Day 35
A friend or an adult child feels rejected. You know something has gone sideways in the relationship, but can’t quite put your finger on when or why. A client is angry. Angry that he is in this position with his wife, once again. Angry that he has to seek out and pay for professional counseling just to live peaceably with her. A neighbor’s spouse is terminally ill. You want to help, but where do you begin? It’s just so sad. How do we come alongside those who are simultaneously hurting and hurting others? We need a counselor. Someone to help us view ourselves and others rightly.
In his book, Saints, Sufferers and Sinners: Loving Others as God Loves Us, Dr. Mike Emlet lays out a clear model of how God sees and loves his people primarily as saints, while bringing comfort to the sufferer, and faithfully speaking truth to the sinner. Of course, his thesis presumes that the reader is in fact a believer in Jesus.
“[F]or the believer, the designation ‘saint’ is more foundational than the designation ‘sufferer’ or ‘sinner.’ We experience a fundamental identity shift when we become believers. When we turn from our sin to God in repentance, receiving and resting on Jesus and his righteousness by faith, a seismic shift in our souls occurs. We are now people in Christ.”
In today’s reading, Jesus acknowledges that the things He has been sharing with His disciples are hard and confusing for them to hear, even frightening. He explains that He will send the Perfect Counselor to them soon. This Counselor would explain everything in a way that they could clearly understand. He would approach them as the saints, sufferers and sinners that they are. But there was a catch…Jesus would have to leave first.
Read John 15:26-16:15
“When the Counselor comes…” (15:26) This phrase refers to the coming of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus to His disciples, but the Holy Spirit’s coming had been promised long before Jesus’ Farewell Discourse. The Spirit was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, for example, when God spoke through the prophet Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28-29) God’s promise to pour out His Spirit on all people would be initiated through the Spirit’s arrival at Pentecost, marking the beginning of His active role in the world and the church.
The Holy Spirit, referred to as “the Counselor” in the CSB and “the Helper” in other translations, would testify or bear witness about Jesus once He was no longer with the disciples. These men, the ones who had been with Jesus from the beginning of His three-year ministry, would also testify about Jesus, bearing witness of all they had seen and heard and pointing others towards salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone. In effect, the Spirit would counsel Jesus’ followers and they would in turn, counsel others. Mike Emlet admits that “Counseling is hard work. It involves a deep dive into the particulars of suffering and sin in the context of a trusting relationship. In the midst of talking about all that is not right, it’s important to surface for air and gain fresh gospel perspective.” This would be exactly what the Perfect Counselor would provide, and so much more.
I appreciate the Amplified Bible’s translation of verses 8-9:
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Savior], and about righteousness, and about judgment: about sin [and the true nature of it], because they do not believe in Me [and My message]; about righteousness [personal integrity and godly character], because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me; about judgment [the certainty of it], because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged and condemned. (v 8-9, AMP)
In these verses we see that the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, would not be limited to the roles of witness and comforter. He would come with the power to convict the world in regards to sin, righteousness and judgement. It would not be Jesus’ followers’ responsibility to convince unbelievers of the truth about Jesus. The Spirit would do that heavy lifting. The term “convict” implies a legal or judicial process, suggesting the Holy Spirit’s role in revealing truth and exposing error. The “world” here refers to humanity in its fallen state, often in opposition to God. The Spirit’s work is universal, not merely limited to believers, and involves bringing awareness of spiritual realities to all people.
The Holy Spirit would primarily convict the world of sin, highlighting humanity’s rebellion against God. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) This conviction is necessary for repentance and salvation. Sin, in this context, is primarily unbelief in Jesus. (from v 9) The Spirit’s role is to reveal the truth of Jesus’ identity and mission, leading people to recognize their need for a Savior.
Secondly, the Counselor would convict concerning righteousness. Righteousness here refers to the standard of holiness required by God, exemplified in the perfect life and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all righteousness. This conviction also involves revealing the inadequacy of human righteousness and the necessity of Christ’s righteousness imputed to believers, as the Apostle Paul puts it so simply yet powerfully, “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)
Finally, the Holy Spirit Helper would convict the world of judgment, emphasizing the reality of divine justice. This includes the judgment of Satan, the ruler of this world, who would be thoroughly condemned through Jesus’ upcoming victory on the cross. (from v 11) The Spirit’s conviction would also serve as a warning and call to repentance before the future judgment of all humanity, where each person will be held accountable for their response to Jesus. John describes this final judgement in detail following the end times vision he experienced while exiled on the Island of Patmos:
“Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:11-15)
There was no way the disciples could have handled all of this detail, and Jesus said as much, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth…He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” (vv 12-14)
Big Picture Questions for Today:
* There are so many hard things existing in our bodies, our families, our communities, our world. How are we to begin to process and understand God’s purposes in our pain and suffering?
* How does the Holy Spirit, your Perfect Counselor, help you make sense of the storms in your life? How can you lean into His presence, conveying Jesus’ thoughts and desires in deeply personal ways?
Pray and thank Father God and the Son for sending you the most Perfect Counselor in the person of the Holy Spirit. Make an intentional decision to listen to His wise counsel and obey.
