Chapter 35 John 16:25–33

Literary Context

This pericope is the eighth and final section of the farewell discourse. It functions as an epilogue, offering a concluding commentary on the person and work of Jesus and the expected response of the reader or hearer. After a prologue (13:31–38) and six statements (14:1–16:24), Jesus now gives a final explanation of his farewell speech and a final exhortation to his disciples. In this part of the farewell discourse, Jesus speaks “plainly” about his return to the Father and encourages the disciples to stay the course in light of his accomplished work. The disciples—and the readers—are exhorted to believe in Christ and his work and to continue to follow him (even if imperfectly), finding peace in his victory over the world.

VII. The Farewell Discourse (13:1–17:26)
1. A. Introduction: The Love of Jesus (13:1–30)
  1. 1. Jesus and the Washing of His Disciples’ Feet (13:1–20)
  2. 2. Jesus Announces His Betrayal (13:21–30)
2. B. The Farewell Discourse (13:31–16:33)
  1. 1. Prologue: Glory, Departure, and Love (13:31–38)
  2. 2. I Am the Way and the Truth and the Life (14:1–14)
  3. 3. I Will Give You the Paraclete (14:15–31)
  4. 4. I Am the True Vine (15:1–17)
  5. 5. I Have Also Experienced the Hate of the World (15:18–27)
  6. 6. I Will Empower You by the Paraclete (16:1–15)
  7. 7. I Will Turn Your Grief into Joy (16:16–24)
  8. 8. Epilogue: Speaking Plainly, Departure, and Peace (16:25–33)
3. C. Conclusion: The Prayer of Jesus (17:1–26)

Main Idea

In spite of humanity’s sinful ignorance and religious pride, Jesus Christ has defeated all sin and evil, the Christian’s included, so that the Father may extend his love to them.

Translation

Structure and Literary Form

As the eighth of eight sections of the farewell discourse, this pericope is part of the fourth (and longest) substantial monologue in the narrative proper. A monologue (see Introduction) is similar to a dialogue in that it is set in the context of an engagement and conflict, but rather than engaging point-for-point it allows for a lengthy argument. A monologue can contain elements of rhetoric, challenge, and conflict, but it does so in a sustained presentation.

This pericope also functions like an epilogue. The first and last sections of the farewell discourse serve as a frame and inclusio for the entire monologue. The logic behind seeing a prologue (13:31–38) and an epilogue (16:25–33) framing the discourse proper is rooted in the nearly identical content in each pericope, serving to connect the entire monologue together. For not only do both pericopae include the question of where Jesus is going and the affirmation of where he is from (13:31 and 16:28), but also both include the reaction of Jesus to Peter and to the disciples alike regarding betrayal or abandonment (13:38 and 16:32).1 In his closing statement Jesus reminds the disciples of his impending departure and their impending trials and gives them a final exhortation to believe and find peace in his victorious work.

Exegetical Outline

8. Epilogue: Speaking Plainly, Departure, and Peace (16:25–33)
1. a. The Christian Faith and the Coming “Hour” (vv. 25–28)
2. b. The Misbelief of the Disciples (vv. 29–30)
3. c. A Final Exhortation: “I Have Overcome the World” (vv. 31–33)

Explanation of the Text

Since this entire section of the Gospel and “the farewell discourse” proper are replete with interpretive issues, we refer the reader to the first pericope of this section where we provided an overview of the nature (genre), literary structure, and function of the farewell discourse (see comments before 13:1).

16:25 “I have spoken these things to you in illustrations; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in illustrations, but will tell you plainly about the Father” (Ταῦτα ἐν παροιμίαις λελάληκα ὑμῖν· ἔρχεται ὥρα ὅτε οὐκέτι ἐν παροιμίαις λαλήσω ὑμῖν ἀλλὰ παρρησίᾳ περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀπαγγελῶ ὑμῖν). The first section of the pericope (vv. 25–28) begins with a phrase that Jesus has used before (cf. 14:25; 16:1), which serves to demarcate a transition in the discourse. Jesus reminds the disciples of “these things” (Ταῦτα) that he has spoken to them to refocus their attention on what he is about to say next. The discourse transitions here to an epilogue, which offers a summarizing commentary and final exhortation to the disciples.

Jesus explains that he has been speaking to the disciples “in illustrations” (ἐν παροιμίαις). This is the first time Jesus uses this term, which the narrator used in 10:6 for what was best understood as a broadly defined “proverb” or “figure of speech” that employed figurative-symbolic imagery and parabolic-allegorical functions (see comments on 10:6). While the narrator explicitly referred to 10:1–5 as an “illustration,” we have argued that there are three other examples of “illustrations” in the Gospel (12:24; 15:1–8; 16:21). Jesus’s statement here gives warrant for applying the term “illustration” more generally, not only to other parabolic-allegorical analogies used in his teaching but also in this case to his teaching overall.

Jesus explains that his teaching has been proverbial in nature, or more figurative. Yet this will change at a coming “hour” (ὥρα) when Jesus will speak to the disciples “plainly” (παρρησίᾳ), a term which here refers to “a use of speech that conceals nothing and passes over nothing” (cf. 10:24).2 According to the rest of the farewell discourse, the “hour” is the new order of Christian existence under the ministerial office of the Paraclete, who will guide the Christian “in all truth” (16:13). Moreover, as Jesus explained, the Spirit is not the teacher, for “he will not speak from himself . . . because he will receive from me and announce it to you” (16:13–14). In this way Jesus never ceases to be the teacher, but his instruction is now facilitated by the Spirit of God. Again, the departure of Jesus is depicted as the magnification of his continuing ministry, not the limitation of it. It is only by means of the Spirit therefore that believers can receive fully the words of Jesus and the truth about God (see 1 Cor 2:14). The church can now receive Jesus’s words and rightly interpret their true subject matter in the guidance of the Spirit. The teaching ministry of the contemporary church is also facilitated and actualized by the ministerial office of the Spirit (see comments on 14:16), through whom Jesus, the eternal Word of God, still speaks to his disciples today.

16:26 “In that day you will ask in my name, and I am not saying to you that I will ask the Father concerning you” (ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου αἰτήσεσθε, καὶ οὐ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα περὶ ὑμῶν). Jesus clarifies further the new state of existence for the disciples. The reason Jesus will continue to be speaking to them is not simply because the Spirit receives from him and announces to the disciples, but also because even the guidance of the Spirit is done “in my name” (ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου), that is, through the mediation of Jesus and by his authority. These themes have already been explained in the discourse (cf. 14:12–14; 15:7–8, 16; 16:23).

Jesus then clarifies and explains that this process is not a bureaucracy that distances the disciples from God, but rather this process magnifies his presence. That is, the mediation of Christ has so restored fellowship between the Father and the children that the Christian may access the Father directly “in Jesus’s name.” This is not to remove the need for the Son’s mediation, for it is still under his authority (“in his name”), but rather to place the entire Christian life under his functional mediation. The Son always intercedes between the Father and the children of God (see Rom 8:34), but this intercession is in regard to the Christian’s status before God, not the ongoing answering of prayer.3

16:27 “For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ φιλεῖ ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ὑμεῖς ἐμὲ πεφιλήκατε καὶ πεπιστεύκατε ὅτι ἐγὼ παρὰ [τοῦ] θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον). Jesus establishes further the real intimacy that exists between the disciples and the Father by stating emphatically (denoted by the pronouns) the reason for this change of relationship: “For the Father himself loves you” (αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ φιλεῖ ὑμᾶς). This remarkable statement personalizes the love of God for the world (3:16) and shows the fruit of its expression. The love of God is not abstract or theoretical but relational and inviting. This life in God—eternal life—is the result of God’s originating love, a love that propelled him to send his Son to the cross.

It is important to note that even here Jesus does not deny that this access is mediated, for he then explains what made the Father’s love accessible: “Because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (ὅτι ὑμεῖς ἐμὲ πεφιλήκατε καὶ πεπιστεύκατε ὅτι ἐγὼ παρὰ [τοῦ] θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον). Two things are expressed by this statement. First, access to the Father is based upon the reciprocation of love—love that is directed specifically at the Son. Jesus has already explained this statement, revealing that the disciple loves God by obeying his commands (14:21; cf. 14:23). The disciple loves God by the submission of their life to God. Any other response is not love, and any other object is not God. Yet even still, it was not we who loved first (as if his love were contingent upon ours), but God who first loved us (1 John 4:10); our love is merely a response and result of his love. We receive the Father’s love by loving the Son, for it is the Son who fully represents God (Col 1:15–20) and who makes the Father known (1:18).

Second, access to the Father is based upon belief and, more specifically, belief in the mission of God, the Father’s sending of the Son. The Christian life is not only a life of love but also a life of faith—faith directed at the appropriate object. Jesus explains that true faith has the Son as its object. Faith/belief is a central term for John (see comments on 1:12) and in this context incorporates not only the person of Jesus but also his work, the mission of God. Just as appropriate love receives God in the fullness of his person, so also does appropriate love receive God in the fullness of his work. An appropriate faith should ultimately come to understand that Christ’s mission sprang from the Father’s initial love, which established and now fulfills the circle of love Jesus discussed earlier: (1) God’s love for us; (2) our love for one another; (3) our love for God (cf. 15:9–16).4

16:28 “I came from the Father and entered into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father” (ἐξῆλθον παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐλήλυθα εἰς τὸν κόσμον· πάλιν ἀφίημι τὸν κόσμον καὶ πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα). The first section of the pericope (vv. 25–28) concludes with a summary by Jesus of “the great movement of salvation.”5 As much as these verses have implied a certain kind of behavior, they have been primarily creedal in orientation, and this verse summarizes the whole package, the sum of what Jesus wants his disciples to understand and believe.6 The epilogue opens with a potent summary of the new life in God shortly to be secured by Jesus. Jesus not only reminds the disciples of the subject matter of his farewell speech but places it before them so that they might grasp at it, fully understanding and appropriating its message to their own lives. That is, in these four verses Jesus has given a summary of the Christian faith.

16:29 His disciples said, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly and speaking without an illustration” (Λέγουσιν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, Ἴδε νῦν ἐν παρρησίᾳ λαλεῖς, καὶ παροιμίαν οὐδεμίαν λέγεις). The second section of the pericope (vv. 29–30) involves a brief response by the disciples to Jesus’s statement. The disciples declare that they now understand. Their declaration is made emphatic by the interjection “behold” (Ἴδε) and by means of expressing positively and negatively the same statement: “You are speaking plainly . . . without an illustration.” This is another example of the Gospel’s use of irony (cf. 11:49–52), for Jesus had just explained that the “hour” for speaking plainly “is coming” (v. 25) and therefore had not yet come. By this the disciples “forwardly imagine” that they already have perceived the meaning and definition of faith in Christ.7 What their statement more accurately reveals, however, is not what they believe about Jesus but what they believe about themselves.8 The mistake is clear and was reflected earlier when they bemoan Jesus’s departure (cf. 16:4b–7), for they have so closely associated themselves and their “Christian” experience to life with the Son that they have not yet prepared themselves to receive the new (and better) life “in the Spirit.” For this reason, sadly, much of the farewell discourse is still foreign to them.

16:30 “Now we know that you know all things and have no need for anyone to question you. For this reason we believe that you are from God” (νῦν οἴδαμεν ὅτι οἶδας πάντα καὶ οὐ χρείαν ἔχεις ἵνα τίς σε ἐρωτᾷ· ἐν τούτῳ πιστεύομεν ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθες). The disciples’ ignorance and self-proclaimed understanding of Jesus’s message (even before the “hour”) explains why the disciples offer their own creed-like statement. The disciples claim “now” (νῦν) to have an awareness of Jesus’s knowledge (“you know all things” [οἶδας πάντα]) and authority, reflected in the somewhat odd statement “(you) have no need for anyone to question you” (οὐ χρείαν ἔχεις ἵνα τίς σε ἐρωτᾷ), supposedly providing them with the warrant and reason to believe that he truly is from God. Their statement is less comprehensive than it could be, though it resembles enough of Christ’s own closing statement (v. 28) to suggest that they are claiming a cumulative comprehension to some degree. And their reference to Christ’s knowledge appears only slightly more significant than that of the onlookers during his public ministry who were impressed with his authoritative teaching (e.g., 7:45–46).

16:31 Jesus answered them, “Now you believe?” (ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς Ἰησοῦς, Ἄρτι πιστεύετε;). The third section of the pericope (vv. 31–33) begins with a question 9 that is intended to offer a rebuke and retort to the ignorance-revealing declaration of the disciples. This is not the first time Jesus has responded to a situation with a question (cf. 5:6; 9:35), and here again the question bears a strong rhetorical intention. God has been known to ask questions that probe into the blind ignorance of humanity. God did not ask Adam’s location for his own sake, but to offer Adam a moment of self-reflection (Gen 3:9). That is Jesus’s intention here: “Do you really believe?” Jesus will address their future arrival at knowledge and belief in his concluding prayer (ch. 17); here he is interested more in addressing and rebuking their present ignorance and misbelief.

16:32 “Behold, an hour is coming and has come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται ὥρα καὶ ἐλήλυθεν ἵνα σκορπισθῆτε ἕκαστος εἰς τὰ ἴδια κἀμὲ μόνον ἀφῆτε· καὶ οὐκ εἰμὶ μόνος, ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ μετ’ ἐμοῦ ἐστιν). Jesus turns their own self-proclamation against them by revealing that they were right about one thing: he did “know all things” (v. 30; cf. 2:25). Beginning with his own and countering interjection “behold” (ἰδοὺ), Jesus gives the disciples prophetic insight into the reality of their self-declared “belief” in him. Jesus restates the significant coming “hour” (ὥρα) conveniently misplaced by the disciples, but this time declares that the disciples’ self-proclaimed allegiance will fail at the moment of crisis, his crucifixion. They will disband from “the Twelve” and “each” (ἕκαστος) will go to their own home, abandoning Jesus entirely. Jesus promised that he would not abandon the disciples (14:18), but the disciples will abandon Jesus at his time of need. At that “hour” their trust in his knowledge and authority (v. 30) will not be confidently resting in his person and work.10 By these words Jesus rebukes his disciples, but he also reveals to them the true condition of their understanding of the mission of God and the true nature of their faith in him.

In order that the disciples do not mistake Jesus’s prediction as a cry for human assistance, Jesus explains that as part of the authorized mission of God, he is not alone “because the Father is with me” (ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ μετ’ ἐμοῦ ἐστιν). The work of Jesus is not dependent upon humanity but is performed rather for its benefit, with the Father authorizing the work of the Son and supporting his mission. The most important thing the presence of the Father signifies is that Jesus is right where he is supposed to be, even though not one other person would join him. When the whole world, including the disciples of Jesus, think Jesus had been conquered, the presence of the Father declares the exact opposite.

16:33 “I have spoken these things to you in order that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have affliction, but be courageous; I have overcome the world” (ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ἐν ἐμοὶ εἰρήνην ἔχητε· ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλῖψιν ἔχετε, ἀλλὰ θαρσεῖτε, ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον). Jesus concludes the pericope and the farewell discourse proper with a statement that summarizes his intentions and offers a final exhortation to his disciples. Using again the phrase with which he began the pericope (v. 25), Jesus declares his purpose: “In order that in me you may have peace” (ἵνα ἐν ἐμοὶ εἰρήνην ἔχητε). Jesus had promised this to the disciples earlier (see comments on 14:27), and he confirms it here at the end of his speech.

Jesus has spoken of this coming affliction before (cf. 16:2), but he probably refers here to the comprehensive nature of the conflict they will face as his disciples in the world (cf. 15:18–25). But Christ has something different for them, denoted by the strong adversative “but” (ἀλλὰ); Christ commands them to “stand beyond the world”11 and the security it offers by being “courageous” (θαρσεῖτε)—“to be firm or resolute in the face of danger or adverse circumstances.”12 The source for this courage is certainly not found in the world nor within the disciples themselves but in the accomplished work of Christ. Said another way, only with the correct object of faith can a person be grounded in a greater and more powerful reality than that which surrounds and threatens him.

What can give the disciples real peace and the courage they need to face the world’s afflictions? It is the finished work of Christ, which Jesus announces to his disciples: “I have overcome the world” (ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον). This final exhortation is an assertion of his power, making manifest in the historical time-and-space world what had cosmologically always been the case—the darkness could not “recognize” or “overcome” the light (see comments on 1:5). As the Gospel has made clear, the cross is the victory of Christ and the defeat of the world, including “the ruler of this world” (cf. 12:31; 14:30–31; 16:8–11). This victory belongs not to Christ alone, for it also belongs to his disciples, the children of God, which the prayer to follow will express further (see ch. 17). The cross of Christ is his exultation (cf. 3:14; 8:28; 12:34; cf. Acts 2:33), and the disciples will come to “know” and “believe,” in spite of their forthcoming response to the contrary, that Christ alone became at the moment of apparent defeat and death the victor and the giver of life.13 In this way the pericope concludes, as does the farewell discourse proper.

Theology in Application

In the eighth and final section of the farewell discourse, Jesus gives a final summary of the Christian life in the new covenant and encourages the disciples to understand appropriate belief in him, rooted in his victory over the world. Through this pericope the reader is challenged in the nature of their belief and is exhorted to believe in the victory of Christ.

The Teaching of Jesus

This pericope confirms what the Gospel first declared: Jesus is the Word (1:1), the one who teaches the children of God about the Father (1:18). Jesus’s teachings are only magnified “in the Spirit,” whose ministry will explain and apply the true subject matter of Jesus’s teaching to those who belong to God and participate in the church (cf. 16:13). Jesus is the eternal Word and the final word of God (Heb 1:1–2), and the church not only relates to the Father through the Son (and by the Spirit) but also continues to proclaim the same message to the world—the gospel of Jesus Christ. The teaching of the church, therefore, is Christocentric from first to last, for Christ is both the teacher and subject matter of Scripture, the Word of God’s Word.

The Love of the Father

Jesus explains that his mediation will facilitate a real and personal relationship between God and the children of God. The love of God for the world (3:16) has been personalized so that God is now both willing and able to love us himself. The love of God is not abstract or theoretical but relational and inviting. Our life in God is the result of God’s originating love, a love that propelled him to send his Son to the cross. God is love, and his love is expressed to us, through us, and from us (see 1 John 4:7–5:3). God is the great lover, the epitome of love, the most willing to express love, and the most worthy recipient of love. All human love starts and begins with God, and our life of love must find its ultimate grounding in the love of God.

The Condition of Misbelief

The disciples displayed the ignorance of their belief in their brief dialogue with Christ in this periocpe (cf. vv. 29–31). The disciples’ condition seems to have resulted from a minimization of their own depravity and Christ’s real ministry. They thought that Christ was simply the one who would teach them and not the one who would transform them. Like so many in the Gospel, they did not see the necessity of the cross or the death that needed to occur in their flesh. The question Jesus offered as a response to their ignorance speaks directly to us as well: “Do you now believe?” We also must ask ourselves whether we have eclipsed or minimized any of the particulars of the gospel because of selfish ignorance or pride. We too must ask ourselves if we have confessed and accepted our own need for death, and if we truly seek the power of the resurrection that only comes from being conformed to his death (Phil 3:10).

The Victory of God in Christ

Jesus concluded his farewell speech with a grand declaration of victory. God wins! And his victory is achieved not by the tools of human sin and pride but by a sacrifice of love, the cross. The victory of God was hidden behind the false assumption that power was displayed by killing, not by sacrifice, and that winning was achieved by sustaining one’s life, not by giving it as an offering. Yet the death of Christ is the defeat of the world and the ruler of this world and the offer of salvation (i.e., participation in God’s victory) to the world.

It is the victory of God that the Christian celebrates, knowing that all enemies (past, present, and future) have already been defeated, even death itself (Hos 13:14; 1 Cor 15:54–55). For this reason when Christians stand with God, they also stand beyond the world, for they understand “everything which the world can bring against them. . . . The anxiety of blindness has been taken away from them, and the future is no longer threatening. . .”14 This is God’s victory, but it also belongs to the children of God.