John 16
The disciples are warned of persecution and told it is better for them that Jesus goes away — because then the Advocate will come and expose the world's error about sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Summary
Jesus tells the disciples these things to keep them from falling away — and the things he is about to tell them are more difficult than what has come before. They will be expelled from synagogues; those who kill them will believe they are serving God. The world's ignorance of both the Father and the Son is the root of the coming persecution. He did not say these things earlier because he was with them; now he is going. None of them asks where he is going; instead their hearts are full of sorrow. But it is to their advantage that he go — because if he stays the Advocate will not come; if he goes, he will send the Spirit. The Spirit will convict the world concerning sin (because they do not believe in Jesus), concerning righteousness (because Jesus returns to the Father and they will see him no more), and concerning judgment (because the ruler of this world is already judged).
The Spirit of truth will guide them into all truth; he will not speak on his own authority but will speak what he hears, and will declare to them the things that are to come. All that the Father has belongs to Jesus; the Spirit will take what is his and declare it to the disciples. The sorrow-to-joy passage uses the image of a woman in labour: when she gives birth she no longer remembers the anguish for joy. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. On that day they will ask the Father directly in Jesus's name. The disciples say they understand now and believe he came from God; Jesus gently challenges the claim — do you now believe? An hour is coming when they will be scattered, each to his own home, and leave him alone. But he is not alone — the Father is with him. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
- John 1Chapter 1 falls into two distinct movements.
- John 2Chapter 2 contains the first two incidents of the public ministry, set in very different registers.
- John 3Chapter 3 divides into a dialogue and a testimony.
- John 4Chapter 4 is built around the longest conversation Jesus has with anyone in any of the four gospels.
- John 5Chapter 5 turns on a Sabbath healing that provokes the first sustained conflict with the religious authorities and generates a major theological discourse.
- John 6Chapter 6 is the longest in the gospel and the most demanding.
- John 7Chapter 7 is one of the most dramatic scenes of the public ministry, set during the week-long Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
- John 8Chapter 8 opens with the pericope of the woman taken in adultery (verses 1–11), absent from the earliest manuscripts and widely understood as a later addition, but narratively powerful: whoever is without sin may cast the first stone.
- John 9Chapter 9 is the most novelistic chapter in John and a sustained piece of dramatic irony.
- John 10Chapter 10 follows directly from the expulsion of the man born blind in chapter 9 and develops two sustained metaphors.
- John 11Chapter 11 is the dramatic climax of the Book of Signs and the most fully narrated miracle in John.
- John 12Chapter 12 is the bridge between the two halves of the gospel.
- John 13Chapter 13 opens the Book of Glory and sets the scene for the Farewell Discourse that occupies chapters 14–17.
- John 14Chapter 14 is the opening movement of the Farewell Discourse and contains several of the most quoted passages in the gospel.
- John 15Chapter 15 moves through two large movements: the vine and branches discourse (verses 1–17) and the warning about the world's hostility (verses 18–27).
- John 16Chapter 16 continues the Farewell Discourse and moves through three phases.
- John 17Chapter 17 is the high-priestly prayer, unique in the New Testament: Jesus prays at length in the hearing of his disciples on the night of his arrest.
- John 18Chapter 18 covers the arrest, the hearings before Annas and Caiaphas, Peter's three denials, and the first half of the Roman trial before Pilate.
- John 19Chapter 19 covers the final stages of the trial and the crucifixion.
- John 20Chapter 20 narrates the resurrection in two stages across two distinct scenes.
- John 21Chapter 21 is often discussed as a possible appendix, since chapter 20 closes with a purpose statement that reads like an ending.