John 16
The long farewell discourse that began in chapter 13 is drawing toward its close. Jesus has washed feet, foretold a betrayal, given the new commandment to love, and promised the Comforter; now He turns to prepare the eleven for what is coming after He is gone. He opens this chapter with the hard truth He has been leading toward: These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended (v. 1). The road ahead holds expulsion from the synagogues and even death at the hands of those who imagine they are serving God, and He tells them plainly so that, when it comes, their faith will not collapse but stand. He has not warned them this starkly before, He says, because I was with you (v. 4); now His own departure makes the warning urgent.3
At the center of the chapter stands the promise that reframes the whole of His leaving. It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you (v. 7). The Spirit of truth will come to convict the world - of sin, of righteousness, of judgment - and to guide His people into all truth. And the Spirit's work is not turned in on Himself but bent toward the Son: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you (v. 14). What is the Father's is the Son's, and what is the Son's the Spirit takes and shows to the disciples; the going of Jesus opens a nearer presence than His bodily company could give.
Then the tone turns from teaching to comfort. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me (v. 16). The grief of the cross will be like the pain of a woman in travail - real, sharp, and then swallowed up in joy when the child is born; your sorrow shall be turned into joy… and your joy no man taketh from you (vv. 20, 22). On the far side of His going He throws prayer open in His own name - ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (v. 24) - and traces the whole shape of His mission in one line: I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father (v. 28). The chapter ends on the word the disciples will need most: In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (v. 33).2
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
John 16:1-6These Things Have I Spoken, That Ye Should Not Be Offended
1These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. 5But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
Jesus tells the eleven plainly why He is saying all of this on the last night: These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended (v. 1). The word rendered offended means to be made to stumble, to be tripped into falling away. He is not trying to frighten them; He is trying to keep them on their feet. He knows that a faith blindsided by suffering can shatter, while a faith forewarned can hold. So He names the hardship before it arrives: They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service (v. 2). This is the most chilling kind of persecution - not from people who know they are doing evil, but from people convinced they are serving God by it. The early church would feel the full weight of these words. And Jesus traces the cause to its root: because they have not known the Father, nor me (v. 3). Hostility to His people springs, finally, from not knowing the One who sent Him.3
There is a tender purpose behind the warning: But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them (v. 4). The point of foretelling the storm is so that, in the middle of it, the disciples will recall that He saw it coming and was not taken by surprise - and so their trust in Him will be steadied rather than wrecked. Then He explains why He has waited until now to speak so starkly: these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. While He walked among them, He shielded them, bore the brunt of the conflict Himself, drew the opposition onto His own person. Now that He is about to go, the shelter of His bodily presence is being withdrawn, and they must be readied to stand in it themselves. The warning, then, is an act of care - the parting words of One who will not leave His friends unprepared for what He knows is coming.
Jesus turns to His own going and to the grief it has stirred: But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? (v. 5). Earlier in the discourse they had asked exactly that - Peter said, Lord, whither goest thou? - but now, crushed by what they have heard, they fall silent. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart (v. 6). This is the honest emotional center of the passage: their hearts are full of sorrow, so full that they cannot lift their eyes past their grief to ask where He is going or why it might be good. It is a deeply human moment. Bad news arrives, and the mind locks onto the loss and cannot yet imagine the gain hidden inside it. Jesus does not scold them for the sorrow; He meets it. The very next words He speaks - It is expedient for you that I go away - are spoken into this grief, gently turning their faces toward the gift His leaving will bring. He sees the sorrow that has filled their hearts, and He answers it not by denying the loss but by unveiling the greater thing on its other side.
John 16:7-15It Is Expedient for You That I Go Away
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Now comes the saying that overturns the disciples' grief: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you (v. 7). The word expedient means profitable, advantageous - it is actually better for them that He leave. This must have sounded impossible to men whose hearts were full of the thought of losing Him. How could His going possibly be gain? The answer lies in the kind of presence that is coming. While Jesus walked the earth in a body, He could be in one place at one time; the disciples in Galilee could not be with Him in Jerusalem. But the Comforter He will send is not bound to a single place or a single room. He will come to each of them, and to all who would believe in every age and every land, dwelling within rather than merely walking beside. The trade is not downward but upward: the bodily company of Jesus in one location exchanged for the indwelling presence of the Spirit everywhere at once. His departure is the doorway to a nearness His physical presence could never have given.1
Jesus describes the Comforter's work toward the watching world: when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (v. 8). To reprove is to convict - to expose, to bring to light, to press the truth upon a conscience until it can no longer be ignored. And He spells out the three things the Spirit makes plain. Of sin, because they believe not on me (v. 9): the deepest sin the Spirit exposes is not this or that misdeed but the refusal to believe in the One God sent. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more (v. 10): the world judged Jesus a sinner and condemned Him, but His going to the Father vindicates Him - His righteousness is proved by the welcome He receives home. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged (v. 11): the powers of darkness, which seemed to triumph at the cross, are in fact themselves sentenced there. The Spirit's convicting is not mere accusation; it is the unmasking of how things truly stand - who the real sinner is, where true righteousness lies, and who has actually been judged.
Jesus turns from the Spirit's work in the world to His work in the disciples: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth (vv. 12-13). There is more they need to know than they can hold on this heavy night, and the Spirit will carry them the rest of the way. Notice how the Spirit is described - he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He does not invent a message of His own; He faithfully conveys what He receives, leading into truth and not away from it. And the climax of the passage names His chief aim: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you (v. 14). The Spirit does not draw attention to Himself. His whole ministry is bent toward the Son - taking what belongs to Jesus and making it known. Then Jesus adds the breathtaking sweep behind it: All things that the Father hath are mine (v. 15). What the Father has is the Son's; what is the Son's the Spirit takes and shows - Father, Son, and Spirit moving together in a single work of revealing.
John 16:16-24Your Sorrow Shall Be Turned Into Joy
16A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 17Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 18They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? 20Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 23And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Jesus speaks a riddle that leaves the disciples baffled: A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father (v. 16). They cannot make sense of it - What is this that he saith… we cannot tell what he saith (vv. 17-18). The two little whiles mark the rhythm of what is about to happen. The first is short and dark: in a few hours He will be taken, crucified, laid in a tomb, and they will not see Him. The second is the dawn on its far side: after a little while more they will see Him again, risen. Knowing their confusion before they voice it, Jesus does not hand them a tidy explanation; instead He gives them something better than an explanation - a promise about how the whole experience will feel when it is over. The disciples want the timetable decoded. Jesus gives them the meaning. The not-seeing is real but brief; the seeing-again is coming; and in between lies a sorrow that will not have the last word.
Jesus tells them plainly what the next days hold, and then reframes them entirely: ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy (v. 20). The world will celebrate at the cross, certain it has won; the disciples will weep, certain they have lost. But their sorrow is not destined to be ended or merely replaced - it will be turned into joy, the very grief transformed. And He reaches for the perfect image: A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world (v. 21). Labour is real pain, sharp and not to be minimized while it lasts. Yet when the child is born, the pain is not just forgotten; it is swallowed up in a joy so great that the anguish loses its grip on the memory. So it will be with the cross. The agony is real. But on the far side lies a birth - the resurrection, the new life of all who believe - and a joy that turns the very memory of the sorrow into part of the gladness. The pain is not wasted; it is the labour through which the joy is born.
The promise grows even surer: And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you (v. 22). The seeing-again is centered not on their seeing Him but on His seeing them - I will see you again - the risen Lord coming to find His scattered friends. And the joy of that reunion has a quality the world's joys never have: no man taketh it from you. Every other gladness can be stolen - circumstances change, possessions are lost, even life is taken. But the joy grounded in a risen Christ who has come to find you is beyond the reach of any thief. Then Jesus opens a new thing for the days ahead: in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you (v. 23). A new access to the Father is being thrown open - prayer offered in the Son's name. The grief of His going gives way not only to the joy of His rising but to a nearness in prayer they have never had before.
John 16:25-33Be of Good Cheer; I Have Overcome the World
25These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. 31Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? 32Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Jesus tells them that a season of clearer understanding is coming: These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father (v. 25). Much of what He has said has come wrapped in figures and riddles the disciples cannot yet penetrate; but after the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit, the veil will lift and they will see plainly. And the new access to the Father grows warmer still: At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God (vv. 26-27). This is a tender thing. Jesus is not saying He will stop interceding for them; He is making sure they do not picture the Father as a reluctant judge who must be talked round by a kinder Son. The Father himself loves them - directly, gladly - because they have loved the Son and believed He came from God. Prayer in Jesus' name is not pleading with a distant God through a sympathetic mediator; it is coming to a Father who already loves them, in the name of the Son who has joined them to that love.
In a single sentence Jesus traces the whole arc of His mission: I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father (v. 28). It is the gospel in miniature - a coming and a going. He came forth from the Father: His origin is not Bethlehem but the very presence of God, from which He was sent. He came into the world: He entered our humanity, took our flesh, walked our roads. He will leave the world: through the cross He is about to depart. And He will go to the Father: the going is not into oblivion but home, back to the One who sent Him. The disciples seize on the plainness of it: Lo, now speakest thou plainly… Now are we sure that thou knowest all things… by this we believe that thou camest forth from God (vv. 29-30). Their faith, real but still fragile, is awakened by hearing Him say it so clearly. Jesus neither inflates their confidence nor crushes it; He simply tells them the truth about how thin it will prove under pressure: Do ye now believe? (v. 31). The coming and the going He has just named is the very thing their faith will soon be tested against.
Jesus foretells the collapse that is only hours away: Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone (v. 32). He has no illusions about His friends. Within the night they will scatter; the men who just professed faith will flee, each to his own, leaving Him to face the cross deserted. And yet - this is the steadying word - and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. Even abandoned by every human companion, He is not truly alone, for the Father remains with Him. There is something both bracing and comforting here. Bracing, because Jesus tells the disciples the unflattering truth about their own weakness before it happens, so that their later failure will not destroy them. Comforting, because He shows them where He Himself finds steadiness when everyone falls away - not in the loyalty of friends, which fails, but in the presence of the Father, which does not. The same will hold for them in their own scattered hours. When human support gives out, the deepest companionship remains.
Further study
- The Greek text of John 16 word by word, with parsing and gloss for each term - useful for parakletos (v. 7, the “Comforter,” the one called alongside), for elegcho (v. 8, “reprove” / convict), and for nenikeka (v. 33, the perfect-tense “I have overcome”).
- John 16 ↔ John 14-15 · Isaiah · the PsalmsIntertextual BibleTraces the threads tying John 16 to the rest of the farewell discourse and the Scriptures behind it - the Comforter promised here (vv. 7-15) read beside he shall testify of me (John 15:26) and he shall teach you all things (John 14:26), and the sorrow-into-joy of travail (vv. 20-22) read with the labour imagery of Isaiah.
- John 16 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on John 16 - the meaning of “offended” in verse 1, the threefold conviction of the world in verses 8-11, the much-discussed “little while” of verse 16, and the force of the final verb in verse 33.
Where this echoes in Scripture
These Things Have I Spoken, That Ye Should Not Be Offended
- John 15:18-20If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you... The servant is not greater than his lord.The persecution foretold in verses 1-3 - the world’s hatred of the disciples traced to its hatred of their Lord.
- Acts 7:59-60And they stoned Stephen... And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.The warning of verse 2 fulfilled - a disciple killed by those who believed they served God.
- Matthew 24:9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.The same forewarning as verses 1-2 - hardship told beforehand so faith will not be tripped.
- John 10:15As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.The shepherd of verse 6 - preparing the sheep for the wolf even as He goes to lay down His life.
- 1 Peter 4:12Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.The pastoral aim of verse 4 - suffering foretold so it does not blindside or topple faith.
It Is Expedient for You That I Go Away
- John 14:16-17And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter... even the Spirit of truth.The same promise as verse 7 - the Father giving another Comforter of the very kind Jesus is.
- John 14:26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost... he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance.The guiding-into-truth of verse 13 - the Spirit teaching and recalling all Christ has said.
- John 15:26when the Comforter is come... he shall testify of me.The Spirit-glorifies-the-Son theme of verses 14-15 - the Comforter bearing witness to Christ.
- Acts 2:1-4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.The sending of verse 7 fulfilled - the Comforter poured out once Jesus had gone to the Father.
- 1 Corinthians 2:10-12But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.The Spirit who guides into all truth (v. 13) - revealing the deep things of God to His people.
Your Sorrow Shall Be Turned Into Joy
- John 20:19-20then came Jesus and stood in the midst... Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.The promise of verses 20-22 fulfilled - the risen Christ comes, and sorrow turns to joy.
- Psalm 30:5weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.The same movement as verse 20 - the short night of sorrow giving way to the morning of joy.
- John 12:24Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.The travail-into-life image of verse 21 - fruitfulness born through death.
- Isaiah 66:14And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb.The heart-shall-rejoice promise of verse 22, set in the prophet’s vision of restored joy.
- Matthew 7:7-8Ask, and it shall be given you... for every one that asketh receiveth.The open invitation of verses 23-24 - ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Be of Good Cheer; I Have Overcome the World
- John 1:1-3In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God... All things were made by him.The coming forth from the Father of verse 28 - the Word who was with God before He came into the world.
- 1 John 5:4-5this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.The overcoming of verse 33 shared - the believer’s victory flowing from Christ’s own.
- Romans 8:37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.Tribulation faced with good cheer (v. 33) - conquering not apart from trouble but through the One who overcame.
- John 14:27Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.The peace in Him of verse 33 - the gift Jesus leaves to steady His people in a world of tribulation.
- Revelation 17:14these shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings.The completed victory of verse 33 carried to its end - the Lamb who has overcome reigning over all.