In 1 John 5:18, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God (Jesus) keeps him safe, and the evil one does not touch him.” 

According to John, then, a person “born of God” doesn’t sin. But of course “No one born of God continues to sin,” 1 John 3:9, “because God’s seed remains in him.” Or as another translation phrases it: “When a person is begotten of God, God’s nature is in him for good, and such a heredity is incapable of sin.” 

To be conceived or fathered by God, then, means becoming seeded with God’s own heart and mind. It means inheriting his nature, a “new nature just like his” (Ephesians 4:24) that’s incapable of sinning. We’ve been given a new non-sinning self that’s the total opposite to “our old self corrupted by its deceitful desires” (22).

But what if – after we’re born of God with his non-sinning nature – we find we’re still being “corrupted by deceitful desires”? Does it mean we’re not born of God after all, or that we’re no longer his child? Jesus offers a clue in answer to that in John 3:6, when he says, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” 

According to Jesus, then, there are two births we can experience in our lives. We all go through the first one, the “flesh” or physical one, when we’re conceived and birthed by physical parents as a physical baby to give life to our physical self. In the second birth, described by Jesus in verse 7 as being “born again,” this time we’re conceived and birthed by the Spirit (8) to give life to our spirit self.

The difference between the two births is important, because it explains how we can still sin when we’re supposed to be incapable of sin. It’s because we now have two selfs, the physical self we were born with, and the spirit self the Holy Spirit conceived and birthed in us. And what dies when we sin is our physical self, not our spirit self. 

As Paul phrased it in Romans 8:10, “your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Sin has already killed off the old self we were born with, but not the righteousness, or righteous nature of God in our new self that the Spirit birthed in us. That self cannot die. And it won’t die either, because in the last part of 1 John 5:18, “Jesus keeps us safe”….(next blog)

According to John 16:7-8, the Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to get the point across that “the prince of this world now stands condemned” (11), offering our world the chance to experience what it’s like “living free of the devil.”

As to how the Spirit gets that point across, it’s in the lives of those who believe that “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work,” 1 John 3:8, and that “anyone born of God….the evil one does not touch him,” 1 John 5:18. It would be seen for real in these people’s lives, therefore, that “living free of the devil” is not only possible, it also brings about some amazing differences in them too. 

Can we know for certain what those differences are, then? Fortunately, John, being a practical chap, lists several differences in 1 John 5, the first of which he describes in verse 18 when he writes, “We know” – meaning we’ll know for certain all right – “that anyone born of God does not continue to sin.” In Greek it’s the present continuous tense, meaning “anyone born of God cannot continue on in sin,” or simply “cannot go on sinning.” 

That’s a stunning difference, especially when compared to the life “we used to live,” Ephesians 2:2, where we just “drifted along on the stream of this world’s ideas like everyone else, unknowingly obeying the devil, the commander of the unseen world, instead of obeying God.” 

But that old life came to an abrupt end when we found ourselves thinking, “I can’t live like that anymore. I can’t continue just allowing whatever my body and mind selfishly crave to rule my life” (3). And especially when it dawns of us that so much of what we see going on around us, and all over the world too, is being driven by that same spirit of helpless selfishness, resulting in so many people just living and dying without a thought as to what God created us for – or what he might think of the lives we’re living. 

So we began a new life with a total change of attitude, of never wanting to disobey God again. In other words, a life of “I cannot go on sinning,” which is a great start to “living free of the devil,” because the devil is only “at work in those who are disobedient”(2).

So what brings about this remarkable change in a person’s life? John again gives us a clue back in 1 John 5:18 – it’s being “Born of God”….(next blog)

In John 16:11, the Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to “convict the world of guilt (8) in regard to judgment.” Which sounds like a final sentencing on humanity, that having rejected and dismissed Jesus in verses 9 and 10, the world must now pay its penalty. 

But it’s not that. A sentence is being announced in court, yes, but – verse 11 – it’s “because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” It’s the devil who’s on the receiving end of being judged and sentenced. And Jesus made that clear back in John 12:31 when he said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world.” And what was that judgment? “Now the prince of this world will be driven out.” 

The judgment Jesus was talking about in John 16:11, therefore, was on the devil. And the sentence pronounced on the devil was the undoing and dissolving of his rule on this planet (1 John 3:8). For the devil it was the worst news possible, because he’d managed to get “the whole world under his control” (1 John 5:19), but he couldn’t control Jesus. Not only did Jesus defeat the devil’s attempts to control him in Matthew 4:1-11, it was his death on the cross that broke the devil’s stranglehold over humanity (Colossians 2:15). And from that point on, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).  

But why the need in John 16:11 “to convict the world of guilt in regard to that judgment” on the devil? What guilt can the world be charged with when it’s the devil who “stands condemned”? 

Well, it’s guilt in two parts. Guilt, first of all, that it took the death of Jesus to break the control of the devil over us, because we’ve always been too weak and pathetic to resist and defeat the devil ourselves. If it wasn’t for Jesus we’d all still be dead fish drifting downstream, reduced to living our lives out with no great purpose and then disappearing into nothingness when we died (Ephesians 2:2-3). And secondly, it’s also the guilt of not living what Jesus rescued us from the devil for. 

It’s the Holy Spirit’s purpose, then, to make this guilt real to people, which he does through Jesus’ disciples who do believe that in Jesus’ death “the evil one does not touch us” (1 John 5:18) and the change that makes in their lives. But in reality, what changes in a person’s life does “Living free of the devil” make?….(next blog)

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)

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)