John 16

Introduction

John 16 continues and concludes the Farewell Discourse that Jesus began in the upper room on the night before his crucifixion. The chapter picks up directly from the warnings about the world's hatred in John 15:18-27 and presses deeper into two urgent questions: what will happen to the disciples after Jesus leaves, and how will the Holy Spirit sustain them in his absence? The opening verses (1-4) prepare the disciples for violent persecution, including expulsion from the synagogues and even death at the hands of those who believe they are serving God. Jesus then explains why his departure is not a loss but an advantage, because it triggers the coming of the Advocate who will carry out a cosmic work of conviction in the world (vv. 5-15).

The second half of the chapter turns from the Spirit's work to the disciples' emotional experience. Jesus speaks of a "little while" that bewilders them, and he uses the image of a woman in labor to promise that their present grief will be transformed into a joy that no one can take from them (vv. 16-24). The chapter closes with a movement from figurative speech to plain declaration, culminating in one of the most sweeping statements in the Gospel: Jesus' chiastic summary of his mission (v. 28), the disciples' premature confidence (vv. 29-30), and Jesus' sober but triumphant final word: "In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world" (v. 33). This verse stands as the capstone of the entire Farewell Discourse before Jesus turns to prayer in John 17.

Persecution Foretold (vv. 1-4)

Notes

The opening phrase Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ("these things I have spoken to you") forms a recurring refrain throughout the Farewell Discourse (see John 15:11, John 16:4, John 16:6, John 16:25, John 16:33). The perfect tense λελάληκα indicates that what Jesus has said stands as an enduring word — spoken in the past with continuing force.

The purpose is stated with the verb σκανδαλισθῆτε, from σκανδαλίζω — "to cause to stumble, to trip up, to fall away." The word originally referred to the trigger of a trap, the stick that springs the snare. English "scandal" descends from this root, but the Greek word is darker: it is the bait-stick that lures someone into destruction. Jesus warns that persecution could become precisely this kind of trap — a cause of apostasy — unless they have been forewarned.

Verse 2 introduces the term ἀποσυνάγωγος — "expelled from the synagogue." This is a word found only in John's Gospel (see also John 9:22 and John 12:42). For first-century Jews, synagogue expulsion meant social death: loss of community, economic ties, religious identity, and family connection. But Jesus goes further: not only social exclusion but physical killing. The most chilling detail is the phrase λατρείαν προσφέρειν τῷ Θεῷ — "to offer worship to God." The noun λατρεία is a cultic term for sacred service or worship (see Romans 9:4, Romans 12:1). Those who kill the disciples will believe they are performing an act of devotion. This was fulfilled historically: Saul of Tarsus, before his conversion, persecuted the church believing he was serving God (Acts 26:9-11), and the Talmud records traditions about the religious merit of eliminating heretics.

Verse 3 gives the root cause: οὐκ ἔγνωσαν — "they have not known." The aorist tense points to a settled state of ignorance. They do not know the Father, and they do not know Jesus. In John's Gospel, to know the Father and to know the Son are inseparable (see John 8:19, John 14:7). All persecution of God's people ultimately springs from this ignorance.

In verse 4, Jesus explains why he withheld these warnings until now: μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν ἤμην — "I was with you." While Jesus was physically present, he himself was the lightning rod for hostility. Once he departs, the full force of the world's hatred will redirect toward his followers. The warning is needed now because the shield of his bodily presence is about to be removed.

The Work of the Spirit (vv. 5-15)

Notes

Verse 5 seems to contradict the record: Thomas asked "Where are you going?" in John 14:5, and Peter asked the same in John 13:36. But Jesus' point is not that the question was never raised; it is that now, consumed by grief, none of them is asking it with genuine interest in his destination. Their earlier questions were really about themselves — "How can we know the way?" and "Why can't I follow you now?" — not about where Jesus was going or what it meant for God's purposes. The sorrow described in verse 6 — ἡ λύπη πεπλήρωκεν ὑμῶν τὴν καρδίαν — has "filled" their heart, using the perfect tense of πληρόω: sorrow has completely filled them and remains in that state, leaving no room for the right question.

Verse 7 contains one of the most counterintuitive claims in the discourse. The word συμφέρει means "it is advantageous, it is profitable, it is for your benefit." It comes from σύν ("together") + φέρω ("to carry") — literally, "it carries things together," i.e., it works out for the best. Jesus insists that his physical absence is better for the disciples than his physical presence. The reason: unless he departs, the Παράκλητος — the Advocate — will not come. This is the fourth Paraclete saying in the Farewell Discourse (after John 14:16, John 14:26, and John 15:26). The logic is not explained in mechanistic terms; Jesus simply states the divine arrangement. The cross, resurrection, and ascension are the necessary preconditions for the outpouring of the Spirit (compare John 7:39).

Verses 8-11 describe the Spirit's work in the world with the verb ἐλέγξει, from ἐλέγχω. This is a legal term meaning "to convict, to expose, to bring to light, to cross-examine." It is used in John 3:20 of the light exposing evil deeds. The Spirit will conduct a cosmic prosecution of the world on three counts, each introduced by περί ("concerning"):

First, concerning ἁμαρτία ("sin") — because they do not believe in Jesus. In John's Gospel, the fundamental sin is not moral failure in the abstract but the refusal to believe in the one whom God has sent (see John 3:18, John 8:24). Unbelief is the root from which all other sins grow.

Second, concerning δικαιοσύνη ("righteousness") — because Jesus is going to the Father. The world condemned Jesus as a criminal; his ascension to the Father vindicates him as the righteous one. The Spirit convicts the world by demonstrating that the one they rejected has been exalted to God's right hand. The world's verdict was wrong; God's verdict reverses it.

Third, concerning κρίσις ("judgment") — because the ruler of this world κέκριται ("has been judged/condemned"). The perfect tense is decisive: the judgment is already accomplished. The cross, which appeared to be Satan's triumph, is in reality his condemnation. The phrase ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου — "the ruler of this world" — appears also in John 12:31 and John 14:30. The Spirit's work is to make the world see that its prince has already been defeated.

Verse 12 transitions to the Spirit's work among the disciples. The verb βαστάζειν means "to carry, to bear a weight." The disciples cannot bear the full weight of revelation yet. There is more truth than they can hold at this moment — more than the upper room can contain. The Spirit will be the one to complete what Jesus has begun.

Verse 13 describes the Spirit as τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας — "the Spirit of truth" (see also John 14:17, John 15:26). The verb ὁδηγήσει, from ὁδηγέω, means "to guide along the way, to lead on the road." It is composed of ὁδός ("way, road") and ἡγέομαι ("to lead"). Given that Jesus has already identified himself as "the way" (John 14:6), the Spirit's guiding "into all the truth" is not a departure from Christ but a deeper entry into him. There is a textual variant here: some manuscripts read ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πάσῃ ("in all the truth") while others read εἰς τὴν ἀλήθειαν πᾶσαν ("into all the truth"). The difference is subtle — "in" suggests the sphere of truth, "into" suggests movement toward the fullness of truth — but either way the Spirit is the guide and truth is the destination.

The Spirit's speech is characterized by dependence: οὐ γὰρ λαλήσει ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ — "he will not speak from himself." This mirrors what Jesus says about his own speech in relation to the Father (John 5:19, John 12:49). Just as the Son speaks only what the Father gives him, so the Spirit speaks only what he hears. The verb ἀναγγελεῖ, from ἀναγγέλλω, means "to declare, to announce, to report." It appears three times in verses 13-15, hammering home the Spirit's role as a messenger and interpreter.

Verses 14-15 reveal the trinitarian logic: everything the Father has belongs to the Son; the Spirit takes from what belongs to the Son and declares it to the disciples. The chain is Father to Son to Spirit to believers. The Spirit's mission is to δοξάσει — "glorify" — Jesus. The Spirit never draws attention to himself but always illuminates Christ. This is the consistent pattern of the Spirit's work throughout John: he is the invisible spotlight that makes the Son visible.

Grief Turned to Joy (vv. 16-24)

Notes

The phrase μικρόν — "a little while" — is repeated seven times in verses 16-19, creating an almost musical effect of bewilderment and anticipation. The disciples turn it over and over among themselves like a riddle they cannot solve. The immediate referent is the span between Jesus' death and his resurrection appearances — a period of roughly three days. But the phrase also stretches to encompass the larger "little while" between the ascension and the return, the entire age in which the church lives between grief and consummation.

A striking detail in verse 16 is the shift between two different Greek verbs for "seeing." The first clause uses θεωρεῖτε, from θεωρέω — "to observe, to gaze upon, to behold" — a word for physical, empirical seeing. The second clause uses ὄψεσθε, from ὁράω — which can mean physical sight but often carries overtones of deeper perception and spiritual recognition. Some interpreters see a deliberate contrast: the first "seeing" that ceases is ordinary physical observation; the "seeing" that returns is a richer, resurrection-transformed perception. Others caution against pressing the distinction too far, since John sometimes uses the two verbs interchangeably. At minimum, the variation adds texture: what returns will not simply be a resumption of the old way of seeing.

Verse 20 introduces four verbs that trace the emotional arc: κλαύσετε ("you will weep") and θρηνήσετε ("you will wail/lament") — both public, audible expressions of grief — followed by λυπηθήσεσθε ("you will be sorrowful"). But the climactic promise is ἡ λύπη ὑμῶν εἰς χαρὰν γενήσεται — "your sorrow will become joy." The preposition εἰς ("into") is significant: this is not sorrow replaced by joy (as if one disappears and the other arrives) but sorrow transformed into joy — the very grief itself becoming the raw material of gladness. The cross does not vanish from memory; it is transfigured by the resurrection.

The childbirth analogy in verse 21 draws on deep Old Testament roots. The image of a woman in labor as a figure for eschatological anguish followed by new creation appears in Isaiah 26:17-18, Isaiah 66:7-14, Micah 4:9-10, and Jeremiah 30:6. The word ὠδίνω ("to be in labor, to suffer birth pangs") became a technical term in Jewish apocalyptic thought for the "birth pangs of the Messiah" — the intense suffering that would precede the messianic age. Jesus takes this communal, eschatological image and applies it to the disciples' imminent experience: the agony of his crucifixion is the labor pain; the joy of his resurrection is the birth of a new world. The detail that the woman "no longer remembers" (οὐκέτι μνημονεύει) the θλῖψις ("anguish, tribulation") uses the same word that will appear in verse 33 for the tribulation the disciples will face in the world. The joy does not deny the suffering; it so far surpasses it that the suffering fades from consciousness.

In verse 22, Jesus says πάλιν δὲ ὄψομαι ὑμᾶς — "but I will see you again." Note that the subject shifts: it is not "you will see me" but "I will see you." The initiative belongs to Jesus. He is the one who comes, who appears, who seeks out the grieving disciples. And the promise follows: τὴν χαρὰν ὑμῶν οὐδεὶς αἴρει ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν — "no one takes your joy from you." The present tense αἴρει gives this a proverbial, timeless quality: it is a standing reality, not merely a future promise. Resurrection joy is untouchable, beyond the reach of persecution, suffering, or death.

Verse 23 introduces a new era of prayer. The phrase ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ — "on that day" — points to the post-resurrection, post-Pentecost era. The verb ἐρωτήσετε (from ἐρωτάω) in the first clause means "to ask a question, to inquire" — in that day, they will no longer need to pepper Jesus with confused questions. The second verb, αἰτήσητε (from αἰτέω), means "to request, to petition." This is prayer directed to the Father "in my name" — ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου. Praying in Jesus' name is not a formula appended to the end of a prayer but an alignment with the person, authority, and purposes of Jesus (see also John 14:13-14, John 15:16).

Verse 24 reveals that until this point the disciples have not yet prayed in Jesus' name. The invitation is open: αἰτεῖτε καὶ λήμψεσθε — "ask and you will receive." The purpose clause returns to the great theme: ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν ᾖ πεπληρωμένη — "so that your joy may be made full." The word πεπληρωμένη is a perfect passive participle — joy filled to the brim and remaining in that state. This echoes John 15:11, where Jesus spoke of his joy being in them and their joy being complete. Prayer in Jesus' name is the means by which this fullness of joy is realized.

From Figures of Speech to Plain Speaking (vv. 25-33)

Notes

In verse 25, Jesus uses the word παροιμίαις, from παροιμία — "figure of speech, proverb, veiled saying, allegory." This is John's preferred term; the Synoptic Gospels use παραβολή ("parable"), but John never does. A paroimia is broader than a parable — it covers any indirect, figurative, or enigmatic mode of speech. Jesus acknowledges that much of what he has said in the Farewell Discourse — the vine, the birth pangs, the "little while" — has been indirect. But an hour is coming when he will speak with παρρησίᾳ — "plainness, boldness, openness." This word denotes speech that is direct, unveiled, and without concealment. The contrast is not between truth and falsehood but between veiled truth and unveiled truth.

Verse 26 makes a surprising clarification about prayer: Jesus says he will not need to petition the Father on their behalf. This does not contradict his role as intercessor (see Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25) but rather elevates the disciples' direct access to the Father. The reason is given in verse 27: αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ φιλεῖ ὑμᾶς — "for the Father himself has affection for you." The verb here is φιλέω, not ἀγαπάω. While the two overlap considerably in John (see the interchange in John 21:15-17), φιλέω carries a warmth of personal affection and fondness. The Father is not a distant deity who must be persuaded; he already loves the disciples with tender affection because they have loved and believed in his Son. The perfect tenses πεφιλήκατε ("you have loved") and πεπιστεύκατε ("you have believed") indicate abiding, settled states — not momentary impulses but enduring commitments.

Verse 28 is one of the most compressed Christological statements in the New Testament. It has a chiastic (ABBA) structure:

• A: I came forth from the Father
• B: and have come into the world.
• B': Again, I am leaving the world
• A': and going to the Father.

The verb ἐξῆλθον ("I came forth") with the preposition παρά ("from the side of") implies origin and intimate proximity — not merely being sent but proceeding from the Father's own presence. The entire arc of the incarnation is captured in four clauses: pre-existence with the Father, entry into the world, departure from the world, return to the Father. This is the plain speech Jesus promised.

The disciples respond in verses 29-30 with confidence: "Now you are speaking plainly!" They declare that they believe Jesus came from God. But their confidence is premature. Jesus' reply in verse 31 — Ἄρτι πιστεύετε — could be read as a question ("Do you now believe?") or as a skeptical statement ("Now you believe?"). Either way, the tone is one of gentle irony. Their belief is real but shallow, and it is about to be severely tested.

Verse 32 introduces that test: σκορπισθῆτε, from σκορπίζω — "to scatter, to disperse." This echoes the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7: "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (quoted directly in Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27). The disciples who have just professed their faith will scatter ἕκαστος εἰς τὰ ἴδια — "each to his own place/home." The phrase τὰ ἴδια recalls John 1:11: "He came to his own, and his own did not receive him." Now his own are abandoning him. Yet Jesus immediately adds: καὶ οὐκ εἰμὶ μόνος, ὅτι ὁ Πατὴρ μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐστιν — "and I am not alone, because the Father is with me." Even at the moment of ultimate human abandonment, the Father remains.

Verse 33 is the culmination of the entire Farewell Discourse. The final ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ("I have said these things to you") echoes the opening of the chapter and the refrain that runs through chapters 14-16. The purpose is ἵνα ἐν ἐμοὶ εἰρήνην ἔχητε — "so that in me you may have peace." The peace is located "in me" — not in the world, not in circumstances, not in the disciples' own resources, but in Christ. The word θλῖψιν — "tribulation, affliction, pressure" — is the same word used for the woman's anguish in verse 21. The world is a place of thlipsis; that is its permanent character.

The imperative θαρσεῖτε — "take courage, be of good cheer" — is the same word Jesus used when walking on the water (Matthew 14:27, Mark 6:50) and when forgiving the paralytic's sins (Matthew 9:2). It is a command to boldness in the face of fear. And the ground for that boldness is the perfect tense νενίκηκα — "I have conquered, I have overcome." The victory is already achieved. The perfect tense indicates a completed action with ongoing results: the world has been defeated, and it remains defeated. The cross has not yet occurred, but Jesus speaks from the certainty of accomplished triumph. The disciples will face tribulation, but they face it in a world that has already been overcome by the one who says "I am not alone."