It is expedient to you that I go. St John Chapter xvi. 6-11

St John Chapter xvi : Verses 6-11

Contents

• St John Chapter xvi : Verses 6-11. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter xvi : Verses 6-11

 if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you;   
1503-04. National Library of Wales.

6 But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart.  

7 But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  

8 And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment.  

9 Of sin: because they believed not in me.  

10 And of justice: because I go to the Father; and you shall see me no longer.

11 And of judgment: because the prince of this world is already judged.

6 ἀλλ’ ὅτι ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἡ λύπη πεπλήρωκεν ὑμῶν τὴν καρδίαν.

6 sed quia haec locutus sum vobis, tristitia implevit cor vestrum.  

7 ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγω ὑμῖν, συμφέρει ὑμῖν ἵνα ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω. ἐὰν ⸀γὰρ μὴ ἀπέλθω, ὁ παράκλητος ⸂οὐ μὴ ἔλθῃ⸃ πρὸς ὑμᾶς· ἐὰν δὲ πορευθῶ, πέμψω αὐτὸν πρὸς ὑμᾶς.

7 Sed ego veritatem dico vobis : expedit vobis ut ego vadam : si enim non abiero, Paraclitus non veniet ad vos; si autem abiero, mittam eum ad vos.  

8 καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐκεῖνος ἐλέγξει τὸν κόσμον περὶ ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ περὶ κρίσεως·

8 Et cum venerit ille, arguet mundum de peccato, et de justitia, et de judicio.  

9 περὶ ἁμαρτίας μέν, ὅτι οὐ πιστεύουσιν εἰς ἐμέ·

9 De peccato quidem, quia non crediderunt in me.  

10 περὶ δικαιοσύνης δέ, ὅτι πρὸς τὸν ⸀πατέρα ὑπάγω καὶ οὐκέτι θεωρεῖτέ με·

10 De justitia vero, quia ad Patrem vado, et jam non videbitis me.

11 περὶ δὲ κρίσεως, ὅτι ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου κέκριται.

11 De judicio autem, quia princeps hujus mundi jam judicatus est.

Annotations

    6. But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart..—Maldonatus explains “but” by “for,” i.e. This (your sorrow) is the reason why ye ask Me not. But Toletus explains it by “Nay, rather,” meaning “Ye not only do not ask Me, but more than this, ye are overwhelmed with sorrow.” But it is simpler to understand as conveying a tacit reproof for being so given up to sorrow, as to have no courage to ask Him that which would have alleviated their sorrow, and would have been to them the greatest consolation and joy: namely, that He was going to the Father, and would send His Holy Spirit to prepare a place for them in heaven.

    7. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (1.) S. Chrysostom (Hom. lxxvii.) explains it thus, 

“I say not this to please you, but though you will be made more sorrowful, you must hear what is expedient. Ye indeed would wish Me to be near, but utility demands the contrary. But it is the duty of one who loves, when he learns the utility, not to allow his beloved ones to be deprived of it.” 

And S. Cyril (x. 39) almost in the same words, 

“I perceive that ye are affected with great sorrow, because I have resolved to go away. And that too, not unreasonably, especially when ye hear that great tribulations will befall you. But since utility is to be preferred to what is pleasant, I will make known to you the truth.”

    Christ does not here oppose “truth” to grace, but to sorrow, and makes truth refer to the consolation of the Apostles. For He says this to take away their sorrow by the joyful message of consolation. Ye are sorrowful (He would say) at My departure, as if it were your greatest loss. But be assured, both that ye have sorrow, and that it is in truth expedient for you that I go away. For My departure to the Father will be to you of the greatest benefit. For I will send from thence the Holy Spirit on you, Who will fill you with all virtue and strength. And therefore My departure will not only be to your highest profit, but even to your pleasure, as you will experience at Pentecost. Whence He adds, For if I go not away, the Comforter (your consoler and encourager) will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you (see above and chap. 7:39). For the disciples, as children with their mother, and chickens with the hen, being too much accustomed to converse with Christ as a man, and to His corporeal presence, could not understand the Holy Spirit and His spiritual gifts. And Christ accordingly withdrew from them, that being weaned from Him, and their minds wholly fixed on the Holy Spirit, they might be raised by Him to heroic deeds, by which they would convert the whole world. And accordingly the Holy Spirit coming on them at Pentecost, made them masters instead of disciples, and created them teachers of the whole world. (Sec S. Augustine, in loc., and S. Gregory, Moral, viii. 33.) The Holy Spirit is here appositely called the Paraclete, to signify that He would amply console the disciples, who were sad at Christ’s departure, and would fill them with every joy. Hence S. Chrysostom (Hom. lxxvii.) proves against Macedonius that the Holy Spirit is truly God; for were He not the Creator, but merely a creature, how would it be expedient that Christ, on account of His coming, should leave the disciples, being their Creator and God? Again, lest it should be thought that the Holy Spirit is the same with the Son, Christ adds, “I will send Him unto you,” for the Sender is really and personally distinguished from the Sent. And it is signified also that the Holy Spirit proceeds alike from the Father and the Son. For in the Holy Trinity whatever Person sends another Person produces It, that is, begets or breathes it, as the Father sending the Son, begets Him also, and He likewise together with the Son, by sending the Holy Spirit, also breathes Him forth.

    8. And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. By the world He means both Jews and Gentiles who believe not in Christ. These the Holy Spirit will reprove, i.e. will reproach, blame, and refute them, will so convince by arguments as to make it plain that they are convinced—though obstinate, continuing in their unbelief, they will be loth to admit it—and will refuse to believe in Christ, as heretics who are pertinacious in their error.

    9. Of sin: because they believed (believe, Greek and Syriac version) not in me. He will convict My enemies, both Jewish and Gentile unbelievers, both of the great sin of unbelief (S. Chrysostom and Augustine), and of every other sin (S. Cyril), for refusing to believe in Me, after the many reasons they have heard, and the miracles they have seen. For the Spirit will bring home to them the state of their soul, both outwardly, by earnest preaching, by the sanctity of the Apostles, and the miracles He will work through them; and inwardly, by enlightening their minds by His Inspiration, so that they will acknowledge, even against their will, that they are in their former infidelity and other sins, and that they cannot be liberated from them, except by faith in Me, which they refused to accept. For He will demonstrate to them that there is no other Saviour who can atone for sin, but Myself. See Acts iv. 12. And consequently, though many were moved by this preaching of the Apostles, yet others, by persisting in their unbelief, became inexcusable, and worthy of damnation and hell. See Acts ii. 37. So S. Cyril, Leontius, and others.

    10. And of justice:  The Holy Spirit will prove that the justice of the world is false; that of the Jews, because they sought it by the ceremonies of the Law, which could not purify the soul; and that of the Gentiles, because they sought it only in things which were naturally and morally honest, and despised Christ. But He, the Holy Ghost, will set forth Christ, who was despised and counted unrighteous, to be alone Righteous, and the source and origin of all righteousness. So S. Cyril, lib. vi.

    Tropologically, S. Bernardine (Serm. xxi.) says, “The Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin, because it dissembles; of righteousness, which it does not order rightly, while it gives it to itself and not to God; of judgment, which it usurps, in rashly judging both of itself and others.”

    because I go to the Father;  It is an offence to the world, and worldlings, that, seeming to be a mere man, I preach new and paradoxical doctrines. But the contrary will soon be made manifest to them, viz., that I have been sent by God the Father to reconcile the world to God by My death on the Cross, and to raise them to the rights of His children. For, ascending unto heaven I shall return to Him, so that the world will see Me no more, nor be scandalised by the sight of My infirmity in the flesh. And I will from thence send the Holy Spirit to justify and sanctify those who believe in Me, and from this it will be clear to the whole world that I am not a mere man, but the God-man, the Justifier and Sanctifier of the world. So Leontius, S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius. S. Chrysostom adds that the Holy Spirit distributed His gifts and graces to the faithful at the invocation of the Name of Jesus.

    and you shall see me no longer. He speaks not of them personally, but of men in general. Ye will see Me ascending to My Father, but afterwards ye will see Me no more in this life. So Maldonatus, Ribera, and others.

    Toletus adds that Christ said this, to signify that there was no need for Him to come again into the world, to suffer and to die. For by My death once for all I have fulfilled all righteousness for all men, past, present, and to come. Ye will therefore see Me no more as ye have hitherto seen Me. Having then completed all righteousness, the world must after My departure be at once convicted of righteousness, that is to say, that it has been completed and consummated by Me. S. Augustine (in loc.) adds, “The world is reproved of sin, because it believes not in Christ. It is reproved too concerning the righteousness of those who believe; for to compare the faithful with unbelievers is to blame the unbelieving. But because it is the common cry of unbelievers, ‘How can we believe that which we do not?’ He therefore defined the righteousness of those who believe, in these words, ‘Because I go to My Father, and ye shall see Me no more. Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe.’ This then will be your righteousness, of which the world is reproved, that ye believe in Me, whom ye will not see.” He says also (de Verb. Dom. Serm. lxi.), “They believed not, but He goes to the Father. It was their sin, but His righteousness. For His coming to us was an act of mercy, His going to the Father was His righteousness,” as the apostle said, “Wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him.” And also (Quæs. N. et V. Test. xxxix.), “By His returning He proved that He had come from thence.” And S. Chrysostom, “His going to the Father was a proof that He had lived a blameless life, so that they could not say, He is a sinner, and is not from God.”

    11. And of judgment: because the prince of this world is already judged. (1.) S. Chrysostom and Euthymius explain it thus, “The Holy Spirit will prove that the judgment of the world is false in saying that I work miracles by the power and craft of the devil; for He will prove that the devil has been condemned,” cast out, and judged by Me. 2d, He will convict the world of sloth in being unwilling to trample Satan under foot, when wounded and deprived of strength by Christ. 3d, He will reprove the world of being led astray, by placing its hope in the devil who has been condemned by Me, or for forsaking God, and worshipping the devil in idols or in creatures. 4th, Toletus and others explain thus: The Holy Spirit will manifest Me to the world as the just Judge of quick and dead, when He will make it seen that the devil is condemned by Me. For if I judge and condemn devils, much more do I condemn men. 5th, and most aptly, He will make the world see its own condemnation, when it beholds itself condemned in the person of its head; when He will enable the Apostles, by invoking the Name of Jesus, to cast him forth from the temples and idols in which the world worshipped him, and also from the souls and bodies of men, thus overthrowing his kingdom. For if God spared not the angels who sinned, neither will He spare the guilty world; if He spared not the head, so also will He spare not his members and subjects. So S. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, Maldonatus, Ribera, and others.

    Justin Martyr uses this same argument (Dial. cum Tryphone), also Tertullian (ad Serpulam and Apolog. cap. xxxvi.), S. Cyprian (ad Demetrius), Origen (lib. i. contr. Celsum), S. Athanasius (de Incar. Verbi), Lactantius (ii. 6), and others.

    Hear S. Augustine (de Verb. Dom. Serm. lx.): “By his very casting out he was judged, and the world is convicted by this judgment, because he who refuses to believe in Christ, in vain complains about the devil: For since he has been cast out and sentenced, though he is permitted to assail us from without, yet not only men but even women and boys have triumphed over him, as martyrs.” Also the same father (in loc.), “He is judged, that is irrevocably doomed to the judgment of eternal fire, and by this judgment is the world reproved, because it is judged with its prince, whom it imitates in his pride and impiety. Let men therefore believe in Christ, lest they be convicted of the sin of unbelief, which binds fast all sins; let them pass over into the ranks of the faithful, lest they be reproved by the righteousness of those, whom they do not imitate in being justified; let them beware of the future judgment, lest they be condemned with the prince of this world whom they do imitate.”

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.