Commentary - John 16:5-15

Bird's-eye view

In this portion of the Upper Room Discourse, the Lord Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure. Their hearts are filled with a natural and understandable sorrow, but Jesus wants to lift their chins. He is about to explain to them that His departure is not a tragedy for them, but rather a strategic necessity. It is, in fact, to their advantage. The advantage lies in the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, who will unleash a worldwide ministry that would not be possible while Jesus remained on earth in His physical body.

This passage outlines the Spirit's threefold ministry to the world and His ongoing ministry to the church. To the world, He will bring a powerful conviction concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. This is not a gentle nudge, but a divine prosecution. To the church, the Spirit of truth will be a guide, leading the apostles into the fullness of the truth that Christ had for them, a truth they were not yet ready to bear. And in all of this, the Spirit's central mission is not to draw attention to Himself, but to glorify Christ. He is the divine spotlight operator, ensuring that the Son receives all the glory. This is a profoundly Trinitarian passage, revealing the coordinated work of the Father, Son, and Spirit for the redemption of the world and the building of the church.

Outline

Commentary

5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’

Jesus begins by stating a simple fact, one He has mentioned before. He is returning to the Father. But He points out a curious silence on the part of the disciples. They are not asking Him where He is going. Now, on the surface, this seems to contradict what Peter asked just a few chapters earlier (John 13:36). But the point here is not about a simple lack of factual inquiry. The point is about their heart's orientation. Their question, when it did come, was tinged with their own sense of loss, their own fears about being left behind. Jesus is pointing out that their sorrow has turned them inward. They are so consumed with the fact of His leaving that they are not asking the right kind of question, the kind of question that looks up and forward to the glory of His destination and the purpose behind it.

6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Jesus diagnoses their condition perfectly. Sorrow has not just touched their hearts; it has filled them. It is an occupying force. This is a natural human reaction, of course. The one they love, the one they have left everything for, is about to leave them. But Jesus does not state this to condemn them, but to heal them. He is naming the sickness so that He can provide the cure. The cure is not to deny the sorrow, but to see a greater reality that reframes it. The gospel does not dismiss our sorrows, it overwhelms them with a greater joy.

7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

Here is the great paradox, the divine reversal. His going away is not their loss, but their gain. It is to their advantage. How could this possibly be? Because the plan of redemption is Trinitarian. The Son's earthly ministry must be completed, His sacrifice made, and His ascension secured, in order for the next phase of God's plan to commence. The coming of the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, is contingent on Jesus' departure. Jesus, in His glorified state, will send the Spirit from the Father. This means the Spirit's ministry is not a consolation prize. It is an upgrade. The omnipresent Spirit can do a work in and through them that the localized, incarnate Christ could not. His presence with a few in Galilee is about to be exchanged for His presence in millions all over the world.

8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;

The Spirit's first work is directed at the world. The word translated "convict" is a strong legal term. It means to prosecute, to expose, to bring to light with irrefutable evidence. The Holy Spirit is the divine prosecutor, and the world is in the dock. He will press God's case against the world on three counts: sin, righteousness, and judgment. This is not about making people feel vaguely guilty. This is a divine lawsuit, and the Spirit comes to prove the world is in the wrong on every count and that God is entirely in the right.

9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;

The Spirit's prosecution zeroes in on the root of all sin. It is not about this or that particular transgression, but about the foundational rebellion of unbelief. The ultimate sin, the sin that condemns, is the refusal to believe in the Son whom the Father has sent. All other sins are just symptoms of this root disease. The world thinks of sin in terms of murder or theft. The Spirit reveals that the fundamental sin is looking at the glorious Son of God and saying, "No, thank you." He presses the point that rejecting Christ is not an intellectual mistake; it is a profound moral failure for which the world is culpable.

10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;

The world has its own standards of righteousness, usually some form of self-righteous moralism or public virtue-signaling. The Spirit comes to demolish all of that. He convicts the world concerning true righteousness, and the ultimate proof of that righteousness is the ascension of Jesus Christ. By raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him at His right hand, the Father publicly vindicated His Son. He declared to the entire cosmos that Jesus was His righteous one. The world condemned Him as a criminal, but the Father exalted Him as Lord. The Spirit points to the empty tomb and the occupied throne as God's definitive verdict on what true righteousness is. It is found in Christ alone, not in the filthy rags of human effort.

11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

The world operates under the illusion that it is getting away with its rebellion. But the Spirit comes to announce that judgment is not just a future event; it has already begun. The decisive verdict has been rendered. The proof? The ruler of this world, Satan himself, has been judged. At the cross, Christ disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them (Col. 2:15). Satan's power was broken, his doom was sealed. The Spirit's work is to press this reality home. He announces to the world that its prince has been defeated and that all who remain in allegiance to him will share in his fate. The judgment of the world is certain because the judgment of its ruler is already an accomplished fact.

12 “I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

Jesus now turns from the Spirit's ministry to the world to His ministry to the disciples. He is a wise teacher. He knows their capacity. They are still reeling from the announcement of His death and departure. Their minds are saturated with sorrow and confusion. To unload the full weight of New Covenant theology on them at this moment would be like trying to fill a thimble with a firehose. They simply cannot bear it. This is a word of great pastoral tenderness. He does not rebuke them for their weakness, but rather makes provision for it.

13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

The provision for their weakness is, once again, the Holy Spirit. He is designated here as the "Spirit of truth." His ministry will be to take them by the hand and lead them into the vast landscape of "all the truth." This is a promise that finds its primary fulfillment in the inspiration of the New Testament Scriptures. The apostles, guided by the Spirit, would remember, understand, and record the full meaning of Christ's person and work. Notice the humility of the Spirit. He does not speak on His own authority, "from Himself." Rather, He is the perfect communicator of the mind of the Godhead. He speaks what He hears from the Father and the Son. His work is to receive and reveal. Part of this revelation includes what is to come, the great prophetic sweep of God's purposes in history.

14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Here we have the central job description of the Holy Spirit. His ultimate purpose is not to draw attention to Himself, to His power, or to the experiences He gives. His mission is to glorify Jesus. He is relentlessly Christ-centered. How does He do this? By taking what belongs to Christ, "of Mine," and disclosing it, revealing it, making it known to us. The Spirit is like a spotlight operator in a dark theater. The audience is not meant to look at the man in the booth; they are meant to look at the one on stage whom the light illuminates. Any ministry that claims to be of the Spirit but results in the glorification of men, or of experiences, or of the Spirit Himself, is a counterfeit. The true work of the Spirit always results in a greater adoration and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Jesus concludes with a staggering statement of His own deity and His equality with the Father. The reason the Spirit can take what is Christ's and show it to us is that everything the Father has belongs to the Son. There is a perfect unity of possession and purpose within the Trinity. The Father's truth, glory, and authority are the Son's truth, glory, and authority. Therefore, when the Spirit reveals the things of Christ, He is revealing the very things of God. This is the foundation of our confidence. The truth we receive from the Spirit is not second-hand information. It is the very truth of the Father, mediated through the Son, and applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The entire Godhead is invested in our salvation and our instruction.

Application

The departure of Christ was not a subtraction but a strategic multiplication. We must learn to see God's seeming withdrawals as preparations for a greater advance. When we are filled with sorrow, we must ask if we, like the disciples, are too focused on our immediate loss instead of on Christ's glorious purpose. His plan is always for our ultimate advantage, even when it feels like a disadvantage.

We must also recognize the Spirit's work in the world. The world is not drifting aimlessly; it is being prosecuted. The Spirit is constantly pressing the claims of Christ, convicting the world of its fundamental sin of unbelief, its phony righteousness, and its coming judgment. Our task in evangelism is to cooperate with this work, to be the human mouthpieces for the divine Prosecutor, clearly articulating the charges and pointing to the only remedy, which is faith in the vindicated and glorified Son.

Finally, we must depend on the Spirit as our teacher. He does not speak new revelations that contradict what has been written, for His job is to take what is Christ's, which is now enshrined in Scripture, and make it plain to us. The Spirit's great work is to make us marvel at Jesus. If our spiritual life is centered on anything or anyone else, we have gotten off track. The true sign of being filled with the Spirit is not a particular spiritual gift, but a heart that is filled with the glory of Christ. He is the one who takes the things of Jesus and makes them shine in our hearts, and for that, we should give all thanks.