John 16:13 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 16:13

Comments

The Greek word translated here ‘guide’ – and it is a perfectly proper translation – is actually a little more literal than that: He will lead you into all truth. If you are guided, it can suggest you just need some help, some direction. But what the Spirit will do is lead, because the disciples cannot figure out any truth for themselves. If there is going to be revelation and the New Testament is going to be added to the Old Testament, then the Spirit must lead. It must be entirely his message that he will inspire them with, that he will teach them. The Lord gives a similar instruction in chapter 14. When the Spirit comes the apostles and prophets too will be inspired and taught all the truth. There will not be any truth left which they are not taught. When they are moved by inspiration to write down the books of the New Testament, the records of Christ in the Gospels, the epistles, of course the apostle Paul who will be added and others also, right through to the book of Revelation. There will be no authoritative truth or doctrine left to be revealed, and once the Scripture is complete, the word of God is complete, no more to be added. The age of prophecy will end and the age of the apostles will end. There will be no more need of inspired apostles and prophets because Scripture is complete and entire. Now we interpret it, now we explain it, expound it. ‘He shall not speak of himself’. This certainly includes the sense that he will not speak about himself, and though this is not the sense here, the Spirit does not speak much about himself in the New Testament. He is the retiring Spirit. He is the invisible Spirit. He speaks in order to magnify Christ. That is not understood these days by many who take a charismatic position. They want to have an entirely separate line of experience directly from the Holy Spirit of God, and invent and magnify all kinds of extraordinary experiences, but the Spirit will not magnify himself. He has been called by the Puritans, the shy Spirit, even the bashful Spirit. He majors on Christ not on himself. But that is not the meaning here. Christ means that he shall not speak on his own initiative. In other words, the Holy Spirit will never teach anything that the Son did not teach, that the Father does not teach. Father, Son and Holy Spirit teach the same. The concert of the Trinity. One God, perfectly agreed within the Godhead, one view point, and yet marvellously and mysteriously three distinct, eternal personalities in the Godhead.

Application

Questions

But did apostles write all the New Testament books? Were there not others besides apostles who wrote? Yes, there were New Testament prophets. We read about them in the letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2 and 3. There were prophets inspired also, but the apostles must authenticate what is in Scripture. Oh, you ask, was that not left to a church council, or three church councils actually, in the fourth century to decide and to affirm which books were in the canon of Scripture? And the answer is, no. The apostles decided which books were inspired. They knew; they were inspired to know. We do not know exactly how or where these things were determined, but when the era of inspiration ends, the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament were firmly sealed under apostolic authority. And what church councils did later on with a measure of human wisdom was merely to confirm that, and it was all decided within the inspiration of Scripture and it was decided by the apostles.

Outline

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Introduction

John 16:13 Commentary and Bible Study