Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

John 16:8

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

KJV

καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐκεῖνος ἐλέγξει τὸν κόσμον περὶ ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ περὶ κρίσεως·

Greek NT

Et cum venerit ille, arguet mundum de peccato, et de justitia, et de judicio.

Vulgate

And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

ASV

And when he is come, he will convince the world of sin and of justice and of judgment.

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

10 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

δικαιοσύνη
dikaiosune
noun · 92×
καί
kai
conjunction · 8973×
κρίσις
krisis
noun · 47×
κόσμος
kosmos
noun · 184×
περί
peri
preposition · 335×
ἁμαρτία
amartia
noun · 173×
ἐκεῖνος
ekeinos
demonstrative · 240×
ἐλέγχω
elegcho
verb · 19×
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
verb · 627×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×

Historic Christian voices

8 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§388With the progress of Revelation, the reality of sin is also illuminated. Although to some extent the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis, they could not grasp this story's ultimate meaning, which is revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesu…
§729Only when the hour has arrived for his glorification does Jesus promise the coming of the Holy Spirit, since his Death and Resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the fathers.116 The Spirit of truth, the other Paraclete, will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus' prayer; he will be sent by the Father in Jesus' name; and Jesus will send him from the Father's side, sin…
§1287This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people.93 On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit,94 a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost.95 Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles began to proclaim "the mighty works of God," a…
…and 1 more from this source.
Before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your actual transgressions against the law of God. Before we can have peace with God, we must be justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ; and in order to be justified, we must first be convinced of sin.

Cross-references

  • 1Cor 2:4 — And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
  • 1Cor 2:14 — But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
  • 1Cor 14:24 — But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
  • 1Tim 3:16 — And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up int
  • Acts 2:37 — Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
  • Acts 16:29 — Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
  • Acts 24:25 — And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
  • Isa 2:4 — And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
  • Isa 4:4 — When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
  • John 8:9 — And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
  • John 8:46 — Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
  • John 12:31 — Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
  • Jude 1:15 — To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have sp
  • Phil 3:9 — And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
  • Zech 12:10 — And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for h