The Gospel of John - Outline Part 39 - The Job Description of the Spirit

TITLE

John 16:1-15 – The Job Description of the Spirit

EXPLANATION

Jesus has taught these truths to His disciples for the purpose of strengthening them.  When they would be faced with the opposition that He knew was coming, He did not want them to lose heart and give up.  They could expect expulsion from the Jewish Synagogues and even martyrdom by those who would pervert the name of God.

These lessons had not been necessary for the disciples to hear previously, because Jesus was with them.  But, now that He was going away, He wanted them to know and remember His lessons later.  Even though the Helper was coming, it would not be the same as when the Lord was right there with them in the flesh.  In spite of that, Jesus was very clear that this is the way things must be.  He had to go away, and in fact it was to the disciple’s advantage that He did.  With Jesus being gone they would be free to grow in the Spirit, which would not otherwise be possible if Christ was still among them.

As to this Spirit Helper, Jesus at this point gave the disciples a very clear picture of what His work would entail.  The Spirit’s job description is broken down into three aspects.  First, He was to convict the world concerning sin.  The only avenue available to the human race to escape the clutches of sin is belief in Jesus as the Christ.  Thus, anyone who does not currently hold such faith is guilty of sin and must be convicted by the Spirit if they are to be saved.  Second, the Spirit was to convict the world concerning righteousness.  Jesus was and is the perfect model of the righteousness of God.  With Him having departed this world in the flesh, only the record of His works contained in the Scriptures, and illuminated by the Spirit, would be available to reveal the way of righteousness to mankind.  Third, the Helper was to convict the world concerning judgment.  The unavoidable specter that looms on the horizon for all men who have rejected Jesus is that their doom approaches, in the form of the judgment of God.  God absolutely will eliminate sin from His creation one day.  All who are enslaved to it will be ejected from God’s presence along with the sin they love, into the lake of fire, to suffer endless eternal spiritual and physical torment.

Having outlined the Spirit’s work in the world, Jesus then gave the disciples a glimpse of the Spirit’s role in their lives.  Specifically, He would guide them into all truth.  Jesus Himself is the literal truth.  Therefore, the Spirit’s leading into truth would be accomplished by revealing and glorifying Christ to believers. 

APPLICATION

Sometimes we might unwittingly diminish our estimation of the importance and work of the Holy Spirit.  God the Father, although a spirit Himself, is represented so voluminously throughout the entire Bible that His presence tends to feel tangible.  God the Son, being in the form of a man, is clearly and obviously sort of the front man of the Trinity.  He is the representative of God among men.  And, as such, He is probably fairly well formed in our mind’s eye as well.  But the Spirit is less visible.  In fact, His role is to cast the spotlight away from Himself and onto the Son.  So, it may be possible for us to misunderstand and unjustly devalue His importance.

Because of that tendency, Jesus’s detailed instruction regarding the role of the Spirit in this section is extraordinarily helpful.  In the Pauline epistles it is written that it is by the Spirit that we must put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom. 8:13).  Well, in order for us to succeed in reliance upon the Spirit we must have some idea of who He is.  He must be a real and relevant and tangible person to us.  By dwelling upon His work, we can increase our appreciation, our understanding, and our dependence upon Him.  I think this is exactly what Jesus wanted for His disciples and what He wants for us as well.