Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 16:13

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, [these] shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come." — John 16:13 (ASV)

But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak;

That is just our business, to hear God's message, and then to speak it; and if the Holy Spirit does this, and if Jesus did it, we also may be glad to do the same. We are no inventors of great novelties; we are simply the message-bearers of the Most High, the declarers of the old truths which God has revealed to us.

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.

Is not that wonderful? As Jesus Christ said that he did not bear witness to himself, but spoke the words which his Father had given him, so the Spirit of God does not speak of himself, but he bears witness to the truth which Christ has revealed, and also makes known "things to come."

But he will never reveal anything contrary to what Christ has revealed in his Word. What is to be revealed is the truth that was from the beginning. As we are taught it by the Divine Spirit, it becomes fresh truth to us, though it was always in Christ's eternal mind.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

All that you need to know, and may know, he will teach you. If you cannot find your way into the heart of any truth, the Spirit of God has the clue to it, so ask him to guide you into it. There is such a thing as seeing the outside of a truth; that is good as far as it goes, but the blessedness lies in getting to the inside of the truth, the very kernel and core of it.

However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

See, my dear brothers in the ministry, how little value the Holy Ghost places on originality. We have men nowadays straining to be original. Strain the other way, for listen: He shall not speak of Himself, – not even the Holy Ghost, – He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak. He is the Repeater of the Father's message, not the inventor of His own. So let it be with us ministers. We are not to make up a gospel as we go along, as I have heard some say. We are not to shape it to the times in which we live and suit it to the congregations to which we speak.

God forbid! Let this be true of every one of us: He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself;

This is a very wonderful expression: "He shall not speak of himself." We have plenty of men, nowadays, who boast that they do speak of or from themselves; that is to say, they profess to borrow from no one, not even from God. They are original thinkers, inventors; they bring forth fresh things out of the depth of their wonderful minds; but even the Holy Ghost is here said not to "speak of himself."