In the next 3 verses, 9-11, Jesus goes on to explain his meaning more fully, allotting ‘sin’, ‘righteousness’ and ‘judgement’ a verse each, each introduced by ‘because’. I must confess that I have always found verse 8 reasonably straightforward, as expounded above, but that it is these explanations that really need explaining. It helps, I think, to see ‘conviction of sin’ as the Spirit’s ultimate aim; but before he can achieve it, he must first ‘convince’ and then ‘condemn’. We will begin, then, by looking at verse 10: “--- of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer see me” – or “look at me”. To be convinced that I am a sinner, I need to be made to realise that “I’m no worse that the next man – or woman” is not good enough for God: his standard is absolute goodness. This standard is revealed to us in the Law (which, as we saw in James 2.9, has the power to ‘convict’ us), and in particular by Jesus’ summary of it: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength”, and, next, “you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12. 30-1). But even more compellingly, it is revealed in the sinless life of Jesus himself, “Jesus Christ the righteous”, as John describes him. We have already seen how Jesus ‘convicted’ the consciences of the accusers of the woman caught in adultery; and to this example we might add Peter’s reaction to the revelation of Jesus’ divine power in the ‘miraculous’ catch of fish: “Go away from me – I am a sinner, Lord” (Luke 5.8). But Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to an end, and he was about to “return to the Father”. When the world could no longer “look at” Jesus, how could it be brought to realise that it falls far short of God’s standard of righteousness ? This, Jesus says, will be the work of the Holy Spirit, the ‘parakletos’, and he works in (at least) three ways, of which we have already seen examples. First, he inspired and guided the writing of the gospels, so that Jesus’ model life of perfect righteousness has been put on record. We cannot ‘look at’ him in the flesh, as his disciples were privileged to do, but we can ‘see’ him in scripture. Next, when the Law or the Gospels – the gospel, in fact – is read or preached, the Holy Spirit can bring the words alive in the heart of the reader or listener. And thirdly, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness, by developing his fruit of Christlikeness in the lives of Christians, as Paul describes in Galatians 5. 22-3, enables the world to see something of Jesus in his church – if only in fleeting glimpses. It is the glorious, if frustratingly laborious, ministry of the Spirit, the ‘Jesus-substitute’, to develop every Christian into a ‘Jesus-substitute’ for the world to ‘look at’.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
PARAKLETOS 3 (d) - the convictor ii: righteousness
In the next 3 verses, 9-11, Jesus goes on to explain his meaning more fully, allotting ‘sin’, ‘righteousness’ and ‘judgement’ a verse each, each introduced by ‘because’. I must confess that I have always found verse 8 reasonably straightforward, as expounded above, but that it is these explanations that really need explaining. It helps, I think, to see ‘conviction of sin’ as the Spirit’s ultimate aim; but before he can achieve it, he must first ‘convince’ and then ‘condemn’. We will begin, then, by looking at verse 10: “--- of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer see me” – or “look at me”. To be convinced that I am a sinner, I need to be made to realise that “I’m no worse that the next man – or woman” is not good enough for God: his standard is absolute goodness. This standard is revealed to us in the Law (which, as we saw in James 2.9, has the power to ‘convict’ us), and in particular by Jesus’ summary of it: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength”, and, next, “you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12. 30-1). But even more compellingly, it is revealed in the sinless life of Jesus himself, “Jesus Christ the righteous”, as John describes him. We have already seen how Jesus ‘convicted’ the consciences of the accusers of the woman caught in adultery; and to this example we might add Peter’s reaction to the revelation of Jesus’ divine power in the ‘miraculous’ catch of fish: “Go away from me – I am a sinner, Lord” (Luke 5.8). But Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to an end, and he was about to “return to the Father”. When the world could no longer “look at” Jesus, how could it be brought to realise that it falls far short of God’s standard of righteousness ? This, Jesus says, will be the work of the Holy Spirit, the ‘parakletos’, and he works in (at least) three ways, of which we have already seen examples. First, he inspired and guided the writing of the gospels, so that Jesus’ model life of perfect righteousness has been put on record. We cannot ‘look at’ him in the flesh, as his disciples were privileged to do, but we can ‘see’ him in scripture. Next, when the Law or the Gospels – the gospel, in fact – is read or preached, the Holy Spirit can bring the words alive in the heart of the reader or listener. And thirdly, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness, by developing his fruit of Christlikeness in the lives of Christians, as Paul describes in Galatians 5. 22-3, enables the world to see something of Jesus in his church – if only in fleeting glimpses. It is the glorious, if frustratingly laborious, ministry of the Spirit, the ‘Jesus-substitute’, to develop every Christian into a ‘Jesus-substitute’ for the world to ‘look at’.
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