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"The Comforter in every part of his threefold work glorifies Christ. In convincing of sin he convinces us of the sin of not believing on Christ. In convincing us of righteousness, he convinces us of the righteousness of Christ, of that righteousness which was made manifest in Christ going to the Father, and which he received to bestow on all such as should believe in him. And lastly, in convincing of judgment, he convinces us that the prince of the World was judged in the life and by the death of Christ. Thus throughout, Christ is glorified; and that which the Comforter shows to us relates in all its parts to the life and work of the incarnate Son of God."—Julius Charles Hare.
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IX
THE CONVICTION OF THE SPIRIT
"And when he is come he will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16: 8, R. V.). It is too large a conclusion which many seem to draw from these words, that since the day of Pentecost the Spirit has been universally diffused in the world, touching hearts everywhere, among Christians and heathen, among the evangelized and the unevangelized alike, and awakening in them a sense of sin. Does not our Lord say in this same discourse concerning the Comforter: "Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not neither knoweth him"? (John 14: 17) With these words should be associated the limitation which Jesus makes in the gift of the Paraclete: "If I depart I will send him unto you." Christ's disciples were to be the recipients and distributors of the Holy Ghost, and his church the mediator between the Spirit and the world. "And when he is come (to you) he will reprove the world." And to complete the exposition, we may connect this promise with the Great Commission, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," and conclude that when the {188} Lord sends his messengers into the world, the Spirit of truth goes with them, witnessing to the message which they bear, convincing of the sin which they reprove, and revealing the righteousness which they proclaim. We are not clear to affirm that the conviction of the Spirit here promised goes beyond the church's evangelizing, though there is every reason to believe that it invariably accompanies the faithful preaching of the word.
It will help us then to a clear conception of the subject, if we consider the Spirit of truth as sent unto the Church, testifying of Christ, and bringing conviction to the world.
As there is a threefold work of Christ, as prophet, priest, and king, so there is a threefold conviction of the Spirit answering thereto: "And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged" (John 16: 8-12, R. V.). It is concerning the testimony of Christ as he spake to men in the days of his flesh; and concerning the work of Christ now carried on in his intercession at God's right hand; and concerning the sentence of Christ when he shall come again to be our judge, that this witness of the Spirit has to do.
"He shall convince the world of sin." Why is he {189} needed for this conviction since conscience is present in every human breast, and is doing his work so faithfully? We reply: Conscience is the witness to the law; the Spirit is the witness to grace. Conscience brings legal conviction; the Spirit brings evangelical conviction; the one begets a conviction unto despair, the other a conviction unto hope.
"Of sin, because they believe not on me," describes the ground of the Holy Spirit's conviction. The entrance of Christ into the world rendered possible a sin hitherto unknown: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin" (John 15: 22). Evil seems to have required the presence of incarnate goodness, in order to its fullest manifestation. Hence the deep significance of the prophecy spoken over the cradle of Jesus: "Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2: 34, 35). All the most hideous sins of human nature came out during the betrayal and trial and passion of our Lord. In that "hour and power of darkness" these sins seem indeed to have been but imperfectly recognized. But when the day of Pentecost had come, with its awful revealing light of the Spirit of truth, then there was great contrition in Jerusalem—a contrition the sting of {190} which we find in the charge of Peter: "Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Was not that deep conviction, following the gift of the Spirit, in which three thousand were brought to repentance in a single day, a conviction of sin because they had not believed on Christ?