And when He (the Helper, v.7) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:8-11*
In my previous blog I discussed how the Holy Spirit convicts the unbeliever of his sin “because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18)
In this article I want to explain the conviction of the Holy Spirit about righteousness.
“of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more”
What is righteousness and why does Jesus going to the Father convict the sinner? In a broad sense, righteousness is the “state of him who is as he ought to be.”** Man was created in the image and likeness of God, but because of the fall of Adam, all men are condemned under sin. (Rom 5:12 NKJV) None of us are as we ought to be.
When Jesus ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, His disciples could no longer see or touch Him. Neither can we. Thomas did not see Jesus shortly after His resurrection, and stated that he would not believe that the crucified Jesus was risen from the dead unless he saw the nail prints in the hands of the risen One. When he saw Jesus and repented,
“Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” John 20:29
We must have faith in Jesus to be righteous. Paul reminded us about righteousness by faith:
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness… Romans 4:3-5
The Holy Spirit convicts the unbeliever because he relies on his senses, not on faith. The naturalistic world tells us that if we cannot touch, taste, smell, hear, see or measure something, it does not exist. Since the risen Christ cannot be sensed physically, they do not believe for righteousness.
Spiritist and new-age unbelievers believe in unseen forces, but do not see Christ in their world because they cannot channel Him like other spirits and forces. They refuse to believe in Him because they cannot “sense” Him.
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of that Jesus can only be seen by faith, and they refuse to believe. The Holy Spirit uses their refusal as the reminder that Jesus is real. The unbeliever who actively refuses to believe in Jesus has set his mind against belief and that decision fuels the Holy Spirit’s conviction. They must deal with the question, “What if I’m wrong?”
Because Jesus is with the Father, faith in Him is the only way to be justified from being ungodly, to be considered righteous by God, and to be as we ought to be. The Holy Spirit uses His invisible attributes to convict the world and lead unbelievers to Him.
How do you show your faith in the God you cannot see?
My next blog will discuss how the Holy Spirits convicts the world of judgment.
Our first book, “Families from the Beginning: Your Family, God’s Design” is available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon. Click here to order your copy.
Follow this link Families from the Beginning, Chapter 1 to see the first chapter.
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*All Scripture quotations for this article are from the New King James Version (NKJV).
**G1343 – dikaiosynē – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org//lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1343&t=KJV
