John 16:10

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Of righteousness, because I go to my Father.—In the conviction of sin, the world is convinced of its own sin by the Spirit’s representation of Christ to it. That representation of Christ brings also the conviction of righteousness, but this is the righteousness of Christ, not that of the world. The conviction of Christ’s righteousness necessarily precedes that of the heart’s own sin. The light makes the darkness visible, and the revelation of the darkness shows the clearness of the light. The special reason of the conviction of righteousness is the resurrection and ascension of our Lord. Men had called Him a sinner (John 9:24), and His crucifixion was the world’s assertion that He was a malefactor (John 18:30); but even when He was hanging upon the cross there came to the centurion’s mind the conviction, “Truly this Man was innocent” (see Luke 23:47); and moreover His return to the Father was Heaven’s witness to His righteousness. For the way in which this conviction was brought home to the hearts of the Apostles, and through them to the hearts of mankind, comp. especially Acts 2:27; Acts 2:31; Acts 2:36-37. See also Acts 3:14; Acts 7:52; 1Peter 3:18; 1John 2:1; 1John 2:29; 1John 3:7.

And ye see me no more.—The word means, “look upon,” “behold.” The going to the Father would cause that they should gaze upon His bodily presence no more; but the Spirit’s witness of Him, which would convince the world of sin and righteousness, would be, to them a truer presence of their Lord than any which physical eye could see. The eye of the spirit sees the reality; the eye of the body only looks upon the appearance.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:7-15 Christ's departure was necessary to the Comforter's coming. Sending the Spirit was to be the fruit of Christ's death, which was his going away. His bodily presence could be only in one place at one time, but his Spirit is every where, in all places, at all times, wherever two or three are gathered together in his name. See here the office of the Spirit, first to reprove, or to convince. Convincing work is the Spirit's work; he can do it effectually, and none but he. It is the method the Holy Spirit takes, first to convince, and then to comfort. The Spirit shall convince the world, of sin; not merely tell them of it. The Spirit convinces of the fact of sin; of the fault of sin; of the folly of sin; of the filth of sin, that by it we are become hateful to God; of the fountain of sin, the corrupt nature; and lastly, of the fruit of sin, that the end thereof is death. The Holy Spirit proves that all the world is guilty before God. He convinces the world of righteousness; that Jesus of Nazareth was Christ the righteous. Also, of Christ's righteousness, imparted to us for justification and salvation. He will show them where it is to be had, and how they may be accepted as righteous in God's sight. Christ's ascension proves the ransom was accepted, and the righteousness finished, through which believers were to be justified. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. All will be well, when his power is broken, who made all the mischief. As Satan is subdued by Christ, this gives us confidence, for no other power can stand before him. And of the day of judgment. The coming of the Spirit would be of unspeakable advantage to the disciples. The Holy Spirit is our Guide, not only to show us the way, but to go with us by continued aids and influences. To be led into a truth is more than barely to know it; it is not only to have the notion of it in our heads, but the relish, and savour, and power of it in our hearts. He shall teach all truth, and keep back nothing profitable, for he will show things to come. All the gifts and graces of the Spirit, all the preaching, and all the writing of the apostles, under the influence of the Spirit, all the tongues, and miracles, were to glorify Christ. It behoves every one to ask, whether the Holy Spirit has begun a good work in his heart? Without clear discovery of our guilt and danger, we never shall understand the value of Christ's salvation; but when brought to know ourselves aright, we begin to see the value of the Redeemer. We should have fuller views of the Redeemer, and more lively affections to him, if we more prayed for, and depended on the Holy Spirit.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Of righteousness - This seems clearly to refer to the righteousness or innocence of Jesus himself. He was now persecuted. He was soon to be arraigned on heavy charges, and condemned by the highest authority of the nation as guilty. Yet, though condemned, he says that the Holy Spirit would descend and convince the world that he was innocent.

Because I go to my Father - That is, the amazing miracle of his resurrection and ascension to God would be a demonstration of his innocence that would satisfy the Jews and Gentiles. God would not raise up an impostor. If he had been truly guilty, as the Jews who condemned him pretended, God would not have set his seal to the imposture by raising him from the dead; but when he did raise him up and exalt him to his own right hand, he gave his attestation to his innocence; he showed that he approved his work, and gave evidence conclusive that Jesus was sent from God. To this proof of the innocence of Jesus the apostles often refer, Acts 2:22-24; Acts 17:31; Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 15:14, etc.; 1 Timothy 3:16. This same proof of the innocence or righteousness of the Savior is as satisfactory now as it was then. One of the deepest feelings which an awakened sinner has, is his conviction of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He sees that he is holy; that his own opposition to him has been unprovoked, unjust, and base; and it is this which so often overwhelms his soul with the conviction of his own unworthiness, and with earnest desires to obtain a better righteousness than his own.

And ye see me no more - That is, he was to be taken away from them, and they would not see him until his return to judgment; yet this source of grief to them would be the means of establishing his religion and greatly blessing others.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more—Beyond doubt, it is Christ's personal righteousness which the Spirit was to bring home to the sinner's heart. The evidence of this was to lie in the great historical fact, that He had "gone to His Father and was no more visible to men":—for if His claim to be the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, had been a lie, how should the Father, who is "a jealous God," have raised such a blasphemer from the dead and exalted him to His right hand? But if He was the "Faithful and True Witness," the Father's "Righteous Servant," "His Elect, in whom His soul delighted," then was His departure to the Father, and consequent disappearance from the view of men, but the fitting consummation, the august reward, of all that He did here below, the seal of His mission, the glorification of the testimony which He bore on earth, by the reception of its Bearer to the Father's bosom. This triumphant vindication of Christ's rectitude is to us divine evidence, bright as heaven, that He is indeed the Saviour of the world, God's Righteous Servant to justify many, because He bare their iniquities (Isa 53:11). Thus the Spirit, in this clause, is seen convincing men that there is in Christ perfect relief under the sense of sin of which He had before convinced them; and so far from mourning over His absence from us, as an irreparable loss, we learn to glory in it, as the evidence of His perfect acceptance on our behalf, exclaiming with one who understood this point, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God," &c. (Ro 8:33, 34).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

A second thing of which the Spirit is promised to convince the world, is

righteousness, by which all interpreters agree is meant the righteousness of Christ. Only some would have it to be understood of Christ’s personal righteousness, which is inherent in him; upon which account he is called the just One, the righteous One, & c. Then the sense is this:

The Jews now say I have a devil, and cast out devils by Beelzebub; they accuse me as an impostor and seducer, call me a friend of publicans and sinners; but when the Holy Spirit which I will send shall come, he shall convince the world that I was a just and righteous person, and not such a one as they have vilely represented me: which was fulfilled in a great measure, Acts 2:1-3:26, when so many were converted and joined to the church.

But the best interpreters understand it of that righteousness of Christ which is communicated to men in justification, of which so much is spoken in holy writ, Isaiah 53:11 56:1 Jeremiah 23:6 Daniel 9:24; and in many other texts: so as the Spirit is here promised as instructing the world in that true righteousness by which a soul can be justified; and therein both correcting the errors of the pagan world, who thought the light of nature enough to show them the way to heaven; and also of the Jewish world, who thought the righteousness of the law sufficient; by showing them, that no righteousness would do it but the righteousness of Christ, reckoned unto them for righteousness, and apprehended by faith. Christ’s going to his Father, did both evidence him to be a just and righteous person, however wicked men in the world had represented and traduced him, for his Father would not have received him if he had not been such a person; and also evidence that, as was prophesied of the Messias, Daniel 9:24, he had finished the transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness: for it could not be imagined, that he should have an access to his Father before he had finished the work which his Father had given him to do, John 17:4.

And (saith our Saviour) ye see me no more; that is, after my ascension you shall see me no more; or after my death you shall see me no more, to have any such ordinary converse with me as hitherto you have had: for I shall not ascend to return again to you; but to sit at the right hand of my Father, till I return again to the last judgement.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father,.... The "righteousness" here spoken of, does, in the first sense of the word, design the personal righteousness of Christ. The Jews had traduced him as a wicked man, said he was a sinner himself, and a friend of publicans and sinners; that he was guilty of blasphemy and sedition, maintained a familiarity with Satan, yea, that he had a devil: now the Spirit of God, by the mouth of Peter, on the day of "Pentecost", proved, to the conviction of the Jews, that all this was slander; that Christ was an innocent, holy, and righteous person, and a man approved of God among them, as they themselves must be conscious of, Acts 2:22; of all which, his going to the Father, and being received by him, were a full proof and demonstration. The effusion of the Spirit in that extraordinary manner upon the disciples, showed that he was gone to the Father, and had received from him the promise of the Holy Ghost, which he then shed abroad; and his going to the Father, and being set down by him at his right hand, made it clear that he came from him, and was no impostor; that he had acted the faithful and upright part, and was free from all the charges the Jews had laid against, him. Moreover, this may also be very well understood of the mediatorial righteousness of Christ, which he, as the surety and Saviour of his people, was to work out and bring in for them, in obedience to the law of God; which required holiness of nature, perfection of obedience, and bearing its penalty, death; all which were complied with by Christ, and so the whole righteousness of the law was fulfilled by him; and which is imputed by God as the justifying righteousness of all that believe in Jesus; and the proof of his having wrought out this, lies in his going to the Father; for as this was the work he came about, the will of his Father he came to do, had he not done it, it is reasonable to think he would never have met with such a welcome from him: besides, the donation of the Spirit, in consequence of its being wrought out, most clearly demonstrates it: likewise in the ordinary work of the Spirit of God upon the souls of his people, he always convinces them of the necessity of a righteousness to justify them before God, to render them acceptable in his sight, and to give them a right to the heavenly glory; for to admit them without a righteousness, or any unrighteous persons there, would be contrary to the justice of God, disagreeable to his pure and holy nature, and destructive of the comfort and happiness of the saints. He, the Spirit of God, convinces men of the insufficiency of their own righteousness for such purposes; that they have no righteousness that deserves the name of one, and that what they have will not justify them before God, and entitle them to heaven: and this he does, by showing them the corruption of their nature, their daily sins and infirmities, in thought, word, and deed; the purity of the divine perfections, and the spirituality and extensiveness of the law of God; which when a man is thoroughly apprized of, he can never hope for and expect justification before God by his own righteousness: hence the Spirit of God proceeds to convince men of the glory, excellency, fulness, and suitableness of the righteousness of Christ; which he does, by revealing it to them in the Gospel, setting it before them, and working faith in them to lay hold upon it; when they desire to be found in Christ, not having on their own, but his righteousness; which convictions appear by the mean thoughts they have of their own righteousness, by hungering after Christ's, by disclaiming all but his, by their constant mention of it, dependence on it, and satisfaction in it; and thus to convince of it, is the peculiar work of the Spirit, since naturally men are fond of their own righteousness, are ignorant of Christ's, and set against it. It is added,

and ye see me no more; not but that the disciples were to see Christ, and did see him after his resurrection, and will with the rest of the saints see him at his second coming: but the meaning is, that they should see him no more, in a mean and despicable condition on earth, in a state of humiliation, in the form of a servant, he having faithfully performed the whole work he came about, and particularly that of righteousness, he came to bring in.

Geneva Study Bible

Of {c} righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

(c) Of Christ himself: for when the world will see that I have poured out the Holy Spirit they will be forced to confess that I was just, and was not condemned by my Father when I went out of this world.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 16:10. The second particular: in reference to righteousness, accordingly to the opposite of ἁμαρτία. As, however, in ἁμαρτίας the subject is the world itself, the ἔλεγξις of which is described, so the subject of δικαιοσύνη is Christ; hence the more exact definition: so far as I, namely, go to my Father, and you see me no more; δικαίου γὰρ γνώρισμα τὸ πορεύεσθαι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν κ. συνεῖναι αὐτῷ, Euth. Zigabenus; δικαιοσύνη, since it thus, in virtue of the context, is necessarily an attribute of Christ, denotes His guiltlessness and holy moral perfection. The unbelieving held Him to be an ἁμαρτωλός (comp. John 9:24), and put Him to death as such (John 18:30); He was, however, the δίκαιος (1 John 2:1; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7; comp. Acts 3:14; Acts 7:52; 1 Peter 3:18), and was proved to be such by the testimony of the Paraclete, in virtue of which the apostles preached the exaltation of Christ to the Father (comp. Acts 2:33 ff.), and thereby the world was convicted as guilty περὶ δικαιοσύνης, the opposite of which the unbelieving assumed in Christ, and thought to be confirmed by the σκάνδαλον of His cross. So substantially Chrysostom and his successors, Beza, Maldonatus, Bengel, Morus, Tittmann, and several others, including Lücke, Klee, Olshausen, De Wette, B. Crusius, Maier, Godet, Baeumlein. Since, according to the analogy of the remaining parts, Christ must be the subject of δικαιοσύνη, then already on this ground we must reject not only the interpretation of Grotius of the compensatory justice of God,[173] and that of the Socinians and Kuinoel, quod jus et fas est (Matthew 12:15), but also that of Augustine, Erasmus, Luther,[174] Melanchthon, Calvin, Calovius, Jansen, Lampe, Storr, Hengstenberg, and several others, that the righteousness of man through faith in the Pauline sense is intended,[175] which also De Wette (with the modification that it is its victorious power in the world which is spoken of) inappropriately mixes up with the other interpretation. The form which Luthardt gives to the interpretation of Augustine, etc., that the passage does not indeed express that Christ has by means of His departure acquired righteousness, but rather that He has rendered righteousness possible, because faith in Himself as invisible, is likewise opposed by the fact that Christ would not be the subject to which δικαιοσύνη was ascribed; and it contains, moreover, too artificial a reflection, which is not even appropriate, since faith in Christ cannot be conditioned by His invisibility, although faith must exist in spite of the invisibility of Christ (John 20:29). The thought is rather: “The fact that I go to the Father, and that I shall then be removed from your eyes, will serve to the Spirit in His ἔλεγξις of the world as a demonstration of the fact that I am δίκαιος.”[176] And thus the by no means idle, but tender and sympathetic expression, κ. οὐκέτι δεωρεῖτέ με, as denoting the translation into the invisible world, is an outflow of the thoughtful and feeling interest of Jesus in the approaching pain of separation which the disciples were to experience, to whom this grief, in view of the higher object of that ἔλεγξις of the world, could not be spared. A reference to the scorn of the world to be expected on the removal of Jesus, as if He were thereby to be manifested an impostor (Linder, in the Stud. u. Krit. 1867, p. 514 ff.), is remote from the connection. De Wette’s remark is incorrect: that κ. ὑμεῖς θεωρεῖτέ με was rather to be expected. That must have been expected if, with Tholuck, it had to be explained of the moral purity (= ζωή) only to be found in Christ, the revelation of which was completed by the spiritual communication of the exalted One, who now may be contemplated spiritually instead of bodily. But thus all essential points would have been read between the lines.

[173] “Deum aequum esse rectorem, ut qui me extra omnem injuriae contactum in suae majestatis consortium receperit.” Comp. also Ewald, Jahrb. VIII. p. 199, and Johann. Schr. I. p. 381.

[174] “For Christians should know no other righteousness, as the ground of their standing in the sight of God …, than this departure of Christ to the Father, which is nothing else than that He has taken our sins on His neck,” etc.

[175] Here also Ebrard’s view comes in, who, indeed, considers the Pauline sense of δικαιοσύνη to be remote, but explains it: of the righteousness, which the world should have and has not, since it has cast out the Lord, and compelled Him to go to the Father, and to hold intercourse with His own only in an invisible manner. This interpretation is incorrect, for the reason that, in accordance with it, the ἔλεγξις περὶ δικαιοσύνης would substantially coincide with the ἔλεγξις περὶ ἁμαρτίας. Moreover, the rejection of Christ and His invisible intercourse with His society is an imported meaning.

[176] What Wetzel finds over and above this in the words: that in Christ “all righteousness rests, and from Him again all righteousness proceeds,” is indeed a correct dogmatic deduction from the present passage, but is not contained in the words themselves as their meaning.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. righteousness] The word occurs here only in this Gospel; but comp. 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7; 1 John 3:10; Revelation 19:11. Righteousness is the keeping of the law, and is the natural result of faith; so much so that faith is reckoned as if it were righteousness (Romans 4:3-9), so certain is this result regarded. Here ‘righteousness’ is used not in the lower sense of keeping prescribed ordinances (Matthew 3:15), but in the highest and widest sense of keeping the law of God; internal as well as external obedience. The lower sense was almost the only sense both to Jew and Gentile (Matthew 5:20). The Spirit, having convinced man that sin is much more than a breaking of certain ordinances, viz. a rejection of God and His Christ, goes on to convince him that righteousness is much more than a keeping of certain ordinances.

I go to my Father] Better, I go away (see on John 16:7) to the Father; ‘My’ is wanting in the best texts. Once more ‘because’ explains ‘will convict,’ not ‘righteousness.’ The life of Christ on earth as the pattern for all mankind being completed, and the reconciliation of man to God being completed also, the Spirit makes known to man the nature of that life, and thus shews what the nature of righteousness is. Sin being resistance to God’s will, righteousness is perfect harmony with it.

ye see me no more] ‘Contemplate’ or behold would be better than ‘see’ comp. John 16:16, John 6:40; John 6:62, John 7:3, John 14:19, &c.). He shews His disciples that He has sympathy for them; in speaking of His return to glory He does not forget the sorrow which they feel and expect (erroneously, as Acts 2:46 shews) always to feel.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 16:10. Δικαιοσύνης, of righteousness) The world had accounted Jesus as most guilty [Comp. John 16:2-3].—ὅτι—ὑπάγω [‘because’], that—I go) as “the Righteous,” 1 John 2:1, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous,” thereby obtaining access for believers. The departure of Christ to the Father was confirmed by the advent of the Paraclete.—καὶ οὐκ ἔτι θεωρεῖτέ με, and ye see Me no more) that is to say, and I come into that state, wherein ye no longer see Me. There is a change of person; i.e. I no more am seen: and yet it is not without reason that the language is framed in the second person; for if it were the privilege of any one to see Jesus, it would be that of the apostles; and yet it was the part even of these themselves (not to see, but) to believe, and to invite all to believe. Acts 10:41; Luke 24:52; Romans 4:18-19, “Abraham—against hope believed in hope,” etc. Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the evidence of things not seen;” John 16:27, “Moses endured as seeing Him, who is invisible;” ch. John 6:19; 1 Peter 1:8, “Whom not having seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable,” etc., John 21 : 2 Corinthians 5:16, “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more;” 21, “He hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,” wherein we ought to weigh well the righteousness spoken of. On the other hand, so long as Christ could be beheld among men, righteousness was not yet obtained. Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 9:28, “Now once—hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself;—to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” 1 Timothy 3:16, note, “Manifest in the flash, justified in the Spirit.” [So long as He was manifest in the flesh among sinners, He was regarded as like themselves, and in fact did bear their sins; but afterwards by His death He abolished sin which was laid on Him, and claimed for Himself and for His people eternal righteousness, with the full approbation of the Father]—[Righteousness and glory are things conjoined. Romans 8:30, “Whom He justified, them He also glorified.”—V. g.] Previously to His death, He had been exposed to the eyes of mortals; not so also after His resurrection, except in so for as it was necessary that the witnesses of the resurrection should be confirmed; and even to these very persons He was not visible during the whole of that period, but only appeared at occasional times, much less was He visible to the world. And the sight of His glory, which accompanied His righteousness (“His justification in the Spirit”), would be intolerable to those living in the flesh.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - In respect of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more. Not merely that the world will be led to form a new conception of righteousness, seeing that God has exalted him whom they have condemned as a malefactor, - that would really, with Lucke and Meyer, limit this "righteousness" to a judgment concerning the guiltlessness of Christ; nor can we, with Luther, etc., regard it as equivalent to the δικαιοσύνη of Romans 1:17, the righteous attribute and righteous process by which God is able to treat as righteous those who believe. This is the only place in the Gospel where the word occurs, and it can scarcely bear the technical significance of the great theological discussions with which it was afterwards associated. Schaff has called attention to the Vulgate translation justitia, which is represented in the Rheims English Version by "justice," and reminds us how Archdeacon Hare urges that "righteousness" and "justice" correspond to the entire theology of the Protestant and Romanist Churches. The Protestant sees in "righteousness" an ideal never reached by the human will in its own strength; the Romanist, by the term "justice," embodies itself in outward acts. The idea of righteousness involves the demand for purity; the idea of justice, one for cleanness. But seeing that Christ had all along called urgent attention to the fact that that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God, and that the righteousness of his kingdom must exceed "the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees," it becomes clear that his exaltation to the right hand of the Father would exhibit God's ideal of righteousness; and by the aid of the Holy Spirit working through the word of the apostles, the world's view of these things would be utterly subverted, the world would be silenced, convicted of being utterly in the wrong in its idea of righteousness as well as in its judgment upon the nature of sin. The idea of righteousness will be expanded and transfigured; the idea of sin will be deepened and intensified and brought home. Stier has, with great eloquence and power, pressed the other view, which makes the ἐλέγχος of the Holy Ghost nothing short of this - that there is no other righteousness for men than the righteousness of God in Christ and the righteousness of Christ before God. Notice, nevertheless, the occasions on which the world was brought to recognize the triumph of Christ's righteousness and confusion of its own prejudices (Acts 2:27, 31; Acts 3:14; Acts 7:52). John 16:10

Vincent's Word Studies

I go (ὑπάγω)

Withdraw from their sight and earthly fellowship. See on John 8:21, and footnote.

Ye see (θεωρεῖτε)

Rev., behold. See on John 1:18.