Chapter Sixteen
Jn. 16:1. These things I have spoken to you, so that you would not be caused to stumble.
"I," He says, "told you about this before it came to pass, so that you would not be scandalized afterwards, when you see that many do not believe your preaching and that you yourselves will undergo afflictions, but so that, concluding from the fact that I told you about this before it came to pass, you would also accept My consolation with faith that I will not deceive you in this case, just as I did not lie in the prediction about the afflictions."
Jn. 16:2. They will put you out of the synagogues;
"They will put you out of the synagogues," they will excommunicate you from their assemblies and honored places and deprive you of all fellowship. For "they had already agreed that if anyone should confess Him to be the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue" (John 9:22).
Jn. 16:2. "Indeed, the time is coming when everyone who kills you will think that he is thereby serving God."
Not only will you be expelled from the synagogues, but you will also receive death, and a shameful death, for you will be killed as harmful people, enemies of God. And everyone who kills you will so strive for your murder that "he will think that he is thereby serving God," that is, he will think that he is performing a deed pleasing to God and holy.
Jn. 16:3. And these things they will do because they have not known the Father, nor Me.
He also adds sufficient consolation. He says: "They will do these things because they have not known either the Father or Me." You will suffer for My sake and for the Father's sake, and therefore endure. For "blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake" (Matt. 5:11). Let this blessedness be your consolation when you remember it.
Jn. 16:4. But I have told you these things so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them.
I told you about this so that when you see My sorrowful words fulfilled, you would believe the rest as well. For you will not be able to say that I, wishing to deceive you, foretold only pleasant things; but just as I did not deceive when I foretold sorrowful things, so also in the prediction of joyful things I am worthy of belief. I said this also so that you would not remain unprepared, but would prepare yourselves, remembering that I Myself spoke of this, and therefore would stand against afflictions courageously.
Jn. 16:4. I did not tell you this from the beginning, because I was with you.
The apostles, having heard that such calamities would befall them, were weighed down with great sorrow. Therefore the Lord says: "I did not tell you about such sorrows before, not because I did not know, but because I was with you, and you had in Me a sufficient refuge, and the whole war was waged against Me, while you yourselves were in complete safety. So then, there was no need for such words to prepare and forewarn you; but now, departing to My Father and leaving you, I give you advance notice of this, so that you may safeguard yourselves."
How then did the Lord say that He had not spoken of this from the beginning, when it is written that, having called the twelve disciples, He said to them: "They will bring you before governors and kings"? (Matt. 10:18). Although He said that they will bring you before governors, He had not yet said that they will kill you as impious men, as harmful people and enemies of God. And in another way: there He said that they would have to endure suffering from the Gentiles, but here He tells them that the Jews will cause them calamities; for they will cast you out of the synagogue — without a doubt, the Jews.
Jn. 16:5. But now I go to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me: where are You going?
Jn. 16:6. But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
"And none of you asks Me: 'Where are You going?'" For from sorrow you were confounded and thrown into a frenzy; your hearts were shaken by the expectation of calamities.
Jn. 16:7. But I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go;
But "I tell you the truth." See how He comforts them. "However much," He says, "you grieve, I am telling you what is beneficial for you. You wish that I would always be with you, but this is not beneficial for you. For if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you. Therefore, although you desire My presence, I will not listen to you, but will rather choose what is beneficial for you than fulfill your desire which is harmful to you."
So also in all things we must act thus: for ourselves and for our neighbors we should devise what is beneficial, not what is pleasant. For if I do not die for the world and do not go to the Father, having offered Myself as a sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of the world, the Comforter will not come. For how will He come if the enmity is not ended through the putting to death of sin, if the Father is not reconciled with human nature?
Jn. 16:7. For if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you,
It is better for you that I go away. What can the Macedonians say here, who diminish the glory of the Spirit and call Him a servant of the Son? What benefit would it be for the Master to depart and a servant to come? Therefore you, the disciples, although you will grieve because of My departure, you will be gladdened by the coming of the Spirit, which will bring you greater and more important blessings.
Observe, if you will, right here the sovereign authority of the Spirit and the co-willing of the Son; for in the words "the Comforter will come" the authority of the Spirit is expressed, while in the words "I will send Him" — the good pleasure of the Son, the consent, if one may say so, to the coming of the Comforter and the beckoning toward it.
Jn. 16:8. And when He comes, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
Jn. 16:9. Of sin, because they do not believe in Me;