ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

John 16.7

Book: John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

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ASV:

"7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you." (John 16:7, ASV)

WEB:

"7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." (John 16:7, WEB)

KJV:

"7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (John 16:7, KJV)

YLT:

"7. 'But I tell you the truth; it is better for you that I go away, for if I may not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you, and if I go on, I will send Him unto you;" (John 16:7, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV:

"5. But now I go unto him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6. But because I have spoken these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you. 8. And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9. of sin, because they believe not on me;" (John 16:5-9, ASV)

WEB:

"5. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6. But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart. 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8. When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment; 9. about sin, because they don’t believe in me;" (John 16:5-9, WEB)

KJV:

"5. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9. Of sin, because they believe not on me;" (John 16:5-9, KJV)

YLT:

"5. and now I go away to Him who sent me, and none of you doth ask me, Whither dost thou go? 6. but because these things I have said to you, the sorrow hath filled your heart. 7. 'But I tell you the truth; it is better for you that I go away, for if I may not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you, and if I go on, I will send Him unto you; 8. and having come, He will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment; 9. concerning sin indeed, because they do not believe in me;" (John 16:5-9, YLT)

Setting

  • Speaker: Jesus, in the Upper Room Discourse (John 13:31-16:33)
  • Audience: the eleven remaining disciples
  • Location: Jerusalem, the upper room of the Last Supper (or en route to Gethsemane)
  • Time period: the night before the crucifixion, c. Nisan 14, AD 30 or 33; composed c. AD 85-95
  • Narrative context: the ascension-necessity claim within the Spirit-promise section (John 16:5-15). The disciples' sorrow at Jesus's departure-announcement (v. 6) is being reframed: Jesus's going-away is not loss but gain for them. The departure makes possible the Spirit's coming. The verse's logic is causal: if Jesus does not go away, then the Comforter (Paraclete) will not come. The going-away is the necessary condition for the Spirit's coming. Verses 8-11 then elaborate the Spirit's first work-among-the-world (conviction); vv. 12-15 elaborate the Spirit's work-among-the-disciples (teaching, glorifying Christ).

Theological reading

John 16:7 is the theological hinge between the incarnational and the Pentecost economy. The Christological pattern that the Gospel narrates, God-with-us in the embodied Jesus, is concluding, but the divine presence is not departing. It is being transformed into a new mode: the Spirit-mediated indwelling that will be inaugurated at Pentecost (Acts 2). The verse explains why this transition is advantageous (Greek sympherei, "expedient, profitable, beneficial") for the disciples and the church.

Why is the going-away expedient?

Jesus's claim, the Spirit's coming requires Jesus's going-away, is theologically dense. Several reasons converge:

  1. The atonement must be completed first. Jesus's "going away" includes His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. The Spirit's coming in NT pattern is post-atonement. The Spirit-poured-out is the Father's gift to the resurrected-and-ascended Christ, who then pours it out on the church (Acts 2:33). The atonement-completed unlocks the Spirit-given-out.

  2. The Christ's glorification at the Father's right hand must be accomplished. The Spirit comes from the exalted Christ. The same Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee must be enthroned at the Father's right hand to send the Spirit (John 7:39, "the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified").

  3. The geographic-historical-Jesus model is replaced by the universal-Spirit-indwelling model. The pre-ascension Jesus was with the disciples geographically but bounded by physical presence in one place. The post-ascension Spirit indwells every believer universally and personally (cf. John 14.23 rich hub, Father-Son-Spirit indwelling). The transformation is from physical-presence-of-one to spiritual-presence-of-many-simultaneously.

  4. The disciples must mature from dependence-on-physical-presence to faith-in-Christ-by-Spirit. Their walking with Jesus produced a kind of dependence; the Spirit's coming inaugurates the maturing-by-faith pattern of the Christian life (cf. 2 Cor 5:7, "we walk by faith, not by sight").

The Spirit's threefold work (vv. 8-15)

The verse opens the broader Paraclete-passage that elaborates the Spirit's threefold work:

Toward the world (vv. 8-11):

  • Conviction of sin (because they did not believe in Christ)
  • Conviction of righteousness (because Christ is going to the Father)
  • Conviction of judgment (because the prince of this world is judged)

Toward the disciples (vv. 12-15):

  • Guidance into all truth
  • Hearing from the Father and Son and disclosing
  • Glorifying Christ, "He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you"

The Spirit's work is always Christ-centered (cf. John 15:26 rich hub). Any spiritual experience that draws attention away from Christ is, by this criterion, not the work of the true Holy Spirit.

The "I will send him", Christological co-sending

Jesus says "I will send him." The same Christological-sending appears in John 15:26, "whom I will send unto you from the Father." The verses together establish the Christological co-sending of the Spirit alongside the Father's sending (cf. John 14:26, "the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name").

The Christological-co-sending is one of the principal NT bases for the Western filioque doctrine (the Spirit proceeds from the Father AND the Son). See John 15.26 (rich hub) for the full filioque discussion. The Eastern Orthodox reading emphasizes the para tou patros (from the Father) origin; the Western reading emphasizes the Christological-co-sending.

Patristic and Reformed reading

Augustine (Tractates on John 94, c. AD 416): the going-away that is expedient is the ascension, the completed return of the incarnate Christ to the right hand of the Father. The Spirit then descends as the down-payment of the eschatological inheritance, sealing believers until the final consummation.

John Chrysostom (Homilies on John 78, c. AD 391): Jesus's words are calibrated to the disciples' sorrow, they cannot yet see the strategic advantage of His going. The pastoral reframing of departure as gain rather than loss is one of the Bible's clearest examples of redemption-perspective overriding immediate-grief.

John Calvin (Commentary on John ad loc.): the verse establishes the necessity of the ascension within God's redemptive plan. The Spirit's coming was reserved for the post-resurrection-glorification moment, when the work was finished and the priestly intercession at the Father's right hand could begin.

Apologetic and pastoral deployment

The verse is foundational for:

  1. Defense of the ascension's theological importance. Some modern Christian discourse treats the ascension as secondary-doctrinal-furniture rather than the central transition-event of redemption. John 16:7 elevates the ascension: without it, no Spirit comes; without the Spirit, no indwelling, no Pentecost, no church. The ascension is foundational, not optional.

  2. Pastoral reframing of loss. Jesus's pattern, going-away-is-expedient, gives the Christian a model for reframing grief and apparent loss. What looks like the loss of a beloved presence may be the precondition for a greater fulfillment. The pastoral application appears in bereavement counseling, departures of beloved leaders from churches, and seasons-of-felt-absence in spiritual life.

  3. Defense of the Spirit-indwelling-of-every-believer doctrine. Some traditions teach a clergy-class through which Spirit-mediation works (sacerdotalism). John 16:7's promise is to all the disciples; the Spirit indwells the whole church, not a special class within it. See Priesthood of All Believers.

  4. The universal-Christ argument. A pre-ascension Christ was geographically bounded; the post-ascension Christ (mediated through the Spirit) is present to every believer everywhere. The Christian apologetic, Christ is closer to you now than He was to His disciples in Galilee, depends on John 16:7's logic of the better-after-ascension presence.

Oneness Pentecostal reading

The Oneness reader takes John 16:7 as the one God's transition between two modes of incarnational presence, the bodily-incarnate Jesus and the universal-Spirit-mediated indwelling. The Father-source operates in both modes; the Son-manifestation (in Jesus's bodily presence) is replaced by the Spirit-presence (in believer-indwelling). The Spirit who comes is Jesus Himself in a new mode of presence, consistent with John 14:18 ("I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you") which the Oneness reader takes as Jesus identifying His own coming with the Spirit's coming. See Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism.

The Trinitarian reading takes the verses as the eternal Son's sending of the eternal Spirit (the filioque aspect), preserving the distinguishable Persons. Both readings affirm the Christological-grounding of the Spirit's coming; they differ on whether the Spirit is identified with Christ (Oneness) or is a distinct Person sent by Christ (Trinitarian).

Canonical-theological connections

  • John 7:39, "the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified"
  • John 14:16-18, first Paraclete promise + "I will come to you"
  • John 14:26, second Paraclete promise (Father sends in Son's name)
  • John 15:26, third Paraclete promise (rich hub; Christological co-sending)
  • John 20:22, Jesus breathes the Spirit on disciples
  • Luke 24:49, "behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you"
  • Acts 1:4-8, wait for the promise of the Father; Spirit's empowering for witness
  • Acts 2:33, "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this"
  • Galatians 4:6, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts"
  • Ephesians 4:8-10, the ascended Christ giving gifts

Key words

See also

Quoted in