1 "All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the hour is coming when those who kill you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their hour comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 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.
Dig Deeper
My wife and I recently went to South Africa for a couple of weeks with our oldest son. My wife is a contract nurse who whose contract at the hospital in which she was working had run out just before our trip. When we came back from the trip, she was informed by the agency for which she worked that they did not have any more available contracts. After a few of weeks of no new contracts coming up, she took a job at a hospital and decided that she no longer would do contract nursing. In those convening three weeks, though, she had filed for unemployment insurance. We figured the few extra dollars that that would bring in would be helpful. Usually, unemployment insurance is a simple process to file for and receive. This time was different, however. The agency for which she worked lied and said that my wife had not received a new contract because she quite and went on vacation to Africa. None of that was true, of course. She had told them long in advance we were going there on a ministry trip, and her being gone had nothing to do with there not being an available contract in the area when she returned, and she certainly didn’t quite. They told the unemployment agent several lies and twisted things quite nicely because they did not want to have to pay their share of unemployment. It seemed for awhile that no one cared. The unemployment agent was entirely uninterested in listening to her side of things or looking into the case at all to find the truth. After an appeal that met with little to no action, it looked hopeless. There’s nothing more frustrating than being unable to gain justice. Finally, after a second appeal, her case came before someone who cared, who listened, and who immediately ruled in her favor. There’s nothing quite like justice, especially after a long wait.
As we approach this passage, we find Jesus summarizing much of what he has said previously but in verses 8-11, the conversation turns somewhat puzzling at first glance. To fully understand what Jesus is saying, we have to understand the historic national Jewish passion and desire for justice. They felt very much like a person who was filing appeal after appeal but could not get anyone to listen to the injustice that was happening to them. When would God step in and administer justice? When would he finally do something? Jesus has the answer to that, and it was nothing short of shocking to those listening to Jesus.
Jesus has been giving them information for one simple reason, so that when the hard times come after he is gone, they will not fall away. What we need to keep in mind, though, is that Jesus didn’t just say these things, John chose to write certain things down. Jesus’ followers would be put out of the synagogue, but not in any systematic or formalized manner. That would come later, though. In fact, it would come around 85 or 90 AD, at the time when John was likely writing his Gospel. Of all possible things that Jesus said, why does John record that Jesus foretold his followers that they would be put out of the synagogues? Just as Jesus wanted to ensure that trials would not shake the faith of his eleven disciples, John wants to ensure that Jesus’ words similarly encourage and strengthen the faith of those who were undergoing similar persecution a generation later.
The fact is, Jesus’ followers were going to be persecuted, it wasn’t a mere possibility. It will be done and it will be done by people (primarily Jesus has the Jews in sight here rather than the additional persecution at the hands of the pagans) who think they are offering service to God, but the sad irony is that they are actually persecuting those who are serving God’s will. Imagine the shock of the apostle Paul when he realized that he was not offering service to God but actually was persecuting those who were. Jesus is telling them all of this before it happens, not to scare them, but so that the persecution will actually build their faith in a sense. When it comes, and it will, they will know that this is exactly what Jesus said would happen. They will know that God is completely in control of things even after Jesus has left. And his time to leave has come. He is going into the presence of the Father, yet they are not concerned with that as much as they are with what will happen to them and their own grief. They needn’t worry. Jesus’ leaving will put them in a far better position than they are with him here. The Advocate is coming and he will set things straight, he will decide who is serving God and who is persecuting His true people.
The Psalms are full of writers calling out to God, wondering when he would act on their behalf. They wanted to him act in judgment. We tend to think of judging as a bad thing, but they waited for it because when God acted, it would, they believed, show that they were in the right and their enemies in the wrong. Psalm 43 pleads, "Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" (see also Ps. 17, 26). In the Jewish mindset, they were God’s righteous people who couldn’t get a proper hearing concerning the injustice that was being done to them by the pagan nations. They often imagined themselves in need of a judge who would decide between them and their enemies. In the ancient world, a case was brought to a judge by two parties and he decided who was in the right, that was the party that would be vindicated. As time wore on, some of the prophets began to insinuate that Israel had rebelled against their God and deserved the condemnation that they were receiving. Those same prophets spoke of a time, however, when God would again take the judge’s chair, only this time He would vindicate Israel and demonstrate that His people were in the right.
This is the history of thought behind verses 8-11. When the Advocate comes, it will be to the disciple’s advantage, because he will be the legal counselor that will bring about their case before God. He will be their legal advocate demonstrating them to be God’s people and show them to be in the right. They will stand before God and be vindicated. God’s people are those in Christ, the true vine, the true Israel, and everyone else, especially those that are persecuting them will be shown to be in the wrong.
They will be persecuted. They will find themselves in the familiar position of God’s people, feeling that they are being unjustly treated, but the Spirit will come to their aid. They will not stand and need to wonder whether they are really God’s people or those who are mistreating them are. It is hard to continue to believe that you are in the right when you experience little success and the other side seems to have all of the power. But the Spirit will vindicate them in three specific areas. He will show them that they are in the right and the rest of the world is in the wrong.
First, he will prove the world wrong in regard to sin, because people did not believe in him. Jesus came into the world and showed the world what it looks like to perfectly do the will of God. The only reason people would reject that is because they chose their own win over God’s will. Soon, elements of the world will put Jesus on trial, but it is, in actuality, the world that is on trial, not Jesus.
Second, the Spirit will show that the world is wrong when it comes to righteousness or justice. Andreas Kostenberger says that "The world masquerades as righteous and suppresses any evidence to the contrary, and such behavior requires the Spirit to expose its guilt." Jesus here appeals to the truth of Daniel 7. When he ascends to the Father and is shone to be the Son of Man, seated on God’s throne, he will show the world’s claim to righteousness to be a sham. Jesus’ ascension and exaltation will show that God has ruled in favor of Jesus, and of course, what is true of the king is true of his people. If Jesus has been found in the right, so have his people.
Third, the Spirit will show that the world is wrong when it comes to judgment or condemnation. The world thinks that they can stand in judgment of Jesus and his followers and will try to carry out that judgment but the Spirit will show those things to be powerless. Nothing less than Jesus’ resurrection will demonstrate that the power of the prince of this world has been broken and he, in fact, is the one who stands judged and condemned.
Those who belong to Jesus don’t have to wonder about when justice will come. The Spirit, when He comes and does these things, will provide comfort to those who will suffer persecution for following the life of Christ. We don’t have to wonder whether God will act and do what is right, for He already has. He has already shown that His people are in the right and have been vindicated. Of that we can be sure.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever struggled with standing up to the world and feeling like you were in the minority being a Christian? Take a quick look through the Scriptures. It’s hard to find an example of the majority being in the right. What does that do your faith? God always shows His people to be in the right and He encourages us to stay convinced of that fact because we will almost always be in the minority, called to stand against those who think they are in the right, but have already been shown to be wrong.
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