a great majority of the divines who have given any exposition of
this passage ; at all events since the Revival of letters and the
Keformation led men to apply their grammatical and philological
knowledge to the interpretation of the Scriptures. Chrysostom
indeed, when explaining this passage in his 78th Homily on St.
John, takes eXsy^sv in the sense of convicting^ but mainly with a
view to the condemnation of the world. " Not unpunished," he
says, " will they do these things, should lie come ; for the things '
which have already happened are sufficient to silence them; but
when through Him these things also are brought against them and
the instructions are more complete and the signs clearer, far more
wiU they be condemned. — He will strip them of every excuse
and show them sins beyond the reach of pardon." This too is
the tenor of the interpretation by Theodore of Mopsuesta, as
given in the Catena published by Dr. Cramer. " So formidable,'
He says, 'is any descent of the Holy Spirit, that when He
returns to men, the sin of those who have taken council against
Me is exposed." To the same eflcct ApoUiuaris says, in the
NOTE L. 363
same Catena : " He sliall convince tbe world that it is condemned
under sin on account of unbelief; for faith destroys tbe power of
sin, but unbelief confirms it ; and the Spirit appearing in believ-
ers was the condemnation of unbelievers ; for those destitute of
the gift were convicted by the fact of its presence in believers ;
and this showed them to be vessels of wrath and unfit for the
Spirit." Yet the story of the day of Pentecost ought to be suffi-
cient to prove that the conviction wrought by the Spirit is a con-
viction unto salvation, rather than unto condemnation. But man
has ever been readier to convict in order to condemn, than to
convince in order to bless ; and this portion of the old man has
stuck tenaciously, even to those who have been called to the
preaching of the Gospel, insomuch that many have seemed to
fancy that the Holy Ghost also shared their predilection, utterly
alien as it is to the Spirit of Love.
Here too we are reminded of that same deficiency, which I liaA'e
had occasion to remark more than once, and which gives such a
narrow, lifeless character to a large part of the exjoositions of
Scripture by the Fathers, — their aptness to look at the words
spoken, and the things done, as though they were past, and related
solely to the past, without sufficient regard to that which was jier-
manent in them, and which gives them an ever-living, present in-
terest for all ages, and for every single member of the Church.
Thus, in considering the tkfy/og of the Spirit, as we see, they
scarcely thought of any other i}.{y^og than that which He carried
on in the first age, by means of the Apostles themselves. Yet that
part of the question, which is of far the deepest interest and im-
portance, is the i),fy'/OQ which He has been carrying on ever
since, which He is still carrying on, and without which no soul
would ever be rescued from the sin of unbelief, or would recognize
the righteousness of Christ, or find a holy fear and a holy joy in
the certainty that the Prince of this world has been judged. Now
it is the vivid consciousness of this abiding power in the word of
God, the assurance that it does not merely relate to the past, but
no less to the present and the future, — that It Is the same yester-
day, to-day, and for ever, — this it Is that gives such an Incom-
parable value to the expositions of Scripture by the great Reform-
ers. How Luther felt that the Spirit was exercising His office of
reproving the world no less mightily in his days than in those of
the Apostles, we have seen above. Calvin's exposition is excel-
364 NOTE L .
lent. " He shall reprove the world, He says, that is, He shall not
be confined to you, but His power shall extend from you to the
-whole world. Therefore they have the promise of the Spirit from
Him, who was to be the Judge of the world, and through whom
their preaching was to be quick and powerful, so as to bring into
subjection those who had hitherto rejoiced in unrestrained indul-
gence without fear or reverence. But it should be observed, that
Christ does not here speak of hidden revelations, but of that power
of the Spirit, which appears in the external doctrines of the Gos-
pel and in the preaching of men. For whence is it, that human
speech penetrates souls, takes root therein, and finally bears fruit,
changing hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, and renewing men them-
;selves, unless because the Spirit of Chi-ist gives it life ? If it were
not for this, it would be a dead letter, an empty sound, as Paul
ai^tly teaches (2 Cor. iii. 6), where he argues that he is a minister
of the Spirit, from the fact, that God was accustomed to work pow-
erfully liy means of his teaching. The sense therefore is ; when
the Apostles should be endowed with the Spirit, they would be
furnished with a heavenly and divine power, by which they could
exercise authority throughout the whole world. But it is attrib-
uted to the Spirit rather than to them, because they were to have
no power of themselves, being only servants and instruments, but
the Spirit alone was to rule in them. The term world compre-
bends, I think, those who were to be truly converted to Christ,
as Avell as hypocrites and reprobates. For the Spirit reproves
men through the preaching of the Gospel in two ways. Some are
seriously impressed, so that they willingly humble themselves, wil-
lingly subscribe to the sentence by which they are condemned.
•Others, although they are convicted and cannot escape from the
position of a criminal, yet do not heartily yield, nor submit them-
selves to the authority and dictation of the Holy Spirit ; nay, rather
being constrained they inwardly fret, and in their perplexity cease
not to cherish obstinacy of mind. Now we know how the Spirit
was to reprove the world by the Apostles ; for God made known
His will in the Gospel, and consciences, smitten thereby, began to
•discover their own sins and the grace of God. For the word
ilfyyfip is here used in the sense of coH27'«ce?-e, " to convince."
Not a little light is thrown upon the interpretation of this passage _
by what is found in 1 Cor. xiv. 24, where Paul writes thus : If
all prophesy, and there come in one that beUeveth not, or one un-
NOTE L. 365
learned, he is convinced of all, and thus are the secrets of his heart
made manifest. There Paul speaks particularly of one kind of
reproving — ^ since certainly God brings His own elect to repent-
ance through the Gospel : but hence it clearly appears, how the
Spii'it of God in the sound of the human voice, causes men, not
before accustomed to the yoke, to acknowledge and submit to His
authority."
Beza, we have already seen, concurs with Calvin in interpreting
eXtyyeiv by convincere. Grotius says, " We say that TIuQccy.h-j-
rov is the Advocate of a cause: it is His office eX^yyj^iv rovg
avicXfyofTag, to produce conviction of the righteousness of His
cause." Hammond, in the margin, renders the verse thus: and
He, when He comes, shall convince the world, etc. Pole cites Lucas
Brugensis, Piscator, Camero, Gerhard, and Camerarius, as giving
the same translation of iXtytn. Wetstein explains the verse,
" The Holy S^^irit — shall teach the disciples, that, after Jesus had
appealed to a greater Judge, His cause had been tried anew by
God himself, who had judged the accusers, the accused and the
judge."
In Donne's 34th Sermon, which is on our text, we find a long
discussion on the meaning of reprove. " This word, that is here
translated to reprove, arguere, hath a double use and signification
in the Scriptures : first, to repi'chend, to rebuke, to correct, with
authority, with severity ; So David, i\e in furore arguas me, O
Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger; and secondly, to convince,
to prove, to make a thing evident by undeniable inferences and
necessary consequences : so, in the instructions of God's ministers,
the first is to reprove, and then to rebuke (2 Tim. iv. 2, see above
p. 329) : so that reproving is an act of a milder sense than rebuk-
ing is. St. Augustin interprets these words twice in his works :
and in the first place he follows the first signification of the word,
that the Holy Ghost should proceed — by power, by severity,
against the world. But though that sense will stand well with the
first act of this reproof, — that He shall reprove, that is, reprehend
the world of sin, — yet it will not seem so properly said, to repre-
hend the world of righteousness or of judgment: for how is right-
eousness and judgment the subject of reprehension ? Therefore
St. Augustin himself, in the other place where he handles these
words, embraces the second sense : Hoc est arguere mundum,os-
31*
366 NOTE L.
tendere vera esse quae non credkUt : * this is to reprove tlie world,
to convince the world of her errors and mistakings : and so (scarce
any excepted) do all the ancient expositors take it, according to
that, all things are reproved of the light, and so made manifest: the
light does not reprehend them, not rebuke them, not chide, not
upbraid them ; but to declare them, to manifest them, to make the
world see clearly what they are, this is to reprove. That reprov-
ing them, which is warrantable by the Holy Ghost, is not a sharp
increpation, a bitter proceeding, proceeding only out of power
and authority, but by enlightening and informing and convincing
the understanding. The signification of this word, which the Holy
Ghost uses here for reproof, t}.fy^og, is best deduced and mani-
fested to us by the philosopher who had so much use of the word,
who expresses it thus : Elenchus est syllogismus contra contraria
opinantem: a reproof is a proof, a proof by way of argument,
against another man, who holds a contrary opinion. All the pieces
must be laid together: for first it must be against an ojiinion, and
then an opinion contrary to truth, and then such an opinion held,
insisted upon, maintained ; and after all this the reproof must lie
in argument, not in force."
In Diodati's French Bible our verse is rendered. And ichen He
shall have come, He will convince (conveincra) the ivorld of sin {de
j)e'che), and of righteousness, and of judgment. The following note
is subjoined, giving a good summary explanation of it. " By His
hidden power, joined with the preaching of ]\Iy Word, He shaU
Impress upon the consciences of men, and especially of the ene-
mies of My kingdom, as well as those within My church, and
making false professions of My name and having knowledge of My
* No reference is given in my edition of Donne, the octavo reprint ; but
he is evidentl}' referring to the Quaesiiones de Novo Testamenio, in tlie 89th
.of which the writer treats of our text, and says, " Hoc est arguere mundum,
<8stendere illi vera esse quae credere nohiit." Tliis work however is gen-
erally recognized not to be by Angustin ; and the correctness of the deci-
sion is manifest, not indeed from the discrepancy in the interpretation of
this passage, — such diversities will always be found, and, it is to be hoped,
far greater, when a man's writings are spread over a surface of forty years,
— but trom the total difference in the style and mode of thought, as well as
from manj- points of detail. Still, as these Questions are by a contempo-
rary, if not by a somewhat earlier writer, they are just as good evidence
for the antiquity of the interpretation.
NOTE L. 367
Gospel, lively perceptions and convictions of sin ; inasmucli as tliey
have rejected the gracious remedy â– which have been presented to
them in Me : and so by the example of the Devil, their prince,
already condemned without remedy, lie shall hasten the certainty
of their condemnation. And on the other hand He shall give to
the children of God a very firm persuasion of the true righteous-
ness, which I shall have procured for them by My death and per-
fect satisfaction : the certain proof of which would be, that by vir-
tue of it I myself shall have passed to a heavenly and glorious life,
to take possession of it for Me and for all My church."
The same translation of fXfj^^fi was also received by the Cath-
olic Church in France. In Bossuet's Meditations sur rEvangile,
that of the 19th day in the second part is on these words : A)id
lolien He shall come, He tcill convince (conveincra) the icorld of
sin {touchant le j^e'che'), of riijhteousness, and of judgment. "It is
respecting this sin, and of this sin (of not believing in Jesus), that
the Holy Spirit would convince the unbelieving world. Jesus
Christ had convinced the Jews of this sin in two ways, one by ful-
filling the prophecies, which is the most effectual method of ex-
plaining them, the other by working such miracles as no one else
had ever jierformed ; which would deprive them of all excuse, in
such a way, that there might be nothing wanting fo** conviction.
And sometimes the Holy Spirit carries its work still farther : for
instance, in the first place the work of prophecy. For the Holy
Spirit inspired in St. Peter the proof of Christ's resurrection drawn
from David, which that Apostle, full of the illumination of the
Divine Spirit, carried out to a full demonstration. — Secondly, as
regards conviction by miracles the Holy Spirit has brought it to
perfection. For if their source had been exhausted in Jesus
Christ, men would have believed that it was transient and delusive
in Jesus Christ himself: but as it continued with the Apostles
who healed the sick publicly and in the sight of all the people, in
testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, conviction is reduced
to an absolute certainty ; and the Holy Spirit has done this even
to the last shade of evidence. This continuation of miracles was
the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ had said, that He cast
out devils by the Spirit of God ; and all the other mii'acles ought
to be as exclusively attributed to the Holy Spii'it. The same mi-
raculous gift continuing in the Apostles, men could see the suc-
cession of God's plans and a full confirmation of the truth. —
368 NOTE L.
Since the Holy Spirit, in order to furnisli to Jesus the â– witnesses
of His resurrection, descended visibly upon the Apostles, reas-
sured their courage, corrected their faults, endowing the ignorant
and foolish with divine knowledge, and furnishing them words
which shut the mouths of their adversaries ; — since, in place of
the cowards which thej' were, who had wholly forgotten their INIas-
ter in their flight, and the chief of whom blasphemed against Him,
He had made them the intrepid defenders of His doctrine and His
resurrection ; — since, in fine, not content with inspiring in them
an understanding of the prophets, He even bestowed upon them
the spirit of prophecy, and made them to act and speak like in-
sjiired men ; — all these wonderful works of the Holy Spirit jiroved
that Jesus Christ had spoken the truth, and gave assurance, that
the Holy Spirit would, in a new and still more conclusive manner,
convince the world of unbelief Add to all these things the holi-
ness, which the Spirit would establish in the church by effects so
wonderful, and that perfect union of heart, which would be His
peculiar work, and the sensible character of his presence. Add
the fearful authority which God would confer ujion the church, so
that to lie unto Peter would be to lie unto the Holy Ghost. We
may see sufiiciently by all these things the power of the testimony
of this same Spirit for producing conviction of unbelief" All this
is ingeniously and ably put, though in parts too much in the man-
ner of an advocate ; and too exclusive stress is laid on the outward
evidence by which the Spirit was to produce His conviction. The
conviction too, according to the narrow and shallow Romish no-
tion of faith, is represented as little else than a mere conviction of
the understanding in the way of argument, and thus falls far short
of the conviction by' the Spirit spoken of in the text; inasmuch as
it is a conviction of the fitness of believing in Christ, not of the sin
of not believing in Him. But at all events nothing can be more
decided than Bossuet's interpretation of iXtyytiv as convincing :
nay, he has gone too far in neglecting the other element in its
meaning.
Lampe, as usual, is full, so as almost to exhaust his subject ; and
much of what he says is sound and good. He explains ilfy/ftv
here, and in viii. 9, as designating " the work of a teacher u-ho de-
monstrates truth, tohich before teas not acknoicledged, to the con-
science even of an opposer, so clearly that he is compelled to yield.
This work in its highest form is appropriate to the Holy Spirit
NOTE L. 369
He performs part of His office as Paraclete in this very conviction,
while He pleads the cause of Christ before the world. And to Him
emphatically is attributed conviction, tkfy/og. For He fills the
office of a teacher and instructor among men, even among such as
are blind by nature ; not only ignorant of those things tvhich are
of the Spirit of God, but also not receiving, (of de'/OfAffOt 1 Cor.
ii. 14) — rejecting through unbelief, and even opposing them with
cai'nal reasonings. And this blindness is such that no human art
can effect a cure. Wherefore the Holy Spirit by the clearest light
of evidence, so penetrates the darkness of the understanding, that
even the most obstinate will can no longer resist Him. Yet the
power is not compulsori/ but convincing. He does not work as if
pleading with a stump, but as if with a rational creature. He
works partly externally, and partly internally. Externally by the
Word. Therefore the preaching of the Gospel, rightly performed,
ought to be considered a convincing by the Spirit himself. Often
there are added special works of God, signs, judgments, through
which the testimony of the word is corroborated by the Spirit.
That these things should be considered of the greatest importance
in effecting this conviction, we concede with Whitby and others ;
yet we do not stop here. None of these is able to produce a saving
effect unless the internal operation of the Spirit is added. Now
among the saving convictions, we enumerate these ; that the Spirit
by hidden power turns minds, so that they attend to the Word
(Acts xvi. 14) ; — that He gives the soft and fleshy heart, which
trembles and fears at a perception of its danger (Acts ii. 37, xvi.
30) ; — that He so enlightens the intellect that, carnal prejudices
being expelled, it acknowledges with a full conviction of conscience
the true wisdom of the plan of salvation (Eph. i. 17, 18 ) ; — that
He instils a love of the truth and a desire to come to a clearer
knowledge of it and to obey it, whence a saving faith is produced."
But the best explanation that I have seen, of the force of
tltyyiiv in this passage, is Luecke's. The rationalist tendency to
regard it as merely expressing the work of teaching and producing
conviction by logical processes compelled him to bring out and in-
sist on the other branch of the meaning. " The testimony of the
Holy Ghost in behalf of Christ over against the unbelieving world
is mainly a refutation, tXt'/yog, a demonstration of the world's
wrong and error. The whole preaching of the Apostles, as ad-
370 NOTE M.
dressed to tlie -world, necessarily takes this polemical form : see 1
Tim. V. 20, 2 Tim. ili. 16, iv. 2, Tit. i. 9, 13, ii. \h.— EliyiHV
always implies the refutation, the overcoming of an error, a wrong,
by the truth and right. Now when this is brought before our con-
science through the I'ley'/^og^ there arises a feeling of sin, which
is always painful : thus every tkfy^og is a chastening, a punish-
ment. Hence this office has been called the Strafamt of the Holy
Ghost. The effect of the Holy Ghost's tlfy^oQ in the world may
be hardening ; but its aim is the deliverance of the world. The
world, accoi'ding to St. John, is the body of those who are not yet
redeemed, who are still to be redeemed, not of the condemned. If
the i'Kfyyog of the -world is a moral process, its results may just as
well be the conversion, as the non-conversion of the world. Thus
alone did the D.fyyog of the Spirit answer the end for which
Christ came, or afford a cheering support to the Apostles. It is
true, the xglocg, with which the tlfyyog closes, is the condemna-
tion, not however of the world, but of the Prince of the world."
Tholuck and Olshauseh remark that in the word IXtyyuv the
notion of convincing and that of reproving are mixed up together.
So too Ackermann, in the Dissertation before cited, says, "In refer-
ence to the carnal-mindedness, which had gained such a domin-
ion over the world, and which was without any feeling of God, or
any submission to God, Jesus speaks of a punitive power of the
Holy Ghost, in John xvi. 8. For tXtyyeiv in tliis place means
more than to convince : it implies a breaking down and casting out
of the whole power of ungodliness, both in the outward life of the
world, and in the inner life of the conscience (p. 892)." This
coincides entirely with the view taken in the Sermons : only it
seemed to me that the Spirit's permanent work, within the range
of Christendom, was most adequately expressed, with reference to
its threefold object, by convincing.
Note M: p. 62.
There is no controversy, and little difference, about the trans-
lation of the three words, which designate the subjects of the Com-
forter's threefold conviction. The Yulgatc, Erasmus, Beza ren-
der them by peccatiim, justitia, and judicium. In English the
NOTE M. 371
Ehemisli Version, as might be expected, retains justice for the
second ; and tlie Latin word is more appropriate here than in many-
other cases : though even here the corresponding Saxon word
better expresses the vital principle dwelling and working in the
soul ; while the Latin, in conformity to the predominant character
of the language, and of the nation whose image that language
reflects, relates rather to outward acts and conduct. The differ-
ence is analogous to that which we find in the translations of the
sixth beatitude, where, instead of the pure in heart, the Ehemish
is led by the Vulgate, heali mundo corde, to put Blessed are the
clean of heart. I trust it is neither unjust nor fanciful to look
upon these two words as in some measure symbolical of the distinc-
tive characters of the Reformed Chui'ches and of that of Kome,
that is to say, so far as each answers to its peculiar princiiole and
idea. The former seek puriti/, and cannot be satisfied Avithout it,
and therefore are always oppressed with a deep consciousness of
impurity ; the latter aims at cleanriess, which may be attained in
a high degree,' and by means of outward acts. So may justice ;
but righteousness is unattainable. I do not mean that the Romish
Church is altogether regardless of purity and righteousness, or the
Reformed of cleanness and justice. Specific distinctions are sel-
dom absolute, but relative, and are formed by the predominance
of one or other of the constitutive elements, by the development
of that which had been latent, the coming forward of that which
had been in the background, the supei'iority of that which had
been subordinate. Neither are the cleanness and justice incul-
cated by the Church of Rome irrespective of purity and righteous-
ness ; nor are the purity and righteousness, the ideas of which
were the beacon-stars of the Reformation, irrespective of clean-
ness and justice. Indeed it woidd be utterly impossible for either
to exist without some admixture of the other. But the error,
which is the caricature and corruption of each Church, and has
evermore lifted up its head therein, marks its tendency by its
main danger : and this in the Church of Rome has been the prone-
ness to Pelagianism, in the Reformed Churches the aptness to
run into Antinomianism. Our modern impugners and revilers of
the Reformation have never duly recognized these main distinc-
tions between the two great branches, into which the Western
Church since that event has been divided. Hence they have gone
blindly astray in their judgments upon each, blaming and prais-
372 NOTE M.
ing inconsiderately and irrelevantly, nay, at times blaming where
they ought to have praised, and praising where they ought to
have blamed ; even as in their own theology they want to turn
back the hands of the world's great clock, and to pull us down to
cleanness and Justice, to the rudiments of outward acts and observ-
ances, — touch not, taste not, handle not, — instead of urging and