When Jesus says in John 16:10 that the Holy Spirit will “convict the world of guilt (8) in regard to righteousness,“ there’s a suggestion of triumph in his tone, “because,” he adds, “I am going to the Father.”
The same Father, that is, who’d sent him to show the world what righteousness is, which Jesus did to perfection. Every word he said, and all that he did, perfectly reflected his Father (14:10 and 24). How obvious it was, therefore, in Acts 10:38, that “God had anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”
So people got to see in sharp focus what righteousness looked like. It was beautiful. There was forgiveness, mercy, healing, care for the weak and marginalized, and power over the cruelty and dehumanizing of evil. Thousands of people followed Jesus, startled at his wisdom and obvious authority behind what he said and did – unlike anything they’d witnessed in their lifetimes so far.
But, verse 39, “They killed him by hanging him on a tree.” And with that done and dusted, the powers that be really thought they’d managed to get rid of him – “but,” verse 40, “God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.”
No wonder Jesus sounded triumphant back in John 16:10 when he said “I’m going to the Father,” as if to say, “So, you thought you could get rid of me, eh? Well, guess what, the Father will bring me back to life again and make things even worse for you, piling the guilt on you for trying to wipe me off the map, because he had witnesses in waiting” – witnesses, Acts 10:41, “who ate and drank with Jesus after he rose from the dead,” who would then speak openly and boldly that Jesus “is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead,” and “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (42-43).
“In regard to righteousness,” then, John 16:10, the guilt at getting rid ofJesus would become even worse as righteousness spread even further and greater than before through Jesus’ disciples. “So more fool you,” is the justified charge in court to the world for rejecting Jesus.
There’s one more charge the Spirit has to make in John 16:11, and a fitting summary too perhaps, because this time it’s “In regard to judgment”….(next blog)
