Conviction about righteousness and judgment

May 14, 2021

15:18 – 16:33 Sent into the world, just as Jesus was sent

Read John 16:10-11

This is the only place in John’s gospel where the word righteousness is used, and it stands in contrast to sin in the previous verse (16:9). It is easy to see why people need convicting of sin but why is conviction about righteousness also necessary (10)? Human nature delights to try and establish a righteousness of its own, and that kind of religious righteousness was at the heart of the Pharisees’ rejection of Jesus (5:16; 12:42-43). The true meaning of righteousness is that which Jesus established on the cross (“I am going to the Father” refers to his death), and not the righteousness of human effort (Rom.1:17; Rom.3:21-22; Phil.3:6-9).

Similarly, the meaning of judgment is also to be found in the cross, for that was where and when Satan, “the prince of this world” was defeated (11). This echoes what Jesus had said as his public ministry drew to a close and the cross became imminent: “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (12:31; Col.2:15). The world has a distorted and wrong view of judgment (7:24), and because of Satan, “the father of lies” (8:44), it is blind to God’s righteous judgment. But if there is no judgment, then Jesus would not have needed to die.

So the meaning of sin, righteousness and judgment are all demonstrated by Jesus’s death on the cross, the place where God’s grace is revealed and Jesus draws to himself all who will believe in him (12:32-33). Because of our sin, we deserve to be judged, but through the cross, a new righteousness is freely available to us, a gift of grace. These are truths that cannot be understood or accepted, apart from the exposing and convincing work of the Holy Spirit in people’s hearts (16:8).