The Work Of The Holy Spirit
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
JOHN 16:8-15
Jesus now expands upon the reasons why it will be advantageous to have the Holy Spirit.
There is a great deal of concentrated teaching on the person and the work of the Spirit in these few verses. The first task of the Spirit is the threefold conviction of the world on the counts of sin, righteousness and judgment. This will be an exposure of the attitudes of the world in such a way as to touch the conscience of men. As the world cannot receive the Paraclete (14:17), it will, presumably, normally be effected through the witness of the apostles (15:26f.). Counsel for their defense becomes through them counsel for the prosecution of the world.
It is interesting to note the substance of these charges. The charge of sin was connected not with wrong actions but with unbelief. The people of Israel had long ago been condemned for stifling the national conscience. God had given them prophets and Nazirites to remind them of his truth by their words and by their deeds, but they made the Nazirites drink wine and told the prophets not to prophesy (Amos 2:11f.). God’s people had done the same again in refusing to accept the words and deeds of Jesus (15:22-24). The Spirit would show them also that they had the wrong idea of righteousness. True righteousness was the divine vindication of the righteous life of Jesus through the resurrection and ascension. Likewise with judgment. Despite all that was to follow, they could not judge Jesus. It was the devil and those who followed him who were judging and condemning themselves in the death of Christ.
In addition there was the teaching function of the Spirit. He would guide them into all the truth about Jesus. It would be his function to pass on to them all that Jesus wished to reveal, and so to bring glory to him.
Note 16:13: this does not mean that the Holy Spirit guided the apostles or the church into the fullness of truth about everything. It was a specific promise to those whose business it was to record, interpret and pass on the once-for-all events connected with Christ’s ministry, death and resurrection. “The things that are to come” may be specifically the cross and resurrection, rather than a general power of prediction.