Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 16:8-13

"And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 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 16:8-13 (ASV)

1. Previously, our Lord consoled His apostles by promising them the Holy Spirit. Here He shows the benefit the Holy Spirit will bring to them when He comes. He mentions three benefits: one for the world, a second for the disciples, and a third for Christ.

   The Holy Spirit will act regarding the world, the apostles, and Christ:

   • As for the world, the Holy Spirit will convict the world.
   • As for the apostles, the Spirit will teach them: I have yet many things to say to you.
   • As for Christ, the Spirit will glorify Him: He will glorify me (John 16:14).

   Concerning the first point, our Lord does two things. First, He mentions the benefit of the Spirit’s coming for the world; second, He explains it: of sin... because they did not believe in me.

2. He says it is to your advantage that I go, because I will send the Holy Spirit to you, and when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. This has received two interpretations: one by Augustine, and the other by Chrysostom.

3. Augustine explains it this way: And when he has come—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will convict the world. This means He will rebuke or reprove the world, for Reprove a wise man, and he will love you (Proverbs 9:8).

   But did Christ not also rebuke the world? He did, as when He said, you are of your father the devil (John 8:44), and in Matthew He said many things against the Pharisees and Scribes (Matthew 23). Why then does He say, he will convict, as though He Himself did not reprove? Perhaps someone will say that Christ rebuked only the Jews, but that the Holy Spirit, in and through the disciples, will rebuke the entire world. But this is contradicted by the fact that Christ also speaks in and through the apostles, just as the Holy Spirit does: you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me (2 Corinthians 13:3).

   Therefore, we must say that when He says, he will convict the world, He means the Spirit will invisibly enter their hearts and pour His love into them, so that their fear is conquered and they have the strength to rebuke. For as has already been said, as long as the disciples were attached to Christ in a worldly manner, the Holy Spirit was not in them as He would be later. Consequently, they were not as courageous then as they were after the Spirit came. Their power—the power of the apostles—came from the Spirit of his mouth (Psalms 33:6); then the Spirit of God took possession of Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:20). Again, he will convict the world because He will fill hearts that were previously worldly and lead them to rebuke themselves: I will reprove my ways in his sight (Job 13:15). The Holy Spirit does this: put a new and right spirit within me (Psalms 51:10).

4. For what will the Spirit rebuke the world? For three things. He will reprove the worldly for the sin they have committed: declare to my people their transgression (Isaiah 58:1). And this was done by the apostles: their voice goes out through all the earth (Psalms 19:4). He will reprove the world for the righteousness it has neglected. And the apostles did this: none is righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). And the Spirit will reprove the world because of the judgment it has held in contempt: when wickedness comes, contempt comes also (Proverbs 18:3); she has despised my judgments (Ezekiel 5:6).

5. Now He explains all this, beginning with what He says about their sin: because they do not believe in me. The Spirit rebukes them only for the sin of unbelief because by faith all other sins are forgiven. In a similar way, our Lord charges the damned only with a lack of mercy, because all sins are washed away by mercy: by mercy and faith sins are cleansed away (Proverbs 15:27). The same applies here: as long as they remain in unbelief, their other sins remain, but when there is no longer unbelief, the other sins are forgiven.

   He says, because they did not believe in me, using the form in me, and not the forms ‘mihi’ or ‘me,’ because even the devils believe that Christ exists, and they tremble (James 2:19). To believe in me is to believe with a faith enlivened by hope and love.

6. Second, He explains what He said about righteousness when He says, because I go to the Father. This can be understood in two ways, referring either to the righteousness of Christ or of the apostles. Regarding the righteousness of the apostles, the explanation is this: the world will be rebuked because of our righteousness, which the world has not imitated. This is the righteousness, I say, which is not from the law but from faith: the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22). Faith is concerned with what is invisible (Hebrews 11:1).

   Now, the disciples saw one thing—the humanity of Christ—but did not see another—His divinity. But Christ promises this to them as a reward: I will... manifest myself to him (John 14:21). Thus, the disciples had faith only regarding the divinity of Christ; but when Christ’s human nature was taken from them, they had faith regarding both His humanity and divinity. And so, according to Augustine in his Commentary on John, when Christ says, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more, it is as if He is saying: ‘You believe in me regarding my divinity, and because I go to the Father, you will also believe in me regarding my humanity. This is the righteousness of faith which the world does not imitate.’

   He says, and you will see me no more, not because they would never see Him, but because they would not see Him in that mortal flesh. They did see Him at the resurrection, but then He was immortal; and they will see Him at the judgment, coming in glory. This phrase is explained as referring to the righteousness of Christ in the book On the Words of the Lord. The Jews refused to recognize the righteousness of Christ: we know that this man is a sinner (John 9:24). But He will manifest His righteousness to them, saying, because I go to the Father, for the very fact that I go to the Father is a sign of my righteousness. Christ descended because of His mercy, but His ascension was due to His righteousness: therefore God has highly exalted him (Philippians 2:9).

7. Third, the Holy Spirit reproves the world by the judgment. This is because the prince of this world is already judged. It is the devil who is the ruler of this world, that is, of worldly people. He is the ruler not by creation, but by his suggestions and their imitation of him: those on his side imitate him ; he is king over all the sons of pride (Job 41:34). Therefore, this ruler is already judged, that is, cast outside: now is the judgment of this world—that is, in favor of the world—now will the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:31). He says this to anticipate the excuse that some will make for their sins, saying that the devil tempted them. He is saying, in effect, that they cannot be excused, because the devil has been cast out by the grace and faith of Christ and by the Holy Spirit—cast out from the hearts of the faithful so that he no longer tempts from within as before, but from without. And so those who resolve to cling to Christ can resist. This is why the devil, who has conquered the strongest men, can be conquered by frail women. Thus the world is reproved by this judgment because, being unwilling to resist, it is overcome by the devil, who, although expelled, is brought back by their consent to sin: let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies (Romans 6:12).

   Another explanation is in the book On the Words of the Lord. It says here that the phrase, is already judged, refers to the judgment of condemnation. That is, the ruler of this world is already condemned, and consequently all who adhere to him: depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). The world is reproved by this judgment because although the world knows that its ruler has been condemned, it has not escaped from this judgment but is judged with its ruler, because it imitates his pride and evil ways.

8. Chrysostom gives another explanation of this passage, as follows. When he has come, the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of sin. It is as if to say: the Holy Spirit will be a witness against the world: God also bore witness by signs and wonders (Hebrews 2:4). He will show that they have sinned gravely because they did not believe in me, when they see that the Holy Spirit will be given in my name to those who believe: and we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him (Acts 5:32).

   The Holy Spirit will be a witness to my righteousness, which the world did not think I possessed. And He will be this witness because I go to the Father and will send you the Spirit, who will show that I am righteous and have led a faultless life: whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth (John 15:26). And in the Psalm we see that after Christ ascends He gives gifts to men (Psalms 68:18).

   He will be a witness of judgment, because the prince of this world is already judged; that is, it is by the Holy Spirit that he is judged and cast out of the hearts of those who believe: I will remove from the land... the unclean spirit (Zechariah 13:2); now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God (1 Corinthians 2:12). He will convict the world by His judgment because the world wickedly judged that Christ had a devil and cast out devils by Beelzebul. The Holy Spirit, whom I will send, will condemn the devil and cast him out.

9. Now He mentions the benefit His disciples will receive from the coming of the Holy Spirit; this benefit is their instruction. First, He states their need for instruction; second, He promises this instruction: but when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will teach you all truth; third, He eliminates a difficulty: for he will not speak of himself, but whatever things he will hear.

10. He says: the coming of the Holy Spirit will benefit the world because He will rebuke it. But the Spirit will also benefit you by instructing you. You need this instruction because I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. It is as if to say: I have instructed you, but you are not completely instructed. Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways; and how small a whisper do we hear of him. But the thunder of his power who can understand? (Job 26:14). It would be foolish to ask what those many things were which they could not bear, as Augustine remarks. For if they could not bear them, much less can we.

11. The statement, you cannot bear them now, has been used by certain heretics as a cover for their errors. They tell their followers the most shameful things in private—things they would not dare to say openly—as though these were the things the disciples were not then able to bear, and as though the Holy Spirit taught them these things which a person would blush to teach and preach openly.

    We should not think that some secret teaching is kept from uneducated believers and taught only to those who are more learned. Indeed, matters of faith are presented to all the faithful: what I tell you in the dark, utter in the light (Matthew 10:27). Still, they have to be presented in one way to the uneducated and in another way to the learned. For instance, certain finer points about the mystery of the incarnation and the other mysteries would not be presented to the uneducated, because they would not understand them and they would actually be an obstacle. So our Lord presented all matters of faith to His disciples, but not in the way He later revealed them, and especially not in the way they will be presented in eternal life.

    Accordingly, what they could not bear then was the full knowledge of divine things, such as the knowledge of the equality of the Son with the Father and other things of that sort which they did not then know. Paul says, he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter (2 Corinthians 12:4); these things were the very truths of faith, not something else, but known in a more profound way. Again, the disciples did not then have a spiritual understanding of all the Scriptures, but did so only when he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). Also, the disciples did not then have a full understanding of the sufferings and dangers they were to undergo; they could not bear such knowledge then, as their spirits were weak: put your shoulder under her and carry her . For these reasons, the disciples were in need of further instruction.

12. Then He promises that they will be instructed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, who will teach them all truth. For since the Holy Spirit is from the Truth, it is appropriate that the Spirit teach the truth and make those He teaches like the One who sent Him. He says, all truth, that is, the truth of the faith. He will teach them to have a better understanding of this truth in this life, and a full understanding in eternal life, where we will know as we are known (compare to 1 Corinthians 13:12); his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie (1 John 2:27). Or, He will teach them all truth concerning the figures of the law, an understanding the apostles received from the Holy Spirit. We read in Daniel that the Lord gave to His children wisdom and understanding (Daniel 1:17).

13. Now He addresses a potential difficulty that could have arisen. If the Holy Spirit will teach them, it seems that He is greater than Christ. This is not true, because the Spirit will teach them by the power of the Father and the Son. For he will not speak on his own authority, but from Me, because He is from Me. Just as the Son does not act on His own authority but from the Father, so the Holy Spirit, because He is from another—that is, from the Father and the Son—will not speak on his own authority, but whatever things he will hear, he will speak. He will speak by receiving knowledge as well as His essence from eternity, not with an audible voice but by enlightening your minds from within: I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her (Hosea 2:14); let me hear what God the Lord will speak (Psalms 85:8).

14. Since the Holy Spirit hears from eternity, why does He say he will hear, as in the future?

    We should say to this that eternity includes all time. Consequently, the Holy Spirit, who hears from all eternity, is said to hear in the present, in the past, and in the future. Yet at times He is said to hear in the future because the knowledge in question concerns things that are still in the future. He will speak, therefore, whatever he will hear, for He will not only teach about things that are eternal, but also future things. Thus He adds, and the things that are to come, he will show you, which is a characteristic of God: she has foreknowledge of signs and wonders ; tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods (Isaiah 41:23). This is characteristic of the Holy Spirit: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters will prophesy (Joel 2:28). The apostles, moreover, had the spirit of prophecy. Or, he will teach you all truth, of the forms.

    So they would have no doubts about how they would know of the coming tribulations, which Christ predicted for them, He adds, and the things that are to come, he will show you, that is, what will come upon you.