John 16:21

16:21 the pains of labor: This metaphor symbolizes anguish that is followed by God’s blessing and wonder (cp. Isa 21:2-3; 26:16-21; 66:7-10; Jer 13:21).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 16:21. Ὅταν τίκτῃ, when she is about to bring forth) Here there is not yet added, offspring, because the woman is then rather held fast in the throes of actual labour.—ἄνθρωπος, a human being) whether a son or a daughter.—εἰς τὸν κόσμον into the world) How much greater will be your joy, to sec Jesus, restored alive to you, Joh 16:22.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 16:21 . He adds an illustration of the manner in which anxiety and dread pass into joy: ἡ γυνή “the woman,” the article is generic, cf. ὁ δοῦλος , Joh 15:15 , Meyer, ὅταν τίκτῃ , “when she brings forth,” λύπην … αὐτῆς , “hath sorrow because her hour” the critical or appointed time of her delivery “is come”. The woman in travail is the common figure for terror-stricken anguish in O.T.: Psa 48:6 ; Jer 4:31 ; Jer 6:24 , etc. ὅταν δὲ γεννήσῃ τὸ παιδίον … “but when the child is born, she no longer remembers the distress, for the joy that a man is born into the world”. The comparison, so far as explicitly used by our Lord in Joh 16:22 , extends only to the sudden replacement of sorrow with joy in both cases. But a comparison of Isa 66:7-9 , Hos 13:13 , and other O.T. passages, in which the resurrection of a new Israel is likened to a difficult and painful birth, warrants the extension of the metaphor to the actual birth of the N.T. church in the resurrection of Christ. Cf. Holtzmann.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 21. For joy that a man is born] ανθρωπος is put here for a human creature, whether male or female; as homo among the Romans denoted either man or woman.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. A woman, when she is in labor. He employs a comparison to confirm the statement which he had just now made, or rather, he expresses his meaning more clearly, that not only will their sorrow be turned into joy, but also that it contains in itself the ground and occasion of joy It frequently happens that, when adversity has been followed by prosperity, men forget their former grief, and give themselves up unreservedly to joy, and yet the grief which came before it is not the cause of the joy But Christ means that the sorrow which they shall endure for the sake of the Gospel will be profitable. Indeed, the result of all griefs cannot be otherwise than unfavorable, unless when they are blessed in Christ. But as the cross of Christ always contains in itself the victory, Christ justly compares the grief arising from it to the sorrow of a woman in labor, which receives its reward when the mother is cheered by the birth of the child. The comparison would not apply, if sorrow did not produce joy in the members of Christ, when they become partakers of his sufferings, just as the labor in the, woman is the cause of the birth. The comparison must also be applied in this respect, that though the sorrow of the woman is very severe, it quickly passes away. It was no small solace to the apostles, therefore, when they learned that their sorrow would not be of long duration.

We ought now to appropriate the use of this doctrine to ourselves. Having been regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, we ought to feel in ourselves such a joy as would remove every feeling of our distresses. We ought, I say, to resemble women in labor, on whom the mere sight of the child born produces such an impression, that their pain gives them pain no longer. But as we have received nothing more than the first-fruits, and these in very small measure, we scarcely taste a few drops of that spiritual gladness, to soothe our grief and alleviate its bitterness. And yet that small portion clearly shows that they who contemplate Christ by faith are so far from being at any time overwhelmed by grief, that, amidst their heaviest sufferings, they rejoice with exceeding great joy.

But since it is an obligation laid

on all creatures to labor till the last day of redemption, (Romans 8:22, 23,)

let us know that we too must groan, until, having been delivered from the incessant afflictions of the present life, we obtain a full view of the fruit of our faith. To sum up the whole in a few words, believers are like women in labor, because, having been born again in Christ, they have not yet entered into the heavenly kingdom of God and a blessed life; and they are like pregnant women who are in childbirth, because, being still held captive in the prison of the flesh, they long for that blessed state which lies hidden under hope.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(21) 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 Joh_15:15.) This figure was of frequent use in the prophets. (Comp. Isa_21:3; Isa_26:17-18, and especially Isa_66:7-8; Jer_4:31; Jer_22:23; Jer_30:6; Hos_13:13-14; Mic_4:9-10.)

That a man is born into the world.—The word is the wider word for “human being.” (Comp. Note on Joh_1:51.) The thought is of the joy of maternity swallowing up the pangs of child-birth. These cease to exist, but that continues. She forgets the one in the fulness of the other.

For the phrase “into the world” comp. Joh_1:9; Joh_18:37.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. A woman] Or, The woman, like ‘the servant’ (Joh_15:15): in each case the article is generic, expressing the general law. The figure is frequent in O.T.; Isa_66:7; Hos_13:13; Mic_4:9. See on Mar_13:8.

for joy] Better, for the joy, the joy peculiar to the case.

a man] A human being, one of the noblest of God’s creatures.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In that day ye shall ask me nothing,.... Meaning, not the whole Gospel dispensation, so often called, in prophetic language, "that day"; and is, in the New Testament, opposed to the night of Jewish and Gentile darkness; and, in comparison of the former dispensation, is a time of great spiritual light and knowledge: nor the latter part of that day, when there will be no night of darkness and desertion, of error and security, of affliction and persecution, with the church; when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord; when all the children of God shall be taught of him, and there will be no need to say, know the Lord, for all shall know him, from the least to the greatest: nor the day of judgment, which, by way of emphasis, is so frequently called "that day": nor the state of ultimate happiness, the everlasting day of glory; when all imperfections shall be done away, when saints will know, as they are known, and see Jesus as he is, and need not ask any questions about him: but the time when Christ, and his apostles, should meet again, and see each other's faces with joy and pleasure, is meant; and the time following thereon, especially the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured down upon them, and, according to his promise, came to them, taught them all things, and led them into all truth. This asking is not to be understood of asking in prayer; for it appears, by what follows, that they should ask in his name then, and he encourages to it; but of asking him questions, and that not of any sort; for it is certain, that, within this time, they did ask many things. Peter asked what John, the beloved disciple, should do; and they all asked him, a little before his ascension, whether he would, at that time, restore again the kingdom to Israel; but it is to be restrained to such things they had been, or were, desirous of asking him; such as, whither goest thou? show us the Father? how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? and more especially these last questions, they greatly desired to put to him, what is this, "a little while and ye shall not see me?" and what is this, "a little while and ye shall see me?" and what is the meaning of these words, "because I go to the Father?" Joh 16:17. Now our Lord intimates, that at this time all these things would be so clear and evident to them, that they should ask him no questions about them. But he adds,

verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Asking here signifies prayer, and a different word is here used than before. The object of prayer is the Father, though not to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit, who were both separately, or in conjunction with the Father, prayed unto after this; see Act 7:59. The medium of access to the Father is the name of Christ; he is the Mediator between God and man, the way of access unto him; whatever is asked, is to be asked on account of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, and then there is no doubt of success; whatever is asked will be given; his blood within the vail speaks loud for every blessing; his righteousness, God is always pleased with; his sacrifice is a sweet smelling savour: his mediation is powerful; and his name is always prevalent.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

Ver. 21. A woman when she is in travail] The sorrow of a saint is often compared to that of a travailing woman, Isa 26:17; Jer 6:24, &c. 1. In bitterness and sharpness; which made Medea say, that she had rather a thousand times be slain in battle than once bring forth a child: Millies in belle perire mallem, quam semel parere. 2. In utility; it tends to a birth. 3. In hope and expectation, not only of an end, but also of fruit. 4. In that there is a certain set time for both. And Finis edulcat media. The end sweetens the means. (Keckermann.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our Lord compares the state of the church in this life, and more especially in those first and most furious times, to the state of a woman that is big with child, and in her travail; when, he saith, she hath sorrow, that is, great pain, because God, when he cursed the woman for her transgression, made this her portion, Gen 3:16, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and when her weeks are fulfilled, her hour is come to feel the effect of this curse, the fruit of the first woman’s transgression: but no sooner is she delivered of a child, but she forgetteth all her throes and pains, for joy of a child born into the world. Such (saith our Saviour to his disciples) is your state; you are as a woman in travail; so will all those that believe in me be, to the end of the world.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. A woman… hath sorrow—A brief illustrative parable. It is plain that the woman stands for the apostles; her travail sorrow for their grief at Christ’s death; and the man child for Christ revealed at his resurrection. The best commentary upon this parable is furnished by John himself in Rev_12:1-5, where a woman brings forth a man child, who is caught up into the heaven to the throne of God; in which the woman represents the Church of God bringing forth a Saviour and ruler of the world. The literal basis of this figure is the birth of Christ from a pure virgin. Or, still farther back, it is Eve whose seed should bruise the serpent’s head. The woman thus symbolizing the Church is here represented by the apostles, who are the Church now in travail and overwhelmed with sorrow until the bringing forth of the glorified Christ. Then shall their very sorrow transform into joy.

Remembereth no more the anguish—It is God’s great compensation that her sorrow shall be as if it never had been, and the whole thing becomes a joy.

A man is born—A human being, according to the Greek, of either sex. In the midst of humiliation and sorrow, the birth of a human immortal is a most stupendous event. The creation of a material world bears no comparison with it; hence, to the view of Scripture, all the circumstances of generation and birth are divine and wonderful.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The next illustration is very remarkable, and surely cannot be a simple analogy of the supervening of joy on sorrow. The woman (the article does not point to any special gunh , but refers to a universal fact and law of womanhood, cf. o doulov , Joh_15:15) when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come. So now there are the travail-pangs of the new humanity, the new theocracy, bitter and terrible, But as soon as she has brought forth the child, she remembereth no longer the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. The old prophets often compared the grief of Israel or her peril to the pangs of a travailing woman preluding deliverance (Isa_21:3 Isa_26:17 Isa_66:6, 7 Hos_13:13) and even joy the joy of bringing manhood into the world and the new consciousness of maternity. Meyer and others rebel against any meaning beyond that of the following of joy upon sorrow; but Tholuck, De Wette, Ebrard, and Moulton see here the obvious reference to those "travail-pangs of death" with which St. Peter (Act_3:24) said that the Holy One could not be restrained, agonies in which for a while every apostle must have wept and lamented, dying and being crucified with him, and to the glorious deliverance of all who suffered with him, when they live again in newness of life by the power of his resurrection.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

world

Greek, "kosmos", means "mankind".

(See Scofield Mat 4:8).

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. ἡ γυνή. The article is generic; this is the general law: comp. ὁ δοῦλος (Joh 15:15). The metaphor is frequent in O. T. Isa 21:3; Isa 26:17; Isa 66:7; Hos 13:13; Mic 4:9. See on Mar 13:8. Note the articles in what follows; the child, the anguish, the joy,—always to be found in such a case. But the joy effaces the anguish, because a human being (ἄνθρωπος), the noblest of God’s creatures, is born. Μόχθου γὰρ οὐδεὶς τοῦ παρελθόντος λόγος.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21.] The ‘tertium comparationis’ is ἡ λύπη εἰς χαρὰν γενήσεται: but the comparison itself goes far beyond this mere similitude.

ἡ γυνή is not merely generic, but allusive to the frequent use and notoriety of the comparison. We often have it in the O.T.,—see Isa 21:3; Isa 26:17, Isa 26:18; Isa 37:3; Isa 66:7, Isa 66:8: Hos 13:13, Hos 13:14: Mic 4:9, Mic 4:10.

τίκτῃ] is bringing forth, viz. παιδίον, expressed in τὸ π. below.

ἡ ὥρα αὐτ.] her (appointed) time.

τὸ παιδ. not necessarily masculine (“non puella sed puer,” ), but indefinite.

The deeper reference of the comparison has been well described by Olshausen: “Here arises the question, how are we to understand this similitude? We might perhaps think that the suffering Manhood of Christ was the woman in her pangs, and the same Christ glorified in the Resurrection, the Man born; but the Redeemer (ver. 22) applies the pangs to the disciples: how then will the ἄνθρωπος who is born apply to them?” Then, after condemning the shallow and unsatisfactory method of avoiding deep research by asserting that the details of parables are not to be interpreted, he proceeds: “Hence the proper import of the figure seems to be, that the Death of Jesus Christ was as it were an anguish of birth belonging to all Humanity (ein schmerzvoller Geburtsact der ganzen Menschheit) in which the perfect Man was born into the world; and in this very birth of the new man lies the spring of eternal joy, never to be lost, for all, inasmuch as through Him and His power the renovation of the whole is rendered possible” (ii. 379). And indeed the same is true of every Christian who is planted in the likeness of Christ. His passing from sorrow to joy—till “Christ be formed in him,” is this birth of pain. And the whole Church, the Spouse of Christ,—nay, even the whole Creation, συνωδίνει, till the number of the elect be accomplished, and the eternal joy brought in. And thus the meaning which Luthardt insists on as against the above remarks of Olshausen, viz. the new birth of the Church, is in inner truth the same as his.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. ἡ γυνή, sc. any woman, what follows being universally true; Cf. ὁ κόκκος (12:24) or ὁ δοῦλος (15:15). Abbott (Diat. 1948) takes the article as indicating that it is the woman of a household, i.e. the wife, that is in question. But this is to miss the point.

The image of a woman in travail is frequent in the O.T., where the suddenness and inevitableness of travail pains are often mentioned (e.g. Isa 26:17, Isa 26:2 Esd. 16:38); but the thought of the joy which follows the pain does not occur except here. Some expositors have thought that the Birth of the Church and the travail pains of the Passion are contemplated in this passage (cf. Isa 66:7, Hos 13:13, Mar 13:8); but it is over subtle and inconsistent with the context to bring in such an idea. The apostles were not in travail with the Church that was to be. The true (and only) exposition of this beautiful image is given in the verse which follows. The image provides a familiar and touching illustration of the truth that pain is often the necessary antecedent to the supreme joys of life.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A woman [η γυνη] . Literally, the woman. The generic article marking the woman as representing her sex : woman as such.

She is in travail. A common Old Testament image of sorrow issuing in joy. See Isa 21:3; Isa 26:17; Isa 66:7; Hos 13:13; Mic 4:9, 10. The anguish [της θλιψεως] . Commonly rendered affliction or tribulation in A. V. See on Mt 13:21.

Joy [την χαραν] . Properly, the joy which answers to the anguish.

A man [ανθρωπος] . See on 1 30.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 21, 22. “A woman, when she is in travail, has sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she has brought forth the child, she remembers no more her anguish for the joy she has that a man is born into the world. 22. And you also now have sorrow;but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no one shall take from you.”

The point of comparison is the sudden passage from extreme sorrow to extreme joy. It must be limited to this. The idea of the bringing forth of a new world, which is to result from this hour of anguish, does not seem to be in the thought of Jesus.

The expression her hour perhaps alludes to the sorrowful hour through which Jesus Himself is to pass (my hour). The word a man sets forth the greatness of the event accomplished, and gives the ground of the mother’s joy.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.