Of Sin, Righteousness and Judgment (John 16)

This  morning I am going to be meditating on a few passages from John's Gospel that have always been ones that make me go, huh?

John 16:7-11 NIV

[7] "But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. [8] When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: [9] about sin, because people do not believe in me; [10] about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; [11] and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned."

These verses are surprising to me, in that I read Jesus answers, and they don't seem to make sense to the way I think.  The first verse is quite clear - Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit coming.  He said that it is for our good that He goes so the Spirit can come.  That is such a critical statement for us to understand.  We can understand it in some ways, for the Spirit can be everywhere at one time, while Jesus was somewhat limited in His physical body. We understand the role of the Holy Spirit a bit because Jesus had spoken a bit about Him earlier, in Chapter 14, and calling the Holy Spirit our Advocate makes sense in that context. In Greek the word, here translated advocate, is Parakletos  whose definition is:

1. summoned, called to one's side, esp. called to one's aid
A. one who pleads another's cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate
B. one who pleads another's cause with one, an intercessor
(1) of Christ in his exaltation at God's right hand, pleading with God the Father for the pardon of our sins
C. in the widest sense, a helper, succourer, aider, assistant
(1) of the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after his ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the gospel truth, and give them divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom

So, in the wider sense the Holy Spirit is our helper, our assistant, called for our aid, our intercessor, and our legal defense. It could take quite a while to think through those terms and understand more of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our life.   I mean the fact that He could be defined as our helper and assistant, just messes with my mind.

Continuing on with the verses, Jesus says that He (Holy Spirit) will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment.  Initially that doesn't see too unusual, but is Jesus' next comments that make my mind tilt, for I think I know how He would define His thoughts around verse 8.  I believe that I am not alone, for imagine the people who heard this, and there only paradigm was the law.

So Jesus says the Holy Spirit will prove the world wrong about sin because they do not believe in Him.  Not because of what they do, what they have done, but about their belief.   We know repentance really means to change the way we think, and in this case, sin is closely connected to how we think.  How we think is what drives our actions, so Jesus is actually going to the foundation of sin, namely our beliefs and thoughts.  The Law was so focused on "doing" that many people missed the point that it was really about "belief".  The whole foundation of the Law was the belief in God, that He cared for His people.  It wasn't just a set of rules to follow,  but rather an introduction to God, and relationship with Him.  So here Jesus defines sin as primarily wrong belief.  So apparently, one of the Holy Spirit's jobs is to point out to us where we believe wrongly, so we can change the way we are thinking and acting.  Sin is not really about actions ! (Boy that just makes the little religion that remains in me just upset).  So according to this definition, it is possible to do the right thing, but have the wrong belief and thus, still be a sinner.

Back to the verses - in verse 10 Jesus says the Holy Spirit will prove the world wrong about righteousness because He was going to the Father.  My first thought is what does going to the Father have to do with righteousness?  Certainly this area would have confused the normal Jew, for righteousness was defined within the law, and it had to do, once again with actions and sacrifices.  If one always kept the Law, and fulfilled the required sacrifices, one could be considered righteous.  Jesus instead, connects righteousness to His actions.  Again, He is setting the foundation, righteousness is about Him not us.  It is because He has fulfilled the Law perfectly and gave Himself as the sacrifice that we are righteous.  Our actions,  other than believing, have no real impact on our righteousness.  The world has it all wrong, and the Holy Spirit was going to show that was the case.  Later through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul and specifically the author of the Letter to the Hebrews would bring much more clarity on this subject.  So again, our actions are not the issue, and the Holy Spirit will show us the truth.

Finally, in verse eleven, Jesus speaks about judgment.  His statement is that the prince of this world stands condemned.  In other words, there was already a trial, and a conviction and judgment issued.  His statement says the world gets this wrong, and thinks judgment is about something or someone else.  Jesus does say that He will come and judge us all, and that day is known as the "judgment day".  We see this day mentioned in Matthew (11&12), Paul (Romans 2), Peter (2 Peter 2 & 3), John (1 John 4) and Jude (6).  Taking this statement to the logical conclusion, it appears that prior to that day of judgment, the Holy Spirit's work of judgment is to show the enemy is already condemned. He is primarily not focused on us, which is what I think the world generally thinks.

As I think about this, it seems the best way to show the enemy is condemned and has been stripped of any authority is to destroy his works, and set his captives free.  Our goal, in joining ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit, should be to do that very thing, under His power and authority.  We are not called to judge each other, we are called to enact judgment on the enemy and his works. Again, this does not sit well with the spirit of religion, for the spirit of religion is all about judgment and criticalness, especially of others.  However according to Jesus, we are not the judge and we are not the jury.

So I am encouraged this morning to look at my beliefs and understanding to make sure they align with these statements of Jesus. My goal is to be taught by the Holy spirit, and repent to bring myself into alignment.  Lord, thank You for Your mercy, faithfulness and grace.