8 και ελθων εκεινος ελεγξει τον κοσμον περι αμαρτιας και περι δικαιοσυνης και περι κρισεως
9 περι αμαρτιας μεν οτι ου πιστευουσιν εις εμε
10 περι δικαιοσυνης δε οτι προς τον πατερα μου υπαγω και ουκ ετι θεωρειτε με
11 περι δε κρισεως οτι ο αρχων του κοσμου τουτου κεκριται
Background for the Sermon Text
The teaching of Jesus in this part of John's Gospel should be valued and treasured for several reasons. The Biblical tradition placed the greatest emphasis on the final words of a leader, something we still honor. Someone who has led a noble life is asked to share his wisdom before he dies. These words should be studied and enjoyed because the Apostle John heard them and - inspired by the Spirit - gave them to us because of their importance. Once again, a little word connects the part we should memorize and dwell upon - περι (about, but rendered in the KJV as "of").
The word is used three times in one verse, then each phrase is explained. This is very condensed, so the reader or audience must pay attention to it, not drift in and out of consciousness, like someone sitting through a university graduation of thousands of students.
1. The meaning of this Gospel lesson we have also often heard elsewhere; the only trouble is, the words have not generally been understood to have the meaning of things with which we are familiar. Therefore we will explain it a little, in order that one may see that the same teaching is contained in these words, that is found in all the other Gospel lessons. It is a fine Gospel, but it also requires fine students. We will omit the first part and consider what the Lord says, that the Holy Spirit is to convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and will see what the meaning of all this is.
The Spirit Convicts the World
KJV John 16:5 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 hath filled your heart.
This is Jesus' gentle reproof. The disciples should have known that great glory will follow His suffering, but they were weighed down with the grief of His departure. They heard the sad part all too well, but that kind of acute grief after the joy of being with Him and being taught by Him - that was too much to overcome.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient [GJ - profitable] 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.
Up to this point, they were all local missionaries, learning from the sermons and miracles of Jesus. The sending of the Holy Spirit will be a transformation of their work. So the next few verses summarize what must be the mission of the Church, established by the Spirit on Pentecost. This is not a suggestion, but a charter for the work of all pastors and teachers of Christianity.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove [or convict] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Today, people are more likely to say "convict." So when I asked a Calvinist lawyer/minister about participating in his denomination's apostasy, he said, "You are convicting me." I was speaking of my view when I was in the LCA, that I did not want to be associated with what they were doing and teaching as a church body.
This three-fold convicting sets up the explanation following. When the Spirit comes, that is, after Pentecost, this will be His role in the Church. The Spirit is always at work in teaching and preaching the Word of God, but that is not true of the word of man. Today we should qualify it only by saying, "When the Word is trusted to accomplish God's Word, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment."
For this to be true, the world would still be full of sinners, not full of righteous people, saints, as Edward Preuss and his admirers have claimed. The next two categories always threw me, convict the world of righteousness, of judgment? I always had to look that up each time, and I still do, to be completely accurate. Ministers do not have the luxury to say, "To me, this means..."
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Verse 9 is pivotal and therefore almost completely ignored, just as the efficacy of the Word is ignored. If unbelief is the foundational sin, as Jesus taught, then convicting the world of sin means teaching faith in the Savior. Looking at American Christianity in general, teaching faith in Christ seems to be last on the list in most cases. That is the Gospel and always connected with forgiveness and eternal life in the Gospel of John.
But it not just faith in Him but understanding little-faith as the root of sinful behavior. Fear is the opposite of faith, so when the disciples said to Jesus, "Don't you care if we die?" that came from a lack of trust in the Creating Word.
In contrast to this, when the Canaanite woman trusted Christ would heal her daughter, no matter how cold and rough Jesus appeared to be, that was an example of faith in the midst of all opposite thoughts and feelings.
But the truly blind are those who obstinately oppose God's Word, even though they have the office of teaching God's Word. The more they do this, the more blind and hardened they become. Rather than wanting to teach the Scriptures, they teach their favorite human authorities, who write what they think.
So people begin and end with what others do, or do not do, or whether they belong to this or that tribe (synod) or family (do you know who my father is?) or fad (polygender, earth warming, etc). As Luther says, they cannot define sin in relation to Jesus' teaching:
3. It is much to be deplored that the world is convicted, not only because of its sin and want of righteousness, not being able to judge rightly, but that it does not acknowledge nor see this, to say nothing of its endeavor to alter the matter. Oh, how completely the praise of all comes to naught, who, while they endeavor to make other people pious, know not themselves what sin is! Let us take, for example, at the present day, all the schools of learning and the learned men and see whether they can tell us what that one little word “sin” is? For who has ever heard that not to believe in Christ is sin? They say, it is sin if one speaks, desires or does something against God’s will and commandment. But how does that correspond with this saying of Christ: It is sin because they do not believe on me? Therefore, they are easily convicted of the fact that they know not what sin is; and if they be ever so learned, they will not be able to explain this text.
2. In the first place, we see here that the world is accused of blindness and ignorance. All those who are without the Holy Spirit, however wise they may be in matters pertaining to the things of this world, are, before God, fools and blind. They do not like to hear this; and when they are told that their doings are of no account before God, it displeases them and makes them angry, because they insist that they are in possession of reason and the natural light, which God created in them. But what does this matter to us? There are the Scriptures and the Word of God plain and clear, that the Holy Spirit is to come to ‘convict the world, because it does not know what sin, righteousness and judgment are. Thus it is determined, there it stands; let be angry who will, Christ does not care.
The spiritually blind are blind to their blindness, so they react to faith in Christ with intense opposition. That is more subtle when people think they own Christianity but venerate the institution instead of worshiping the Savior, looking to Him for all help and comfort.
The worst is - that in this age of rationalism - the great and wise chip away at faith in Jesus, using their reason and their experience to judge the Scriptures. That gets easier when the general population is not very educated in the Bible itself. A reading knowledge of several books (John and Romans) would solve the problems of most, but all the resources point to snippets, partial verses, or implicit claims of authority for human authors rather than the One Author of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit.
But this is very blunt and to the point. The first two "abouts" relate to the same thing. Sin is not believing in Christ as the Savior. That means faith is...
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Faith is righteousness. Believing in Him is forgiveness. The Book of Concord speaks of the righteousness of faith because the Apostle Paul does.
So what does the second part mean? - "because I go to the Father, and ye see me no more." Faith and righteousness go together. The greatest of all miracles in the New Testament is the Resurrection of Christ and His Ascension to heaven. The empty tomb proved the Son of God was stronger than death itself. His Ascension means that His local mission was handed over the the Holy Spirit to be a world mission through the Spirit at work in the Word - no gimmicks, no adulterations, no sugar-coating. Those who trust in Christ at their death enter into eternal life.
Daily faith means daily forgiveness through the Gospel that teaches us that Promise, because the Word conveys Christ to us.
Righteousness goes by many names - virtue, integrity, excellence (which in Greek meant manliness - being like Ares, Mars, the war god in courage). Many insist on their righteousness, but on what basis?
Jesus taught - based on faith in Him, a simple concept that enraged His opponents.
They said, "We have Abraham for our father."
Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."
Even today the wrong kind of righteousness is the boast we hear most. "Do you know who my grandfather was?" The Bible teaches us about God, not about our ancestors. As Helen Keller said, "There is a slave in every king's family tree, and a king in every slave's family tree."
Our tendency is to say, "The righteous. Those are those ancient people, or those I have not met. We are all sinners." But Jesus taught us to clothe ourselves in His righteousness and avoid the temptations of self-righteousness.
Notice that Jesus said, the Spirit will convict the world - this message goes out everywhere and to every culture. Necessarily righteousness is connected to faith in the Risen Lord the Ascended Christ.
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
The work of the Christian Church is also to convict the world of Satan's judgment. The vast majority are either in a pagan religion or in one which is explicitly demonic. To those people, who blinded and hardened by their histories and traditions. the Prince of This World reigns supreme.
But this combination of sin-unbelief, faith-righteousness, and Satan's judgment are all one piece, a seamless garment. Although Satan seems to be all powerful, and rages all the more as time draws to an end. He has already been conquered.
News stories about abusive cults show that people can be broken down into believing anything because they are made to feel worthless. That makes them think evil is all-powerful, but the truth of the Spirit is that it is an illusion.
Satan also wants to reclaim those who have left his kingdom for the Kingdom of God. Paul was (I believe) filled with despair, all the more for the mockery of the enemies of the Gospel. For that reason, his battle was his thorn in the flesh.
People feel that when they are out of work for no reason, just economic dislocation. It comes up often in my conversations with other. They blame themselves and they feel God has not answered their prayers. Self-blame and the mockery of others only makes things worse. But God rules and Satan cannot defeat Him.
Luther:
23. Therefore everything that the world considers good is debased. Everything is evil because it does not proceed from the Word and the Spirit, but from the old Adam, who is nothing more than a blind fool and sinner. And why? Should not your wisdom and reason be foolishness and count for nothing, since the most exalted one, who has all the power and wisdom of this world in the highest degree, is condemned? For, without doubt, there is no one in the world so wise, shrewd and rational as the devil, and no one is able to make a more pious appearance. And all wisdom and holiness that do not proceed from God, as well as the most beautiful things in the world, are found in their highest degree in the devil. Since he is a prince and the ruler of the world, the wisdom and righteousness of the world must proceed from him; here he reigns with all his power. Therefore, Christ says: Since the same prince of the world is condemned, with all that he has and can do, the world is ever blind because it considers that to be good which has been condemned already, namely his wisdom and piety.
We Are the True Pentecostals
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
We are the true Pentecostals, who believe the Spirit never works without the Word, the Word never without the Spirit. Isaiah 55:8ff.
The Spirit is indeed very powerful, because He is the Doctor of Theology who trains people of all ages, cultures, and races. No man or book judges Him and His work.
- He guides us in all truth (through the Bible and faithful teachers)
- He does not speak about Himself, but glorifies the Father and Son;
- He communicates between the Godhead and the individual, showing us what is coming.
It is the old story of someone writing to a newspaper - "Our church has tried everything to raise money. We had bingo, donkey days, cookie sales, bake sales, and carnivals. What can we do." The famous editor said, "Try religion."
In an age of failed gimmicks, the Spirit always has the power of God, working in the Word.
Those of us in rain-soaked areas see the value of the rain and snow analogy in Isaiah 55.
I took several dozen orange roses to the rehearsal dinner yesterday (and they were the right color). We have several dozen more on the bushes now, not counting about 100 wild rose blooms.
I doubt whether anyone has done any gardening, because of the rains and previous cold weather. Some weeds are 7 feet tall too.
But it shows that the rain came down and accomplished its purpose.
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.
The emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the Word reminds us where divine power is. This is the beginning, the foundation, the work of the Spirit. The more we listen to His Word, the more confidence we have in God rather than ourselves.
I tell people about growing roses without pesticides, letting something as common as daisies host an insect that preys upon aphids, one of the great enemies of rose blooms.
I leave the roses alone, and when I cut them, little beneficial insects hover around them, even in the vase. Often a tiny spider will appear, thanking me for the great food that came his way. The base of the best roses are often clothed in spider web, which means no ground pests can get up the stem.
All this was arranged by God at the Creation. If He can handle and manage so many complex connections with plants, fungi, and insects, birds and earthworms, surely He can govern our lives as well - with the Word, not against the Word.
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| A spider came out to thank me for all the food that came to the Falling in Love rose. |
