’s teaching, not only to the multitude, but to his own
disciples, and in this last interview, was figurative. See for example
ch. 14:2, 16, 18; 15:1; 16:21. But he foretells a time in which these
spiritual truths shall be spiritually revealed (1 Cor. 2:9, 10). “The
entire human language is a parable, as it does not admit of adequate
expression concerning some things. The Lord therefore contrasts with
the use of this feeble medium of communication the employment of one
more internal and more real. By the impartation of his Spirit, the
Lord teaches the knowledge of the nature of God freely and openly
(παῤῥησίᾳ), without any fear of a misunderstanding.”--(_Olshausen._)--=At
that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not to you that I will
request the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loveth you,
because ye have loved me and have had faith that I come from the
presence of the Father.= Or _from God_; there is some uncertainty as
to the reading. Christ does not say that he will not request the
Father on behalf of his disciples; but if we take the whole sentence
in its connections he does clearly teach, not only that no
intercession is required to win the love of the Father, but also that
they who have loved Christ, and have spiritually recognized the divine
life manifested in him, are thereby brought into direct personal
communion with the Father, and need no intercessor. “While their
hearts are the temples of the Holy Ghost and they maintain communion
with the Father they will need no other advocate; but ‘If any man sin
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous’ (1
John 2:1).”--(_Watkins._) Beware of supposing that this passage
impliedly teaches that the Father’s love depends on the prior faith
and love of the disciple. The contrary doctrine is abundantly taught
in the Bible, and nowhere more clearly than in the writings of John
(ch. 3:16; 1 John 4:9, 10, 19). But love has many inflections, and the
fullness of the Divine love is possible only to those who by love and
faith enter into the adoption of the children of God. The love of the
father to the prodigal in the far country is not the same as the love
to the same son, clothed and in his right mind, sitting at his
father’s board.
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the
world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
=28.= “This verse,” says Bengel, “contains the most important
recapitulation;” “a simple and grand summary of Christ’s entire life,
his origin, his incarnation, and his destiny,” Meyer calls it. It is
this, but also more than this. The disciples have believed that Christ
came from the Father; Christ seizes on this belief that he may awaken
their hope by leading them to see that in going from the world he
must return to the Father. Thus he leads back their minds to the
declaration, “If ye loved me ye would rejoice because I go unto the
Father” (ch. 14:28).
29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest
thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and
needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we
believe that thou camest forth from God.
=29, 30.= These verses clearly show a change in the spirit of the
disciples. They had begun the supper by a contention for the first
place at the table. They had almost scouted at Christ’s prophecy of
their desertion (Matt. 26:33-35). The questionings of Thomas, Philip,
and Judas (ch. 14:5, 8, 22) indicate not only perplexity, but a state
of semi-skepticism, removed from absolute disbelief on the one hand
and from unquestioning faith on the other. This spirit is abated as
the conference proceeds, and it is because the disciples are ashamed
to confess it that they question with bated breath among themselves
the meaning of his words, “A little while and ye shall not see me, and
again a little while and ye shall perceive me” (verses 17-19). Now
they declare their doubts allayed; there is no need to question him
further; they are convinced that he knows all things; they are willing
to take his declarations without questioning; this absolute credence
they declare as the evidence of their faith that he came forth from
God. They do not profess fully to understand their Master, only fully
to believe him. Augustine’s remark, therefore, is more epigrammatic
than just: “They so little understand that they do not even understand
that they do not understand. For they were babes.”
31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
32 Behold,[626] 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[627] am not alone, because the Father
is with me.
[626] Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:27.
[627] ch. 8:29; Isa. 50:7, 9.
=31, 32. Do ye now believe?= Most of the commentators take this
affirmatively, _Ye do now believe_, and the original is capable of
either construction. Our English version seems to me preferable.
Christ does not indeed deny their faith, but he questions it, that he
may lead them to question themselves. He cautions them that their
faith in his divine origin, sweet as it may be to them in this hour of
quiet conference, is not sufficiently strong to stand in the hour of
treachery, peril, and death. So many a disciple has had faith in
divine principles and truths in the hour of his quiet meditation upon
them, which he has deserted when holding fast to them would involve
suffering.--=And ye shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone,
because the Father is with me.= This sentence is one of those
parenthetical asides which give us a glimpse of the inmost heart of
Christ: his spiritual loneliness, and the temper of his solitude. See
Robertson’s Sermon on the _Loneliness of Christ_.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me[628]
ye might have peace. In[629] the world ye shall have
tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the
world.
[628] ch. 14:27; Rom. 5:1; Ephes. 2:14.
[629] ch. 15:19-21; 2 Tim. 3:12.
=33. These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have
peace.= By _these things_ is meant the whole discourse contained in
chaps. 14, 15, and 16. Comp. ch. 14:27; 16:4, notes.--=In the world ye
shall have tribulation; but be of good courage, I have conquered the
world.= Thus Christ ends as he began this discourse, with
encouragement. In Christ we have peace, because in Christ we are more
than conquerors (Rom. 8:37. Comp. 2 Cor. 4:7; 6:4-10). Meyer well
remarks that Paul’s whole life is a commentary on this verse; and
Luther, whose life was a scarcely less eloquent interpretation, thus
paraphrases it: “The game is already won. Do not be afraid that I will
send you thither to venture it at your own risk. The victory is
already there, only be undespairing and hold fast to it.”