The Ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 16:5-15)
Throughout these last moments of teaching before the cross, Jesus has made references to the Holy Spirit, the Helper, who will be with the disciples once Jesus returns to the Father.
So we have already seen that Jesus is not leaving us alone on Mission for Him. We have a Helper who will be with us, teach us and remind us of Christ’s teaching, and who will bear witness with us concerning Christ.
Now, in chapter 16, Jesus goes into even more detail about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is with us to help us live the life and accomplish the task that Christ commissioned us to. He is here to glorify Christ. And, most specifically, He is about convincing and revealing.
The Holy Spirit is who convicts the lost world of sin, makes it possible for us to understand righteousness without the example of Christ in the world, and condemns the evil in the world. This is an important truth for followers of Christ to understand. We do not shoulder the major role in God’s mission to restore creation. We share, but it is the Holy Spirit who convicts. We grow in righteousness and living the way God desires, but it is the Holy Spirit who shows us and the world what real righteousness is, because we are not the example that Jesus is. And while we speak out and expose evil where we encounter it, it is the Holy Spirit who judges.
And for the believer, it is the Holy Spirit who reveals and enlightens. It is He who makes the words of scripture communicate with the meaning that God intends. He teaches sound doctrine and preserves the revelation through the ages. The way that the words of those assembled documents have been so well preserved and protected is nothing short of miraculous, but the way that they still communicate truth so clearly after all these centuries and cultural evolution is just as amazing.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” -14:16, 17
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” -14:26
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. [27] And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” -15:26, 27
So we have already seen that Jesus is not leaving us alone on Mission for Him. We have a Helper who will be with us, teach us and remind us of Christ’s teaching, and who will bear witness with us concerning Christ.
Now, in chapter 16, Jesus goes into even more detail about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He is with us to help us live the life and accomplish the task that Christ commissioned us to. He is here to glorify Christ. And, most specifically, He is about convincing and revealing.
The Holy Spirit is who convicts the lost world of sin, makes it possible for us to understand righteousness without the example of Christ in the world, and condemns the evil in the world. This is an important truth for followers of Christ to understand. We do not shoulder the major role in God’s mission to restore creation. We share, but it is the Holy Spirit who convicts. We grow in righteousness and living the way God desires, but it is the Holy Spirit who shows us and the world what real righteousness is, because we are not the example that Jesus is. And while we speak out and expose evil where we encounter it, it is the Holy Spirit who judges.
And for the believer, it is the Holy Spirit who reveals and enlightens. It is He who makes the words of scripture communicate with the meaning that God intends. He teaches sound doctrine and preserves the revelation through the ages. The way that the words of those assembled documents have been so well preserved and protected is nothing short of miraculous, but the way that they still communicate truth so clearly after all these centuries and cultural evolution is just as amazing.
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