Chapter 16:4-7
When the Lord Jesus had foretold His disciples the persecutions they
would have to suffer after His departure, He went on to say: "And these
things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you; but
now I go my way to Him that sent me." And here the first thing we have
to look at is, whether He had not previously foretold them of the sufferings
that were to come. And the three other evangelists make it sufficiently
clear that He had uttered such predictions prior to the approach of the
supper:(1) which was over, according to John, when He spake, and added,
"And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with
you." Are we, then, to settle such a question in this way, that they, too,
tell us that He was near His passion when He said these things? Then it
was not when He was with them at the beginning that He so spake, for He
was on the very eve of departing, and proceeding to the Father: and so
also, even according to these evangelists, it is strictly true what is
here said, "And these things I said not unto you at the beginning." But
what are we to do with the credibility of the Gospel according to Matthew,
who relates that such announcements were made to them by the Lord, not
only when He was on the eve of sitting down with His disciples to the passover
supper, but also at the beginning, when the twelve apostles are for the
first time expressed by name, and sent forth on the work of God?(1) What,
then, is the meaning of what He says here, "And these things I said not
unto you at the beginning, because I was with you;" but that what He says
here of the Holy Spirit who was to come to them, and to bear witness, when
they should have such ills to endure, this He said not unto them at the
beginning, because He was with themselves?
2. The Comforter then, or Advocate (for both form the interpretation
of the Greek word, paraclète), had become necessary on Christ's
departure: and therefore He had not spoken of Him at the beginning, when
He was with them, because His own presence was their comfort; but on the
eve of His own departure it behoved Him to speak of His coming, by whom
it would be brought about that with love shed abroad in their hearts they
would preach the word of God with all boldness; and with Him inwardly bearing
witness with them of Christ, they also should bear witness, and feel it
to be no cause of stumbling when their Jewish enemies put them out of the
synagogues, and slew them, with the thought that they were doing God service;
because the charity beareth all things,(2) which was to be shed abroad
in their hearts by the gift of the Holy Spirit.(3) In this, therefore,
is the whole meaning to be found, that He was to make them His martyrs,
that is, His witnesses through the Holy Spirit; so that by His effectual
working within them, they would endure the hardships of all kinds of persecution,
and, set aglow at that divine fire, lose none of their warmth in the love
of preaching. "These things," therefore, He says, i "have I told you, that,
when their time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them" (ver.
4). These things, I say, I have told you, not merely because ye shall have
to endure such things, but because, when the Comforter is come, He shall
bear witness of me, that ye may not keep them back through fear, and by
whom ye yourselves shall also be enabled to bear witness. "And these things
I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you," and I myself
was your comfort through my bodily presence exhibited to your human senses,
and which, as infants, ye were able to comprehend.
3. "But now I go my way to Him that sent me; and none of you," He says,
"asketh me, Whither goest Thou?" He means that His departure would be such
that none would ask Him of that which they should see taking place in broad
daylight before their eyes: for previously to this they had asked Him whither
He was going, and had been answered that He was going whither they themselves
could not then come.(4) Now, however, He promises that He will go away
in such a manner that none of them shall ask Him whither He goes. For a
cloud received Him when He ascended up from their side; and of His going
into heaven they made no verbal inquiry, but had ocular evidence.(5)
4. "But because I have said these things unto you," He adds, "sorrow
hath filled 'your heart." He saw, indeed, what effect these words of His
were producing in their hearts; for having not yet within them the spiritual
consolation, which they were afterwards to have by the Holy Spirit, what
they still saw objectively in Christ they were afraid of losing; and because
they could have no doubt they were about to lose Him whose announcements
were always true, their human feelings were saddened, because their carnal
view of Him was to be left a blank. But He knew what was most expedient
for them, because that inward sight, wherewith the Holy Spirit was yet
to comfort them, was undoubtedly superior; not by bringing a human body
into the bodies of those who saw, but by infusing Himself into the hearts
of those who believed. And then He adds, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth,
it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you:" as
if He had said, It is expedient for you that this form of a servant be
taken away from you; as the Word made indeed flesh I dwell among you; but
I would not that ye should continue to love me carnally, and, content with
such milk, desire to remain infants always. "It is expedient for you that
I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you."
If I withdraw not the tender nutriment wherewith I have nourished you,
ye will acquire no keen relish of solid food; if ye adhere in a carnal
way to the flesh, ye will not have room for the Spirit. For what is this,
"If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart,
I will send Him unto you"? Was it that He could not send Him while located
here Himself? Who would venture to say so? Neither was it, that where He
was, thence the Other had withdrawn, or that He had so come from the Father
as that He did not still abide with the Father. And still further, how
could He, even when having His own abode on earth, be unable to send Him,
who we know came and remained upon Him at His baptism;(1) yea, more, from
whom we know that He was never separable? What does it mean, then, "If
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you;" but that ye cannot
receive the Spirit so long as ye continue to know Christ after the flesh?
Hence one who had already been made a partaker of the Spirit says, "Though
we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we [Him]
no more."(2) For now even the very flesh of Christ he did not know in a
carnal way, when brought to a spiritual knowledge of the Word that had
been made flesh. And such, doubtless, did the good Master wish to intimate,
when He said, "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you;
but if I depart, I will send Him unto you."
5. But with Christ's bodily departure, both the Father and the Son,
as well as the Holy Spirit, were spiritually present with them. For had
Christ departed from them in such a sense that it would be in His place,
and not along with Him, that the Holy Spirit would be present in them,
what becomes of His promise when He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even
to the end of the world;"(3) and, I and the Father "will come unto him,
and will make Our abode with him;"(4) seeing that He also promised that
He would send the Holy Spirit in such a way that He would be with them
for ever? In this way it was, on the other hand, that seeing they were
yet out of their present carnal or animal condition to become spiritual,
with undoubted certainty also were they yet to have in a more comprehensive
way both the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But in no one are
we to believe that the Father is present without the Son and the Holy Spirit,
or the Father and the Son without the Holy Spirit, or the Son without the
Father and the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit without the Father and the
Son, or the Father and the Holy Spirit without the Son; but wherever any
one of Them is, there also is the Trinity, one God. But here the Trinity
had to be suggested in such a way that, although there was no diversity
of essence, yet the personal distinction of each one separately should
be presented to notice; where those who have a right understanding can
never imagine a separation of natures.
6. But that which follows, "And when He is come, He will convince the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, indeed, because
they believe not on me; but of righteousness, because I go to the Father,
and ye shall see me no more; and of judgment, because the prince of this
world is judged" (vers. 8-11); as if it were sin simply not to believe
on Christ; and as if it were very righteousness not to see Christ; and
as if that were the very judgment, that the prince of this world, that
is, the devil, is judged: all this is very obscure, and cannot be included
in the present discourse, lest; brevity only increase the obscurity; but
must rather be deferred till another occasion for such explanation as the
Lord may enable us to give. properly to the Jews, and not to the world,
did He not say in another place, "If ye were of the world, the world would
love his own"? Did He not reprove it of righteousness, when He said, "O
righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee"?(2) And did He not reprove
it of judgment when He declared that He would say to those on the left
hand, "Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels"?(3) And many other passages are to be found in the holy evangel,
where Christ reproveth the world of these things. Why is it, then, He attributeth
this to the Holy Spirit, as if it were His proper prerogative? Is it that,
because Christ spake only among the nation of the Jews, He does not appear
to have reproved the world, inasmuch as one may be understood to be reproved
who actually hears the reprover; while the Holy Spirit, who was in His
disciples when scattered throughout the whole world, is to be understood
as having reproved not one nation, but the world? For mark what He said
to them when about to ascend into heaven: "It is not for you to know the
times or the moments, which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye
shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit, that cometh upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth."(4) Surely this is to reprove
the world. But would any one venture to say that the Holy Spirit reproveth
the world through the disciples of Christ, and that Christ Himself doth
not, when the apostle exclaims, "Would ye receive a proof of Him that speaketh
in me, namely Christ?"(5) And so those, surely, whom the Holy Spirit reproveth,
Christ. reproveth likewise. But in my opinion, because there was to be
shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit that love(6) which casteth
out the fear,(7) that might have hindered them from venturing to reprove
the world which bristled with persecutions, therefore it was that He said,
"He shall reprove the world:" as if He would have said, He shall shed abroad
love in your hearts, and, having your fear thereby expelled, ye shall have
freedom to reprove. We have frequently said, however, that the operations
of the Trinity are inseparable;(8) but the Persons needed to be set forth
one by one, that not only without separating Them, but also without confounding
Them together, we may have a right understanding both of Their Unity and
Trinity.
2. He next explains what He has said" of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment." "Of sin indeed," He says, "because they have believed
not on me." For this sin, as if it were the only one, He has put before
the others; because with the continuance of this one, all others are retained,
and in the removal of this, the others are remitted. "But of righteousness,"
He adds, "because I go to the Father, and ye shall see me no more." And
here we have to consider in the first place, if any one is rightly reproved
of sin, how he may also be rightly reproved of righteousness. For if a
sinner ought to be reproved just because he is a sinner, will any one imagine
that a righteous man is also to be reproved because he is righteous? Surely
not. For if at any time a righteous man also is reproved, he is rightly
reproved on this account, that, according to Scripture, "There is not a
just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." And accordingly,
when a righteous man is reproved, he is reproved of sin, and not of righteousness.
Since in that divine utterance also, where we read, "Be not made righteous
over-much,"(9) there is notice taken, not of the righteousness of the wise
man, but of the pride of the presumptuous. The man, therefore, that becomes
"righteous over-much," by that very excess becomes unrighteous. For he
makes himself righteous over-much who says that he has no sin, or who imagines
that he is made righteous, not by the grace of God, but by the sufficiency
of his own will: nor is he righteous through living righteously, but is
rather self-inflated with the imagination of being what he is not. By what
means, then, is the world to be reproved of righteousness, if not by the
righteousness of believers? Accordingly, it is convinced of sin, because
it believeth not on Christ; and it is convinced of the righteousness of
those who do believe. For the very comparison with believers is itself
a reproving of unbelievers. And this the exposition itself sufficiently
indicates. For in wishing to open up what He has said, He adds, "Of righteousness,
because I go to the Father, and ye shall see me no more." He does not say,
And they shall see me no more; that is, those of whom He had said, "because
they have believed not on me." Of them He spake, when expounding what He
denominated sin, in the words, "because they have believed not on me;"
but when expounding what He called righteousness, whereof the world is
convicted, He turned to those to whom He was speaking, and said, "because
I go to the Father, and ye shall see me no more." Wherefore it is of its
own sins, but of others' righteousness, that the world is convicted, just
as darkness is reproved by the light: "For al things," says the apostle,
"that are reproved, are made manifest by the light."(1) For the magnitude
of the evil chargeable on those who do not believe, may be made apparent
not only by itself, but also by the goodness of those who do believe. And
since the cry of unbelievers usually is, How can we believe what we do
not see? so the righteousness of unbelievers just required this very definition,
"Because I go to the Father, and ye shall see me no more." For blessed
are they who see not, and yet do believe.(2) For of those also who saw
Christ, the faith in Him that met with commendation was not that they believed
what they saw, namely, the Son of man; but that they believed what they
did not see, namely, the Son of God. But after His servant-form was itself
also withdrawn from their view, then in every respect was the word truly
fulfilled, "The just liveth by faith."(3) For "faith," according to the
definition in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "is the confidence of those that
hope,(4) the conviction of things that are not seen."
3. But how are we to understand, "Ye shall see me no more"? For He saith
not, I go to the Father, and ye shall not see me, so as to be understood
as referring to the interval of time when He would not be seen, whether
short or long, but at all events terminable; but in saying, "Ye shall see
me no more," as if a truth announced beforehand that they would never see
Christ in all time coming. Is this the righteousness we speak of, never
to see Christ, and yet to believe on Him; seeing that the faith whereby
the just liveth is commended on the very ground of believing that the Christ
whom it seeth not meanwhile, it shall see some day? Once more, in reference
to this righteousness, are we to say that the Apostle Paul was not righteous
when confessing that He had seen Christ after His ascension into heaven,(5)
which was undoubtedly the time of which He had already said, "Ye shall
see me no more"? Was Stephen, that hero of surpassing renown, not righteous
in the spirit of this righteousness, who, when they were stoning him, exclaimed,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right
hand of God"?(6) What, then, is meant by "I go to the Father, and ye shall
see me no more," but just this, As I am while with you now? For at that
time He was still mortal in the likeness of sinful flesh.(7) He could suffer
hunger and thirst, be wearied, and sleep; and this Christ, that is, Christ
in such a condition, they were , no more to see after He had passed from
this e world to the Father; and such, also, is the righteousness of faith,
whereof the apostle t says, "Though we have known Christ after f the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we Him f no more."(8) This, then, He says, will
be your . righteousness whereof the world shall be reproved, "because I
go to the Father, and ye shall see me no more:" seeing that ye shall believe
in me as in one whom ye shall not see; and when ye shall see me as I shall
be then, we shall not see me as I am while with you meanwhile; ye shall
not see me in my humility, but in my exaltation; nor in my mortality, but
in my eternity; nor at the bar, but on the throne of judgment: and by this
faith of yours, in other words, your righteousness, the Holy Spirit will
reprove an unbelieving world.
4. He will also reprove it "of judgment, because the prince of this
world is judged." Who is this, save he of whom He saith in another place,
"Behold, the prince of the world cometh, and shall find nothing in me;"(9)
that is, nothing within his jurisdiction, nothing belonging to him; in
fact, no sin at all? For thereby is the devil the prince of the world.
For it is not of the heavens and of the earth, and of all that is in them,
that the devil is prince, in the sense in which the world is to be understood,
when it is said, "And the world was made by Him;" but the devil is prince
of that world, whereof in the same passage He immediately afterwards subjoins
the words, "And the world knew Him not;"(10) that is, unbelieving men,
wherewith the world through its utmost extent is filled: among whom the
believing world groaneth, which He, who made the world, chose out of the
world; and of whom He saith Himself, "The Son of man came not to judge
the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."(11) He is the
judge by whom the world is condemned, the helper whereby the world is saved:
for just as a tree is full of foliage and fruit, or a field of chaff and
wheat, so is the world full of believers and unbelievers. Therefore the
prince of this world, that is, the prince of the darkness thereof, or of
unbelievers, out of whose hands that world is rescued, to which it is said,
"Ye were at one time darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord:"(12) the
prince of this world, of whom He elsewhere saith, "Now is the prince of
this world cast out,"(13) is assuredly judged, inasmuch as he is irrevocably
destined to the judgment of everlasting fire. And so of this judgment,
by which the prince of the world is judged, is the world reproved by the
Holy Spirit; for it is judged along with its prince, whom it imitates in
its own pride and impiety. "For if God," in the words of the Apostle Peter,
"spared not the angels that sinned, but thrust them into prisons of infernal
darkness, and gave them up to be reserved for punishment in the judgment,"(1)
how is the world otherwise than reproved of this judgment by the Holy Spirit,
when it is in the Holy Spirit that the apostle so speaketh? Let men, therefore,
believe in Christ, that they be not convicted of the sin of their own unbelief,
whereby all sins are retained: let them make their way into the number
of believers, that they be not convicted of the righteousness of those,
whom, as justified, they fail to imitate: let them beware of that future
judgment, that they be not judged with the prince of the world, whom, judged
as he is, they continue to imitate. For the unbending pride of mortals
can have no thought of being spared itself, as it is thus called to think
with terror of the punishment that overtook the pride of angels.
