Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Parallel translations
- WEB about sin, because they don’t believe in me;
- BSB in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;
- NKJV of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
- NASB regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me;
- NLT The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Spirit convicts the world of sin because people do not believe in Jesus. Unbelief in Christ is the root sin exposed.
Overview
The defining sin the Spirit exposes is the refusal to believe in Jesus. All other sins flow from this central rejection of the Son whom God has sent. By convicting of this sin, the Spirit confronts the world with its core rebellion and points to faith in Christ as the only remedy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- John 15:22–25If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
- John 12:47–48And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
- John 8:23–24And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
- Mark 16:16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
- Heb 3:12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
- John 8:42–47Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
- Acts 2:22–38Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
- Acts 3:14–19But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
- John 3:18–21He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
- Heb 10:28–29He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
- 1 Th 2:15–16Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
- Acts 7:51–54Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
- John 5:40–44And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
- Rom 3:19–20Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
- Rom 7:9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
- Acts 26:9–10I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
- 1 Tim 1:13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 16:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.