John 16

Part of The Upper Room and Farewell Discourse📖 John introduction

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¹“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. ✦ ²They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. ✦ ³And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. ✦ ⁴But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. ✦ ⁵“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ✦ ⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ✦ ⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ✦ ⁸And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ✦ ⁹of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ✦ ¹⁰of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ✦ ¹¹of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. ✦ ¹²“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ✦ ¹³However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ✦ ¹⁴He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ✦ ¹⁵All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. ✦ ¹⁶“A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” ✦ ¹⁷Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” ✦ ¹⁸They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.” ✦ ¹⁹Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? ✦ ²⁰Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. ✦ ²¹A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ✦ ²²Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. ✦ ²³“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. ✦ ²⁴Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. ✦ ²⁵“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ✦ ²⁶In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; ✦ ²⁷for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. ✦ ²⁸I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.” ✦ ²⁹His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! ✦ ³⁰Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.” ✦ ³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ✦ ³²Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ✦ ³³These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” ✦

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In this chapter

Concept The Spirit of Truth

Where this chapter connects

John 16 ·40 John 14 ·31 John 17 ·19 John 15 ·13 John 8 ·12 John 13 ·11 Acts 2 ·9 John 12 ·8

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)
★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 16YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 16David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 16Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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