XVI. [(2) THE LAST WORDS OF DEEPEST MEANING TO THE FAITHFUL FEW (_continued_). (_f_) _Their relation to the world and the promise of the Paraclete explained more fully_ (John 16:1). (_α_) Though the world will hate them, it is still expedient that He should depart from them (John 16:1) (_β_)... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU. — Comp. Note on John 15:17. Here, too, the reference is to the things which he had just said (John 16:17). He had foretold them of the hatred of the world and also of the witness of the Spirit. THAT YE SHOULD NOT BE OFFENDED. — Comp. Matthew 11:6; Matthew 13:21;... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL PUT YOU OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUES. — Comp. Notes on John 9:22; John 12:42. WILL THINK THAT HE DOETH GOD SERVICE. — Better, _will think that he offereth to God a sacrificial service._ The word rendered “doeth” in the Authorised version, is the technical word for offering sacrifice. (Comp., _e.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THE FATHER, NOR ME. — Comp. Note on John 15:21. He repeats that ignorance of God is the cause of the world’s hatred and persecution, and adds here that it is ignorance of God revealed in Himself. There is a special force in the mention of this ignorance in connection with... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THESE THINGS HAVE I TOLD YOU... — He recurs to the thought of John 16:1. (Comp. also John 13:19; John 14:29.) He strengthens them by forewarning them. When the persecution comes they will remember His word, and find in it support for their faith and evidence of His presence with them. THESE THI... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW I GO MY WAY TO HIM THAT SENT ME. — (Comp. John 13:1; John 14:12.) The work of His apostleship on earth was drawing to its close, and He was about to return to the Father from whom He had received it. This was to Him matter of joy, and if they had really loved Him would have been so to them.... [ Continue Reading ]
SORROW HATH FILLED YOUR HEART. — The thought of their own separation from Him, and of the dark future which lay before them, so filled their hearts that it left room for no thoughts of Him, and the brightness of the glory to which He was returning.... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS I TELL YOU THE TRUTH. — The words He is about to utter are words of strange sound for the ears of disciples, and He prefaces them by an appeal to His own knowledge and candour in dealing with them, as in John 14:2. The pronoun bears the weight of the emphasis, “I, who know all.” IT IS E... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE IS COME, HE WILL REPROVE THE WORLD. — Better, as in margin, _convince the world._ (Comp. John 3:20; John 8:46.) The only other passages where it occurs in the Gospels are in Matthew 18:15, and Luke 3:19. It is not in the better reading of John 8:9; but it occurs not unfrequently in the E... [ Continue Reading ]
OF SIN, BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE NOT ON ME. — This should not be interpreted, as it very frequently is, of the sin of unbelief, but of sin generally; unbelief in Christ is stated as the cause of sin. Sin is missing the aim of life, the disordered action of powers that have lost their controlling princip... [ Continue Reading ]
OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, BECAUSE I GO TO MY FATHER. — In the conviction of sin, the world is convinced of its own sin by the Spirit’s representation of Christ to it. That representation of Christ brings also the conviction of righteousness, but this is the righteousness of Christ, not that of the world. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
OF JUDGMENT, BECAUSE THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD IS JUDGED. — Comp. Notes on John 3:17, and John 12:30. The tense here is perfect, marking the completion of the condemnation. “The prince of this world hath been and remaineth judged.” The conviction is regarded from the point of view of the coming of th... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE YET MANY THINGS TO SAY UNTO YOU. — The “many things” are defined by the next verse to be things with regard to which the Spirit of Truth shall be their guide — _i.e.,_ they are parts of the revelation which the minds of the disciples are not yet fitted to receive. YE CANNOT BEAR THEM NOW. —... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWBEIT WHEN HE, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, IS COME. — Comp. Note on John 14:17. HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH. — Better,... _into all the truth._ The words do not mean that the Holy Spirit will fully guide them into truth, but that He will be their guide into the fulness of truth. The word rendered “g... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL GLORIFY ME. — The pronoun is here full of emphasis. The thought is that the future guidance of the Spirit promised in John 16:13, will be the revelation of the many things of Christ Himself which they cannot bear now (John 16:12). FOR HE SHALL RECEIVE OF MINE, AND SHALL SHEW IT UNTO YOU. —... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THINGS THAT THE FATHER HATH ARE MINE. — He has told them that the Spirit’s work is to glorify Him, to receive of His, and announce to the world. The ground of this saying is in the fact that the Son is the Revealer of the Father, and that the fulness of the truth (John 16:13) is given unto Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
A LITTLE WHILE, AND YE SHALL NOT SEE ME. — The better reading is, _A little while, and ye no longer behold Me._ For the sense, comp. Notes on John 14:18. The time here referred to is that between the moment of His speaking to them and His death. AND AGAIN, A LITTLE WHILE, AND YE SHALL SEE ME. — The... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID SOME OF HIS DISCIPLES AMONG THEMSELVES. — Better, _Therefore said_... The question arises out of what He has said. They draw aside and discuss the matter privately. It is beyond their comprehension, and seems to be contradictory. A LITTLE WHILE, AND YE SHALL NOT SEE ME. — Better, _A littl... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW JESUS KNEW THEY WERE DESIROUS TO ASK HIM. — The purpose of His enigmatic saying (John 16:29) has been accomplished. Their attention has been excited, and they have taken the first step towards knowledge. They inquire among themselves, and this spirit of inquiry which He reads in their hearts (co... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU. — Comp. Note on John 1:51. THAT YE SHALL WEEP AND LAMENT, BUT THE WORLD SHALL REJOICE. — Comp. John 20:11, and Luke 23:27. In the original the contrast between the sorrow of the disciples and the joy of the world is rendered the more striking by the order of the word... [ Continue Reading ]
A WOMAN WHEN SHE IS IN TRAVAIL HATH SORROW. — The Greek is more exactly, _the woman._.. _hath pangs_ — that is, “the woman in the well-known illustration.” (See Note on John 15:15.) This figure was of frequent use in the prophets. (Comp. Isaiah 21:3; Isaiah 26:17, and especially Isaiah 66:7; Jeremia... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE NOW THEREFORE HAVE SORROW. — The same word is used. The hour of their travail-pangs was at hand; but it would pass away, and the fulness of joy would come in the constant presence of their Lord. Their sorrow would be but temporary; their joy would be abiding. The point of comparison between t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THAT DAY YE SHALL ASK ME NOTHING. — Comp. Acts 1:6. The time here referred to is, as we have seen (John 16:16), the time of the gift of the Paraclete, who shall fully illumine them, so that they shall not need to ask the meaning of new thoughts and words as they have done hitherto. (Comp., _e... [ Continue Reading ]
HITHERTO HAVE YE ASKED NOTHING IN MY NAME. — Comp. Note on John 14:13. They had not up to this time received the Holy Spirit. When He came, He was as the presence of Christ dwelling in them. Under His influence their will became the will of Christ, and their thoughts the thoughts of Christ, and thei... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU IN PROVERBS. — Better, as in the margin,... _in parables._ So in the second clause of the verse and in John 16:29. (Comp. Note on John 10:6.) “These things” refers specially to what He had just said from John 16:16 onwards. There is a sense in which it is necessar... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THAT DAY YE SHALL ASK IN MY NAME. — Comp. Notes on John 16:23. When guided by the Paraclete, the life will be subject to the will of Christ, and the prayer will be in His name. AND I SAY NOT UNTO YOU, THAT I WILL PRAY THE FATHER FOR YOU. — These words have often been taken to mean, “That I will p... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE FATHER HIMSELF LOVETH YOU, BECAUSE YE HAVE LOVED ME. — Comp. Notes on John 14:21; John 14:23. The introduction of the thought again here reminds us that, although in the fulness of the higher spiritual life there is communion between the Father and the human spirit, because the Father Himsel... [ Continue Reading ]
I CAME FORTH FROM THE FATHER. — Comp. Note on John 16:19. He repeats with emphasis that which in the last verse He stated as believed by them — “It is true. I did come forth from the Father, and came into the world. But what follows from this? Heaven, and not earth, is My home. I leave the world aga... [ Continue Reading ]
LO, NOW SPEAKEST THOU PLAINLY, AND SPEAKEST NO PROVERB. — Better,... _parable,_ as in John 16:25. (Comp. Note there.) The emphasis is upon the word “now.” He had told them (John 16:25) that the hour would come when He would speak to them no more in parables, but tell them plainly of the Father. His... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW ARE WE SURE THAT THOU KNOWEST ALL THINGS. — Comp. John 16:19; John 16:23. The “now” is emphatic, as in the previous verse. They see in His present knowledge of their thoughts, and in the light which has come to them from the statements of John 16:28, the fulfilment of the promise which He has ma... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS ANSWERED THEM, DO YE NOW BELIEVE. — Comp. Note on John 1:50. Here, as there, the words do not necessarily ask a question; and, although many expositors prefer to take them interrogatively, a sense more in harmony with the context is got by understanding them as an assertion. Our Lord did not d... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE HOUR COMETH, YEA, IS NOW COME. — Comp. Notes on Matthew 26:31; Matthew 26:56. EVERY MAN TO HIS OWN. — Or, _his own lodging_ in Jerusalem, which must be here intended. That is, as the margin renders it, “to his own home.” (Comp. Note on John 1:11.) AND YET I AM NOT ALONE, BECAUSE THE FAT... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE THINGS I HAVE SPOKEN UNTO YOU... — At the conclusion of the discourse He sums up in a single thought what was the object of it, “Peace in Him. In the world, indeed, tribulation, but this as conquered in Him, and not interrupting the true peace in Him.” The thought is closely allied to that of... [ Continue Reading ]