English · KJV

John 16

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

Warning Against Persecution 1–4

1
These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. ​
2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. ​
3
And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. ​
4
But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. ​

The Advantage of Jesus' Departure 5–15

5
But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? ​
6
But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7
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. ​
8
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ​
9
Of sin, because they believe not on me; ​
10
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; ​
11
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. ​
12
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. ​
13
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. ​
14
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. ​
15
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Sorrow Will Turn to Joy 16–24

16
A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. ​
17
Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
18
They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
19
Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
20
Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. ​
21
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. ​
22
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. ​
23
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. ​
24
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. ​

Prayer in Jesus' Name and Final Peace 25–33

25
These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. ​
26
At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: ​
27
For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. ​
28
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. ​
29
His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
30
Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
31
Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? ​
32
Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. ​
33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for John 16

Verse 1

that ye should not be offended — Skandalizo, to trip up, from skandalon, a stumbling-block. The warning of 15:18–27 is given so that the coming hatred would not overthrow them; Christ had said the same of that night: 'All ye shall be offended because of me this night' (Matt 26:31).

Verse 2

put you out of the synagogues — Aposunagogos, one expelled from the synagogue; the Jews 'had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out' (John 9:22). 'God service' is latreia, worship offered; Paul, once such a persecutor, 'thought… that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus' (Acts 26:9).

Verse 3

they have not known the Father, nor me — The cause is stated as in 15:21, 'because they know not him that sent me'. Knowing the Son and the Father go together: 'if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also' (John 8:19). Their zeal is real but 'not according to knowledge' (Rom 10:2).

Verse 4

ye may remember that I told you — Mnemoneuo, to call to mind. The foretelling serves as proof when the events come, as in 14:29: 'when it is come to pass, ye might believe.' The warning had not been given 'at the beginning' because he was with them, and they needed no such preparation.

Verse 5

Whither goest thou? — Peter had asked this (13:36) and Thomas had said 'we know not whither thou goest' (14:5). Now none pursues the question to its answer, 'to him that sent me'; as v.6 says, the disciples are taken up with their own sorrow.

Verse 7

expedient — Sumphero, to bear together, to profit. The 'Comforter' is parakletos, one called alongside to help. The gift waited on the cross and ascension: 'the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified' (John 7:39). Peter reports it fulfilled in Acts 2:33.

Verse 8

reprove the world — Elencho, to expose, convict, bring a fault to light. Three charges follow in vv.9–11, each with its 'because'. The effect is seen at Pentecost, when the hearers 'were pricked in their heart' and asked what to do (Acts 2:37).

Verse 9

because they believe not on me — Pisteuo eis, to believe into, to trust oneself to. Unbelief in Christ is named as the sin that holds the rest: 'if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins' (John 8:24).

Verse 10

because I go to my Father — The Father's receiving him is the vindication of the one the world condemned. He was 'justified in the Spirit' (1 Tim 3:16), 'the just for the unjust' (1 Pet 3:18). 'Ye see me no more' uses theoreo, to behold as a spectator.

Verse 11

the prince of this world is judged — Archon, ruler. The verb krino is in the perfect tense: judged, and the sentence stands. It takes up 12:31, 'now shall the prince of this world be cast out'. Christ shared flesh and blood to destroy the devil through death (Heb 2:14); see also Col 2:15.

Verse 12

ye cannot bear them now — Bastazo, to lift and carry a load. Teaching is measured to what the hearer can carry, as Paul says to Corinth: 'I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it' (1 Cor 3:2). The Spirit supplies the rest (v.13).

Verse 13

guide you into all truth — Hodegeo, to lead on the way (hodos). He is the 'Spirit of truth' of 14:17. His speaking is not from himself but what he hears, and 'things to come' are declared (anangello). Paul says of this: 'God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit' (1 Cor 2:10).

Verse 14

He shall glorify me — Doxazo, to render glorious. The Spirit's work centres on Christ, 'he shall testify of me' (John 15:26); to 'receive of mine' is to take what is Christ's and declare it. John echoes it in Rev 19:10, 'the testimony of Jesus'.

Verse 16

A little while — The two 'seeing' verbs differ: first theoreo, to behold as a spectator; then optanomai, to be seen by, as when he appeared to them. The second sight began at the resurrection: 'being seen of them forty days' (Acts 1:3). Compare 14:19, 'ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.'

Verse 20

weep and lament — Klaio, to wail aloud, and threneo, to sing a dirge. The disciples mourn while the kosmos rejoices at his death, but the sorrow is 'turned into joy', not replaced by it. Compare 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy' (Ps 126:5).

Verse 21

A woman when she is in travail — Prophets used travail as the figure of pain and fear (Isa 13:8); here it is the figure of pain that ends in birth. 'Hour' (hora) is the word he uses of his own hour, and 'anguish' (thlipsis) is the word translated 'tribulation' in v.33.

Verse 22

your joy no man taketh from you — Airo, to lift away. The ground of the joy is 'I will see you again'. Peter writes to believers who do not see him: 'in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory' (1 Pet 1:8).

Verse 23

ye shall ask me nothing — Two verbs for asking: 'ask me' is erotao, to question; 'ask the Father' is aiteo, to request. After 'that day' the questions of vv.17–18 cease, and requests go to the Father 'in my name', as promised in 14:13.

Verse 24

ask, and ye shall receive — Aiteo, to ask for something. Asking 'in my name' is new: 'hitherto' they had not. The purpose is joy made full (plerao), as in 15:11, 'that your joy might be full'; the general promise is Matt 7:7, 'Ask, and it shall be given you'.

Verse 25

in proverbs — Paroimia, a saying put alongside the matter, a figure that veils as it teaches. It is set against parrhesia, 'plainly', open speech. The disciples think the time has come in v.29: 'now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.'

Verse 26

I will pray the Father for you — Erotao, to request. He does not say his intercession stops, for he 'maketh intercession for us' (Rom 8:34); he says their asking will not need to be carried by a plea from him, because the Father's own love meets it (v.27).

Verse 27

the Father himself loveth you — Phileo, to hold dear as a friend; the same verb is used of the disciples' love for Christ. Love answers love along the line already given in 14:21: 'he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father'. Their belief that he 'came out from God' is the other ground.

Verse 28

I came forth from the Father — Four movements in one verse: came forth (exerchomai), come into the world, leave it, go to the Father. John had opened the supper with the same pair: 'was come from God, and went to God' (John 13:3). The departure is seen in Acts 1:9.

Verse 31

Do ye now believe? — Arti, just now. Their confession in v.30, 'we believe that thou camest forth from God', is real, and he answers by naming its coming test. The next verse is fulfilled in the garden: 'Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled' (Matt 26:56).

Verse 32

ye shall be scattered — Skorpizo, to disperse. It recalls Zech 13:7, 'smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered', which Christ applies that night (Matt 26:31). 'I am not alone' repeats 8:29, 'the Father hath not left me alone'.

Verse 33

I have overcome the world — Nikao, in the perfect tense: the victory is won and stands. 'Be of good cheer' is tharseo, take courage. 'Peace' is the gift of 14:27, found 'in me'; the 'tribulation' (thlipsis) is the pressure of the world. John writes that the victory is shared: 'even our faith' (1 John 5:4).