John 16:9

Joh_16:9

Of sin, because they believe not on Me

Ineffectual reproof and effectual conviction of sin

We did not need that the Holy Spirit should come down from heaven to reprove the world of sin.

The words and thoughts of men would have been sufficient to do this. Every preacher of righteousness from the days of Noah has gone about reproving the world of sin. Everybody who in any age has led a just, and holy life has reproved the world of sin, even though he may not have lifted up his voice against it. Nay, the unholy may do so, and the greatest sinners may be the loudest in reproof. Poetry had reproved the world of sin; indeed this is the special business of two of its branches--comedy and satire. Philosophy had reproved the world of sin; and at the time when the Spirit of God had begun His great work, the reproofs of philosophy had become severer and more clamorous than ever. But what is the world the better for all this laborious reproving? How much does the world heed it, or care for it? No more than the crater of Etna cares for the roaring and lashing of the waves at its feet. The smoke of sin will rise up and stain the face of heaven, the flames will still burst forth and spread desolation far and wide, although the waves of reproof should roll around it unceasingly century after century. In fact, the whole history of man has shown that reproof, when there is no gentler and more penetrative power working along with it, instead of producing conviction, rather provokes the heart to resist it. The office of the Spirit, then, was not to reprove but to convince, to teach mankind what sin is, to lay it bare under all its masks, to trace it through all the mazes of its web, and to light on it sitting in the midst thereof, to show it to man, not merely as it flashes forth in the overt actions of his neighbours, but as it lies smouldering inextinguishably within his own bosom, to give him a torch whereby he may explore the dark chambers of his own heart, to lead him into them, and to open his eyes so that he shall behold some of sins countless brood crouching or gambolling in every corner. And to convince a man of sin in this way, by proving to him that it lies at the bottom of all his feelings, and blends with all his thoughts, that the bright coloured stones with which he is so fond of decking himself out, and which he takes such delight in gazing at, are only so many bits of brittle, worthless glass, and that what he deems to be stars are earthborn meteors, which merely glimmer for the moment they are falling; to convince the world of sin, by showing it how sin has tainted its heart, and flows through its veins, and is mixed up with its life-blood--this is a work which no earthly power can accomplish, and therefore was our Saviour mercifully pleased to send the Comforter to produce this conviction in mankind. (Archdeacon Hare.)

Sin and its reproof

I. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN PRODUCING CONVICTION OF SIN IN THE CONSCIENCE,

1. Sin is wholly a matter of motives. It is true that sin is the transgression of the law, and we might suppose it to be a matter of action; but we mistake the law. The law of God is to love God supremely and our neighbour equally. Sin is transgression of this law.

2. Now, whatever form of action may tend to good and to blessedness is right. God has a right to good and blessedness; and if we minister to His good and blessedness we respect His right. Man, too, has a right to good and blessedness, and when we confer upon him good and increase his blessedness, we give him that which is his due.

3. But since we do not understand in what way our life may be related to the good and blessedness of God, we must receive instructions from Him as to the manner of expressing our love to Him. And this He has done in His Word, progressively, most fully by His Son, in whom we have not only an instructor, but also a pattern; and it is ours to receive the instruction and apply it. And when we have received it and applied it, we shall furnish ourselves with rules of conduct. Conformity to these is righteousness; nonconformity to these is unrighteousness.

4. That, then, for which the Spirit is come into the world is chiefly to convince the intelligence and convict the moral judgment of a want of perfect love to God and man. You will easily see that it does not need the Spirit to teach a man concerning immorality, or even unrighteousness. For there is in man a natural conscience, and it teaches him that selfishness is wrong, and that generosity, at least, if not love, is right. And at the time the Saviour spoke there had been a revelation. The law of love had been expressed in the life of Jesus, and it had been wrought out into many precepts which He had uttered during His ministry, and which would be repeated by His disciples. But it is in the power of the mind to turn itself away from the inspection of motives, and to set itself so outwardly from itself, as that it will merely try its conduct by the external rule, without searching its recesses and referring its activities to their real sources in the affections. And so men need not only help in order to sound judgment, but a disposition in order to faithfulness with themselves. And if any help shall be given, it must be of a personal sort. It must come from one who can look into the heart, discern the thoughts and feelings, discover the motives, test them, and perfectly judge them. No mere influence proceeding from God could do anything with man in the court of conscience when he determined to stop inquiry and prevent judgment.

II. IN WHAT DOES THE SIN OF THE WORLD CONSIST? Who is this young peasant who gathers about Him a few disciples, and, when He is about to be sacrificed for His enthusiasm, talks about His importance to this degree that the Spirit of the living God is to come into the world to convince all men of their sin--consisting in failure to trust Him? I should not want any other hinge than that upon which to swing the whole doctrine of the divinity of Christ; for here is either infinite assumption, or a consciousness of infiniteness--one or the other. The ages have decided it. I do not think two million two hundred and fifty thousand copies of the history of His life would have been seized by the English-speaking people in forty-eight hours if such talk as this were regarded in the judgment of the nineteenth century as infinite assumption. Now note that, we cannot love a being unless, when we know him, we know him to be such that we can trust him; and we cannot trust a being without loving him.

1. Where, then, is God revealed that we may know Him? Partly in nature, partly in our own constitution, but chiefly in the person of Jesus Christ.

God sent Him into the world--Immanuel, God with us; God sent Him to manifest His moral excellence in His character and by His life. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. If we shall know God, it will be by knowing Christ. He said, I am the Truth.

2. We could not otherwise come into relationship with God except as He is known, and as He has manifested Himself, in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we love God as we love Him in the Son, and not otherwise; for we can only love where and as we know and trust.

3. Out of this grows the filial spirit, and we at length are able to reach the Father, to come into perfect relations to Him, and by the Spirit of adoption to say, Abba, Father. And then, of course, when we are so related to God as that we love Him, and our life is in Him, it is our very nature to love His children.

4. We can now see in what respect it is the work of the Spirit to convince us of sin, namely: that in our hearts we do not purely and perfectly love God and Gods children; and we fail here because we do not know Him and trust Him; and we do not know Him and trust Him because we do not see and approach Him in Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Lord said, He will convince the world of sin, because they believe not on Me.

III. INFERENCES.

1. That is the most miserable and powerless religion that has emptied Christ of His divinity. It is of no service to man, and history is proving it, as experience is.

2. That it is not left to a mans option whether he shall trust Jesus Christ or not. No man with a natural conscience but knows that if He lives, moves, and has his being, and depends for his destiny upon, and must have his good and joy from, the loving and continual agency of God, he ought to render to God what is His due; and if He is the highest object of knowledge, He ought to be known; if He is worthy of perfect trust, He ought to be trusted; and if He is infinitely lovely and loving, He ought to be loved; and our natural conscience would teach us that we ought to know and love and trust God. Very well; there is no other way to do it, except to take God as God comes to us, and He never comes to any man except in the Son, and He never will. (J. T. Duryea, D. D.)

The Holy Spirit convincing of sin

I. WHAT IS CONVICTION OF SIN? It is opposed to the insensibility of the thoughtless; to the vain self-flatteries of those who delude themselves with the hope that it will be well with them, though they are strangers to regenerating grace and unwashed in the blood of atonement; and to the perilous delays of those who defer the concerns of their souls to an uncertain future. Unlike all these, he who is under conviction of sin has awaked to an awful sense of the importance of eternity, of the danger of his state, and of the necessity of instant attention to his dearest, his everlasting interests. His carnal security is terminated. Seeing himself pursued by the curses of the law, and exposed to everlasting agonies, the world diminishes in his esteem; much change is made in his affections, and much reformation in his outward conduct. Such is conviction of sin; that conviction that was felt by Peters hearers on the day of Pentecost; by Saul of Tarsus when, trembling and astonished, he cried, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? by the Philippian jailer.

II. WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS CONVICTION OF SIN? To Him we are indebted not only for grace, but also for all that is preparatOry to the infusion of it in the soul: of this the slightest observation must convince us. Let me add, that the great end and design of the gospel rendered it requisite that conviction should be wrought by the Holy Spirit. The gospel is intended to display the riches of Divine grace, and to remove all cause of glorying in ourselves: and if we could convince ourselves, make ourselves sensible of sin, the glory of the commencement and preparation of the work would belong to ourselves.

III. DO ALL CONVICTIONS TERMINATE IN TRUE CONVERSION? To this question the declarations of the Scripture, as well as our own observation, answer No. We are taught that we can grieve, can resist, can quench the Spirit of God. And suppose not that it is improper to attribute these fading convictions to the Spirit of God. Wherever they fail, I here use the words of the excellent Dr. Owen, wherever they fail, and come short of that real conversion to which they have a tendency, it is not from any weakness and imperfection in themselves, but from the sins of those in whom they are wrought. Common illumination and conviction of sin have a tendency unto sincere conversion. They have so, in the same kind as the law hath to bring us to Christ. Where this end is not attained, it is always from the interposition of an act of stubbornness and wilfulness in those enlightened and convicted. By a free act of their own will they refuse the grace which is further tendered to them in the gospel.

IV. WHAT ARE THE CHIEF POINTS OF DISTINCTION BETWEEN THOSE LEGAL CONVICTIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCED BY MANY WHO ARE LOST, AND THOSE EVANGELICAL CONVICTIONS THAT ARE PECULIAR TO THE CHILDREN OF GOD? A legal conviction arises from a sense of Gods justice, and power, and omniscience. All this is felt by him who is under evangelical conviction; but his chief sorrow arises from the consideration of other attributes of God: the Divine goodness, holiness, and disaffection to sin. He exclaims, I have abused the tenderness of a Father, and outraged infinite goodness; I have offended purity, which would have sanctified me. The one traces the malignity of sin principally by its tendency to produce the death of the soul, and in the agonies of the lost; the other chiefly studies it in the sufferings and death of the Son of God. The one is burdened with the fear of punishment, the other with the sense of his desert of it.

1. This subject teaches us the deep guilt of those who strive to stifle those convictions of sin that are produced in the hearts of their acquaintance and friends. Such persons do despite to the Spirit of grace, and unite with the prince of darkness in opposition to God and the souls of men.

2. This subject tenderly and solemnly admonishes those who have stifled the convictions which they once felt. Unhappy men I you once appeared not far from the kingdom of heaven.

3. This subject consoles and admonishes those who are under convictions of sin. Fear not the pangs of godly sorrow; it is the Spirit of grace who convinces you, that He may be your Comforter. Though you are pained, it is by Him who is love and tenderness. (H. Kollock, D. D.)

Conviction of sin

I. WHAT IS SIN? Any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God. This law is the eternal rule of rectitude. It is not merely a revelation of what is right and reasonable, but what we are bound to be conformed to. Of course our views of sin will be determined by our views of the law. If the law is only the law of reason, sin is simply unreasonable. If the law is limited so is sin. If the law is perfect, then all want of perfection is sin.

II. CONVICTION OF SIN IS THEREFORE A CONVICTION OF WANT OF CONFORMITY TO THE LAW. This includes

1. Want of conformity

(1) Of the heart.

(2) Of conscious states of the mind.

(3) Of particular acts. Under the gospel it is specially of unbelief, as a sin against Christ.

2. The consciousness of this as guilt, i.e., as justly exposing us to the condemnation of the law.

3. The sense of inability to make atonement.

4. The sense of defilement: that which renders us objects of abhorrence. This stands opposed to self-complacency and self-approbation.

III. THE NECESSITY OF THIS CONVICTION ARISES OUT OF THE FACT THAT THE GOSPEL IS A PLAN FOR THE SALVATION OF SINNERS. It is designed for sinners. If we are not sinners, we do not need the gospel; and if we do not as sinners feel our need of the gospel we shall not embrace it. If we do not feel ourselves guilty and polluted we shall not look to Christ for pardon and cleansing.

IV. WHAT KIND OR DEGREE OF CONVICTION IS NECESSARY? What are the evidences of genuine conviction?

1. Every man is convinced of sin in a certain sense and measure. But only in such a measure as is consistent with indifference or carelessness.

2. Others are so convinced as to create great anxiety and to lead to long and painful efforts to save themselves.

3. Others are so convinced as to be thoroughly persuaded that they can neither atone for their guilt, nor deliver themselves from defilement, or make themselves holy. This is the result to be desired.

V. THIS CONVICTION CAN ONLY BE PRODUCED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

Conviction of sin

As John Wesley on a summer evening in 1742 was preaching on his fathers tombstone, he observed a gentleman in his audience, who, he knew, made no profession of religion. I was informed, said Mr. Wesley, that he had not been at public worship of any kind for upwards of thirty years. Seeing him stand as motionless as a statue, I asked him abruptly Sir, are you a sinner? He replied with a deep and broken voice, Sinner enough, and continued looking upward till his wife and a servant or two, who were all in tears, put him into his chaise and carried him home. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)

The convictive work of the Holy Ghost

I. TO CONVINCE THE WORLD OF SIN IS MUCH MORE THAN TO CONVINCE THE WORLD OF CRIME. There may be sin where there is no crime, but wherever there is crime there is sin to account for it. Society is organized to defend itself against crime, yet every member of it is guilty of sin. Thus

1. Society condemns murder; so in His reasoning with us the Holy Ghost begins with this admission, and proceeds to say--You condemn murder, but this is merely a gross and vulgar morality, little better, indeed, than selfishness stimulated by fear; you must find out how murder begins--it begins in unholy anger; that anger may never have spoken one word or shown one sign, yet by so much as you have given way to it in the secrecy of your inmost heart you are guilty of murder in the sight of God! It required a Ghost to teach us that. We could only get so far as to make some difference between murder and manslaughter, or between murder with extenuating circumstances and murder without them. There society paused, being unable to go further; and precisely there the Spirit began His work.

2. Society has made murder penal, but it has not been able to set falsehood amongst punishable crimes, although it is treated more spiritually than murder. We own, for example, that a man may act a lie as well as tell one: that he may use words with two meanings: that he may guard himself and mislead others by mental reservations. What more can the Holy Ghost Himself do? The Holy Ghost says that a form of words may be true, and yet it may express a lie! A conversation may be reported verbatim, yet, by a mere change of tone, by the omission of a facial expression, by a skilful variation of pause or emphasis, the report may be a falsehood from beginning to end. Farther and deeper still, a man may be false to himself. He may actually have treated himself so dishonestly as to have suspended or destroyed the very power by which he knows right from wrong. His conscience is seared as with a hot iron, and he given over to believe a lie. Under such circumstances the man is something more than a liar, he himself is actually a lie! Who then but the Spirit of God can convince of sin here?

3. But the process becomes still more spiritual. Murder and falsehood are at all events nominally condemned; but what of virtues which are praised as the very security and crown of human society? Take an act of almsgiving, and let it be outwardly the choicest specimen of its class: the gift is large, timely, cordial, and deservedly bestowed. Beyond this point society does not carry its judgment. But where man ends, the all-searching Spirit begins: He holds the candle of the Lord over the secret places of the heart: He tries the motives by the fires of the supreme judgment; and having done so, He says in effect to the applauded man--Your love went not with your gift; it was an oblation to your own vanity; it was a bribe by which you bought reputation; it was not given to the poor, it was given to yourself. This conviction may be made so clear to a man, as to cause him pain amidst the general applause.

4. We are now upon the line every point of which adds to our knowledge of spiritual realities as distinguished from formal facts. May our religion be the chief of our immoralities? You prayed in the house of your friend, and made your prayer the medium of personal compliment to his supposed excellencies and deserts; not daring to hint at his sins; would you have so prayed for him if he had not been listening to you? Would you have prayed at all if you could decorously have escaped the duty? Not only does the Holy Ghost ask these questions, He compels you to answer them to your shame.

5. More: even if we are unassailable at any of the great points now indicated, yet there is another kingdom. Every man has two lives--the life of motive, and the life of behaviour, into the first of which none can enter but the Spirit of spirits. He knoweth our thought afar off; before it is a complete thought. Through your heart there shot a desire which scorched you, though no human eye will ever see the blister which it left, and the very memory of that desire will make you dumb whilst others sing. Into your mind there came what was only the hint of a thought, yet it struck you like a thunderbolt, so evil did it seem to be even in its incompleteness! These are the visitations which show a man that there is something worse than crime, and make him impatient with the deceitful comforters who would heal his hurt slightly.

II. The Spirit of truth will convince the world of sin, BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE NOT ON ME. The Holy Ghost will so vividly and thoroughly show the nature of sin, that those who thought themselves the best examples of human society will be afflicted with the keenest compunction because of what they know themselves to be in the presence of God. It will no longer be a question of comparison as between one class of man and another; the judgment will lie wholly between man and God. This personal consciousness is to be so vivid and intense as to become painful; a man will see himself as he never saw himself before, and feel the burden of life with a new and intolerable oppression. Can he in that moment of despair turn to others for help? No; because they are in the agonies of the same experience. What then? When the conviction is so keen and relentless, the heart will begin to know that in turning away from Christ, it turned from the Son of God, the only mediator of the covenant of peace. This is the conviction of sin which the Spirit of God is to work in hearts which have not believed in the Saviour of the world. Christ cannot be understood until sin is understood. So long as sin is regarded from a merely social point of view, the Cross of Christ must appear to be an exaggeration. Why do with blood a work which could be done as well with water? Why sacrifice a man when the blood of a beast would answer every purpose? But the moment that sin is seen under the illumination of infinite holiness, the Cross of Christ alone is equal to the tragic awe and appalling horror of the situation. The first clear view which any man gets of the sinfulness of sin marks the crisis of his life. From that time he elects his destiny.

III. In the light of this exposition we may see the way clear to some PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.

1. All attempts to establish a satisfactory life on the basis of what is commonly known as morality, must be given up. Morality has become one of the fine arts. It is a fine balancing of calculations, a tacit understanding with evil powers, at best but an armed neutrality. But what if morality be only an art--the most cunning and profitable of tricks? What if the partitions which we call our rights be saved from destruction merely because it pays better to repress the fire of passion than to give it free course? The Holy Ghost teaches us that we cannot be right with one another until we are right with God. He says: You must be born again--you must die unto yourself, that you may live unto God. This is clearly a magnificent basis of life, supplying as it does eternal guarantees of purity and nobleness.

2. All hopes founded upon what are thought to be different degrees of sin must be abandoned. There are, of course, different degrees of crime, but the question does not turn upon crime at all. For all the purposes of criminal law it may be sufficient to classify men according to the mere accidents of their mischievous behaviour, so that punishment may be assigned with some degree of proportion to the shock which public feeling has sustained; but another standard must be set up when the offence is between man and God. Would you send a murderer and a speculative sceptic to the same hell? it may be asked. But stop! The question is one of the heart, not of the hand. According to the teaching of the Holy Ghost it may be that the heart through which has passed an unholy desire may be in a worse condition than the heart whose momentary passion has vented itself in murderous vengeance. The thing to be understood is that sin is spiritual, and that it is to be judged spiritually, without reference to the vulgarity or noise which may make it socially noticeable.

3. Under such realization of sin the work of Christ is seen in its true light. Here it is emphatically true that they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But let the boastful man awake to the fact that in his own body there is a slowly developing disease, painless in its early stages, but surely advancing upon his very life; let him come to the conviction that at any moment his pulse may cease, and instantly his attitude towards the medical profession may be totally changed. A new conviction has given him a new feeling and compelled him towards a new policy. Jesus Christ makes use of this very experience to throw light upon His own ministry: I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Everything, therefore, is made to depend upon conviction. Where there is no conviction there will be no pressure of necessity. Where there is no thirst, who cares for the fountain? but in the desert, under an intolerable sun, who can calculate the value of a cup of cold water? Christ awaits the demands of spiritual necessity. He knows that the Holy Ghost will so torment the heart with a sense of sin as to compel the sufferer to pray for mercy, and at that point of anguish he will show himself to the Saviour of the world. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The work of the Holy Spirit in the conviction of sin

I. WHAT IS CONVICTION OF SIN? The word means

1. To reprove, censure, or upbraid.

2. To convict, prove to be guilty.

3. To render manifest. Here it is used in the last two senses.

(1) The people of the world are to be convicted at the bar of their own conscience of being sinners. This act is to be manifest to their own consciousness; and as sin includes two elements--guilt and pollution--the one expressing the relation of sin to justice, and the other its relation to holiness, conviction of sin includes

(a) The conviction of just exposure to the wrath of God on account of our own character and conduct. And this includes the conviction that we deserve punishment and that we certainly shall be punished unless in some way our guilt is removed.

(b) The conviction of moral defilement, i.e., that we are in fact and in our own eyes offensive, degraded, and the proper objects of loathing.

(2) The effects of conviction flow from these two sources, and are

(a) Dread of the wrath of God.

(b) Self-condemnation.

(c) Remorse, including the sense of ill-desert, sorrow for the offence, and craving after satisfaction. It is stilled by punishment or adequate atonement.

II. THE SIN OF WHICH MEN ARE TO BE THUS CONVINCED IS THAT OF NOT BELIEVING ON CHRIST.

1. What is it to believe on Christ? This includes

(1) The belief that He is what He claimed to be--the Son of God, or God manifest in the flesh; the Messiah; the Prophet, Priest and King, and therefore the Redeemer of men. This involves the recognition of the truth of all His doctrines. This faith to be genuine must not rest merely on external evidence, but on the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

(2) Reliance on Christ, on His propitiation, His saving, sanctifying and protecting power.

(3) Adoring love for His person, zeal for His glory, devotion to His service, submission to His will. It includes this not exactly in its nature as faith, but as its necessary effects: just as we cannot separate apprehension of beauty from delight in it.

2. The worst of all sins is unbelief. And men are convinced of sin when convinced that want of faith in Christ deserves Gods wrath and degrades and pollutes the soul.

III. WHY IS THIS UNBELIEF SO GREAT A SIN? That it is the greatest of sins is directly asserted in Joh_3:18. It is so because

1. It is the manifestation of the greatest depravity. The disbelief of speculative truth is not sinful, except where some moral obligation is violated in rejecting the evidence by which it is supported. But the rejection of moral truth is in its nature sinful, because it implies moral blindness and perversion of moral feeling. This latter unbelief differs in the degree of its sinfulness according to the importance of the truth and the kind of evidence with which it is attended. That the heathen are sinful and without excuse because they do not believe God, as revealed in nature, is asserted by St. Paul. But this sin is slight compared with those who rejected God as revealed in the Old Testament, and their guilt is small compared to that of those who reject Christ. He is God in the clearest and most attractive revelation ever made of the Divine Being. The rejection of Him implies the greatest blindness and depravity.

2. It involves the greatest conceivable ingratitude. It is not only the rejection of God, but the rejection of God humbling Himself to the death of the Cross out of love for us and for our salvation.

3. It involves a preference and deliberate choice of evil instead of good, and the kingdom of darkness instead of the kingdom of God. He who does not bow to Christ has bowed to Me.

4. It is the rejection of eternal life for ourselves, and doing what we can to render certain the perdition of others.

IV. THE HOLY SPIRIT ALONE CAN CONVINCE MEN OF THIS SIN.

1. It is certain that human reason or our own nature will not do it.

2. That flesh and blood cannot do it.

3. The Holy Spirit alone can do it, because He alone can open our eyes to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

4. It is His office to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us.

V. INFERENCES.

1. It is our first and greatest duty to repent of sin and to believe on Christ.

2. Our next great duty is to labour to convince the world of this sin, and to lead them to faith in Christ. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

The work of the Spirit in the conviction of sin

I. THE SPIRITS DEFINITION OF SIN. Notice that unbelief in Christ is

1. The radical and essential sin. Christ did not begin to be when He became man, nor did His relation with men begin with the Incarnation. He was in the beginning with God, and was God, and was the light that enlightened every man that came into the world. And so now, every good tendency comes from God through Him. Whoever therefore opposes such tendency resists the influence of Christ, and sin is the result of that resistance.

2. The ultimate form of sin. We need go no further than this to convict a man of being a sinner. Why is it that men are saved or lost? Not by keeping the law of Moses, for by the deeds of the law shall no man be justified, &c.; we are not under law, but grace. The terms of salvation or damnation are now belief or unbelief. As there is now no other saving righteousness but that of faith in Christ, so there is no other fatal sin but that of unbelief. This is the condemnation, &c.

3. The all-inclusive sin. It may be said truly that there are other sins--theft, murder, &c. But note that the law is summed up in two precepts--Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. &c. Now when that love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost we love God and our brother also, and so keep the commandments. When we have not that love we break the whole law; but it cannot come save by faith in Him who is the revelation of Divine love.

II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CONVICTION OF THIS SIN IS WROUGHT BY THE HOLY GHOST.

1. It is one thing to convince of a sin and to convince of sin. A man may acknowledge the existence of and remove a fruit or a branch while ignorant of the root.

2. The conviction too in the two cases is distinct. In the one case the impression may be very superficial; in the other it is a deep and awful sense of wretchedness and want.

3. This form of conviction is not easily effected. It comes not from the words or wisdom of men. Though the speaking of the truth by a human messenger may be the occasion, yet the Holy Ghost must be the agent.

4. In this conviction the Spirit

(1) Gives evidence of sin to the conscience--tells man of his fault.

(2) Remonstrates and rebukes; and the effect of this is to convince of error, and to convict of criminality in following that error.

5. It is as the Comforter that the Spirit convinces. He is at once the comforting Convincer and the convincing Comforter. What true comfort can there be for a man, who knows he is a sinner, till the whole matter of his sin has been probed; and what greater comfort is there in any hour of weakness and infirmity than that of knowing that the whole matter has been sifted to the bottom? And then the operation of the Spirit mingles a revelation of the remedy with the revelation of the sin. The Spirit convinces us of the righteousness of that Christ in whom we should believe. (W. Roberts.)

The necessity of the Spirits conviction because of the incompetency of the law

The law could not convince the world of sin as sin, a thing to be abhorred on account of its own hatefulness, but merely as a thing to be dreaded on account of the punishments attached to it. So that there was need of another witness who should search the heart and turn it inside out, and bring forward all the abominations contained in it; a witness, too, who should appeal not to its selfish fears, but to every germ of good left in it, to its love, its gratitude, its pity, its hope, its more generous desires and aspirations--a Witness that should pick up every little fragment of Gods image still remaining in it, and should piece them all together, and make a new whole of them. Such was the Witness that God in His mercy sent to convince the world of sin. (Archdeacon Hare.)

The necessity of the Spirits conviction because of the incompetency of conscience

We have the voice of conscience sighing through every fresh crack that we make in Gods image in our hearts, and conspiring, with reason and imagination and every other faculty, to admonish us that we are betraying our duty, outraging our better feelings, marring our true, aboriginal nature, polluting our souls, and withering and rotting our hearts. But is this enough to convince a man of sin? Alas! conscience is so wasted by year-long neglect, and crushed by reiterated violation, that it scarcely ever utters its warnings and reproofs, except against overt acts of sin. It seldom takes notice of our habitual sins: still less does it rouse us to contend against that sinfulness which is inwrought in the natural heart. No! when conscience is uttering her most righteous words, she often is only casting pearls before swine. The passions of the carnal mind are fretted and irritated by the sight of what is so unlike themselves, and trample them impatiently in the mire. (Archdeacon Hare.)

Unbelief, the greatest sin

1. The Spirit convinceth of all sins, but chiefly of a state of sin--of unbelief;

(1) As the fountain of all sin. It was the first sin of Adam. It was the cause also of all the sin that grew up to such maturity in the old world. The faith of Abel is applauded (Heb_11:4); consequently the unbelief of Cain is marked. If Abels sacrifice was more excellent in regard of his faith, Cains was more vile in regard of his unbelief.

(2) As the ligament and band of all sin (Joh_8:24).

2. Unbelief is the greatest sin, because

(1) God employs the highest means to bring men to a sense of it. The odiousness of sin to God appears by His sending Christ to expiate it; the odiousness of unbelief by His sending the Spirit to reprove it.

(2) It is a sin against the gospel, which is so holy a declaration of Gods will that there cannot be an holier; so good in itself, that nothing can be better; the sin therefore against it is so bad, that nothing can be worse.

(3) It is a sin against the highest testimony (Joh_8:17-18).

(4) As faith is the choicest grace, so that which is opposite to it must be the greatest sin. Note

I. WHAT IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY UNBELIEF.

1. Negatively.

(1) Not a want of assurance. Drooping spirits may be believers. There is a manifest distinction made between faith in Christ and the comfort of that faith; between believing to eternal life, and knowing we have eternal life 1Jn_5:13; Isa_50:10).

(2) Not every interruption of the act of faith. Faith may lie asleep in the habit, when it doth not walk about in the act. Fogs and mists darken the sun, but put not out that eye of the world.

(3) Not doubts. Such there are in the beginnings of faith, when the state of the soul is like that of the twilight, a mixture of light and darkness Psa_126:6-7). This is rather infirmity than unbelief ( Mat_14:31; Psa_56:3).

(4) Not temptations to unbelief and unbelieving thoughts injected. If these be not entertained, formally they are not acts of our unbelief (Mt Psa_73:21).

(5) Not unbelief of some truths through ignorance, provided they be not fundamental (Mar_16:11-14). Errors in the head do no more destroy the truth of faith than miscarriages in the life through infirmity nullify the being of grace, or every spot upon the face impair the beauty and features of it.

(6) Not a negative unbelief which is in the heathens, who never had the means of faith.

2. Positively it is

(1) A denial of the truth of the gospel; when men assent not to the doctrine of the gospel by an act of the understanding.

(2) A doubting of the truth of the doctrine of the gospel as many do who will not openly deny it. Since all men are in the rank of believers or unbelievers, a suspension of our belief of the doctrine of the gospel cannot be ranked under the banner of faith; it is at best, for the present, a more modest refusal, rather than a downright rejection.

(3) Refusal to accept heartily of Christ upon the terms of the gospel, which is opposite to justifying faith, when there is not a fiducial motion to Christ as the centre.

II. WHEREIN THE SINFULNESS OF UNBELIEF DOTH CONSIST.

1. It is against God.

(1) It is the greatest reproach and undervaluing of God (Isa_7:11-13). As faith gives glory to God (Rom_4:20), so unbelief casts reproach and scorn upon Him.

(2) It robs God of the honour of all His attributes.

(a) It blemishes the truth and veracity of God. He that believes sets to his seal that God is true (Joh_3:33). It makes God guilty of perjuryHeb 6:17, 18; Eze_33:11).

(b) It casts a black aspersion upon the wisdom of God. Unbelief charges God with folly in regard of the unnecessariness of it. If men think they have ability to save themselves, what a needless work was this in God, to make His Son a sacrifice for mans salvation! Or, if men do account the coming of Christ necessary, and so free God from the charge of folly, they at least charge His wisdom with a mistake in the means of salvation, as if it were undertaken without precedent consideration. And further, by this sin the unbeliever doth, as much as in him lies, frustrate the design of Gods glorious wisdom, in not consenting to that which the wisdom of God hath contrived.

(c) It slights the goodness of God. No greater act of love could spring from boundless eternity, than the parting with His only delight in heaven out of His bosom for the redemption of man (Isa_5:4).

(d) It disparages the power and sufficiency of God. First, In not coming to Him. Secondly, In trusting to something else. What then we trust unto, besides God and above God, we render in our thoughts more powerful than God.

(e) It strikes at the sovereignty and authority of God. It is a debt we owe, as subjects, to God as our sovereign, to give credit to what He cloth reveal, and to obey what He cloth command (1Jn_3:23). It is a contradiction to the resolute and fixed will of God. All unbelief is a dislike of Gods terms (Rom_10:3). And it renders God, as much as in it lies, unworthy of any sovereignty.

(f) It affronts the holiness and righteousness of God. If the setting forth Christ to he a propitiation for sin was to declare His righteousness Rom_3:25), what doth unbelief signify hut that this act was unrighteous in God?

(g) It is a stripping God, as much as lies in man, of all His delight. The service Christ did, which was delightful to God, is contemptible to an unbeliever. First, It is a refusal of Christ, the man that is Gods fellow, His daily delight. Secondly, It is a privation of faith, a grace so pleasing to God (Heb_10:38). Thirdly, It is a refusal of His mercy in Christ Mic_7:18).

2. It is a sin peculiarly against Christ. It is a piercing Him again Zec_12:10).

(1) It is a nullifying the work of His meditation and death.

(a) It renders the design of His coming a vanity, when it receives not the fruits of it (2Co_6:1).

(b) It is a vilifying the price of redemption (Heb_9:28).

(2) It is a denying of the love of Christ.

(3) It denies the wisdom of Christ. It chargeth Him with folly and inconsiderateness, in undertaking a task that was not worth His pains.

(4) It wrongs the authority of Christ. It receives an aggravation from the greatness of the person that published the doctrine of faith (Joh_5:43).

(5) It denies the excellency of Christ (Php_3:8).

(6) It denies the sufficiency of Christ: the greatness of His priesthood, the fulness of His satisfaction, His prevailing intercession. Where no trust is reposed in Him, it implies that no benefit can be expected from Him.

(7) It denies Christ His right and reward (Isa_53:11).

(8) It puts Christ to the greatest grief. His soul was never more deeply impressed with grief before the hour of His passion than when He saw men would not come to Him that they might have life.

3. It is also a wrong to the Spirit of God (Act_3:51 : Heb_3:10; Heb_3:17). (S. Charnock, B. D.)

The sin of unbelief

There are three general forms of unbelief.

I. SCEPTICISM.

1. This consists in either doubting or rejecting the truths of religion and morals in general, or the Divine origin and authority of the Bible in particular.

2. This arises from

(1) Pride of intellect; assuming to know what is beyond our reach and refusing to believe what we cannot understand; setting ourselves up as capable of discerning and proving all truth.

(2) The neglect of our moral nature, and giving ourselves up to the guidance of the speculative reason.

(3) The enmity of the heart to the things of God; or opposition in our tastes, feelings, desires and purposes, to the truths and requirements of religion.

(4) Frivolous vanity, or the desire to be thought independent or upon a par with the infinite.

3. The sinfulness of this form of unbelief is manifest

(1) As pride. Self-exaltation is sinful and offensive in such a feeble, insignificant creature as man.

(2) As the habitude of the moral nature which makes it possible to believe a lie is the evidence of moral degradation.

(3) As opposition to the truth is opposition to the God of truth. It is alienation from Him, in which all sin consists. Hence unbelief is the generic form of sin. It is the general expression of alienation, the opposition of our nature to His. It is, therefore, the source of all other sins.

II. UNBELIEF, or want of confidence in the doctrines, promises, and providence of God. This may exist even in the hearts of believers. It is a matter of degree.

1. It arises either from

(1) The entire absence, or low state, of the religious life.

(2) Or the habit of looking at ourselves and on difficulties about us rather than at God.

(3) Or refusing to believe what we do not see. If God does not manifest His care and fulfil His promise, then our faith fails.

2. The sinfulness of this state is apparent, because

(1) It is the evidence and effect of spiritual weakness and disease.

(2) It dishonours God, refusing to Him the confidence due to an earthly friend and parent; which is a very heinous offence, considering His greatness and goodness, and the evidences He has given of His fidelity and trustworthiness.

(3) It is the manifestation of the same Spirit which dominates in the open infidel.

II. UNBELIEF IN REFERENCE TO CHRIST.

1. This is a refusing to recognize and receive Him as being what He professes to be.

(1) God manifest in the flesh.

(2) The Teacher sent from God.

(3) Our atoning Sacrifice and Priest.

(4) As having rightfully absolute proprietorship in us and authority over us.

2. This is the greatest of sins. It is the condemning sin. Its heinousness consists

(1) In its opposition to the clearest light. He who cannot see the sun must be stone blind. He who cannot see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ must be blinded by Satan. This blindness is moral, religious, and spiritual deadness.

(2) It is the rejection of the clearest external evidence, which evinces opposition of the heart.

(3) It is the rejection of infinite love, and the disregard of the greatest obligation.

(4) It is the deliberate preference of the kingdom of Satan before that of Christ, of Belial to Christ. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

The Convincer of sin

I. CONSIDER THE MEANING OF THE WORDS OF THE TEXT. When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin. What does this mean?

1. The word reprove is the first that requires explanation. The word so translated has various shades of meaning. It is clear, from the context, that it does not mean merely to accuse or convict, although it has this signification. It must also mean here to teach and demonstrate the matter of the accusation, or the subject under deliberation. We say this is clear from the context, because, although we may speak of convicting a person of sin, we could hardly speak of convicting him of righteousness. Hence we may say, with reference to the part of His work now before us, the Holy Ghost has come to convince of sin, or to convict of sin, according to the result produced in the mind of him to whom the demonstration is afforded.

2. Then, who or what is it, that is to be convinced of sin? It is the world, that is to say, the great power which ever has been and ever is arrayed against Christ and His Church. You will see the comfort which the assurance of our text must have conveyed to the disciples of Christ at the time it was first spoken. They had been prepared for the antagonism of the world, and they might fear for their own weakness in the struggle with the great adversary. One who is all-powerful is on their side.

3. He is to convince the world of sin. This is the first part of His work, for it is a part which is clearly fundamental in a world like ours and among men like ourselves. Other convictions, indeed, must go side by side with this, in order that it may be complete; but this must come first. Sin existed, and yet its existence was denied. Sin was carrying men away like a flood, and it could not be stemmed until its reality and its nature were clearly perceived.

II. THE NECESSITY FOR THE CONVICTION OF SIN BY THE HOLY GHOST. We have seen that this conviction must come first; but what need was there for the Holy Ghost to produce it?

1. Conscience could not do it. We all know by experience as well as observation that the truthfulness of the voice of conscience is affected by the life which we live. Conscience needs education before it can be a guide to us. Even after it has been instructed, it may be darkened and silenced.

2. The law of God will not do it. The law has an important part in the work of conviction; but is not sufficient to effect it by itself. The law, in accordance with its essential character, forbade only the act, and not the thought and the motive.

3. Even the teaching of Christ Himself was insufficient to produce this conviction. It was a mighty advance on anything that had preceded it. Let me not be mistaken. I do not mean that any new Teacher could be sent from God who would undo all that had gone before Him. The light which came from heaven was a true light, even if it was not wholly adequate to mans requirements. And when Jesus Christ promised to send His Church another Comforter, an inward Teacher, it was not one who should be independent of the instruction which God had given to men before He came. On the contrary, He was to use all that had been revealed in the law and the prophets, all that had been taught by Jesus Himself.

III. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CONVICTION OF SIN IS PRODUCED BY THE HOLY GHOST. He shall reprove the world of sin--because they believe not on Me. This was going to the very root of the matter, and striking at the principle from which all sin proceeded. The Holy Spirit had not so much for His work to produce conviction with respect to any special sinful act. That is undoubtedly a part of His work, and a very important part, inasmuch as there can be no reality in a conviction of sin in general which does not include the sense of special and particular sins. That, however, was not the work which He was peculiarly appointed to accomplish. It is clear that a conviction of this kind could be produced only by One who could go deeper into mans nature than any previous agent had been able to penetrate. When we examine the testimony of conscience and of the law of God, we shall see how inadequate they were to this task. Conscience, apart from Divine revelation, says nothing at all about faith. The same must be said of the law. We do not forget that it was to the law that St. Paul attributed his own knowledge of sin; and it cannot be too often repeated that the natural conscience or even the influence of the Holy Spirit of God could have affected but little in the moral education of mankind, without that rule of duty which was revealed by Almighty God to the Jewish Lawgiver. Yet St. Paul himself, who so powerfully sets forth the virtue of the law as a revealer of sin, in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, acknowledges in the Epistle to the Galatians that the law is not of faith; but, the man that doeth them shall live in them (Gal_3:12). Yet, although neither the natural conscience of mankind nor the revealed law of God set forth the principle of faith as the very element of all virtue and goodness, it will be clear to any one who places the history of the human family in the light of that revelation which we now possess, that unbelief has been the root and fountain of mans sin from the very beginning. The law to which Adam was subject in Paradise was in reality a demand which was made upon his faith. Certain privileges were granted to him: one thing only was denied to him. He was required in that one case to exercise his faith in the goodness and wisdom of his Maker. It was through unbelief that he fell. Unbelief was the radical sin of mankind at all times. Every page of the history of the Jews tells us that this was the origin of all their apostacies and idolatries. Either they doubted the promises of the most High, or they limited the Holy One of Israel. But this sin of unbelief, which was everywhere and always the root of evil in man, found its climax in the rejection of Jesus Christ. It is indeed clear that the enormity of sin must always be judged by the opportunities possessed of becoming acquainted with our duty. Hence it is, that every fresh disclosure of truth to men has been a disclosure of sin in man. The Jews of the time of our Lord were guilty of many sins, as He Himself plainly showed them; but compared with the sin of rejecting Him, their other sins were but slight. In the rejection of Jesus all the enmity against God which their hearts had harboured was concentrated in a single act. It was a sin against the clearest moral and spiritual light, which had ever shone upon human darkness. God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ, said the Apostle. It was unbelief that crucified the Lord of Glory. Jesus put forth claims which if they were not true were blasphemous. To reject His claims was to pronounce Him worthy of death. But we mum not forget that the conviction of sin is produced in the very same manner among ourselves now. Unbelief is the principle of sin, and we are never thoroughly convinced of sin until we have been made to know the guilt of our want of faith in Jesus Christ. Throughout the whole life of those who are now unfaithful and unworthy members of the Christian Church, their defects are traceable to this radical one. The growth of unbelief is the growth of sin; and the climax of evil in the heart and life of man or woman is the deliberate rejection of Jesus Christ as the Son of God crucified for the sins of the world. He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son (1Jn_5:10); and the beginning of a new life of holiness must be laid in the conviction of the guilt of such unbelief. And this conviction, the same substantially in us which was wrought in the hearers of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, is produced by the same great Agent.

IV. There is a question still remaining to be answered, which is suggested by the words of our text: IN WHAT SENSE CAN IT BE SAID THAT THE HOLY GHOST CONVINCES THE WORLD? It is true the Holy Ghost is said to convince the world of sin, and not only those who are saved. And this will actually take place. Sooner or later, all men will be convinced or convicted; will be convinced of sin, that they may flee from it and be delivered from it; or convicted of sin, that they may be punished for it. The object of the work of the Holy Spirit is the deliverance of man from sin and destruction, by showing him the evil of sin, and thus compelling him to flee from the wrath to come, a work worthy of One who is called the Comforter. But if that aim is disappointed, He will at least produce conviction; and the great result of His work, whether in saving or condemning, will be moral decision. (W. R. Clark, M. A.)

Faith in Christ

I believe on a physician when I put my case into that physicians hands, and trust him to cure me. I believe on a lawyer when I leave my case in his hands, and trust him to plead for me. I believe on a banker when I put money into his hand, and allow him to keep it on my behalf. I believe on my Saviour when I take Him to be my Saviour, when I put my helpless case into His hands, and trust Him to do what I cannot do for myself--save me from my sin. Have you done so? You believe there is such a Person as Jesus, and that He is the sinners Saviour. You do well; but that is only a partial and incomplete faith. To believe that a certain doctor exists and has a large practice is not personally to believe in that doctor. True faith contains a moral as well as an intellectual element, and when the former is wanting the latter can avail but little. Do you repose your moral confidence in Him, as being to you the Saviour that you need, as one whose character and office are congruous to the wants of your nature? You are a sinner, He represents Himself as Saviour. You are a lost one, He has died to find you? You are dead, He presents Himself as the Resurrection and the Life. The point is, Do you take Him by faith to be what He reveals Himself to be? That is believing on Him. If you can say in your heart, Yes, I believe in Him, then the Holy Spirit of God can no longer convict you of sin. All your sins were laid on the Lamb of God, who bore the sin of the world. There is no longer a case against you; the summons is dismissed. There is no condemnation; you are pronounced acquitted, and accepted in the Beloved. (W. H. H. Aitken, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 16:9-11. Of sin, because they believe not on me — He will convince the world of that aggravated sin of which they are guilty, in that they do not believe in me, to the truth of whose mission he will bear an unanswerable testimony, by his enlightening influences and miraculous operations. With regard to the latter, it may be observed, that they had been withdrawn from the Jews about four hundred years since, and their being restored, according to Christ’s promise, was sufficient to evince that Jesus, who had restored them by shedding the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, was the true Messiah, and so to convince them of sin, who believed not in him, as we see it did, Act 2:37-41. Of righteousness — He will convince them of my innocence and holiness; because I go to, and am accepted of my Father — Which will evidently appear, when I send the Spirit from him in so glorious a manner; and ye see me no more — Appearing among you in the form of a servant; but are assured, that, having finished what I was to do on earth, I am taken up to heaven, and received into glory. Though Christ was condemned by the Jews as an impostor, yet his being received into heaven, and sending the Holy Spirit thence upon his disciples, was a sufficient evidence that the Father owned him as a righteous person, and his true prophet and messenger. Hence, from this effusion of the Holy Spirit, Peter argues, that this Jesus was by God made Lord and Christ; and that the Jews had crucified that holy and just One, whom the Father hath glorified, Act 2:36; and Act 3:13-14. Of judgment — He will convince them of my being invested with a power of executing judgment; because the prince of this world — The great head of the apostacy, is now, as it were, already judged and condemned, and shall be triumphed over in a very remarkable manner, when his oracles are silenced, and he is cast out from many persons and countries also, which he before possessed. Whence it may appear that all who belong to his kingdom and choose rather to serve him than Christ, their lawful Prince and Judge, shall be condemned with him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John

THE CONVICTING FACTS

Joh 16:9 - Joh 16:11.

Our Lord has just been telling His disciples how He will equip them, as His champions, for their conflict with the world. A divine Spirit is coming to them who will work in them and through them; and by their simple and unlettered testimony will ‘convict,’ or convince, the mass of ungodly men of error and crime in regard to these three things-sin, righteousness, and judgment.

He now advances to tell them that this threefold conviction which they, as counsel for the prosecution, will establish as against the world at the bar, will be based upon three facts: first, a truth of experience; second, a truth of history; third, a truth of revelation, all three facts having reference to Jesus Christ and His relation to men.

Now these three facts are-the world’s unbelief; Christ’s ascension and session at the right hand of God; and the ‘judgment of the prince of this world.’ If we remember that what our Lord is here speaking about is the work of a divine Spirit through the ministration of believing men, then Pentecost with its thousands ‘pricked to the heart,’ and the Roman ruler who trembled, as the prisoner ‘reasoned of righteousness and judgment to come,’ are illustrations of the way in which the humble disciples towered above the pride and strength of the world, and from criminals at its bar became its accusers.

These three facts are the staple and the strength of the Christian ministry. These three facts are misapprehended, and have failed to produce their right impression, unless they have driven home to our consciences and understandings the triple conviction of my text. And so I come to you with the simple questions which are all-important for each of us: Have you looked these three facts in the face-unbelief, the ascended Christ, a judged prince of the world, and have you learned their meaning as it bears on your own character and religious life?

I. The first point here is the rejection of Jesus Christ as the climax of the world’s sin.

Strange words! They are in some respects the most striking instance of that gigantic self-assertion of our Lord, of which we have had occasion to see so many examples in these valedictory discourses. The world is full of all unrighteousness and wickedness, lust and immorality, intemperance, cruelty, hatred; all manner of buzzing evils that stink and sting around us. But Jesus Christ passes them all by and points to a mere negative thing, to an inward thing, to the attitude of men towards Himself; and He says, ‘If you want to know what sin is, look at that!’ There is the worst of all sins. There is a typical instance of what sin is, in which, as in some anatomical preparation, you may see all its fibres straightened out and made visible. Look at that if you want to know what the world is, and what the world’s sin is.

Some of us do not think that it is sin at all; and tell us that man is no more responsible for his belief than he is for the colour of his hair, and suchlike talk. Well, let me put a very plain question: What is it that a man turns away from when he turns away from Jesus Christ? The plainest, the loveliest, the loftiest, the perfectest revelation of God in His beauty and completeness that ever dawned, or ever will dawn upon creation. He rejects that. Anything more? Yes! He turns away from the loveliest human life that ever was, or will be, lived. Anything more? Yes! He turns away from a miracle of self-sacrificing love, which endured the Cross for enemies, and willingly embraced agony and shame and death for the sake of those who inflicted them upon Him. Anything more? Yes! He turns away from hands laden with, and offering him, the most precious and needful blessings that a poor soul on earth can desire or expect.

And if this be true, if unbelief in Jesus Christ be indeed all this that I have sketched out, another question arises, What does such an attitude and act indicate as to the rejector? He stands in the presence of the loveliest revelation of the divine nature and heart, and he sees no light in it. Why, but because he has blinded his eyes and cannot behold? He is incapable of seeing ‘God manifest in the flesh,’ because he ‘loves the darkness rather than the light.’ He turns away from the revelation of the loveliest and most self-sacrificing love. Why, but because he bears in himself a heart cased with brass and triple steel of selfishness, against the manifestation of love? He turns away from the offered hands heaped with the blessings that he needs. Why, but because he does not care for the gifts that are offered? Forgiveness, cleansing, purity a heaven which consists in the perfecting of all these, have no attractions for him. The fugitive Israelites in the wilderness said, ‘We do not want your light, tasteless manna. It may do very well for angels, but we have been accustomed to garlic and onions down in Egypt. They smell strong, and there is some taste in them. Give us them.’ And so some of you say, ‘The offer of pardon is of no use to me, for I am not troubled with my sin. The offer of purity has no attraction to me, for I rather like the dirt and wallowing in it. The offer of a heaven of your sort is but a dreary prospect to me. And so I turn away from the hands that offer precious things.’ The man who is blind to the God that beams, lambent and loving, upon him in the face of Jesus Christ-the man who has no stirrings of responsive gratitude for the great outpouring of love upon the Cross-the man who does not care for anything that Jesus Christ can give him, surely, in turning away, commits a real sin.

I do not deny, of course, that there may be intellectual difficulties cropping up in connection with the acceptance of the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, but as, on the one hand, I am free to admit that many a man may be putting a true trust in Christ which is joined with a very hesitant grasp of some of the things which, to me, are the very essence and heart of the Gospel; so, on the other side, I would have you remember that there is necessarily a moral quality in our attitude to all moral and religious truth; and that sin does not cease to be sin because its doer is a thinker or has systematised his rejection into a creed. Though it is not for us to measure motives and to peer into hearts, at the bottom there lies what Christ Himself put His finger on: ‘Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.’

Then, still further, let me remind you that our Lord here presents this fact of man’s unbelief as being an instance in which we may see what the real nature of sin is. To use learned language, it is a ‘typical’ sin. In all other acts of sin you get the poison manipulated into various forms, associated with other elements, disguised more or less. But here, because it is purely an inward act having relation to Jesus Christ, and to God manifested in Him, and not done at the bidding of the animal nature, or of any of the other strong temptations and impulses which hurry men into gross and coarse forms of manifest transgression, you get sin in its essence. Belief in Christ is the surrender of myself. Sin is living to myself rather than to God. And there you touch the bottom. All those different kinds of sin, however unlike they may be to one another-the lust of the sensualist, the craft of the cheat, the lie of the deceitful, the passion of the unregulated man, the avarice of the miser-all of them have this one common root, a diseased and bloated regard to self. The definition of sin is,-living to myself and making myself my own centre. The definition of faith is,-making Christ my centre and living for Him. Therefore, if you want to know what is the sinfulness of sin, there it is. And if I may use such a word in such a connection, it is all packed away in its purest form in the act of rejecting that Lord.

Brother, it is no exaggeration to say that, when you have summoned up before you the ugliest forms of man’s sins that you can fancy, this one overtops them all, because it presents in the simplest form the mother-tincture of all sins, which, variously coloured and perfumed and combined, makes the evil of them all. A heap of rotting, poisonous matter is offensive to many senses, but the colourless, scentless, tasteless drop has the poison in its most virulent form, and is not a bit less virulent, though it has been learnedly distilled and christened with a scientific name, and put into a dainty jewelled flask. ‘This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.’ I lay that upon the hearts and consciences of some of my present hearers as the key to their rejection or disregard of Christ and His salvation.

II. Now, secondly, notice the ascension of Jesus Christ as the pledge and the channel of the world’s righteousness-’Because I go to the Father, and ye see Me no more.’

He speaks as if the process of departure were already commenced. It had three stages-death, resurrection, ascension; but these three are all parts of the one departure. And so He says: ‘Because, in the future, when ye go forth to preach in My name, I shall be there with the Father, having finished the work for which He sent Me; therefore you will convince the world of righteousness.’

Now let me put that briefly in two forms. First of all, the fact of an ascended Christ is the guarantee and proof of His own complete fulfilment of the ideal of a righteous man. Or to put it into simpler words, suppose Jesus Christ is dead; suppose that He never rose from the grave; suppose that His bones mouldered in some sepulchre; suppose that there had been no ascension-would it be possible to believe that He was other than an ordinary man? And would it be possible to believe that, however beautiful these familiar records of His life, and however lovely the character which they reveal, there was really in Him no sin at all? A dead Christ means a Christ who, like the rest of us, had His limitations and His faults. But, on the other hand, if it be true that He sprang from the grave because ‘it was not possible that He should be holden of it,’ and because in His nature there was no proclivity to death, since there had been no indulgence in sin; and if it be true that He ascended up on high because that was His native sphere, and He rose to it as naturally as the water in the valley will rise to the height of the hill from which it has descended, then we can see that God has set His seal upon that life by that resurrection and ascension; and as we gaze on Him swept up heavenward by His own calm power, a light falls backward upon all His earthly life, upon His claims to purity, and to union with the Father, and we say, ‘Surely this was a perfectly righteous Man.’

And further let me remind you that with the supernatural facts of our Lord’s resurrection and ascension stands or falls the possibility of His communicating any of His righteousness to us sinful men. If there be no such possibility, what does Jesus Christ’s beauty of character matter to me? Nothing! I shall have to stumble on as best I can, sometimes ashamed and rebuked, sometimes stimulated and sometimes reduced to despair, by looking at the record of His life. If He be lying dead in a forgotten grave, and hath not ‘ascended up on high,’ then there can come from His history and past nothing other in kind, though, perhaps, a little more in degree, than comes from the history and the past of the beautiful and white souls that have sometimes lived in the world. He is a saint like them, He is a teacher like them, He is a prophet like some of them, and we have but to try our best to copy that marble purity and white righteousness. But if He hath ascended up on high, and sits there, wielding the forces of the universe, as we believe He does, then to Him belongs the divine prerogative of imparting His nature and His character to them that love Him. Then His righteousness is not a solitary, uncommunicative perfectness for Himself, but like a sun in the heavens, which streams out vivifying and enlightening rays to all that seek His face. If it be true that Christ has risen, then it is also true that you and I, convicted of sin, and learning our weakness and our faults, may come to Him, and by the exercise of that simple and yet omnipotent act of faith, may ally our incompleteness with His perfectness, our sin with His righteousness, our emptiness with His fullness, and may have all the grace and the beauty of Jesus Christ passing over into us to be the Spirit of life in us, ‘making us free from the law of sin and death.’ If Christ be risen, His righteousness may be the world’s; if Christ be not risen, His righteousness is useless to any but to Himself.

My brother, wed yourself to that dear Lord by faith in Him, and His righteousness will become yours, and you will be ‘found in Him without spot and blameless,’ clothed with white raiment like His own, and sharing in the Throne which belongs to the righteous Christ.

III. Lastly, notice the judgment of the world’s prince as the prophecy of the judgment of the world.

We are here upon ground which is only made known to us by the revelation of Scripture. We began with a fact of man’s experience; we passed on to a fact of history; now we have a fact certified to us only on Christ’s authority.

The world has a prince. That ill-omened and chaotic agglomeration of diverse forms of evil has yet a kind of anarchic order in it, and, like the fabled serpent’s locks on the Gorgon head, they intertwine and sting one another, and yet they are a unity. We hear very little about ‘the prince of the world’ in Scripture. Mercifully the existence of such a being is not plainly revealed until the fact of Christ’s victory over him is revealed. But however ludicrous mediaeval and vulgar superstitions may have made the notion, and however incredible the tremendous figure painted by the great Puritan poet has proved to be, there is nothing ridiculous, and nothing that we have the right to say is incredible, in the plain declarations that came from Christ’s lips over and over again, that the world, the aggregate of ungodly men, has a prince.

And then my text tells us that that prince is ‘judged.’ The Cross did that, as Jesus Christ over and over again indicates, sometimes in plain words, as ‘Now is the judgment of this world,’ ‘Now is the prince of this world cast out’; sometimes in metaphor, as ‘I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven,’ ‘First bind the strong man and then spoil his house.’ We do not know how far-reaching the influences of the Cross may be, and what they may have done in those dark regions, but we know that since that Cross, the power of evil in the world has been broken in its centre, that God has been disclosed, that new forces have been lodged in the heart of humanity, which only need to be developed in order to overcome the evil. We know that since that auspicious day when ‘He spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly and leading them in triumph,’ even when He was nailed upon the Cross, the history of the world has been the judgment of the world. Hoary iniquities have toppled into the ceaseless washing sea of divine love which has struck against their bases. Ancient evils have vanished, and more are on the point of vanishing. A loftier morality, a higher notion of righteousness, a deeper conception of sin, new hopes for the world and for men, have dawned upon mankind; and the prince of the world is led bound, as it were, at the victorious chariot wheels. The central fortress has been captured, and the rest is an affair of outposts.

My text has for its last word this-the prince’s judgment prophesies the world’s future judgment. The process which began when Jesus Christ died has for its consummation the divine condemnation of all the evil that still afflicts humanity, and its deprivation of authority and power to injure. A final judgment will come, and that it will is manifested by the fact that Christ, when He came in the form of a servant and died upon the Cross, judged the prince. When He comes in the form of a King on the great White Throne He will judge the world which He has delivered from its prince.

That thought, my brother, ought to be a hope to us all. Are you glad when you think that there is a day of judgment coming? Does your heart leap up when you realise the fact that the righteousness, which is in the heavens, is sure to conquer and coerce and secure under the hatches the sin that is riding rampant through the world? It was a joy and a hope to men who did not know half as much of the divine love and the divine righteousness as we do. They called upon the rocks and the hills to rejoice, and the trees of the forest to clap their hands before the Lord, ‘for He cometh to judge the world.’ Does your heart throb a glad Amen to that?

It ought to be a hope; it is a fear; and there are some of us who do not like to have the conviction driven home to us, that the end of the strife between sin and righteousness is that Jesus Christ shall judge the world and take unto Himself His eternal kingdom.

But, my friends, hope or fear, it is a fact, as certain in the future, as the Cross is sure in the past, or the Throne in the present. Let me ask you this question, the question which Christ has sent all His servants to ask-Have you loathed your sin? have you opened your heart to Christ’s righteousness? If you have, when men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and they ‘call on the rocks and the hills to cover them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the Throne,’ you will ‘have a song as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept,’ and lift up your heads, ‘for your redemption draweth nigh.’ ‘Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness before Him in the day of judgment.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 16:9. Περὶ ἁμαρτίας, concerning sin) He is speaking not of sin generally, but concerning the sin of unbelief, ch. Joh 15:22, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin,” etc., which sin is an aberration from the primitive truth; ch. Joh 8:46, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” [i.e. that I am in error, and have wandered from the truth: He appeals to their conscience]. And again, unbelief is the confluence of all sins, and the worst of them all, Mat 10:15, note, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha than,” etc. Therefore not to believe the Gospel, is worse than to imitate the men of Sodom. Through it a man departs from (falls short of) all the will of God. Heb 3:12, “Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.”—ὅτι) [because, Engl. Vers.], namely that; and so in the following verses, as is evident from the conjugates (κρίσεως—κέκριται),[363] in Joh 16:11.

[363] Κρίσεως—ὅτι, κέκριται, of judgment, namely, that the Prince of the world is judged,” which show that the sentence in each case following ὅτι is not assigning the reason because of which, but is setting forth the subject, concerning which the reproof is given, more in detail.—E. and T.

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

Joh_16:9. First part: in reference to sin He will convince them. The more exact definition, as to how far He will convince them περὶ ἁμαρτίας; so far as they, namely (ὅτι, equivalent to εἰς ἐκεῖνο ὅτι, Joh_2:18, Joh_9:17, Joh_11:51), do not believe on me, which He will reveal to them as sin, and will bring them to a consciousness of guilt; ὅτι ἁμαρτάνουσι μὴ πιστεύνοτες ἔτι, Euth. Zigabenus. Following Calvin (comp. already Apollinarius, Ammonius, and also Luther), De Wette and Brückner (comp. also Ebrard) interpret not of the conviction of sin, so far as the unbelief of the world will be brought to its consciousness as sin, but of sin generally (qualis in se sit hominum natura, Calvin), of the condition under the wrath of God, in which the world, as opposed to the ever-increasing multitude of believers, who are victorious through the power of truth, appears involved, because it does not believe, for faith is the bond between the sinful world and God. Comp. Lange, who understands the rejection of Christ as the essential manifestation of all sin, as also Wetzel and Godet; which, however, does not correspond to the simplicity of the words.[172] On the ἜΛΕΓΞΙς of the world ΠΕΡῚ ἉΜΑΡΤ., and that with regard to its converting power, comp. 1Co_14:24-25. Tholuck makes out of the simple ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς the guilt of sin, and that the unpardonable (Joh_9:41).

Note further that ὅτι is the exponent, not of ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς, but of ἘΛΈΓΞΕΙ ΠΕΡῚ ἉΜ.

[172] The sense would be this: in reference to sin He will convince them that unbelief is the true essence of sin. How easy would it have been for Jesus to have actually said this! for example, by: περὶ ἁμαρτίας, ὅτι ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐστὶν ἡ ἀπιστία. And such an expression of the thought assumed would have been quite Johannean.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 16:9 . In detail, new convictions περὶ ἁμαρτίας are to be wrought, ὅτι οὐ πιστεύουσιν εἰς ἐμέ . Each of the three clauses introduced by ὅτι is in apposition with the foregoing substantive, and is explanatory of the ground of the conviction, “Concerning sin, because they do not believe on me”. Unbelief will be apprehended to be sin. The world sins “because” it does not believe in Christ, i.e. , the world sins inasmuch as it is unbelieving, cf. Joh 3:18-19 ; Joh 3:36 ; Joh 15:22 . περὶ δικαιοσύνης δὲ … “And concerning righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no longer.” The world will see in the exaltation of Christ proof of His righteousness [ δικαίου γὰρ γνώρισμα τὸ πορεύεσθαι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ συνεῖναι αὐτῷ , Euthymius] and will accordingly cherish new convictions regarding righteousness. The clause καὶ οὐκ ἔτι θεωρεῖτέ με is added to exhibit more clearly that it was a spiritual and heavenly life He entered upon in going to the Father; and possibly to remind them that the invisibility which they lamented was the evidence of His victory.

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

Of sin, because they believe not on me--As all sin has its root in unbelief, so the most aggravated form of unbelief is the rejection of Christ. The Spirit, however, in fastening this truth upon the conscience, does not extinguish, but, on the contrary, does consummate and intensify, the sense of all other sins.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Of sin] Of the sin of the Jews in not receiving me as the Messiah, though my mission was accredited by the very miracles which the prophets foretold: see Isa 35:3-6. This was literally fulfilled on the day of pentecost, when the Spirit was given; for multitudes of Jews were then convinced of this sin, and converted to God. See Ac 2:37.

If we take this prediction of our Lord in a more general sense, then we may consider that it is one of the grand offices of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin, to show men what sin is, to demonstrate to them that they are sinners, and to show the necessity of an atonement for sin; and in this sense the phrase, περι αμαρτιας, may be understood, and in this sense it is used in multitudes of places in the Septuagint, but the words, because they believe not in me, restrict the meaning particularly to the sin of the Jews in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.

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

9. Of sin. It now remains that we see what it is to convince of sin Christ appears to make unbelief the only cause of sin, and this is tortured by commentators in various ways; but, as I have already said, I do not intend to detail the opinions which have been held and advanced. First, it ought to be observed, that the judgment of the Spirit commences with the demonstration of sin; for the commencement of spiritual instruction is, that men born in sin have nothing in them but what leads to sin Again, Christ mentioned unbelief, in order to show what is the nature of men in itself for, since faith is the bond by which he is united to us, until we believe in him, we are out of him and separated from him. The import of these words is as if he had said, “When the Spirit is come, he will produce full conviction that, apart from me, sin reigns in the world;” and, therefore, unbelief is here mentioned, because it separates us from Christ, in consequence of which nothing is left to us but sin In short, by these words he condemns the corruption and depravity of human nature, that we may not suppose that a single drop of integrity is in us without Christ.

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.

(9) Of sin, because they believe not on me.—This should not be interpreted, as it very frequently is, of the sin of unbelief, but of sin generally; unbelief in Christ is stated as the cause of sin. Sin is missing the aim of life, the disordered action of powers that have lost their controlling principle. Christ is the revelation to the world of the Father’s love. In union with God through Him the soul finds the centre of its being, and the true purpose of its life. By the witness of Christ the Holy Spirit convinces men that He is the centre of the moral harmony of the Universe, and that through Him their spirits have access to God. This conviction reveals to them their sin, because they believe not on Him. Its effect is salutary or condemnatory, according as we are convinced and converted by it, or refuse its influence and remain convicted.

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

9. Of sin] Or, Concerning sin. This naturally comes first: the work of the Spirit begins with convincing man that he is a fallen, sinful creature in rebellion against God.

because they believe not on me] This is the source of sin—unbelief; formerly, unbelief in God, now unbelief in His Ambassador. Not that the sin is limited to unbelief, but this is the beginning of it: ‘Because’ does not explain ‘sin,’ but ‘will convict.’ The Spirit, by bringing the fact of unbelief home to the hearts of men, shews what the nature of sin is.

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.

Of sin, because they believe not on me. The "sin" here primarily intended, is that of the Jews, in disbelieving, rejecting, and crucifying Christ; and which the Spirit of God, by Peter, charged upon them on the day of "Pentecost", and fully proved against them; gave such clear evidence, and wrought such strong convictions of in their minds and consciences, that being pricked to the heart, they cried out, "what shall we do?" Act 2:23; though as this passage may be applied to the ordinary work of the Spirit of God upon the souls of men, through the ministry of the word; so it may take in convictions of sin of all sorts, as of original and actual sins, and particularly the sin of unbelief: for the Spirit of God convinces of the sinfulness and corruption of nature, the wickedness and plague of a man's heart, the sin that dwells in him; how that has overspread all the powers and faculties of his soul, rendered both him and his services unacceptable to God, loathsome in his sight, and himself hopeless and helpless, and deserving of his wrath and displeasure: he also convinces of actual sins and transgressions, showing that they are breaches of the law of God, and are committed against God himself; that they are deserving of death, even eternal death; that the wrath of God is revealed against them, and for them comes upon the children of disobedience; and that there is no atonement for them, or cleansing from them, but by the blood of Christ: he likewise convinces of the sin of unbelief, here particularly mentioned: showing the evil nature and consequences of it, to persons enjoying a Gospel revelation; that such who disbelieve the Messiah, shall die in their sins; that whoever believes not in him shall be damned; and that faith in Christ is necessary to salvation, and that without it there is none.

; though as this passage may be applied to the ordinary work of the Spirit of God upon the souls of men, through the ministry of the word; so it may take in convictions of sin of all sorts, as of original and actual sins, and particularly the sin of unbelief: for the Spirit of God convinces of the sinfulness and corruption of nature, the wickedness and plague of a man's heart, the sin that dwells in him; how that has overspread all the powers and faculties of his soul, rendered both him and his services unacceptable to God, loathsome in his sight, and himself hopeless and helpless, and deserving of his wrath and displeasure: he also convinces of actual sins and transgressions, showing that they are breaches of the law of God, and are committed against God himself; that they are deserving of death, even eternal death; that the wrath of God is revealed against them, and for them comes upon the children of disobedience; and that there is no atonement for them, or cleansing from them, but by the blood of Christ: he likewise convinces of the sin of unbelief, here particularly mentioned: showing the evil nature and consequences of it, to persons enjoying a Gospel revelation; that such who disbelieve the Messiah, shall die in their sins; that whoever believes not in him shall be damned; and that faith in Christ is necessary to salvation, and that without it there is none.

John 16:10

joh 16:10

joh 16:10

joh 16:10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father,.... The "righteousness" here spoken of, does, in the first sense of the word, design the personal righteousness of Christ. The Jews had traduced him as a wicked man, said he was a sinner himself, and a friend of publicans and sinners; that he was guilty of blasphemy and sedition, maintained a familiarity with Satan, yea, that he had a devil: now the Spirit of God, by the mouth of Peter, on the day of "Pentecost", proved, to the conviction of the Jews, that all this was slander; that Christ was an innocent, holy, and righteous person, and a man approved of God among them, as they themselves must be conscious of, Act 2:22; of all which, his going to the Father, and being received by him, were a full proof and demonstration. The effusion of the Spirit in that extraordinary manner upon the disciples, showed that he was gone to the Father, and had received from him the promise of the Holy Ghost, which he then shed abroad; and his going to the Father, and being set down by him at his right hand, made it clear that he came from him, and was no impostor; that he had acted the faithful and upright part, and was free from all the charges the Jews had laid against, him. Moreover, this may also be very well understood of the mediatorial righteousness of Christ, which he, as the surety and Saviour of his people, was to work out and bring in for them, in obedience to the law of God; which required holiness of nature, perfection of obedience, and bearing its penalty, death; all which were complied with by Christ, and so the whole righteousness of the law was fulfilled by him; and which is imputed by God as the justifying righteousness of all that believe in Jesus; and the proof of his having wrought out this, lies in his going to the Father; for as this was the work he came about, the will of his Father he came to do, had he not done it, it is reasonable to think he would never have met with such a welcome from him: besides, the donation of the Spirit, in consequence of its being wrought out, most clearly demonstrates it: likewise in the ordinary work of the Spirit of God upon the souls of his people, he always convinces them of the necessity of a righteousness to justify them before God, to render them acceptable in his sight, and to give them a right to the heavenly glory; for to admit them without a righteousness, or any unrighteous persons there, would be contrary to the justice of God, disagreeable to his pure and holy nature, and destructive of the comfort and happiness of the saints. He, the Spirit of God, convinces men of the insufficiency of their own righteousness for such purposes; that they have no righteousness that deserves the name of one, and that what they have will not justify them before God, and entitle them to heaven: and this he does, by showing them the corruption of their nature, their daily sins and infirmities, in thought, word, and deed; the purity of the divine perfections, and the spirituality and extensiveness of the law of God; which when a man is thoroughly apprized of, he can never hope for and expect justification before God by his own righteousness: hence the Spirit of God proceeds to convince men of the glory, excellency, fulness, and suitableness of the righteousness of Christ; which he does, by revealing it to them in the Gospel, setting it before them, and working faith in them to lay hold upon it; when they desire to be found in Christ, not having on their own, but his righteousness; which convictions appear by the mean thoughts they have of their own righteousness, by hungering after Christ's, by disclaiming all but his, by their constant mention of it, dependence on it, and satisfaction in it; and thus to convince of it, is the peculiar work of the Spirit, since naturally men are fond of their own righteousness, are ignorant of Christ's, and set against it. It is added,

and ye see me no more; not but that the disciples were to see Christ, and did see him after his resurrection, and will with the rest of the saints see him at his second coming: but the meaning is, that they should see him no more, in a mean and despicable condition on earth, in a state of humiliation, in the form of a servant, he having faithfully performed the whole work he came about, and particularly that of righteousness, he came to bring in.

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

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Ver. 9. Of sin, because they believe not in me] Our Saviour points out the greatest of sins, unbelief; which was the first sin, and is still the root of all the rest, Heb 3:12. It is a sin against the gospel, and rejects the remedy, that bath of Christ’s blood, to the which even the princes of Sodom are invited, Isa 1:10. It gives God the lie, and subjects a man to the rigour, coaction, and curse of the law.

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.

Of sin - The first thing specified of which the world would be convinced is sin. Sin, in general, is any violation of a law of God, but the particular sin of which men are here said to be convinced is that of rejecting the Lord Jesus. This is placed first, and is deemed the sin of chief magnitude, as it is the principal one of which men are guilty. This was particularly true of the Jews who had rejected him and crucified him; and it was the great crime which, when brought home to their consciences by the preaching of the apostles, overwhelmed them with confusion, and filled their hearts with remorse. It was their rejection of the Son of God that was made the great truth that was instrumental of their conversion. Act 2:22-23, Act 2:37; Act 3:13-15; Act 4:10, Act 4:26-28; compare Joh 16:31-33. It is also true of other sinners. Sinners, when awakened, often feel that it has been the great crowning sin of their lives that they have rejected the tender mercy of God, and trampled on the blood of his Son; and that they have for months and years refused to submit to him, saying that they would not have him to reign over them. Thus is fulfilled what is spoken by Zechariah, Zec 12:10; “And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and mourn.” Throughout the New Testament this is regarded as the sin that is pre-eminently offensive to God, and which, if unrepented of, will certainly lead to perdition, Mar 16:16; Joh 3:36. Hence, it is placed first in those sins of which the Spirit will convince men; and hence if we have not yet been brought to see our guilt in rejecting God’s tender mercy through his Son, we are yet in the gall of bitterness and under the bond of iniquity.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Here may arise some doubt, whether these words import that the Holy Ghost should convince the world of sin in general, or of that particular sin of not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ: the first seemeth best to agree with Joh 16:8, where convincing of sin is mentioned, without the addition which we have here; and it also best agreeth with the effect of the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit doth not convince the world of one sin only. The second seemeth to be favoured by the addition of those words,

because they believe not on me; which yet may be understood only as a particular great instance of sin, of which the Spirit convinceth the world. It was the great sin of that age, that, though Christ was come into the world, and had given such manifest evidence that he was sent of his Father, yet the generality of the men and women in that part of the world into which he was come, would not receive and embrace him as the true Messiah. Now, saith our Saviour, when I am gone to my Father, I will send the Spirit, and he, by his gifts given to my apostles, saith so convince a great part of the world, that they shall have nothing to say, but be wholly inexcusable in their not receiving me as the true Messiah and Saviour of the world. Others he shall, by his inward influence upon their hearts, so convince of sin in not believing on me, that they shall believe on me, and be saved.

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

9. Sin… believe not on me—Not that all sin consists in rejecting Christ; but that the rejection of Christ leaves them in the full possession of all their guilt, and to the full consequences of all their sins. By rejecting Christ they hold on to all sin.

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

The three elements of this conviction of the world are separately treated. In respect of sin, because they believe not on me. The oti , has been restricted by Meyer to "so far as," as though the conviction with respect to sin was limited to a charge of specific unbelief; and Hengstenberg would render it consisting in this, that," etc. But surely the full causal force of the particle is to be pressed, because they believe not on me." The essence of all sin is unbelief, a refusal to surrender heart and will to the Divine will and authority, though the world generally had taken different views of it: supposing sin" to be disobedience to some particular class of duties, or the neglect of certain specific ceremonial. Christ declares that the Spirit which has always been striving with men to bring them into reconciliation with God, will now convict the world that its sinful tendencies and principles have reached their highest and most willful expression in unbelief eiv eme , towards me. The most complete manifestation of God has received from the world the most utter and insensate repudiation. The very nature of sin thus stands revealed, the leprosy of sin will come out on the smiling self-complacency of the world. It will no longer be able to charge upon Adam, nor the devil, nor upon natures nor upon temptations of the flesh, the blame of sin; but will take the guilt home, and see that, in this crowning act of human folly, unbelievers have rendered themselves personally liable to condemnation, and, by rejecting infinite love as well as eternal law, have left themselves without excuse.

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

Of sin - Particularly of unbelief, which is the confluence of all sins, and binds them all down upon us.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

9. Of sin, because they believe not on me. In naming sin, the chief of all sins is singled out. All sin springs from unbelief. To destroy sin, the heart of man must be pierced with the sword of the Spirit. Hence, the aim of the Spirit on Pentecost, and always, is to destroy unbelief.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

9. ἁμαρτίας. This must come first: the work of the Spirit begins with convicting man of having rebelled against God. And the source of sin is unbelief; formerly, unbelief in God, now unbelief in His Ambassador. Not that the sin is limited to unbelief, but this is the beginning of it: ‘Because’ does not explain ‘sin,’ but ‘will convict.’ The Spirit, by bringing the fact of unbelief home to the hearts of men, shews what the nature of sin is.

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.

9.] And the great opening of Sin to the world is to shew them that its root and essence is, unbelief in Christ as the Son of God. Unbelief:—for, mankind being alien from God by nature, the first step towards their recovery must be to lay hold on that only safety which He has provided for them; and that laying hold is faith, and the not doing it, when revealed and placed before them, is sin. Beforetime, it was also unbelief;—“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God:”—but now,—for we can only believe as God has revealed Himself,—it is unbelief in Christ the Son of God,—the οὐ θέλετε ἔρχεσθαι πρός με: see this pointedly asserted 1Jn 5:10-12. Remember, this unbelief is not a mere want of historical faith,—but unbelief in its very root,—the want of a personal and living recognition of Jesus as the Lord (1Co 12:3), which, wherever the Spirit has “opened His commission” by the planting of the visible Church, is the condemning sin of the world. Of this He shall convince those who are brought out of the world, and ultimately convict those who remain in it and die in their sins (see Hare, Mission of the Comforter, vol. ii. note Q).

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

9. Abbott (Diat. 2077) notes that in Johannine words of Jesus, μέν occurs only twice (here and at v. 22), in both cases being followed by δέ.

περὶ ἁμαρτίας μέν, ὅτι οὐ πιστεύουσιν εἰς ἐμέ. This was the sin to which He had just referred (15:22), and which He had already said (15:26) that the witness of the Paraclete would expose. It is the touchstone of moral character to discern God in Christ, as is repeatedly insisted on by Jn.: cf. 3:18, 36, 9:41, 1Jn 5:10. This is “to believe on Him”: cf. 1:12, 4:39, and see 8:24.

The primary thought is of the vindication of Jesus to the world, which shall be “convicted” by the Paraclete of the sin which is inherent in its rejection of Jesus. But, although it is not directly stated here, the fact that the Spirit “convicts” of sin has been the experience of every disciple, as well as of the antagonists, of Jesus.

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