So “When the Spirit comes,” Jesus says to his disciples in John 16:8, “he will convict the world of guilt” – guilt “in regard to sin” (9), but also “in regard to righteousness,” verse 10.

But what guilt can be attached to righteousness? Jesus explains: it’s “because I’m going to the Father, where you can see me no longer.” 

The evidence, therefore, that the world is being justifiably charged with guilt on this point too, is that Jesus is no longer here. And what a tragedy that is, because when he was here he was the picture of righteousness. He said and did things that healed and restored thousands of broken lives, he got imaginations whirring with, “What if he’s the longed for Messiah who’ll put evil to flight, and what if ‘now he’s restoring the kingdom to Israel’ (Acts 1:6) ‘establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness forever’ too (Isaiah 9:7)?” 

All that promise and potential of a better world, and the real possibility that at last a society could be built “on earth as it is in heaven,” based on thoroughly right and fair judgments on all matters for all types of people and in every situation. 

But the powers that be wanted nothing to do with Jesus, accusing him of being a threat to the nation, and branding him as a criminal. So they killed him and all that righteousness he lived and displayed went with him. It was the most tragic and insane error of judgment that a human society had ever made. Because with Jesus gone, the only real hope of a better world had gone too. 

But our world is faced with the same guilty charge, because the Holy Spirit is now living and displaying that same righteousness of Jesus in his disciples today. And again it’s being made clear that what Jesus taught is a much better way of life. Which gives total justification for the Holy Spirit saying to the world, “Guilty as charged, because you had the right way of living staring you in the face, but you cooked up reasons to dismiss and reject it. Righteousness was made obvious to you, just as it was in Jesus’ day, but you wanted nothing to do with it either.”

To which Jesus says, “More fool you, because I’m going to the Father,” verse 10, to be given even more power to make righteousness on earth happen. In regard to righteousness, then, does it include “An element of triumph” too?,…(next blog)

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin,” which sounds like he’s nailing the world to the wall for its evil. 

But the Greek word for sin in that verse is hamartia (har-ma-tee-ah), which carries with it an element of tragedy. Because at its root hamartia means “to miss or fail.” It’s not about nailing anybody to the wall, or condemning people for what they’ve done. It’s more about what causes a person to “miss” or “fail,” like a fatal flaw in his nature that sets off a series of disastrous events, or a tragic error of judgment that causes one’s life to unravel.

And isn’t that the story of Adam and Eve? They sinned, yes, but what was their sin? Was it rebellion against God, or was it more about being suckered into a tragic error of judgment by a very clever liar? Which in turn, though, also highlighted a fatal flaw in their nature, that led them to believe they could do without God because they could be like God themselves. That same fatal flaw would then repeat itself endlessly through history in billions of other people too, who, like Adam and Eve, would “miss” or “fail” to consult with God for guidance and strength in difficult and tempting situations. The Old Testament story of Israel being a long and sad illustration of that, of people with enormous promise and potential wrecking their lives again and again for not trusting God.

And who isn’t “guilty as charged” in that regard? But God’s charge against the world isn’t just to prove the whole world guilty of such a sin, it’s a lament as well, a cry to the world by the Holy Spirit of “How could you be so stupid?” The aim of which isn’t condemnation, it’s to wake people up to this fatal flaw in our nature that causes us to miss the obvious.

Such was the case in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit through Peter faced his fellow Israelites in verse 22 with some blatantly obvious facts, that “Jesus was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” But “you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death” (23). In other words, “How could you be so stupid,” when surely it was obvious in Jesus’ life and resurrection that “God made Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (36). 

So guilty as charged, yes, but on realizing their tragic error of judgment they were “cut to the heart” (37). And so began the second stage in the Spirit’s court case in John 16:10 – “In regard to righteousness”….(next blog)

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live with and in his disciples to provide a contrast to the evil going on, which would then serve as evidence in this great global court case led by the Holy Spirit to prove why not believing in Jesus is a sin (John 16:9).

And the evidence is simple: on the one hand, John 3:20, there are those who hate the “light” that Jesus shone on himself as the loving God’s solution to the chaos caused by people who love the “darkness” of evil instead (19). And who can deny such evidence? In every century we’ve all had to suffer the wreckage caused by those who coldly and callously sacrifice anything and anybody to feed their addiction to money, status and power. 

“But,” on the other hand, Jesus says in verse 21, “those who live by the truth come into the light.” So there’s a “truth” in existence in contrast to the ever prevailing evil plaguing our planet, the truth being “that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (15). There’s another world we can enter and experience – and eternally too – that’s the total opposite to the self-destructive ways of the world. 

To believe, therefore, that experiencing this eternal world is what Jesus was sent to us for, is like “coming into the light,” as Jesus phrases it. But it’s not “light” in the sense that the darkness is stripped away and everything becomes clear to us. The purpose of this light is “so that it may be seen plainly that what he (the believer in Jesus) has done has been done through God” (21). 

And it’s “done through God” all right, because this is the Holy Spirit at work providing a clear contrast between those who love the secrecy of the darkness, plotting their evil where people can’t see what they’re up to, and those who want the lights shone bright on their lives to prove that what God sent Jesus for is working, that humans really can be rescued from their self-destructive ways. It’s all contributing to the evidence the Holy Spirit is piling up to show that not believing in Jesus is a sin – by making it “plainly seen” in the lives of those who do believe in Jesus, and in those who don’t.

But is this irrefutable and obvious evidence simply to expose evil people and nail them to the wall? Or is there something in that word “sin” in John 16:9 that adds “An element of tragedy” in all this too?….(next blog)

“When the Spirit comes,” John 16:8, “he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin (first of all, verse 9), it’s because the world does not believe in me.” 

So Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to show the world it’s a sin to not believe in him. But why is not believing in Jesus a sin? Because it’s a criminal offence against oneself. Jesus put it in those terms too, that “whoever does not believe stands condemned already,” John 3:18. The Greek word for “condemned” is a legal term for being judged or sentenced – as in a court case. So not believing in Jesus is like pronouncing a guilty sentence on yourself.   

And that gets serious when Jesus also ‘stands up in court’ so to speak and announces what you’ve sentenced yourself to. He prefaces it in verse 16 with, “You know what I was sent by God to you for, right? – that whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life.” In other words, “I’m here, sent by a God who loves you, to save you from self-destructing into nothingness. To not believe that, then, is a criminal offence against yourself. You’ve sentenced yourself to a life of self-destruction, when what I came for was to rescue you from that so you can have eternal life – enjoying a loving God and his world – instead.” 

So Jesus then announces in verse 19: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world” – illuminating in Jesus what God wants for his beloved humans – “but (weirdly) people loved darkness instead of light, resulting in their actions being evil” wrecking other people’s lives too. 

Which again shows why not believing in Jesus is a sin, because it’s not only a criminal offence against oneself, it creates a horrible world where billions upon billions of criminal offences are being committed every day against other people too. The verdict, therefore, is obvious: that not believing in Jesus is a criminal offence – because of the destructive harm done to oneself and to others.

And it gets worse, verse 20, because once a person is hooked on doing evil he “hates the light” and will do anything to hide from it. He’ll try to cover up his evil deeds by lies, blaming anyone but himself, and silencing anyone who dares to expose what he’s up to. And we know what that’s like because we live in such a world. But Jesus has his disciples all over this planet “Providing a contrast”….(next blog) 

In John 16:13, Jesus says that “when the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth.” And by “all truth” Jesus meant “the Spirit will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you” (14). So at the heart and core of all truth is Jesus. But how does that truth become “known”? 

Jesus answered that back in verse 7, when he told his disciples, “I will send the Counsellor to you.” When the Spirit comes, then, it is through Jesus’ disciples that the truth about Jesus will be made real.

And how does the Spirit do that through Jesus’ disciples? Verse 8: “he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” The Greek word for “convict” in that verse is a legal term describing a prosecuting attorney presenting irrefutable evidence of guilt.

So what’s been happening in our world, ever since the coming of the Holy Spirit, is a court case being conducted by the Spirit through Jesus’ disciples, in which evidence is being presented that the world cannot deny. Jesus put it in court case terms too, in John 3:19, when he said, “This is the verdict (as to why people are irrefutably judged as guilty): it’s because Light came into the world but people preferred darkness and doing evil instead, and they hated the Light too, for fear of it exposing their evil” (20). Which is why “the world hates me,” Jesus said in John 7:7 – “it’s because I show the world how evil its deeds really are.”  

“If,” on the other hand, Jesus adds in John 15:22, “I hadn’t spoken to them (nor done among them things no other man has ever done, verse 24), they wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now (having heard me speak and seen the miracles) they have no excuse for their sin.” 

In this great global court case, then, Jesus was the first witness in the dock providing irrefutable evidence of the world’s guilt. But he was just one witness, and the world got rid of him too. In the wings, however, another witness was waiting, “the Spirit of truth who will testify about me” (15:26). And when he comes, it’s to provide an endless stream of witnesses, starting with Jesus’ disciples (27) and onward into the future through all “those who believe in me” (17:20). 

So Jesus sent the Spirit to provide more witnesses, billions of them, to prove that “Belief in Jesus” is the root of all truth….(next blog)

In Jesus’ last words to his disciples in John 13 to 17 he speaks clearly about them praying to himself and to the Father, but no mention of them praying to the Holy Spirit. 

Which is surprising, because the Holy Spirit would be playing the crucial role of carrying on where Jesus left off. That’s why Jesus would be asking his Father to provide “another Counsellor” (14:16) who would – in the meaning of the Greek word for ‘Counsellor’ – comfort, strengthen and guide his disciples.

Up to that point, Jesus’ disciples had drawn their strength, comfort and guidance from being with him every day, but when he was gone, then what? Well that’s when the Spirit would fill the gap beautifully, by living Jesus’ strength, comfort and guidance IN them. And filling that gap “forever” in their lives too (16), so at all times and in every situation the disciples would always have Jesus with them, but not just “with” them, he’d now be living “IN” them.

For a while, Jesus’ disciples would feel lost without him being present with them. But “unless I go away,” he told them in John 16:7, “the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” And why was that so important for his disciples to know? Because “when the Spirit comes he will guide you into all truth” (13). That’s quite a statement; imagine knowing “all truth.” So did Jesus give any hint as to what that truth was, or what it was based on? 

Yes he did, back in John 14:26, when he said “the Father will send the Holy Spirit in my name.” But why in Jesus’ name? Because, as Jesus goes on to explain in verse 26, the Spirit “will teach you all things, central to which is reminding you of what I taught you.” 

The root of all truth, therefore, was based on Jesus. Or as Jesus phrased it in 15:26, “the Spirit of truth will speak plainly about me,” and in 16:14, “the Spirit will bring glory to me by telling you the truth about me.” And again, in 8:31-32, “you’ll know the truth if you hold to my teaching.”

So “truth” by Jesus’ definition was based on him and his teaching. But does he then explain how the Spirit will make that truth real? Yes, in John 16:8-11, in what happens “When the Spirit comes”….(next blog)

In John 14:13-14, Jesus says, “I will do whatever you ask in my name,” and “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” So is it Jesus we pray to now?

But Jesus also says in John 15:16 that “the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name,” so is it the Father we pray to? On the other hand, Jesus says in John 16:15, “All that belongs to the Father is mine,” so does that mean the Father has passed everything on to Jesus, and therefore we’re back to Jesus being the one we pray to?

John doesn’t make things any clearer in 1 John 3:21-22 either, when he writes that “we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask.” No mention of whether it’s the Father or Jesus we pray to – just “God.” And just “God” again in 1 John 5:14, when John writes of “the assurance we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

John doesn’t separate the Father and Jesus as to who answers. But the process by which our prayers are answered does separate them, because in John 15:16 Jesus directs us to the Father as the source of every answer, but in John 3:35, “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.” All answers to our prayers, therefore, originate with the Father, but the Father has given Jesus the power and authority to make the answers happen.

So when Jesus says in John 15:16, “the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name,” we’re acknowledging the part they both play in answering our requests. 

It also shows that the Father and Jesus are in this together – not only for us, but for each other as well. Jesus, for instance, wants to give all glory to the Father by answering us exactly as his Father wishes, so we come to love the Father like he does. The Father, meanwhile, wants to give all glory to his beloved Son by giving Jesus full power and authority to make his wishes happen, so we come to love his Son like he does. In our prayers to the Father and Jesus, therefore, we’re being drawn into their world – of their love for each other and their love for us. 

But what about the Holy Spirit? “Do we pray to the Holy Spirit too?”….(next blog)

In the book of Acts, when the use of Jesus’ name began, it had nothing to do with ending a prayer. In Acts 2:38, when Peter says to his fellow Jews, “in the name of Jesus Christ your sins may be forgiven,” it wasn’t said in a prayer, or to end a prayer; it was said to direct the Jews’ attention to Jesus being the source of forgiveness. 

The second time “in Jesus’ name” is used is in Acts 3:6, when Peter says to a man crippled from birth, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Again, it wasn’t said in a prayer, or to end a prayer; it was said to direct the Jews’ attention to Jesus being the source of the man’s healing. As Peter said in verse 16, “It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this crippled man complete healing.”

The reason for using “in Jesus’ name,” therefore, was to highlight “the God of our fathers glorifying his servant Jesus” (13) and raising him from the dead (15), so that in Jesus – that name and that person – the Father had provided forgiveness and the power to restore broken lives. Which Peter rounds off very nicely in verse 26, that “When God raised up his servant (Jesus), he sent him first to you (Jews) to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” In Jesus’ name came the promise of forgiveness and the chance for a new life. 

The use of Jesus’ name, therefore, had nothing to do with ending a prayer; it was purely to draw attention to the powers God had given to Jesus as “Lord and Christ” (2:36), including the power to save from death, as Peter made clear in Acts 4:12, that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name by which we must be saved.”  

So where did the idea come from to end every prayer with “in Jesus’ name”? Well, didn’t Jesus say in John 16:26, “In that day you will ask in my name,” and in John 14:13, “I will do whatever you ask in my name”?   

But the reality of what Jesus meant by that is explained in the book of Acts, that the Father would raise Jesus back to life from the dead, so that in Jesus – in his name and position as “Lord and Christ” – the Father’s purpose would continue. And that’s what Jesus’ disciples catch on to in Jesus’ name, that he is the one the Father now wants us turning to, because it’s in what Jesus is doing in and through his disciples that the Father’s work continues (15:8). So “Is it Jesus we pray to now?”….(next blog) 

In John 14:13 Jesus tells his disciples, “I will do whatever you ask in my name,” and again in verse 14, “You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.” Whatever Jesus meant by that, the use of “in my name” carried with it a promise to answer their requests to him. And, what’s more, anyone who believed it “will do what I’ve been doing,” verse 12 – and “do even greater things too, because I’m going to the Father.” 

Jesus “going to the Father” was important for the disciples to know too, because that’s when the Father will “give me all authority in heaven and earth ” (Matthew 28:18). Which means Jesus will also have the power to answer what his disciples ask of him.

To add to that, Jesus has a purpose for answering his disciples’ prayers too, “so that the Son may bring glory to the Father,” John 14:13. And how Jesus brings glory to the Father is in his disciples “bearing much fruit” (15:8), the kind of fruit, that is, that demonstrates in the disciples’ lives what the Father’s purpose is – that he’s restoring humans to what he intended us to be in the beginning.

Three things, then, are connected to asking Jesus “in his name”: promise, power, and purpose. It means he promises to answer, he has the power to answer, and he has a purpose in answering. 

But he’d never told his disciples to specifically “ask in my name” before. It didn’t make any sense either, because why would they need to ask in his name when he was still there with them in person? He was about to die too, so even if they did ask him in his name he couldn’t do what they asked for anyway. So what was Jesus getting at? 

Well, in verse 18, he said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” And come to them he would, not as the physical human they’d been able to ask in person to, but as the resurrected Jesus and the mighty Son of God in the full splendour of his majesty and power. It was that Jesus they’d be praying to in future, “the Jesus whom God had made both Lord and Christ,” Acts 2:36. So when Jesus promised that “anyone who has faith in me will do even greater things,” he meant faith in the Jesus he was about to become, because that’s when he’d truly have the power to fulfill his Father’s purpose in them.

With that in mind, then, “Must we end every prayer ‘in Jesus’ name’?”….(next blog) 

In John 16:26, Jesus tells his disciples that no longer “do I need to ask the Father on your behalf,” because, verse 27, “the Father himself loves you.” Which was great; it meant they could have the same direct and very personal relationship with the Father they’d seen Jesus have. 

Jesus then explains in verse 27 why it is that “the Father loves you” – the reason being, “because you have loved me.” So in approaching the Father take into consideration, Jesus is saying, what the Father loves. As Jesus said back in John 14:21, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father.” 

To experience the love of the Father, then – which was the wonderful new world that would be opening up to the disciples – it was good to know this crucial point about the Father himself, that he loves those who love his Son. In which case, “How do we love his Son?” 

Jesus himself answers that in John 14:21 as well, when he says, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me,” and in verse 23, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” And in John 15:10, “If you obey my commands you will remain in my love.” And verse 14, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” 

So obeying Jesus is how we love him. And it was no different in how Jesus loved his Father too: “I love the Father,” John 14:31, by “doing exactly what he commanded me.” And in John 15:10, “I have obeyed my Father’s commands and (that’s how I) remain in his love.”

Jesus knew, therefore, what the love of the Father was like, because he’d set his heart on fulfilling exactly what the Father had sent him for, to “testify to what he’d seen and heard” of the Father as being utterly “truthful” (3:32-33). And the Father loved him for it, which Jesus experienced in the Father enabling him to do the grandest job of fulfilling his wishes exactly, and the joy Jesus experienced that came with it. 

And that was exactly what Jesus said would happen to his disciples when they set their hearts on obeying what he was sending them to do, because in them loving him that way, they too would experience the love of the Father in a promise in John 15:16, that “the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” Which sounds amazing, but “What does ‘in my name’ mean?”….(next blog)