"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you".
Context is key to understanding..
The word 'you' refers to...?
Have a look at the whole chapter. In what circumstances were these words spoken.
Why were these words said?
Even if Jesus was addressing the disciples,
you does not refer only to the disciples. If it did that would mean that only the disciples were guided unto all truth, but Christians claim they were ALL guided unto all truth by the Spirit of truth that they believes lives inside of them.
Yes, you have to read the full chapter in context after which time it becomes abundantly clear that it is referring a
man who would come in the future who would bring the Holy Spirit just as Jesus had brought it before.
John 16 King James Version (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.
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;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
This person would be the Comforter and the Spirit of truth. We know from other verses in John that the Comforter and the Spirit of truth are the same person.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
The Holy Spirit that was sent at Pentecost did not testify of anyone because a free-floating Holy Spirit cannot speak or hear or shew you things to come or testify of Jesus Only a man can speak and hear and shew you things to come. Only a man can testify and that is exactly what Baha'u'llah did. Referring to Jesus as the Son of Man, He wrote:
"We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified."
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 86
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Another Trinitarian Christian once said to me: Jesus spoke to those disciples, not to us, so the promise was to them.
I said: No, it was not only for the disciples. This line of reasoning simply will not work because:
(1) it makes no sense that a Holy Spirit living inside of people could do the following things that are in John 14, 15 and 16; only a person could do those things:
· Teach you all things
· Call to remembrance what Jesus said
· Testify of Jesus
· Glorify Jesus, receive of Jesus, and shew it unto you
· Guide you into all truth
· Speak what He hears and shew you things to come
· Reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment
(2) Moreover, and this is an important point, if this was to apply only to the disciples we know that the things on bulleted list above [that you say the Holy Spirit did during the lifetime of the disciples] did not happen during their lifetimes. We know that, because that stuff was not supposed to happen until Christ returned. However, all those things Baha’u’llah has already done or will happen as the result of His coming.
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I defer to Abdu’l-Baha, who was the Centre of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah, for the best explanation of what these verses in John mean, as He was appointed by Baha’u’llah as the interpreter of His Writings. Please note how he uses logic in his explanation.
Commentary on Verses of John
by
Abdu'l-Bahá
The Master quotes:
[1]
“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;
[2] but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
[3] And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
[4] is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.”
[5]
The concourse of the Gospel have presently fallen lost in the wilderness of error and purblindness and thus have considered as naught
[6] these assertions of the Gospel which are explicitly clear and without allusiveness. This concourse of Christians have clung to interpretations based on their own imaginings.
[7] Thus they say that the purpose of the above verses is the descent of the Holy Spirit, the descent that occurred after the ascension of His holiness Christ upon the disciples.
[8] This is in truth the customary way of all peoples
[9] and religious communities in that they close their eyes to the strong and firm meanings of the divine verses and then they adhere to suppositional
[10] and dubious interpretations. Now you should consider how much their assertion is trivial and invalid:
Firstly. He sayeth: He shall not come unless I go away. This utterance indicates that He, the Spirit, the Comforter was not there at the time of Christ
[11] and that He would come afterwards. But the Holy Spirit was inseparably and always co-existing with Christ.
[12] So there would otherwise be no meaning to the saying: He shall not come unless I go away.
Secondly. He said: I have many things to explain to you but you do not possess the capacity to bear them; but that Sanctified Spirit of Truth will expound these things and lead you into all truth.
Now consider further: In accord with Christian Teaching, the Holy Spirit is the Third Hypostasis
[13] and the Spirit Jesus Christ is the Second Hypostasis.
[14],
[15],
[16] Could it be the case that after all the training imparted by the two Hypostases
[17] the veils of ignorance and lack of knowledge were not torn asunder and the disciples were not confirmed with the full guidance of truth?
[18] Were they then after the ascension of that Supreme Luminary receiving the hidden unseen mysteries and the concealed and sealed Lordly wisdoms from the Third Hypostasis? Did they then only become able to hear these truths? Rather it is obvious
[19] that if under the shade of guidance of that Essence of Essences and the Spirit of Spirits and with all the confirmations of the Holy spirit if souls be not educated and trained, and, if the soul’s dark veils were still not burned away, then the breaths of the Holy spirit [alone] would have no effect for a hundred thousand years. And herein is manifest and recognizable truth.
Thus it has become clear and proven from those blessed Johannine verses that after the Beauty of Jesus another Honoured Soul and Great Beauty will appear Whose training will be even greater than the education imparted by Christ, the Spirit of God.
Thirdly He said: That Comforter will not speak from Himself. That means He shall be aided by the hosts of divine Revelation. He shall declare and expound all that reaches His Blessed Hearing from the Kingdom of Glory.
Consider again, how clear it is. This means that that Comforting Spirit is a Person
[20] Who will be inspired with heavenly Inspirations and be the Repository of Lordly Revelations. Further, the Holy Spirit doth not have ears with which to hear.
[21] The references that the disciples adduced as proof from the Torah with respect to the Advent of Christ were never with this degree of explicitness.
Commentary on Verses of John
