Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 16:33

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

33. These things ] These farewell discourses.

might have peace ] Better, may have peace. Christ’s ministry ends, as His life began, with a message of peace (Luk 2:14).

ye shall have ] Rather, ye have; the tribulation has already begun.

I have overcome ] The pronoun is very emphatic. At the very moment when He is face to face with treachery, and disgrace, and death, Christ triumphantly claims the victory. Comp. 1Jn 2:13-14; 1Jn 5:4. In His victory His followers conquer also.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In me – In my presence, and in the aid which I shall render you by the Holy Spirit.

In the world – Among the men to whom you are going. You must expect to be persecuted, afflicted, tormented.

I have overcome the world – He overcame the prince of this world by his death, Joh 12:31. He vanquished the great foe of man, and triumphed over all that would work our ruin. He brought down aid and strength from above by his death; and by procuring for us the friendship of God and the influence of the Spirit; by his own instructions and example; by revealing to us the glories of heaven, and opening our eyes to see the excellence of heavenly things, he has furnished us with the means of overcoming all our enemies, and of triumphing in all our temptations. See the notes at Joh 14:19; also Rom 8:34-37; 1Jo 4:4; 1Jo 5:4; Rev 12:11. Luther said of this verse that it was worthy to be carried from Rome to Jerusalem upon ones knees. the world is a vanquished enemy; Satan is a humbled foe; and all that believers have to do is to put their trust in the Captain of their salvation, putting on the whole armor of God, assured that the victory is theirs, and that the church shall yet shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners, Son 6:10.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Joh 16:33

These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace.

These things, or Christs secrets

I. The secret of COMMUNION (Joh 14:25).

II. The secret of JOY (Joh 15:11).

III. The secret of STEADFASTNESS (Joh 16:1).

IV. The secret of PRAYER (Joh 16:25).

V. The secret of PEACE AND VICTORY (text). (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

The peace which Jesus promises

I. THE PEACE HERE PROMISED.

1. It is spiritual peace. This is plain from the fact that it was to be enjoyed during tribulation, and it is the peace which Jesus promises in these words: Peace I leave with you, not as the world giveth. From the connection in which it is evident that it is a fruit of the Spirit. It flows from a well-grounded persuasion of our reconciliation to God. We can enjoy no true happiness of which God is not both the Author and Finisher. There is an inseparable connection between holiness and happiness.

2. This peace is peculiar to the friends of Jesus. In Me ye shall have peace. He addresses His friends only. They are all united to Christ by the Spirit who dwells in Him and them, and are all furnished with that faith by which they obtain peace. All the wicked are entire strangers to it, because they are separated from the Prince of Peace. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

3. The enjoyment of this peace is not at all inconsistent with the endurance of tribulation. It is seated in the mind. In his body the Christian may feel sickness and pain; in his estate he may suffer damage and loss; and, in his character and friends, he may suffer injury and loss; and yet the peace of his mind, on the whole, may remain unruffled and undiminished. In the history of the apostles, after the Ascension, we have an ample proof of this delightful truth. Rude and frequent as the tempests were by which they were assailed, they could not even check the growth of that fair plant of heavenly origin, peace of mind, which their Saviour had planted in their souls.

4. The tribulations of the world have a tendency to interrupt, and often do interrupt this peace. This is plainly implied in these words, Be of good cheer, &c. The Christian has his days of sweet sunshine, but also his nights of gloomy darkness.

5. This peace shall never be totally or finally taken away from the Christian. Your joy no man taketh from you.

II. THE WORDS OF CHRIST ARE FITTED TO MAINTAIN THE PEACE OF HIS PEOPLE AMIDST ALL THE TRIBULATIONS OF LIFE.

1. They tell Christians beforehand what they have to expect in the world, viz., tribulation; and, therefore, teach them to make preparation for it. A principal part of the misery of mankind arises from want of attention to such information. Men suffer the many keen pangs of disappointment, because they will indulge those wishes and hopes which general experience, the dictates of sober reason, and the word of God, pronounce to be groundless and extravagant.

2. In the season of tribulation, the words of Christ direct the mind to effectual sources of consolation. They teach us, that all our afflictions come from God; that God has a gracious design in afflicting us; that the same God, who is our God in the time of health and prosperity, is also our God in the time of trouble and adversity; that all things shall work together for our good.

3. They teach us that the time of our warfare and suffering is but short, and that all our tribulations shall come to a perpetual end, and immortal joy succeed.

Conclusion: From this subject learn

1. To rejoice in all your tribulations. This is, indeed, a very difficult lesson: none but Christ can teach it, and none but a true Christian can learn it. But to learn it is possible; for we hear Paul saying, Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, &c.

2. To make yourselves familiarly acquainted with the words of Christ. How can they afford us rich and lasting consolation if we are ignorant of them.

3. Never to forget that you have to contend only with vanquished enemies. (J. Clapperton.)

The believers peace

It is often surprising to see how much pain there may be in the sensibility, and yet peace in the depths of the mind. In crossing the Atlantic some years ago we were overtaken by a gale of wind. Upon the deck the roar and confusion was terrific. The spray from the crests of the waves blew upon the face with almost force enough to blister it. The noise of the waves howling and roaring and foaming was almost deafening. But when I stepped into the engine-room everything was quiet. The mighty engine was moving with a quietness and stillness in striking contrast with the roar without. It reminded me of the peace that can reign in the soul while storms and tempests are howling without. (C. G. Finney.)

The Christian above disquietude

A ships compass is so adjusted as to keep its level amidst all the hearings of the sea. Though forming part of a structure that feels every motion of the restless waves, it has an arrangement of its own that keeps it always in place, and in working order. Look at it when you will, it is pointing–trembling, perhaps, but truly–to the pole. So each soul in this life needs an adjustment of its own, that amid the fluctuations of the earthen vessel it may be kept ever in a position to feel the power of its great attraction in the skies. (Christian Treasury.)

Victory over tribulation

When Samuel Rutherford was sentenced to imprisonment in the city of Aberdeen for righteousness sake, he wrote to a friend: The Lord is with me; I care not what man can do. I burden no man, and I want nothing. No being is better provided for than I am. My chains are over-gilded with gold. No pen, no words, no engine can express to you the loveliness of my only, only Lord Jesus.

Peace in Christ

1. There is clearly a negative rolled up in this sentence, viz., that there is no peace out of Christ. Every promise involves a negative. There will be no negatives in heaven. And this is the more to be observed, because almost all that we know of heaven itself, as yet, is negative. But where there is nothing but Christ, there can be nothing but peace.

2. These words were the last Christ said before His teaching turned, as by a necessary transition, into prayer. Jesus says that the whole of His teaching never swerved from that one end. The duty of the fourteenth, the union of the fifteenth, the coming of the Spirit in the sixteenth chapters all pointed to peace. And, beyond those three peerless chapters, it was the property of Christs whole doctrine upon earth. No one ever said severer things than Christ; but it was a severity only to peace. He saddened to gladden, He stirred the deepest waters of the soul that He might make the greater calm. What a lesson to ministers! And you–see what your religion is!–peace-not fear, not condemnation, not excitement, not controversy.

I. LET US UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS PEACE IS.

1. It is the feeling of being forgiven–a quiet conscience–a stilling sense of the love of God.

2. Then, growing out of that, it is a certain contemplative habit of mind, which lives up high enough not to be anxious much about the matters of this world. For it is the repose of faith, a trust in promises, a sense of a Fathers love, the hush of s little child on the bosom.

II. IT IS OF IMMENSE IMPORTANCE TO HAVE THAT PEACE, because

1. It is the only satisfying of all possessions. Pleasure is mans delight, but peace is mans necessity. No man knows the capabilities of his own existence, or what enjoyment is, till he is at peace.

2. Peace is the root of all holiness. To believe that you are pardoned, to carry a conscience at ease, to take the unruffled reflection of Christ, even as Christ did of the Father, that is the atmosphere of a daily religious life, and that is the secret of every good thing.

3. Peace is the fulfilment of the work of Christ. Then, He sees of the travail of His soul in you, and is satisfied.

III. WHAT ARE THE CAUSES WHY YOU ARE NOT AT PEACE.

1. A want of seriousness and earnestness about your salvation.

2. Or, it may be that you do not see the perfect freeness of this precious gift of peace. You are trying to work up to it, when you ought to be trying to work from it.

3. Or, you are grieving the Holy Spirit by some continual sin.

4. Or, you are pre-occupied–your mind is cumbered with care, and a crowd of worldly thoughts oppress you, and peace will not, cannot come to dwell with what is so turbid, or breathes so thick an air.

IV. RULES FOR PEACE. Be more decided. Decision is the parent of peace.

1. Take some step at once heavenward, and it may be that one step will land you in peace.

2. Confess Christ. If you honour Him He will honour you. And peace is the seal of an honoured and an honouring Saviour.

3. Go up and down more in Christ–His work, His work, His person, His beauty, His grace. See all your evidences in Him, realize your union with Him, listen for His still small voice. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Peace and victory

I. THE INWARD PEACE.

1. Peace is not lethargy; and it is very remarkable that, in immediate connection, there are words of tribulation and battle. The Christian life moves in two realms–in Me and in the world. And the predicates and characteristics of these are opposite. The tree will stand, with its deep roots and its firm bole, unmoved, though wildest winds may toss its branches and scatter its leaves. In the fortress, beleagured by the sternest foes, there may be, right in the very centre of the citadal, a quiet oratory, through whose thick walls the noise of battle and the shout of victory or defeat can never penetrate. So we may live in a centre of rest, however wild may be the uproar in the circumference.

2. But, then, note that this peace depends upon certain conditions.

(1) It is peace in Him. We are in Him as in an atmosphere; as a tree in the soil; as a branch in the vine; as the members in a body; as the residents in a house. We are in Him by the trust that rests all upon Him, by the love that finds all in Him, by the obedience that does all for Him. And it is only when we are in Christ that we realize peace. All else brings distraction. Even delights trouble. Let nothing tempt us down from the heights, and out from the citadel where alone we are at rest. Keep on the lee side of the breakwater and your little cock-boat will ride out the gale.

(2) Christ speaks these great words that they may bring to us peace. Think of how He has spoken of our Brothers Ascension to prepare a place for us, &c. If we believed all these things, and lived in the faith of them, how should anything be able to disturb us? We find peace nowhere else but where Mary found her repose, and could shake off care and trouble about many things, sitting at the feet of Jesus, wrapt in His love, and listening to His word.

II. THE OUTWARD TRIBULATION WHICH IS THE CERTAIN FATE OF HIS FOLLOWERS.

1. Of course there is very sad and true sense in which the warning, In the world ye shall have tribulation, applies to all men. Pain and sickness, loss and death, and all the other ills that flesh is heir to afflict us all. But our Lord is not speaking here about the troubles that befall men as men, nor about the chastisement that befalls them as sinners, but of the yet more mysterious sorrows which fall upon them because they are good.

2. I have already said that the Christian life moves in two spheres, and hence there must necessarily be conflict. Whoever realizes the inward life in Christ will more or less find himself coming into hostile collision with lives which only move on the surface and belong to the world.

3. No doubt the form of the antagonism varies. No doubt the more the world is penetrated by Christian principles the less vehement and painful will the collision be. No doubt some portion of the battlements of organized Christianity has tumbled into the ditch and made it a little less deep. Christian men and women have dropped their standard far too much, and so the antagonism is not so plain as it ought to be. But there it is, and if you are going to live out and out like a Christian man, you will get the old sneers flung at you. We have all, in our several ways, to bear the Cross. Do not let us be ashamed of it, and, above all, for the sake of easing our shoulders, do not let us be unfaithful to our Master.

III. THE COURAGEOUS CONFIDENCE WHICH COMES FROM THE LORDS VICTORY. Be of good cheer.

1. It is the old commandment that rung out to Joshua on the departure of Moses, Be strong and of a good courage, &c. So says the Captain of salvation. Like some leader who has climbed the ramparts, or hewed his way through the broken ranks of the enemies, and rings out the voice of encouragement and call to his followers, our Captain sets before us His own example.

2. Notice, then, how our Lords life was a true battle. The world tried to draw him away from God by appealing to things desirable to sense, as in the wilderness; or to things dreadful to sense, as on the cross; and both the one and the other form of temptation He faced and conquered. It was no shadow fight which evoked this pecan of victory.

3. Our Lords life is the type of all victorious life. The world conquers me when it draws me away from God, when it makes me its slave, when it coaxes me to trust it, and to despair if I lose it. And I conquer the world when I put my foot upon its temptations, when I crush it down, when I shake off its bonds, and when nothing that time and sense, with their delights or their dreadfulnesses, can bring, prevents me from cleaving to my Father with all my heart. Whoso thus coerces Time and Sense to be the servants of his filial love has conquered them both. And whoso lets them draw him away from God is beaten, however successful he may dream himself to be, and men may call him.

4. Our share in the Masters victory–l have overcome the world. Be ye of good cheer. That seems an irrelevant way of arguing. What does it matter to me though He has overcome? So much the better for Him; but what good is it to me? It may aid us somewhat to more strenuous fighting if we know that a Brother has fought and conquered. But the victory of Christ is of extremely little practical use to me, if all the use is to show me how to fight. You must go deeper than that. I have overcome the world, and I will come and put My overcoming Spirit into your weakness, and be in you the conquering and omnipotent power.

5. The condition of that victorys being ours is the simple act of reliance upon Him and upon it. The man that goes into the battle as that little army of the Hebrews did against the wide-stretching hosts of the enemy, saying, O Lord! we know not what to do, but our eyes are up unto Thee, will come out more than conqueror through Him that loved him. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Peace and victory

I. TRIBULATION IN THE WORLD.

1. Christians may expect to experience the ordinary trials characteristic of the human lot.

2. To these are added those temptations which beset such as earnestly desire to do the will of God, and follow in the steps of Christ.

3. And in the case of some persecutions are encountered for the sake of righteousness.

II. PEACE IN CHRIST.

1. Christ was the author and bringer of peace, which was announced as the result of His Advent, and bequeathed by Him as His legacy.

2. Peace is enjoyed through spiritual union with Christ–In Me.

3. Peace with God is followed by peace with men, and produces peace even within the troubled soul.

4. Such inward peace renders its possessor largely independent of adverse external circumstances.

III. VICTORY WITH CHRIST.

1. As a matter of fact Christ did overcome the world. In His life, on the cross, in His resurrection.

2. Through participation with Him Christians share His victory. Conflict is to be maintained, and victory won over the world, self, sin. The victory shall be perfected and manifested when the triumphant soldier of the Cross shall sit down with Christ on the throne.

IV. ENCOURAGEMENT FROM CHRIST. Be of good cheer! We hear His voice in the storm, It is I, be not afraid. We hear His voice amid the flames, Fear not for I am with you. We hear His voice upon the battlefield, Be thou faithful unto death, &c. (Family Churchman.)

Worldly and Christian tribulation

In the Pitti Palace, at Florence, there are two pictures which hang side by side. One represents a stormy sea with its wild waves, and black clouds and fierce lightnings flashing across the sky. In the waters a human face is seen, wearing an expression of the utmost agony and despair. The other picture also represents a sea, tossed by as fierce a storm, with as dark clouds; but out of the midst of the waves a rock rises, against which the waters dash in vain. In a cleft of the rock are some tufts of grass and green herbage, with sweet flowers, and amid these a dove is seen sitting on her nest, quiet and undisturbed by the wild fury of the storm. The first picture fitly represents the sorrow of the world when all is helpless and despairing; and the other, the sorrow of the Christian, no less severe, but in which he is kept in perfect peace, because he nestles in the bosom of Gods unchanging love. (S. S. Times.)

The necessity for tribulation

If because you are Christians you promise yourselves a long lease of temporal happiness, free from troubles and afflictions, it is as if a soldier going to the wars should promise himself peace and continual truce with the enemy; or as if a mariner committing himself to the sea for a long voyage should promise himself nothing but fair and calm weather, without waves and storms;–so irrational it is for a Christian to promise himself rest here upon earth. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Need for tribulation

Cloudless skies drop no rain. We may bathe ourselves in the unclouded sunshine for days and for weeks, thinking that, if the blue of the heavens were nevermore veiled by the blackness of the storm, we at least would be perfectly satisfied. But as the unclouded days pass on, the parched earth begins to gape to heaven for water, the flowers fade, the grass is burned up, and men and beasts droop in the merciless heat, which now seems no longer the messenger of life, but the angel of death. For need like that there is no help in cloudless skies; the sign of deliverance rather comes in the livid thunder-cloud, the flashing lightning, and the pouring rain. There is a like need of the rain-cloud in the inner life. There is a parching and deadening influence even here in too much sunshine; and the storm-cloud of pain or of sorrow, which drenches our heart-soil with the rain of tears, alone makes possible the continued growth of that which is best in our heart-culture. We do right to thank God for cloudless days; but we do wrong if we do not thank Him also for days not cloudless. If the one gives the sunshine, the other gives the rain; and without either there would be no increase. (S. S. Times.)

Christs conquest of the world

I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE WORLD. In St. Johns writings the word occurs more than one hundred times, and mostly from our Lords lips. It is used sometimes as equivalent to

1. The universe. The world was made by Him.

2. The race of men. God so loved the world.

3. But here it cannot mean either of these, because the world in one sense is the revelation of God, and in the other the object of Christian love as the purchase of Christs blood.

4. What is it then? It refuses to be described. It eludes our mental grasp. It is not a person, nor a multitude, nor anything on which we can fix responsibility. It is not civilization, though it hangs on its outskirts. It is not sin, though it produces and is produced by it. It is not the wicked, though they are its victims. It is not Satan, though he is its prince. It is an atmosphere, a temper, a spirit, a power most real and energetic, but dead and invisible–a miasma which has arisen from the putrefying corpses if all the sins which have been committed since the Fall. It has hung for ages like a dark, murky cloud over the heart of humanity. It poisons the very air we breathe.

5. But what is it in its essence? It is that warp in the aim and affections of the soul which makes of each of the objects of the visible creation and of the circumstances of life a distinct hindrance to getting to heaven. It is, says St. John, The lust of the flesh, the lust of the age and the pride of life. It is putting the creature in the place of the Creator. Friends, business, books, &c., may become incorporate with the world. Solomon has told us how his palace, gardens, slaves, singers, &c., were to him the world. Though Haman had an establishment which rivalled that of Ahashuerus, yet this one object–the humiliation of Mordecai formed for him his world. Dives found a world in his purple and fine linen; the young ruler in his great possessions; Felix in the favour of Caesar.

6. We are all familiar with the phrase, the spirit of the age, and know how one line of thought rules in one age, and another in another. Well, then, the world is a mighty tradition of all the thought and feeling that the human race has accumulated round itself since the Fall, and that is hostile to the rights of God. It is like a great river which rolls its dark volume across the ages, while a thousand civilizations and races and nations have poured their successive contributions, like so many rivulets, the tyrant as well as the handiwork of the human soul. It is like the November fog which hangs over our vast metropolis, the product of its countless homes and the proof of its vast industries; and yet the veil which shuts out from it the light of heaven destroys the colour on its works of art; the unwholesome vapour which clogs vitality and undermines health, and from which the Londoner escapes that he may see the sun, and the face of nature, and feels what it is to live. Even thus the world hangs over the soul, flapping its wings like the evil bird in the fable, or penetrating it like a subtle poison to sap its vigour and its life.

II. NOTE THE CHARACTER OF ITS INFLUENCE.

1. It works secretly and without being suspected.

(1) When we speak of it, it is as something outside us. We are in private life, perhaps, in narrow circumstances, and we regard royal pageants, &c., as the pomps of the world. Or we have been brought up in comfort, in a Christian family shielded from temptation, and as we read the newspaper reports of crime and sin we shrug our shoulders and say What things do go on in the world! Or we have just been married, and we look from our happiness upon the worn faces around us, on which gain, pleasure, &c., have traced lines of care and say, The world knows nothing of real joy. Or in deep affliction we reproach the hard, heartless world.

(2) The world in fact disguises itself. It can be prudent, like the old prophet; wise like Ahitophel; courageous like Saul; zealous like Jehu; industrious and public-spirited like Herod; honest like Gallio; very pious like the false apostles at Corinth.

2. Which leads to another characteristic, viz., its marvellous versatility, and power of adaptation to all ages, races, classes. We speak of the Roman, Greek, French, and English world: the truth is, that the great world comprises many worlds or schools, the literary, commercial, political, clerical–each has its special work, but each contributes its quota to the whole. And thus the labourer, needlewoman, crossing-sweeper has as real a world as the monarch or statesman.

3. It is contagious. It may be conveyed by a hint, attitude, fashion, dress. Ancient monarchs lived in fear of the poison which might lurk in every dish, and we may well suspect each object around us of harbouring poisonous attractions.

III. THE RESULT OF ITS INFLUENCES ON THIS AGE.

1. Its view of sin is that of something which interferes with the comfort and well-being of society. Hence it is at times unjustly lax and unjustly severe.

2. It neutralizes the truth that, living or dying, each soul lives in awful solitude beneath the eye of God, by suggesting that we are merely members of a family, town or nation.

3. God is retained just as we might keep a piece of antiquity, or the apex of a theory, or a mere abstraction. From God it turns away to created life and proclaims its supreme importance. What St. John calls sensuality, the world terms enjoying life. What He calls covetousness, the world terms doing the best you can for yourself. What He calls pride, the world calls taking your proper place. Look how it treats the political adventurer, the literary character, the capitalist who have made their way through villainy. It goes wondering after the beast; and proclaims the libertine not so very bad after all.

IV. THE ATTITUDE OF CHRIST TOWARDS IT.

1. Between Him and the world of His day there was a profound and necessary hostility. He began with the world of a little provincial town–Nazareth–and passed to what resembled the world of our manufacturing districts, Capernaum, Bethsaida, &c. Then He passed to the London world of Palestine to Jesusalem. Here you see Him receiving deputations from the various sections of the world: from the popular religious teachers, the Pharisees; the sceptical intellectualists, the Sadducees; the political adventurers, the Herodians. He passes to the world of the lower classes, and mixes with publicans, Samaritans, Greeks. He entered into society; for He was at the marriage at Cana, and dined with the Pharisee, &c.; and the world condemned and rejected Him, and He measured the world and condemned it. There was no mistake on either side. It crucified Him, but the Resurrection was a triumph over the power that killed Him. He had conquered the world by His doctrine, His moral beauty, His death; but, in view of His Easter victory, He said, I have overcome the world.

2. Only as the ages pass is that victory slowly developing its vast results. You see some of them in the world-wide establishment of His Church, in the ruin of the heathen empire, in the conquest of human thought, power, hearts, new races, and lands. And He is certain of the future. The theatre of the struggle indeed is shifted. It is now the Christian soul. Twice, especially does the world make an effort to dethrone Him–at conversion, and at the period when the soul is moved to dedicate itself to Him perfectly. Meet the worlds enchantment by a greater–that of Christ, His conquest, and the heaven He won for you. (Canon Liddon.)

The worlds conquerors

I. WHAT WORLD DOES HE MEAN?

1. Not this physical world, so well ordered and beautiful. No, that world was made by Him, and every Christian should find in it tokens of His presence. He was in the world, and where He was it is an honour to go.

2. The world is that which did not know Him or the Father, which was in antagonism to the authority of Divine law, and the munificence of Divine love. He might have been here not of the world, and the world would, as far as it knew of Him, have admired Him. But He came to the front and manifested His unworldliness; hence the world hated Him.

II. IN WHAT MANNER DID OUR LORD OVERCOME THE WORLD.

1. He overcame the worlds falsehood by the power of His truth. Others were sent to denounce the falsehood, but the world smiled or frowned on them, and silenced them by its seductions or threats, and many of them learned to repeat the wicked shibboleths. The faithful were murdered, one after another, and finally Christ came, born to this end to bear witness to the truth, and sealed His testimony with His blood, and by so doing won a victory such as the Church does not need to win again.

2. He overcame the worlds wickedness by His holiness. Till He came, the idea of absolute holiness was never presented to the mind of man. But He presented to the end an image of perfect purity.

3. He overcame the worlds malice by His infinite love. Only love can be victorious. The measure of malignity is the measure of defeat. Animosity is only roused by those who have in some sense gained an advantage over us. Here, then, is the peculiarity of the Lords triumph. He was at war with the world openly and persistently, but the world never had a better friend; and He turned its murderous rage into an occasion for manifesting His most benignant gifts.

III. THE USE WHICH CHRIST TEACHES US TO MAKE OF HIS VICTORY. Be of good cheer,–a word of large meaning and frequently on our Lords lips.

1. The original thought is courage, which expresses itself in confidence. The Old Testament rendering is Be of good courage.

2. The next effect is sure to bring refreshment, when fear is quelled, and agitation has ceased: then the word is Be of good comfort.

3. But this passes into the higher domain of gladness, for courage wins the victory, and he who triumphs is clothed with smiles and sings the song: hence the word repeatedly is Be of good cheer. Conclusion: The promise is to conquerors. Some of you are fighting on the wrong and losing side. Christ invites you to the winning side of truth, holiness, and love. (J. Aldis.)

The world-conquest

1. In addressing His disciples, Christ never concealed from them the difficulties which awaited them. He purchased no discipleship by politic extenuation or concealment. We have therefore placed before us, in unmistakeable terms, the fact that, through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom. The modern notion that it is possible without much difficulty to be religious, cannot plead, the sanction of the highest teaching.

2. But Christ never stated a difficulty, without at the same time inspiring with courage to meet it. He has given the true disciple in every age glimpses of the difficulties with which he will have to wrestle, only that He may be induced to turn his inward eye towards a never-failing source of strength.

I. THE DISCIPLES TRIBULATION.

1. Taking the term tribulation in its widest sense, it is obviously an inevitable condition of human life. Man is born to trouble as the spark flieth upwards. What a fearful amount of suffering there is in the world, into which character does not enter as an element!

2. But admit character, and the conflict waxes infinitely more dire. As long as conscience speaks, and any God-ward sentiment impels, there will remain enough to engage the forces of the soul in fiercest conflict.

3. Extending our view to what is called practical life, as long as any considerable portion of mankind remained alien from God, the world must be expected to be, to the earnest disciple of Christ, a scene of conflict.

(1) The conflict varies with the age. Christianity, in its first stages, and whenever a period somewhat analogous has been repeated, had to encounter all the forces of a steady, malignant opposition. At such times, the battle ground is more clear, the ranks better defined. But the conflict of this period, when a considerable assimilation of society has taken place, assumes generally another form; an enemy less bold and courageous, but more subtle and more difficult to resist, enters the field. Where there was once opposition, there is now allurement. Of the first period the cardinal virtue is courage; of the second, watchfulness.

(2) The conflict varies with the individual. Ordinary Christian virtue is a far easier attainment to some than it is to others, for the obvious reason that it has so much less to contend with. The cost of some is comparatively a rapid pace along an easy, open path; that of others is an ever thwarted step through a tangled forest; with the former it is a triumphant pursuit of a retreating enemy, with the latter every inch of ground must be fiercely fought through blood and fire.

II. THE MASTERS VICTORY.

1. That over which the conquest was obtained. The imagination stands appalled and paralysed at its vastness. The world! It must consist of all that is alien from God in human nature itself, and as its propensities are embodied in habit, custom, institution, and society.

(1) Opposing Himself to the world, as we have just characterized it, so entirely that He was the incarnate good in incessant conflict with all surrounding evil, He still preserved Himself holy and undefiled. This constituted a part of His victory. To be able thus to work out in His own career, thwarted by prejudice, stratagem, and open enmity, and tempted by all that could alarm, bribe, or allure, for the human race, an ideal towards which all after ages could only aspire, is surely to conquer for Himself the world.

(2) But Christ not only maintained His personal superiority over sin, but has arrested, in a way peculiar to Himself, its course in the world. There has been in His life and death that which has ever since modified the course of human history, in favour of the good and against the evil. Evil has since then, though surrounded with most auspicious circumstances, reared a form less erect and shown a brow more abashed, as it has had to encounter in combat less equal, as the centuries roll away, one stronger than itself. Since then a new element, the main, and the most influential one, has been thrown into the loftiest struggles of advancing nations, and which has been always working, however silently and invisibly, for the first good and the first fair. All the best features of modern times obviously bear His impress.

2. Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world!

(1) With what strange meaning must these words have been inspired! The circumstances in which the speaker then stood, must have presented, to the outward eye, a startling contrast to His singular and lofty assurance.

(2) His conquests are ours. From our vital alliance with Him, faith derives its unconquerable power, hope borrows its brightest radiance, and charity is supplied with its perennial motive. Yes, the conqueror of the world is leading us onwards! His victory includes as its prize more than a world redeemed! (D. M. Evans.)

Christ, the overcomer of the world

The Lord Jesus must be more than man from the tone which He assumed. There is a great deal of presumption, pride, egotism, in this man if He be nothing more than a man. We can imagine Napoleon speaking thus when he had crushed the nations beneath his feet, and shaped the map of Europe to his will. We can imagine Alexander speaking thus when he had rifled the palaces of Persia, and led her monarchs captive. But who is this that speaketh in this wise? It is a Galilean, who wears a peasants garment. He is about to be betrayed by His own base follower. He is casting an eye to His Cross with all its shame. And yet He saith, I have overcome the world.

I. WHAT IS THIS WORLD WHICH HE IS REFERRING TO? The world here meant is that which lieth in the wicked one. The invisible embodiment of that spirit of evil, and which now worketh in the children of disobedience; the human form of the same evil force with which our Lord contended when He overcame the devil. The devil is the god of this world, and its prince. It is the opposite of the Church, Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Hence it is called this present evil world, while the kingdom of grace is spoken of as the world to come. The world includes

1. The ungodly themselves.

2. Certain customs, fashions, maxims, forces, principles, desires, governments. Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world; and Paul says, Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed.

3. The present constitution and arrangement of all things in this fallen state, for everything has come under vanity by reason of sin.

4. It is a thing out of which tribulation will be sure to come to us. It may come in the form of temporal trial, of temptation, or persecution. We are sojourners in an enemys country.

II. HOW HAS CHRIST OVERCOME THE WORLD?

1. In His life. Those thirty years of which we know so little were a wonderful preparation for His conflict. In the patience which made Him bide His time we see the dawn of the victory. When He appears upon the scene of public action, He overcomes the world

(1) By remaining always faithful to His testimony. He never modified it. He was no guarder of truth. He allowed truth to fight her own battles in her own way. His speech was confident, for He knew that truth would conquer in the long run.

(2) By His calmness.

(a) When the world smiled. Our Lord was popular to a very high degree at certain times, but He never lost His self-possession. He leaves acclamations to refresh Himself by prayer. He communed with God, and so lived above the praises of men.

(b) When the world frowned. If calumnies were heaped upon Him, He went on as calmly as if they had not abused Him. Point me to an impatient word–there is not even a tradition Of an angry look at any offence rendered to Himself.

(3) By the unselfishness of His aims. With whatever evil the most spiteful infidels have ever charged our Lord, they have never accused Him of avarice.

(4) By never stooping to use its power. He might have gathered a troop about Him, and His heroic example, together with His miraculous power, must soon have swept away the Roman empire, and converted the Jew.

(5) By His fearlessness of the worlds elite, for many a man who have braved the frowns of the multitude cannot bear the criticism of the few. But Christ meets the Pharisee, and pays no honour to His phylactery; He confronts the Sadducee and yields not to his cold philosophy; and He braves also the Herodian, who is the worldly politican, and He gives him an unanswerable reply.

(6) By the constancy of His love. He loved the most unlovely men.

2. Christ by His death overcame the world, because

(1) By a wondrous act of self-sacrifice, He smote to the heart the principles of selfishness, which is the very soul and life-blood of the world.

(2) By redeeming man He lifted him up from the power which the world exercises over him.

(3) By reconciling men unto God through His great atonement; also He has removed them from the despair which else had kept them down in sin, and made them the willing slaves of the world.

3. But chiefly has He overcome by His rising and His reigning, for when He rose He bruised the serpents head, and that serpent is the prince of this world, and hath dominion over it.

4. He has overcome the world by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has set up a rival kingdom now: a kingdom of love and righteousness; already the world feels its power by the Spirit. Every year the name of Jesus brings more light to this poor world.

III. WHAT CHEER IS THERE HERE FOR US? Why

1. That if Christ has overcome the world at its worst, we who are in Him shall overcome the world too through the same power which dwelt in Him. He has put His life into His people, He has given His Spirit to dwell in them, and they shall be more than conquerors.

2. Besides, He overcame the world when nobody else had overcome it. Now if our great Samson did tear this young lion, and fling it down as a vanquished thing, now it is an old lion, we, having the Lords life and power in us, will overcome it too.

3. Remember He overcame the world as our Head and representative, and it may truly be said that if the members do not overcome, then the Head has not perfectly gained the victory. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

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Whole chapter

The prayer of Christ

It was with a shout of triumph that Jesus concluded His conversations with His disciples; but his triumph was an anticipation of faith. To transform the present reality into victory, nothing less than Omnipotence was needed, and to this Jesus appeals. The prayer is generally divided into supplication

I. FOR HIMSELF (Joh 17:1-5).

II. FOR HIS APOSTLES (Joh 17:6-19).

III. FOR THE CHURCH (Joh 17:20-26).

But when Jesus prayed for Himself, He had in view not His own person, but the work of God (Joh 17:1-2). When He prayed for the apostles, it was as the instruments and continuers of this same work; and when He commended to God all believers it was as the objects of that work, and because their souls were to be the theatre on which the Fathers glory was to be displayed. Thus the leading thought is the Fathers work, or, which comes to the same thing, the glory of God. This prayer is throughout inspired by Christs mission and filial affection. He thanks God for what has already been given Him to do for His cause, and asks for the more effectual means which are henceforth indispensable for the completion of the work now begun. The prayer is more than a mere meditation. Jesus had acted (chap. 13.) and spoken (chap. 14-16.); He now used that language which is at the same time action–He prayed. And He not only prayed, but prayed aloud; which proves that while speaking to God, He was also speaking for those around Him. He desired to initiate them into that close communion which He maintained with the Father, and, if possible, to lead them to pray with Him. It is an anticipatory realization of Joh 17:14. He raises them to that Divine sphere in which He Himself dwells: (F. Godet, D. D.)

Christs prayer for His disciples

I. THE PERSONAL ELEMENT IN THIS PRAYER IS VERY NOTICEABLE. It is offered in behalf of His disciples, but it is also His own. His position is most pathetic.

II. This prayer is A MINE OF PRECIOUS TRUTH.

1. The Divinity of our Lord everywhere flashes forth. He is conscious of a pre-existence. To this He twice definitely refers (Joh 17:5; Joh 17:24).

2. The mission of the Son, in one aspect, is to reveal to men the Father. With Father He begins His prayer. God is our heavenly Father. There is heart in God. To Christ He is Holy Father, Righteous Father.

3. The definition of eternal life is one of the gems of this prayer (Joh 17:3).

4. This prayer instructs us as to the nature of Christs intercession.

III. WHAT IS IT, THEN, FOR WHICH OUR LORD PRAYS IN BEHALF OF HIS DISCIPLES?

1. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me (Joh 17:11). He is about to leave them in a hostile world.

2. Sanctify them is His second petition. I sanctify Myself, He also says. In both these cases sanctify means evidently to set apart for Gods service. In the case of the disciples it means also make holy, as a preparation for Gods use.

3. That they may be one is Christs cherished desire, repeated again and again. I in them (Joh 17:26)–the echo of the prayer–is the secret of this unity.

4. Our Lords last petition is very touching. In childlike simplicity, and yet with the confidence of the well beloved Son, He says, Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, and then, with the delight of a loving bridegroom who brings to his home for the first time his faithful bride, He adds, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me.

5. It is profitable to note what Christ omits in this most earnest prayer for those He loved so much. He knows that they are likely to be poor, but He prays not that they may have gold or lands or houses or even homes. He knows that they will be reproached, but He prays not that they may receive applause or position. (Boston Homilies.)

Christs prayer for His disciples

I. THE PRAYER FOR HIMSELF It was the prayer for the perfect closing of His life-work. The season of His deepest agony was at hand. This was not a petition for mere honour or safety. The glory He sought was the revelation of the Divine love through all the approaching sufferings.

II. THE PRAYER FOR HIS DISCIPLES. This prayer is pathos itself. A brief analysis of a few thoughts in the prayer that contains volumes will reveal its spirit.

1. Their sacred calling. Their hearts must have throbbed in surprise when He confessed: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me. He called them the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world.

2. The keeping power of Christ. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept. The meaning of such words was covered in the varied experiences of the past three years. The powers of darkness required a stronger than arm of flesh to ward them back. Man needs God.

3. The place of the disciples in the world. It is not the Divine way to shun the obstacles which lie in the path of duty.

4. The basis of the disciples power. Apart from His own presence, Christ placed the hope of His disciples in the Word of God: I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me I have given them Thy word. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.

5. The disciples service. In the oneness of the disciple with the Master, and in Christs analogy as to the likeness of His service and our own, we observe the transcendent importance of the Christians calling. In a reverent sense, the great utilitarian of the universe is God. His plans are all directed with a purpose. (David O. Mears.)

Analysis of the intercessory prayer of our Lord

Carefully studied, it reveals a clear order of thought. Four petitions in behalf of believers comprehend everything desirable for them, and the order cannot be changed.

I. SECURITY. The same grace that saves from sin saves from falling. God must keep us. We have no greater foe than the world; its antidote is the power of the world to come. Security is to be found in separation. This is demanded by the law of the new nature–for Christianity is essentially unworldly: by Gods design, choosing us out of the world (Joh 15:19), by the testimony we are to bear (Joh 7:7), and by theconditions of growth (Mat 13:22).

II. SANCTITY. The word is the main instrument.

1. It determines our conceptions of truth and duty.

2. Stores the memory.

3. Corrects and enlightens conscience.

4. Moulds practical life.

III. UNITY. Here is a hint.

1. As to its character: such as exists between the Father and Son, a unity of sympathy, love, nature.

2. Its dependence on sanctity. Disciples get nearer each other as they get nearer to Christ.

3. Power as a witness to the world.

4. Perfection of fellowship in heaven.

IV. GLORY consists

1. In being with Jesus, where He is.

2. Beholding and reflecting His glory.

3. Knowing God as revealed in Christ.

4. Sharing His glory and reign. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

The best sermon followed by the best prayer

The best sermon ever preached was followed by the best prayer ever offered. (J. Traill.)

The characteristics of the intercessory prayer

This was a prayer after sermon, a prayer after sacrament, a family prayer, a parting prayer, a prayer before a sacrifice, a prayer which was a specimen of Christs intercession. (M. Henry.)

The intercessory prayer used in the hour of death

It was read sixty times to Bossuet on his deathbed. When John Knox come to die he asked for it to be read to him; and Spener, though he had never been willing to preach from it, because it seemed to transcend his powers, had it read to him three times when dying.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 33. That in me ye might have peace.] I give you this warning as another proof that I know all things, and to the end that ye may look to me alone for peace and happiness. The peace of God is ever to be understood as including all possible blessedness – light, strength, comfort, support, a sense of the Divine favour, unction of the Holy Spirit, purification of heart, c., c., and all these to be enjoyed in Christ.

In the world ye shall have tribulation] Or, as most of the very best MSS. read, , ye have – the tribulation is at hand ye are just about to be plunged into it.

But be of good cheer] Do not despond on account of what I have said: the world shall not be able to overcome you, how severely soever it may try you.

I have overcome the world.] I am just now going by my death to put it and its god to the rout.

My apparent weakness shall be my victory my ignominy shall be my glory; and the victory which the world, the devil, and my adversaries in general, shall appear to gain over me, shall be their own lasting defeat, and my eternal triumph. – Fear not!

Luther writing to Philip Melancthon, quotes this verse, and adds these remarkable words: “Such a saying as this is worthy to be carried from Rome to Jerusalem upon one’s knees.”

ONE of the grand subjects in this chapter, the mediation of Christ, is but little understood by most Christians. Christ having made an atonement for the sin of the world, has ascended to the right hand of the Father, and there he appears in the presence of God for us. In approaching the throne of grace, we keep Jesus as our sacrificial victim, continually in view: our prayers should be directed through him to the Father; and, under the conviction that his passion and death have purchased every possible blessing for us, we should, with humble confidence, ask the blessings we need; and, as in him the Father is ever well pleased, we should most confidently expect the blessings he has purchased. We may consider, also, that his appearance before the throne, in his sacrificial character, constitutes the great principle of mediation or intercession. He has taken our nature into heaven; in that he appears before the throne: this, without a voice, speaks loudly for the sinful race of Adam, for whom it was assumed, and on whose account it was sacrificed. On these grounds every penitent and every believing soul may ask and receive, and their joy be complete. By the sacrifice of Christ we approach God; through the mediation of Christ God comes down to man.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

By peace here is not so much to be understood peace with God; which yet we have from Christ, and through Christ, according to Rom 5:1, Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; nor yet peace of conscience, which is the copy of our peace with God; as a peace of mind, a quiet, serene, calm temper, which indeed is the effect of the other, as the cause: that you might not to troubled and disturbed, neither for my sake, nor yet for your own. Though in the world ye meet with troubles, which you will certainly do, because the world hateth you,

be of good cheer, ( saith he),

I have overcome the world; where by world is to be understood, all temptations from it, whether from the flatteries or from the frowns and troubles of it. We are said to overcome the world, but we overcome it as soldiers, fighting under Christ, who is the Captain of our salvation, and his victory is our victory, 1Jo 4:4; 5:4,5. Christ overcame the prince of the world, and cast him out, as we heard before; and he hath overcome sin, and we in him, in the midst of all tribulations, are more than conquerors through him that loved us, Rom 8:37. This was our Saviours last sermon which we have upon sacred record in holy writ.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

33. These things I have spoken untoyounot the immediately preceding words, but this wholediscourse, of which these were the very last words, and which He thuswinds up.

that in me ye might havepeacein the sublime sense before explained. (See on Joh14:27).

In the world ye shall havetribulationspecially arising from its deadly opposition tothose who “are not of the world, but chosen out of the world.”So that the “peace” promised was far from an unruffled one.

I have overcome the worldnotonly before you, but for you, that ye may be able to dothe same (1Jn 5:4; 1Jn 5:5).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

These things I have spoken unto you,…. As this is the conclusion of our Lord’s sermons to his disciples, these words may well enough be thought to have regard to all that he had said in general; as concerning his departure from them; his going to prepare a place for them; his union to them, and their communion with him; and the various persecutions and afflictions they should endure for his sake; and the many blessings both of grace and glory they should enjoy; and particularly what he had said in the context, concerning their forsaking him, which supposed tribulation, and would be a prelude of what they were afterwards to have in the world; and concerning the presence of his Father with him, and which they might also expect to have:

that in me ye might have peace; not in the world, in which they were to have tribulation: there is no true, solid peace, to be enjoyed in the world, and the things of it; the world can neither give it, nor take it away; nor have the men of it any knowledge and understanding of it; and much less enjoy it: nor in themselves; spiritual peace does not arise from any duties, services, and performances of men; no, not from an attendance on the Gospel, and the ordinances of it; nor even from the graces of the Spirit; for though peace may be enjoyed herein, and hereby, and through these, as means; yet does not come from them, but from Christ, in whose strength alone all duties are performed aright; who is the sum and substance of the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, and the object of all grace: it is in him, and in him only, in his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, which speak peace, pardon, and atonement, that a soul finds any true, solid peace, rest, comfort, and joy; and here he may, and does find it, in opposition to the cry of sin, law, and justice, for wrath, ruin, hell, and damnation. There is a peace by Christ, which he has made for his people by the blood of his cross; and there is a peace in him, which is enjoyed through faith’s looking to his blood for pardon, to his righteousness for justification, to his sacrifice for atonement and satisfaction; and by having communion with him, and discoveries of his love, and by seeing safety and security in him.

In the world ye shall have tribulation; this is certain from this declaration of Christ, who is the omniscient God, and truth itself; from the instance and example of Christ, who was all his life a man of sorrows; from the conformity of the members to the head; from the divine appointment that has so determined it; from the natural enmity of the world to the saints; from the experience of the people of God in all ages; from the usefulness of tribulation to try the graces, and bring about the temporal, spiritual, and eternal good of believers: and though they have tribulation in the world, yet not by way of punishment for sin, but as fatherly corrections and chastenings for their good, that they may not be condemned with the world; and it is only in this present world they have it; as soon as they have done with the world, they will have done with tribulation:

but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world; it is very observable how the phrase, “in the world ye shall have tribulation”, stands, and is encompassed, before, with these words, “that in me ye might have peace”, and behind, with these, “be of good cheer”, c. Believers, of all men, notwithstanding their tribulations, have reason to be of good cheer, since their sins are forgiven, the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, their redemption draws nigh, and they have hopes of glory and particularly, because as Christ here says, for their encouragement under all their tribulations in the world, “I have overcome the world”: Satan, the god and prince of the world, with all his principalities and powers, which Christ has led captive, ransomed his people from, and delivers them from the power of; and all that is in the world, the lusts and sins of it, their damning power by the sacrifice of himself, and their governing power by his Spirit and grace; and the men of the world with all their rage and fury, whom he has trodden down in his anger, restrains by his power, and causes the remainder of their wrath to praise him; in all which conquests he makes his people share, and even makes them more than conquerors, through himself: so that they have nothing to fear from the world; nor any reason to be cast down by the tribulation they meet with in it.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

That in me ye may have peace ( ). Present active subjunctive of , “that ye may keep on having peace in me,” even when I am put to death, peace to be found nowhere save in me (14:27).

Be of good cheer (). Imperative active from , courage (Ac 28:15). A word for courage in the face of danger, only here in John, but see Matt 9:2; Matt 9:22; Mark 10:49.

I have overcome the world (, ). Perfect active indicative of , to be victorious, to conquer. Always of spiritual victory in the N.T. See 1Jo 5:4f. This majestic proclamation of victory over death may be compared with ( It is finished ) in Joh 19:30 as Christ died and with Paul’s (we are more than conquerors) in Ro 8:37.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Ye shall have [] . The best texts read, exete, ye have.

Be of good cheer [] . Only here in John.

I have overcome [] . The verb occurs only three times outside of John’s writings. Only here in the Gospel, and frequently in First Epistle and Revelation. Uniformly of spiritual victory. ===Joh17

CHAPTER XVII

THE HIGH – PRIESTLY PRAYER.

“Out of Christ ‘s divinely rich prayer – life there emerge, as from an ocean, the pearls of those single prayers of His that are preserved to us; the prayer given in the sermon on the Mount for the use of His people – Our Father; the ascription of praise to God at the departure from Galilee (Mt 11:25); the prayers at the grave of Lazarus, and within the precincts of the temple; our high – priestly prayer; the supplication in Gethsemane, and the prayer – words of the Crucified One – Father, forgive them – Eli, Eli, – and the closing prayer, Father, into thy hands, etc., to which the exultant cry, It is finished, attaches itself, inasmuch as from one point of view, it may be regarded as a word of prayer. Add to these the mentions of the prayings, the thanksgivings, the heavenward sighings of Christ, as also His summonses and encouragements to prayer, and He appears as the Prince of humanity even in the realm of prayer; in the manner, likewise, in which He has concealed His prayer – life, exhibiting it only as there was necessity for its presentment. If we regard His work as a tree that towers into heaven and overshadows the world, His prayer – life is the root of this tree; His overcoming of the world rests upon the infinite depth of His self – presentation before God, His self – devotion to God, His self – immersion in God, His self – certitude and power from God. In His prayer – life the perfect truth of His human nature has also approved itself. The same who, as the Son of God, is complete revelation, is, as the Son of Man, complete religion” (Lange).

In the “Lord ‘s Prayer” (Matthew 6.) Christ sets forth what His disciples should desire for themselves. In this prayer He indicates what He desires for them. It is interesting to study the forms in which the ideas of the Lord ‘s Prayer are reproduced and developed in this.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “These things I have spoken unto you,” (tauta lelaleka humin) “These things I have spoken to you all,” in preparing you to be your best for me when I am gone, these things from Joh 14:1 to Joh 17:26.

2) “That in me ye might have peace.” (hina en emoi eirenen echete) “In order that you all might have hold, or possess peace in me,” by wholly trusting in me, not in yourselves, not in circumstances, not in the world, Pro 3:5-6; For He had “willed” them the legacy of peace, Joh 14:27; Rom 5:1.

3) “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (en to kosmo thlipsin echete) “In the world you all have tribulation or distress,” trouble, perplexity, disappointments, persecutions, as I have foretold you, Joh 15:20; Mat 5:11-12; 2Ti 3:12.

4) “But be of good cheer,” (alla tharseite) “But cheer up,” be cheerful, victory, triumph, and better things are ahead, even as our Lord showed us in His death, Heb 12:1-2; 1Co 15:54-58.

5) “I have overcome the world.” (ego nenikeka ton kosmon) I have conquered (overcome) the world.” So will you all, with the aid and strength I will provide, 1Jn 5:4-5; Rev 12:11; Rom 8:35-37.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

33. These things I have spoken to you. He again repeats how necessary those consolations are which he had addressed to them; and he proves it by this argument, that numerous distresses and tribulations await them in the world. We ought to attend, first, to this admonition, that all believers ought to be convinced that their life is exposed to many afflictions, that they may be disposed to exercise patience. Since, therefore, the world is like a troubled sea, true peace will be found nowhere but in Christ. Next, we ought to attend to the manner of enjoying that peace, which he describes in this passage. He says that they will have peace, if they make progress in this doctrine. Do we wish then to have our minds calm and easy in the midst of afflictions? Let us be attentive to this discourse of Christ, which in itself will give us peace

But be of good courage. As our sluggishness must be corrected by various afflictions, and as we must be awakened to seek a remedy for our distress, so the Lord does not intend that our minds shall be cast down, but rather that we shall fight keenly, which is impossible, if we are not certain of success; for if we must fight, while we are uncertain as to the result, all our zeal will quickly vanish. When, therefore, Christ calls us to the contest, he arms us with assured confidence of victory, though still we must toil hard.

I have overcome the world. As there is always in us much reason for trembling, he shows that we ought to be confident for this reason, that he has obtained a victory over the world, not for himself individually, but for our sake. Thus, though in ourselves almost overwhelmed, if we contemplate that magnificent glory to which our Head has been exalted, we may boldly despise all the evils which hang over us. If, therefore, we desire to be Christians, we must not seek exemption from the cross, but must be satisfied with this single consideration, that, fighting under the banner of Christ, we are beyond all danger, even in the midst of the combat. Under the term World, Christ here includes all that is opposed to the salvation of believers, and especially all the corruptions which Satan abuses for the purpose of laying snares for us.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(33) These things I have spoken unto you . . .At the conclusion of the discourse He sums up in a single thought what was the object of it, Peace in Him. In the world, indeed, tribulation, but this as conquered in Him, and not interrupting the true peace in Him. The thought is closely allied to that of the last verse, Alone and not alone; Troubled, and yet having peace. He had spoken of this from Joh. 14:1 onwards, and from Joh. 15:18 to Joh. 16:4 specially of the tribulation which awaited them. (Comp. St. Pauls experience of these contrasts in 2Co. 4:8 et seq.)

That in me ye might have peace.Comp. Notes on Joh. 14:27; Joh. 15:7.

In the world ye shall have tribulation.The reading of the better MSS. is, In the world ye have tribulation. It is the general statement of their relation to the world. The two clauses answer to each otherthe one defining the origin of their inner, the other of their outer life. The life in the world is but the life as it is seen by others; the true life is that which is in communion with God through Christ, and that is one of never-failing peace, which no tribulation can ever affect. Peace is the Christians birthright, and his joy no one taketh from him (Joh. 16:22, Joh. 14:27).

But be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.The pronoun is strongly emphatic, I have Myself overcome the world. He speaks of the assured victory as though it were already accomplished. (See Note on Joh. 16:11 and Joh. 12:31; Joh. 13:31.) Here is the reason why they should take courage and be of food cheer. He is the Captain of their salvation, and has already won the victory. The enemies they fear, the world in which they have tribulation, are already captives following in the Conquerors train. They themselves have pledges of victory in and through His victory.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

33. In me in the world Here is a striking antithesis. The apostles were in the world; happy if they were in me. They could be in the world and in me at the same time. At the same time, therefore, they could be both in tribulation and in peace. Such men have a right and a reason to be of good cheer. No tribulation from the world can destroy their peace in Christ. And this imperturbable peace is all earnest of the final triumph over the world, announced in the words that follow. Indeed, the bidding of cheer is in view of this closing triumphal sentence.

I have overcome the world Even in view of the coming sacrifice the glorious victim feels himself the conqueror, and chants his paean of victory. Though the battle is yet to be fought, he stands in spirit at its close, and the immortal laurel is upon his brow. Nay, he is standing in spirit in that future period when his apostles, amid tribulation in the world, shall hear in spirit his thrilling words, Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. And in all ages of the Church the preacher, the martyr, and the saint have fought the battle of the faith, trusting in the great Captain who has overcome the world. And in that trust they too shall overcome. And this victory is over every means which the world uses to deprave the spirit or destroy the soul. Whether the world would allure and ensnare us by its charms, or overwhelm and destroy us by its violence, through faith in Him who has overcome the world we too may overcome.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

His purpose in all that He has said is so that in the end they will have peace. As they think back and remember all He said and all that has happened their assurance and confidence will grow and peace will fill their hearts. And especially He wants them to have confidence in the fact that the world will not win. It is God Who will win. For by His sacrifice of Himself He has overcome the world and all that it stands for. The point would appear to be that His light will triumph over the world’s darkness and over its evil intent (Joh 1:4).

‘In the world you have tribulation.’ That will be true for them and for the church and Christians throughout the centuries. ‘Tribulation’ is the Christian’s lot because he is at enmity with the world’s ways. The word means ‘distress brought by outward pressure’. But its purpose is good for it produces patient endurance, leading to experience which results in hope for the future (Rom 5:3-4).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Joh 16:33. These things I have spoken “I have told you these things, that you may have consolation in the prospect of the benefits that you are to receive, a lasting peace, and serenity of soul, by the exercise of your faith in me; and thus, free from all anxiety and perturbation, may not be terrified when the afflictions draw nigh which are to overtake you. The truth is, you will have great tribulation in this present life, because the malice of men will every where pursue you; nevertheless, be not discouraged; rather take heart by reflecting how, through constancy and patience, I have overcome the malice of the world, and that I am able to make you overcome it in like manner also.”

Inferences.How great is the ignorance and folly of those, who persecute their brethren in the name of the Lord, and kill his children under the pretence of offering him an acceptable sacrifice! Thus were the apostles treated by those Jews, who knew not the God for whom they professed all this flaming zeal. Let us bless God that we are providentially sheltered from those effects of it, which might otherwise bear so hard upon us; while we diligently watch over our hearts, that no irregular affections, no uncharitable sentiments, may work or harbour there.

Whenever, like the apostles, our hearts are filled with sorrow, may we be very cautious not to be so stupified and absorbed by it, as that any call of duty should pass unheard, or any opportunity of religious advancement escape us unimproved; nor let as be indolent in our inquiries into the meaning of those dispensations which we do not understand; but rather seriously consider, whether we are not sorrowful for that which is indeed designed for our advantages and in the issue will be matter of rejoicing to our souls.

We have seen to what purpose the Comforter was sent. His coming was designed in the first instance for the benefit of the apostles, and was of greater service to them, as Christ had assured them he should be, than the continuance of his own presence with them in the body would have been; not only to support and comfort them under all their trials, but to acquaint them with all necessary truth, and fully to instruct them in the mysteries of godliness. He came moreover for the conviction of an apostate world: the important errand on which he was sent was, to awaken men’s minds, to convince them of their own guilt, of Christ’s righteousness, and of that awful judgment which should be executed on the most inveterate of his enemies.

May these considerations often lead us to think of the force of the Spirit’s testimony to the truth of Christianity, and to endeavour to understand it in all its extent; blessing the Almighty Father of mercies, that the gospel and the character of his Son were thus gloriously vindicated. May we rejoice in the views of that complete conquest to which Satan is already adjudged; and, in the mean time, let us earnestly pray, that the influences of the Holy Spirit may be communicated to us in such a manner, that Christ may be glorified in us, and we in him; and that the things of Christ may be taken, and shewn to us by that Spirit; for it can only be done by means of his influence and operations.

We are perhaps often regretting the absence of Christ’s bodily presence, and looking back with a kind of envy on the happier lot of those who conversed with him upon earth in the days of his flesh: but if we prove true persevering believers in an unseen Jesus, it is but a little while, and we shall also see him; for he is gone to the Father, and will so successfully negotiate the affairs of his faithful saints in the realms of bliss, that whatever their present difficulties and sorrows may be, they shall end happily, and bring peace and joy at the last. And, in the mean time, surely we have no reason to envy the world its joys and triumphs. Alas! its season of weeping will quickly come! but the lamentations of the faithful are soon to be turned into songs of praise, and their hearts filled with that solid, sacred, and peculiar joy which shall never be taken away.

While we are in this state of distance, it is certainly matter of rejoicing that we have access to the throne of grace through the prevailing name of Christ. Let us advance thither with holy courage and confidence, and so ask as that we may receive, and that our joy may be full.With what pleasure may we daily renew our visits to that throne, before which Jesus, the friend of sinners, stands as an intercessor; to that throne which is possessed by the Father, who himself loveth us, and answers with readiness and delight those petitions which are thus recommended! May our faith in Christ, and our love to him, still more and more increase; and thus shall our supplications be more and more acceptable to him, whose loving-kindness is better than life itself.

Whoever seriously reviews these gracious discourses, must consider them as an invaluable legacy bequeathed to us by Christ, the dying Saviour. O may they dwell with us in all our retirements, and be applied to our comfort in every distress!
Can we have any reason to wonder, if human friendship be sometimes false, and always precarious! Alas!the disciples of Christ were scattered in the day of his utter extremity, and left him alone, even when they were under the highest obligations to have adhered to him with the most inviolable fidelity. It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put any confidence in man. May we but be able, like our Master, to say in every trial, that our Father is with us; and then that delightful converse with God, which we may enjoy in our most solitary moments, will be a thousand times more than an equivalent for whatsoever we lose in the creatures. In the world we must indeed have tribulation; and he that has appointed it for us knows that it is fit we should: but since Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings, has overcome the world, and disarmed it, let us hence be taught to seek that peace which he hath established, and press on with a cheerful assurance, that all his faithful followers shall share in the honours and benefits of his victory.

REFLECTIONS.1st, To be forewarned, is to be fore-armed. Christ lets his disciples know what they had to expect.

1. He tells them what they must look for, and warns them to prepare for it. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended, that you may not be discouraged by sufferings, faint under the cross, and desert the path of duty. They shall put you out of the synagogues, excommunicate you from their society and from their assemblies for divine worship: yea, the time cometh, when, so infatuated and bloody will their persecution be, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service. Note; (1.) The best friends of the church of Christ have often been branded by those who pretend to be church-rulers, as her worst enemies. (2.) Blind bigotry raises the bitterest persecution; the blood of martyrs has never flowed more liberally than by the hands of those who murdered them as excommunicated heretics in the name of the Lord.

2. He suggests the real cause of this treatment. These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me; though they may pretend the highest attainments of wisdom and piety, and persecute you as a set of poor, illiterate, deluded enthusiasts; yet they are sunk in wilful spiritual ignorance, which, though no excuse for their wickedness, is an argument for you to bear patiently with them, and to pity and pray for them.

3. He lets them know that he gave them these warnings for the confirmation of their faith in him, and to encourage them to bear up when the day of temptation came upon them. These things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them, and have a fresh proof of my omniscience and faithfulness to you. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you, to bear the chief burden myself, and to comfort and support you. Note; Christ graciously proportions our trials to our strength.

4. He assures them, though he was going, and they were dejected, his departure would be abundantly for their good. But now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? Though they had asked him with a temporal view, they had no apprehension that he was going to heaven, to prepare an abode for them in glory, and therefore did not pursue their inquiries. But because I have said these things unto you, of my departure, and your approaching troubles, sorrow hath filled your heart, when you ought rather to rejoice. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, greatly as you dread my going from you, it is expedient for you that I go away, and a kind father will give his children not what they foolishly wish, but what he knows will be best for them; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; such being a part of the great plan of redemption; but if I depart according to the will of my heavenly Father, finishing my work, and entering into my glory, I will send him unto you, as the fruit of my death, and the effect of my intercession: and this will more than supply the loss of my bodily presence. Note; Many of us are often melancholy, when they ought to rejoice; much readier to pore over their inbred corruption, and terrify themselves with the fear of their enemies, than to exult in the promises, to press after full sanctification, and to look up with confidence to Christ Jesus; and this is as dishonourable to him, as uncomfortable to ourselves.

5. He describes the blessed work of the Spirit, whom he promises to send: When he is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

[1.] Of sin, awakening the consciences of sinners, both Jews and Gentiles, to a discovery of their native corruption, actual transgressions, exceeding sinfulness, and liableness to the wrath of an offended God; especially the great sin of unbelief, this being the great damning iniquity, and the grand cause of sinners’ destruction, because they believe not on me for pardon, grace, life, and salvation; and, under this view of themselves, he lays them in the dust of deepest abasement.

[2.] Of righteousness; of the righteous obedience of Christ unto the death of the cross,the sole meritorious cause of every blessing that we can receive either in time or in eternity,the sole meritorious cause of the acceptance of the persons and works of believers before God: to which the Spirit directs the self-despairing soul to look, as the grand foundation of hope towards God; because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; his exaltation to the right-hand of God being the fullest token of his Father’s approbation of him, and that he is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; and, therefore, he was no more to appear in his present state of humiliation, because he had, to his Father’s entire satisfaction, finished the work that he had given him to do upon earth.

[3.] Of judgment; that all power is given to Christ, in heaven and in earth, to sanctify and renew the hearts of his faithful people, and execute judgment upon all their enemies and his, the finally impenitent and obstinate sinners; because the prince of this world, the devil, is judged; his power is broken, his kingdom destroyed; and, while the triumphs of the Redeemer’s grace are now continually spreading through the earth in multitudes rescued from the hands of this enemy, he and all his adherents shall shortly be brought to receive their final sentence at the bar of this eternal Judge; and wicked devils and wicked men together be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

6. The Spirit will wonderfully enlarge their understandings, and give them a clear insight into many glorious truths, which, as yet, they did not fully apprehend. I have yet many things to say unto you, respecting the abolition of the Mosaical oeconomy, the calling of the Gentiles, the rejection of the Jews, &c. but ye cannot bear them now, through the deep-rooted prejudices which still held possession of their hearts; bigotted to the ritual in institutions, and expecting a temporal kingdom. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, then they shall be enabled to receive all discoveries which they now could not bear; for he will guide you into all truth; opening their understandings to comprehend the Scripture, as an unerring Guide leading them into the most explicit views of the gospel-truths, and enabling them to speak and act under his direction with infallible wisdom: for he shall not speak of himself, as a private person, or serving any interest merely his own; but, in exact correspondence with Christ and the Father, whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, according to the sacred will of them both, with which he is fully acquainted, searching the deep things of God; and he will shew you things to come; as a Spirit of prophesy, enabling them to look into futurity, and make known to the church the things which, in succeeding ages, should come to pass, even to the end of time.

7. In all this work of the divine Spirit, his intention eminently is to glorify the Redeemer. He shall glorify me; all the gifts and graces that he bestowed, and the miracles he enabled the apostles to perform, were designed to exalt Jesus as the great Redeemer of men, and to bear witness of his divine mission; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. Christ hath obtained all blessings for the faithful; the office of the Spirit is to apply them to their hearts, and put them in possession of that pardon, adoption, comfort, grace, and glory, which he hath purchased by his obedience unto death. All things that the Father hath, are mine; not only as we are one in nature, perfections, and unity of interests; but as all the blessings that he designed for his faithful people are lodged in my hands as Mediator; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. Spirit of truth and grace, apply these inestimable blessings to my soul!

2nd, To comfort his sorrowful disciples, the gracious Saviour suggests farther grounds of encouragement to them.
1. He promises to visit them again shortly. A little while and ye shall not see me, he should be hid in the grave; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, after my resurrection, because I go to the Father; to enter upon his glory, to appear in the presence of God, as Intercessor, to take possession of the purchased inheritance for the faithful, and at last to bring them to be with him where he is.

2. Some of the disciples, blinded with their national prejudices, and stupid with sorrow, were at a loss to comprehend his meaning; and, repeating his words, inquired of one and another what they understood by them; and all confessed they knew not what he meant by a little while.

3. Christ, who knew the secrets of their hearts, and what was the subject of their whispers, prevented their inquiries by explaining the meaning of the little while he spake of. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament at his sufferings and death, with all the circumstances of ignominy wherewith it would be attended; but the world shall rejoice, the wicked world: the scribes and rulers would triumph, as if they had obtained a complete victory over him; and ye shall be sorrowful; sunk in deep dejection, their hopes swallowed up in despair; but your sorrow shall be turned into joy; when, seeing him arisen from the dead, they would triumph, fully assured of his being the Messiah: and with joy still more unspeakable and full of glory would they be filled, when, after beholding his ascension into heaven, the Holy Ghost should from on high be shed abroad in their hearts. Then all their pangs, like those of a woman in travail, when her son is born, would be swallowed up and forgotten in the comfort which should succeed; Ye now therefore have sorrow, because I am leaving you; but I will see you again, certainly and shortly, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you; it will never again be interrupted by any more distress and fears. Note; (1.) Though the faithful saints of God may sometimes be in heaviness through manifold temptations, it is their comfort that they know their sorrow will be momentary; but their joys, which shall succeed, eternal. (2.) The triumphing of the wicked is but for a moment, and must end in eternal disappointment and misery. (3.) Though children are certain cares, uncertain comforts, we naturally rejoice at their birth; but when we see what a world of sin they are come into, and what snares are before them, we need tremble for them, and pray, lest it should be better for them they had never been born. (4.) In heaven all the sorrows of the righteous will be forgotten, and every tear wiped away from their eyes. Then shall they never lament the absence of Jesus, but, without interruption, behold the beatific vision.

3rdly, An answer to all their inquiries and prayers is promised them in that day, when, under the Spirit’s mighty influences, they should in all things be taught and directed.

1. In that day ye shall ask me nothing, shall not need to make any farther inquiries about these things, concerning which you are now at a loss, and which I have spoken unto you in proverbs, under similitudes, in parables, and short sentences; and, though sufficiently plain, you, through your present prejudices and sorrow, have not understood: The time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father; make such clear discoveries to your minds, by my Spirit, of the whole system of gospel-truths; of the divine perfections and personality of the Father; of his gracious designs towards his faithful people; and the nature and end of all my sufferings; and of the glory thence accruing to God; as will be perfectly satisfactory. Note; All the great and glorious truths of God’s word are dark and unintelligible, till he is pleased, by his Spirit, to shine into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory, and make us acquainted with the great mysteries of godliness.

2. All their prayers shall be answered. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, as your exalted Saviour and great High-Priest, entered for you into heaven itself, and ever living to make intercession for you, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name, nothing so great as they were now invited to do; or rather had not, in their addresses to the Father, made use of his mediation, or pleaded his infinite merit as the ground of their hope: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full; all that you can wish or desire shall be granted, till the abundant joys of present grace and divine consolations shall reach their utmost consummation in eternal glory. At that day, when the Spirit shall be poured out upon you, ye shall ask in my name, with entire dependence on my atonement and prevalent intercession; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; not that he would ever cease to intercede for them, but that the Father would be ready of himself to grant all their petitions: for the Father himself loveth you, is your friend and Father, and reconciled God, because ye have loved me; this blessed effect produced on their hearts might assure them of the Father’s love; and have believed that I came out from God, as the true Messiah, executing the divine commission received from him. Note; (1.) What an encouragement have we to pray, when the promise is so full? All the blessings which, in humble dependence on our Jesus, we can ask, believing, we are sure to receive. (2.) Nothing so directly tends to increase our spiritual comforts, as the abiding prayer of faith. (3.) True faith always works by fervent love; they who know Jesus as their Saviour, cannot but feel their hearts drawn out towards him with enlarged affection; and shortly they shall be made perfect in love.

3. He sums up plainly for their comfort all that he had been saying to them. I came forth from the Father, where, from everlasting, I am; and voluntarily submitted to my present state of humiliation: again, having finished the work which was given me to do, I leave the world, and go to the Father, to that eternal glory which I had with him before the worlds were. This therefore should be matter of their joy, not sorrow.

4. The disciples, now enlightened to understand his discourse, with delight express their satisfaction in what he had said, and their entire faith in him as the Messiah. Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb: the meaning is no longer dark and doubtful. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee; we perceive thou art acquainted with our inmost thoughts, and canst answer us, even before we propose our questions: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Note; Many truths, though plain, affect us not, till Christ speaks to the soul; and then we wonder how we could have overlooked before, what we now see so clearly.

5. Jesus, who saw that their faith was less established than they apprehended, warns them how soon it would be shaken, Do ye now believe? Behold, as a farther proof of my omniscience, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, the moment is at hand, that I shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners, and ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, flying for safety to any place or friend’s house that will conceal you, and shall leave me alone, in the power of my enemies; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me; not only as one in nature, and in the inseparable union of the Godhead; but his gracious presence would be with him, as Mediator, supporting him under all his sufferings. Note; (1.) In trying times many are apt to desert the profession they have made, unwilling to suffer for Christ and his cause. (2.) They who have reason to be persuaded that they do believe, must not be self-confident: he that thinketh he standeth, must take heed lest he fall. (3.) God does not forsake his afflicted believing people; when all the world, yea, their nearest and dearest friends desert them, a sense of his love, the light of his countenance, and his supporting presence, will make them an abundant recompence for the loss of all besides.

6. For their comfort, he assures them, that the issue of all their trials and his would be peace. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace; whatever might happen to them, what he had spoken would afford them a sufficient ground for their support and comfort. In him, by faith in his person, and all-sufficient sacrifice and intercession, they would find such a peace as the world never knew; beholding their sins pardoned, and God reconciled to them; enjoying delightful communion with him; and, amidst all their trials, their souls kept serene and calm in the confidence of his power and grace to carry them through, and in the prospect of the glory which should be revealed in them. In the world ye shall have tribulation, you must expect and prepare for it; but be of good cheer, be confident of my power and grace, and courageously stand in the evil day; I have overcome the world; I have vanquished the god of this world with all his wicked instruments; and you may be comfortably assured, through my grace and love, that you shall be made more than conquerors. Note; (1.) Every real Christian must expect his cross, and prepare for tribulation; it is inseparable from his profession. (2.) No outward or inward troubles should deject or dishearten us; our Redeemer is mighty, yea, almighty to save. (3.) Peace in our consciences is our privilege and portion, if we do indeed belong to Christ; and usually as our tribulations for Christ abound, our consolations which are by him abound also. (4.) The world, and the things of it, are great enemies to our souls, and the means which the devil employs to ensnare and destroy us; but Christ hath overcome for us, and if we perseveringly cleave to him in faith, he will, by his grace, overcome in us, till all our foes shall be made our footstool.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 16:33 . “That is the last word given, and struck into their hand by way of good-night. But He concludes very forcibly with this, and therefore has He finished the entire discourse,” Luther.

] pointing back, at the close of the whole discourses again resumed from Joh 14:31 , to chap. Joh 15:16 .

] exact correlates: in me (living and moving), i.e . in vital fellowship with me: Peace , rest of soul, peace of heart (comp. Joh 14:27 ); in the world, i.e . in your intercourse with the unbelieving; affliction (Joh 16:21 , and see Joh 15:18 ff.).

] Luther aptly remarks: “He does not say: Be comforted, you have overcome the world, but this is your consolation, that I, I have overcome the world; my victory is your salvation.” And upon this victor rests the imperishability of the church.

. . .] The perfect states the victory immediately impending, which is to be gained through His glorification by means of death, as already completed. Prolepsis of the certain conqueror on the boundary of His work. Comp. Joh 12:31 , Joh 13:31 . But if He has overcome the anti-Messianic power of the world, how could His own , in spite of all , become dispirited, as though He would give up His work, which was to be continued by their means, and suffer His victory to fall to the ground? Comp. rather 1Jn 5:4-5 ; 1Jn 4:4 . Therefore . Paul especially is a living commentary on this . See e.g. Rom 8:37 ; 2Co 2:14 ; 2Co 4:7 ff; 2Co 6:4 ff; 2Co 12:9 , his discourse before Felix and Festus, etc. Comp. Luther’s triumphant exposition.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

REFLECTIONS

Hail! Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, which is, and which was, and which is to come! Blessed forever be God the Father, for his everlasting love, in having chosen the Church in Christ, before the foundation of the world. And blessed be God the Son, for having betrothed the Church from everlasting, and having redeemed her from all the ruins of the fall, in this time state of existence. And blessed be God the Holy Ghost for his everlasting love, and accomplishing the regeneration of the Church, when dead in trespasses and sins!

Oh! for grace, to be often contemplating the office acts and manifestations of love, as shewn towards the Church in the communications of all that is communicable in grace, from each glorious person of the Godhead. Do thou, blessed Spirit, daily make a sweet revelation of the whole to, and in the souls of the redeemed, that the glory of the Father’s provision for the Church, in the person and blood of Christ, and the full mercy of the everlasting covenant, may, through thy sovereign power, be brought home, and confirmed in the heart. Oh! for grace to know God the Holy Ghost, in every sweet office-act in which Jesus hath here so blessedly represented him. Thou knowest, Almighty Comforter, that my poor soul can find no comfort but from thy gracious operations. I can have no access, can find no freedom at the throne, nay, can have no disposition to go there, unless thy sweet leadings influence and guide me thither. Oh! then do thou, Almighty Quickener of the Lord’s people, direct my heart into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. Do thou become to my poor soul, the Spirit of truth; and sure I am, amidst all the heresies of the day, I shall be guided into all truth. Do thou glorify to my view the Lord Jesus, and then no Infidel amidst a Christ-despising generation, will for a moment raise a mist to obscure my clear apprehension of His Godhead. Precious, precious Teacher, in the Church of Jesus! do thou but mercifully fulfil all thy sweet office-characters, in and to my poor soul, and more will be accomplished to the settlement of that peace of mind, and peace of God, which passeth all understanding in my heart, than can be wrought in ten thousand years of human endeavors without thee. Yes! thou Almighty Spirit of Sanctification and Holiness, if thou wilt condescend to communicate of thy divine unction, thou wilt bring my Lord Jesus, in all his fulness and suitability, so immediately home in union with my redeemed soul, that I shall know him as the Lord my righteousness, and live upon him, and live to him, as being made the righteousness of God in Him.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Ver. 33. These things have I spoken ] This sermon of our Saviour then would be read in time of trouble. It hath virtutem pacativam, if mixed with faith.

That in me ye might have peace ] Though surcharged with outward troubles. Josiah died in peace, according to the promise, though slain in war. True grace, like true gold, comforts the heart; alchemy gold doth not.

In the world ye shall have tribulation ] There is no avoiding it; it is not a paradise, but a purgatory to the saints. It may be compared to the Straits of Magellan, which is said to be a place of that nature, that which way soever a man set his course, he shall be sure to have the wind against him. (Heyl. Geog.)

I have overcome the world ] Therefore we are more than conquerors, because sure to overcome beforehand, Rom 8:37 . We are triumphers, 2Co 2:14 . We need do no more, then, as those in Joshua, but set our feet on the necks of our enemies, already subdued unto us by our Jesus.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

33. ] On the first clause, especially , see ch. Joh 15:7 . This presupposes the return from the scattering in Joh 16:32 , the branches again gathered in the vine.

, of their normal state in the world.

This is not only persecution from the world , but trouble, inward distress, while we are in the world , ch. Joh 17:11 ; a comforting sign that we are not of the world (see Stier, v. 373, edn. 2).

And this latter idea is implied between the two clauses: ‘Be of good cheer; for ye belong not to the world, but to Me, who have (proleptically again, by that which is now at hand) overcome the world, so that it shall have no power over you, externally by persecution, or internally by temptations or discouragements.’ See 1Jn 5:4-5 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Joh 16:33 . . embraces the whole of the consolatory utterances from Joh 14:1 onwards. His aim in uttering them was “that in me” ( cf. Paul’s use of “in Christ”) “ye may have peace”. are the two spheres in which at one and the same time the disciples live, Joh 17:15 , Col 3:1 ; Col 3:5 . So long as they “abode in Christ” and His words abode in them, Joh 15:7 , they would have peace, Joh 14:27 . So long as they were in the world they would have tribulation, , “in the world ye have tribulation”. , “but be of good courage”. Cf. , Mat 9:2 ; Mat 14:27 . . occurs only here in the Gospel, but twenty-two times in the Johannine Epistles and Apocalypse; only four times in the other N.T. writings; cf. especially 1Jn 5:4-5 . “I (emphatic) have overcome the world,” have proved that its most dangerous assaults can be successfully resisted; and in me you are sharers in my victory; in me you also overcome.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

John

PEACE AND VICTORY

Joh 16:33 .

So end these wonderful discourses, and so ends our Lord’s teaching before His passion. He gathers up in one mighty word the total intention of these sweet and deep sayings which we have so long been pondering together. He sketches in broad outline the continual characteristics of the disciples’ life, and closes all with the strangest shout of victory, even at the moment when He seems most utterly defeated.

We shall, I think, best lay on our hearts and minds the spirit and purpose of these words if we simply follow their course, and look at the three things which Christ emphasises here: the inward peace which is His purpose for us; the outward tribulation which is our certain fate; and the courageous confidence which Christ’s victory for us gives.

I. Note, then, first, the inward peace.

‘These things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace.’ Peace is not lethargy; and it is very remarkable to notice how, in immediate connection with this great promise, there occur words which suggest its opposite-tribulation and battle. ‘In the world ye have tribulation.’ ‘I have overcome’-that means a fight. These are to go side by side with the peace that He promises. The two conditions belong to two different spheres. The Christian life bifurcates, as it were, into a double root, and moves in two realms-’in Me’ and ‘in the world’ And the predicates and characteristics of these two lives are, in a large measure, diametrically opposite. So here, without any contradiction, our Lord brackets together these two opposite conditions as both pertaining to the life of a devout soul. He promises a peace which co-exists with tribulation and disturbance, a peace which is realised in and through conflict and struggle. The tree will stand, with its deep roots and its firm bole, unmoved, though wildest winds may toss its branches and scatter its leaves. In the fortress, beleaguered by the sternest foes, there may be, right in the very centre of the citadel, a quiet oratory through whose thick walls the noise of battle and the shout of victory or defeat can never penetrate. So we may live in a centre of rest, however wild may be the uproar in the circumference. ‘In Me. . . peace,’ that is the innermost life. ‘In the world. . . tribulation,’ that is only the surface.

But, then, note that this peace, which exists with, and is realised through, tribulation and strife, depends upon certain conditions. Our Lord does not say, ‘Ye have peace,’ but ‘These things I have spoken that you may have it.’ It is a possibility; and He lays down distinctly and plainly here the twofold set of conditions, in fulfilment of which a Christian disciple may dwell secure and still, in the midst of all confusion. Note, then, these two.

It is peace, if we have it at all, in Him. Now you remember how emphatically and loftily, as one of the very key-notes of these discourses, our Lord has spoken to us, in them, of ‘dwelling in Him’ as the prerogative and the duty of every Christian. We are in Him as in an atmosphere. In Him our true lives are rooted as a tree in the soil. We are in Him as a branch in the vine, in Him as the members in a body, in Him as the residents in a house. We are in Him by simple faith, by the trust that rests all upon Him, by the love that finds all in Him, by the obedience that does all for Him. And it is only when we are ‘in Christ’ that we rest, and realise peace. All else brings distraction. Even delights trouble. The world may give excitement, the world may give vulgar and fleeting joys, the world may give stimulus to much that is good and true in us, but there is only one thing that gives peace, and that is that our hearts should dwell in the Fortress, and should ever be surrounded by Jesus Christ. Brother! let nothing tempt us down from the heights, and out from the citadel where alone we are at rest; but in the midst of all the pressing duties, the absorbing cares, the carking anxieties, the seducing temptations of the world, and in the presence of all the necessity for noble conflict which the world brings to every man that is not its slave, let us try to keep the roots of our lives in contact with that soil from which they draw all their nourishment, and to wrap ourselves round with the life of Jesus Christ, which shall make an impenetrable shield between us and ‘the fiery darts of the wicked.’ Keep on the lee side of the breakwater and your little cock-boat will ride out the gale. Keep Christ between you and the hurtling storm, and there will be a quiet place below the wall where you may rest, hearing not the loud winds when they call. ‘These things have I spoken that in Me ye might have peace.’

But there is another condition. Christ speaks the great words which have been occupying us so long, that they may bring to us peace. I need not do more than remind you, in a sentence, of the contents of these wonderful discourses. Think of how they have spoken to us of our Brother’s ascension to Heaven to prepare a place for us; of His coming again to receive us to Himself; of His presence with us in His absence; of His indwelling in us and ours in Him; of His gift to us of a divine Spirit. If we believed all these things; if we realised them and lived in the faith of them; if we meditated upon them in the midst of our daily duties; and if they were real to us, and not mere words written down in a Book, how should anything be able to disturb us, or to shake our settled confidence? Cleave to the words of the Master, and let them pour into your hearts the quietness and confidence which nothing else can give. And then, whatsoever storms may be around, the heart will be at rest. We find peace nowhere else but where Mary found her repose, and could shake off care and ‘trouble about many things,’ sitting at the feet of Jesus, wrapt in His love and listening to His word.

II. Then note, secondly, the outward tribulation which is the certain fate of His followers.

Of course there is a very sad and true sense in which the warning, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation,’ applies to all men. Pain and sickness, loss and death, the monotony of hard, continuous, unwelcome toil, hopes blighted or disappointed even in their fruition, and all the other ‘ills that flesh is heir to,’ afflict us all. But our Lord is not speaking here about the troubles that befall men as men, nor about the chastisement that befalls them as sinners, nor about the evils which dog them because they are mortal or because they are bad, but of the yet more mysterious sorrows which fall upon them because they are good, ‘In the world ye have tribulation,’ is the proper rendering and reading. It had already begun, and it was to be the standing condition and certain fate of all that followed Him.

I have already said that the Christian life moves in two spheres, and hence there must necessarily be antagonism and conflict. Whoever realises the inward life in Christ will more or less, and sooner or later, find himself coming into hostile collision with lives which only move on the surface and belong to the world. If you and I are Christians after the pattern of Jesus Christ, then we dwell in the midst of an order of things which is not constituted on or for the principles that regulate our lives and the objects at which we aim. And hence, in that fundamental discordance between the Christian life and society as it is constituted, there must always be, if there be honesty and consistency on the side of the Christian man, more or less of collision between him and it. All that you regard as axiomatic the world regards as folly, if you take Christ for your Teacher. All that you labour to secure the world does not care to possess, if you have Him for your aim. All that you live to seek it has abandoned; all that you desire to obey it will not even consult, if you are taking Christ and His law for your rule. And therefore there must come, sooner or later, and more or less intensely in all Christian lives, opposition and tribulation. You cannot get away from the necessity, so it is as well to face it.

No doubt the form of antagonism varies. No doubt the more the world is penetrated by Christian principles divorced from their root and source, the less vehement and painful will the collision be. But there is the gulf, and there it will remain, until the world is a Church. No doubt some portion of the battlements of organised Christianity has tumbled into the ditch, and made it a little less deep. Christians have dropped their standard far too much, and so the antagonism is not so plain as it ought to be, and as it used to be, and as, some day, it will be. But there it is, and if you are going to live out and out like a Christian man, you will get the old sneers flung at you. You will be ‘crotchety,’ ‘impracticable,’ ‘spoiling sport,’ ‘not to be dealt with,’ ‘a wet blanket,’ ‘pharisaical,’ ‘bigoted,’ and all the rest of the pretty words which have been so frequently used about the men that try to live like Jesus Christ. Never mind! ‘In the world ye have tribulation.’ ‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,’ the branding-iron which tells to whom the slave belongs. And if it is His initials that I carry I may be proud of the marks.

But at any rate there will be antagonism. You young men in your warehouses, you men that go on ‘Change’, we people that live by our pens or our tongues, and find ourselves in opposition to much of the tendencies of the present day-we have all, in our several ways, to bear the cross. Do not let us be ashamed of it, and, above all, do not let us, for the sake of easing our shoulders, be unfaithful to our Master. ‘In the world ye have tribulation’; and the Christian man’s peace has to be like the rainbow that lives above the cataract-still and radiant, whilst it shines above the hell of white waters that are tortured below.

III. Lastly, notice the courageous confidence which comes from the Lord’s victory.

‘Be of good cheer!’ It is the old commandment that rang out to Joshua when, on the departure of Moses, the conduct of the war fell into his less experienced hands: ‘Be strong, and of a good courage; only be thou strong and very courageous.’ So says the Captain of salvation, leaving His soldiers to face the current of the heady fight in the field. Like some leader who has climbed the ramparts, or hewed his way through the broken ranks of the enemies, and rings out the voice of encouragement and call to his followers, our Captain sets before us His own example: ‘I have overcome the world,’ He said that the day before Calvary. If that was victory, what would defeat have been?

Notice, then, how our Lord’s life was a true battle. The world tried to draw Him away from God by appealing to things desirable to sense, as in the wilderness; or to things dreadful to sense, as on the cross; and both the one and the other form of temptation He faced and conquered. It was no shadow fight which evoked this paean of victory from His lips. The reality of His conflict is somewhat concealed from us by reason of its calm and the completeness of His conquest. We do not appreciate the force that drives a planet upon its path because it is calm and continuous and silent, but the power that kept Jesus Christ continually faithful to His Father, continually sure of that Father’s presence, continually averse to all self-will and selfish living, was a power mightier then all others that have been manifested in the history of humanity. The Captain of our salvation has really fought the fight before us.

But mark, again, that our Lord’s life is the type of all victorious life. The world conquers me when it draws me away from God, when it makes me its slave, when it coaxes me to trust it, and urges to despair if I lose it. The world conquers me when it comes between me and God, when it fills my desires, when it absorbs my energies, when it blinds my eyes to the things unseen and eternal. I conquer the world when I put my foot upon its temptations, when I crush it down, when I shake off its bonds, and when nothing that time and sense, with their delights or their dreadfulnesses, can bring, prevents me from cleaving to my Father with all my heart, and from living as His child here. Whoso thus coerces Time and Sense to be the servants of his filial love has conquered them both, and whoso lets them draw him away from God is beaten, however successful he may dream himself to be and men may call him.

My friends! there is a lesson for Manchester people. Jesus Christ was not a very successful man according to the standard of Market Street and the Exchange. He made but a poor thing of the world, and He was going to be martyred on the cross the day after He said these words. And yet that was victory. Ay! Many a man beaten down in the struggle of daily life, and making very little of it, according to our vulgar estimate, is the true conqueror. Success means making the world a stepping-stone to God.

Still further, note our share in the Master’s victory-’I have overcome the world. Be ye of good cheer.’ That seems an irrelevant way of arguing. What does it matter to me though He has overcome? So much the better for Him; but what good is it to me?

It may aid us somewhat to more strenuous fighting, if we know that a brother has fought and conquered, and I do not under-estimate the blessing and the benefit of the life of Jesus Christ, as recorded in these Scriptures, even from that, as I conceive it, miserably inadequate and imperfect point of view. But the victory of Jesus Christ is of extremely little practical use to me, if all the use of it is to show me how to fight. Ah! you must go a deal deeper than that. ‘I have overcome the world, and I will come and put My overcoming Spirit into your weakness, and fill you with My own victorious life, and make your hands strong to war and your fingers to fight; and be in you the conquering and omnipotent Power.’

My friends! Jesus Christ’s victory is ours, and we are victors in it, because He is more than the pattern of brave warfare, He is even the Son of God, who gave Himself for us, and gives Himself to us, and dwells in us our Strength and our Righteousness.

Lastly, remember that the condition of that victory’s being ours is the simple act of reliance upon Him and upon it. The man who goes into the battle as that little army of the Hebrews did against the wide-stretching hosts of the enemy, saying, ‘O Lord! we know not what to do, but our eyes are up unto Thee,’ will come out ‘more than conqueror through Him that loved him.’ For ‘this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

peace. Greek. eirene. See Joh 14:27; Joh 20:19, Joh 21:26.

tribulation. Same as “anguish”, Joh 16:21.

overcome = conquered. Greek nikao. Occurs twenty-eight times. Only here in John’s Gospel, but six times in first Epistle. Always translated “overcome”, except in Rev 5:5; Rev 6:2; Rev 15:2. The noun nike only in 1Jn 5:4, and nikos in Mat 12:20. 1Co 15:54, 1Co 15:55, 1Co 15:57.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

33.] On the first clause, especially , see ch. Joh 15:7. This presupposes the return from the scattering in Joh 16:32,-the branches again gathered in the vine.

, of their normal state in the world.

This is not only persecution from the world, but trouble, inward distress, while we are in the world,-ch. Joh 17:11;-a comforting sign that we are not of the world (see Stier, v. 373, edn. 2).

And this latter idea is implied between the two clauses: Be of good cheer; for ye belong not to the world, but to Me, who have (proleptically again, by that which is now at hand) overcome the world, so that it shall have no power over you, externally by persecution, or internally by temptations or discouragements. See 1Jn 5:4-5.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 16:33. , that) expressing the scope of these words which Jesus had spoken.-, peace) which belongs to the heart that is not troubled: ch. Joh 14:1.-) I have overcome, even for you [ , the world) and so have overcome your tribulations (straits), along with overcoming the world.-V. g.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 16:33

Joh 16:33

These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.-He transfers his own source of joy to them. In the world tribulation, persecution, and sorrow would come; but he had overcome the world. He had done it for them, and the Father would be with them as he had been with Jesus. They could overcome the world, too.

Questions on John Chapter Sixteen

E.M. Zerr

1. State the purpose of Christ’s words.

2. What expelling did he predict?

3. Tel! what severer fate he foretold them.

4. How would such acts be counted?

5.Why will they do all these things?

6. For what reason did Jesus foretell this?

7. Why had he not told it before?

8. What is about to happen now?

9. Tell what has filled their heart.

10. This caused what hesitancy in them?

11. Why was it expedient for Christ to leave them?

12. Who was this being to reprove?

13. Why reprove of sin?

14. Of righteousness?

15. And of judgment?

16. Who is the prince of this world?

17. Why had Jesus not said all to the disciples?

18. Tel! what the Spirit was to do for them.

19. Whose words was he to speak?

20. Tell what he was to show them.

21. What glorifying was he to do?

22. In what way would he do it?

23. What things did Jesus say were his?

24. What was to happen in a little while?

25. To what event did this refer?

26. What would determine the second “little while”?

27. State the inquiry the disciples made.

28. Was it made openly?

29. What did Jesus say they would do?

30. At that time what would the world do?

31.. How would it be changed?

32. What was to cause them to rejoice?

33. Of what were they assured?

34. When was “that day” of John 16:23?

35. Why would they ask nothing then?

36. What asking was to be granted?

37. In what name must the asking be done?

38. What form of speech had Jesus used?

39. Ten the promise he made about it.

40. Of whom was he to do this?

41. They would then ask in what name?

42. Why would Christ then not need to pray?

43. Tell why the Father would love them.

44. From where had Jesus come?

45. Why had he left his father?

46. Was this journey to be reversed?

47. Give their comment on this speech.

48. Of what were they sure?

49. This produced what belief in them?

50. What hour did Jesus predict?

51. Explain ”his own”.

52. Would not Jesus be alone?

53. For what reason had Jesus spoken this?

54. What would they have in the world?

55. Why should they be cheerful?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

world

kosmos = world-system. Joh 17:14; Joh 17:16; Joh 7:7. (See Scofield “Rev 13:8”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

in me: Joh 14:27, Psa 85:8-11, Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Mic 5:5, Luk 2:14, Luk 19:38, Rom 5:1, Rom 5:2, Eph 2:14-17, Phi 4:7, Col 1:20, 2Th 3:16, Heb 7:2, Heb 13:20, Heb 13:21

In the: Joh 15:19-21, Act 14:22, Rom 8:36, 2Co 7:4, 1Th 3:4, 2Ti 3:12, Heb 11:25, 1Pe 5:9, Rev 7:14

but: Joh 14:1, Act 9:31, Act 23:11, Act 27:22, Act 27:25, 2Co 1:3, 2Co 13:11, 1Th 3:7

I: Joh 16:11, Joh 12:31, 1Sa 17:51, 1Sa 17:52, Psa 68:18, Rom 8:37, Gal 1:4, Gal 6:14, 1Jo 4:4, 1Jo 5:4

Reciprocal: Gen 3:17 – in sorrow Gen 8:9 – found Gen 12:10 – was a Gen 32:7 – greatly Gen 49:23 – General Num 6:26 – give thee Deu 33:1 – the blessing Jdg 3:2 – might know Psa 29:11 – bless Psa 34:19 – Many Psa 84:6 – Who Psa 98:1 – his right Psa 129:2 – yet they have Isa 26:3 – wilt Isa 50:7 – the Lord Isa 54:11 – thou afflicted Isa 54:13 – great Dan 10:19 – fear not Mat 6:34 – Sufficient Mat 7:14 – narrow Mat 11:30 – burden Mat 14:27 – Be Mar 10:21 – take Luk 6:48 – the flood Luk 16:25 – likewise Luk 22:36 – But Luk 24:36 – Peace Joh 14:18 – will not Joh 15:11 – your Joh 16:20 – That Joh 17:11 – but Joh 17:13 – that Joh 20:19 – Peace Act 20:23 – the Holy Ghost Rom 2:10 – and peace Rom 8:35 – shall tribulation Rom 14:17 – peace 1Co 15:19 – of all 1Co 15:57 – giveth Gal 6:16 – peace Phi 1:30 – the same Col 3:15 – the peace 1Th 3:3 – we are 1Pe 1:6 – manifold 1Pe 2:21 – even 1Pe 5:14 – Peace 1Jo 3:13 – if Rev 1:9 – companion Rev 2:7 – To him Rev 2:9 – tribulation Rev 3:21 – even Rev 12:11 – they overcame Rev 12:13 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

TWO CONTRASTED CONCEPTIONS

In the world; In Me.

Joh 16:33

These words are part of the closing sentences of our dear Lords last address. They tell of a life the disciples must inevitably lead.

I. Two contrasted conceptions.In the world; In Me. The matter treated of is the life and experience of the disciple, his field and sphere of existence. This is described, in one breath, as in Me; and, in the next, nay, is the same, as in the world. Can these two locations belong to the same individual at the same time? Must not the man fly to and fro? Not so; in the Lords thought the two positions are intended to be simultaneous and combined; the contrasts, harmonious; the opposites to be poles of one sphere.

II. A simple simile may illustrate the truth. This is a matter of concentric circles. The central point is the Christian man. Around him rolls, as the necessary outer circle of his life, the worlddisordered by sin, alienated from God. Whether he will or no the Christian is in it, as a man is in mid-ocean though he may be borne along by a great liner above the depths. But the same disciple is also in Christ. A concentric circle, closer and nearer, is about him in the midst of the tumult, and it is the Lord. While the outer circle rolls round that centre with all its agitation, the inner circle is the peace of God Himself. It is the Presence of Him who has overcome the world.

III. It was true of old.In Rome, in Corinth, the saints were yet more in Christ.

IV. It is true to-day.In toil, sorrow, pain, opposition, temptation, the children of God do still, abiding in Christ, prove more than conquerors.

Bishop H. C. G. Moule.

Illustration

They are wise and blessed who all along listen to both voices; who believe, indeed, that God created them in love, created them for happiness; and still remember all along that when God sent His only begotten Son into this world it was for a life of humiliation and suffering; who hold fast to the true instinct that all pure happiness is Gods gift, Gods glad and loving bounty to us; and still remember that the crown of all His giving cannot be in the things of this world, and may be through the loss even of that which in all these scenes of time is best; who in the hours of true-hearted gladness still keep their hearts free to part with it, to rise and come up higher, if God bids them, even though it be by the way of the Cross. Wise and blessed are they, for they will know, when tribulation comes, what indeed it means, and it should be met without hesitation or perplexity or complaint; they will have in their hearts that inner light which can make glad even a life of toil and pain; for they will have learnt already the royalty of unmurmuring patience, and found in Christ their Lord the way of peace.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

3

All of the foregoing conversation of Jesus was for the purpose of preparing the minds of his apostles for the great crisis that was near. He knew it would be a severe trial of their courage, and he wished to leave them all the consoling assurances they were able to comprehend.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Joh 16:33. These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good courage, I have overcome the world. These things refers to all that had been spoken from chap. Joh 14:1, to the thought of which beginning of His discourse Jesus now returns at its close. The present tense, ye have, seems to indicate that tribulation is not merely a historical certainty, but the natural consequence of the position of the disciples in the world. It must, as well as will, be so. But what of that, Let not their hearts be troubled (chap, Joh 14:1). The world is a conquered foe. Jesus has overcome it; and that not for Himself only, but for them. His faithful disciples have still sorrow in the world, but their sorrow is turned into joy; they have still to wage a warfare in the world, but each part of the field resounds with their exulting shouts, and the very death which the world may bring to them is the gate of higher and more glorious life. The world is not to be overcome: it is overcome; and to those who follow in the footsteps of their Lord, the path through is not so much a conflict as a victory. As reapers in the harvest field, they rejoice together with Him who sowed (chap. Joh 4:36); as soldiers of the cross, they share the triumph of the Captain of their salvation.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

These words are the conclusion of our Saviour’s farewell sermon to his disciples, in which he declares to them, the inevitable necessity of the world’s trouble: In the world ye shall have tribulation; that is, while ye have to do with the men of the world, while ye have any thing to do with the things of the world, nay, while you have a being in the world, you must look for trouble, both from within and from without, from friends and foes, in body, soul, name, estate; heart-breaking troubles, soul-rending troubles, such troubles as will make the heart to break, and the back to bend; and you, my disciples, must expect it as well as others: In the world ye shall have tribulation.

Hence learn, that the disciples of Christ, in this world, may, yea, must expect and look for trouble.

Observe, 2. The remedy provided by Christ against this malady: In me ye shall have peace: when in the world ye have tribulation. Ye shall have peace: that is, serenity of mind, a quiet and calm temper of spirit within, when the world, like a tempestuous air, is full of storms without.

Learn thence, that though in the world Christ’s own disciples must look for and expect troubles, yet he has taken effectual care, that, amidst all their troubles, in him they may have peace; Christ’s blood has purchased peace for them, his word hath promised it to them, and his Holy Spirit seals it up to their souls.

Observe, 3. The cordial provided by Christ for the support of his disciple’s spirits under the sinking burthen of the world’s tribulations and troubles: But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I have taken the sting out of every cross, and the venom out of every arrow.

Learn hence, that it is a great comfort to a Christian, under all the troubles of this world, to consider that Christ has overcome the world, that is, all things in the world, which may hinder his people’s comfort and consolation here, and their eternal happiness and salvation hereafter; namely, the princes of the world, the rulers of the world, the wicked men of the world, the troubles of the world, the temptations of the world, the corruptions that are in the world through lust.

Now Christ having overcome the world, all persons and things in it are at his disposal, and can do nothing but by his permission; and as he has overcome the world himself, so he will enable us through faith in him to overcome it also. This is the victory over the world, even our faith 1Jn 5:4.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Joh 16:33. These things I have spoken, that ye might have peace I have said these things to you concerning my departure out of the world, the coming of the Holy Ghost, my resurrection from the dead, the Fathers hearing your prayers, and concerning the great trial you are to be exposed to, in order that you may have consolation in the prospect of the benefits you are to receive, and not be terrified when afflictions draw nigh which are to overtake you. The truth is, you shall have great tribulation in this present life, because the malice of men will everywhere pursue you; nevertheless, be not discouraged, rather take heart, by reflecting how, through constancy and patience, I have overcome the malice of the world, and that I am able to make you overcome it in like manner also. Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

16:33 {11} These things I have spoken unto you, that {h} in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

(11) The surety and foundation of the Church depends only upon the victory of Christ.

(h) That in me you might be thoroughly quieted. For by “peace” is meant here that quiet state of mind which is completely contrary to disquietness and great sadness.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The structural marker "these things I have spoken to you" (cf. Joh 14:25; Joh 16:1; Joh 16:4; Joh 16:25; Joh 17:1) identifies the conclusion of this section of the discourse. The ultimate reason for Jesus’ revelations about His departure, as far as His immediate disciples were concerned, was that they might experience peace in their relationship with Him (cf. Joh 14:27). "In me" probably harks back to the vine and branches intimacy that Jesus revealed in chapter 15. Their relationship with the world would result in turmoil because of the opposition that would come on them from unbelievers. However the proof that the peace that Jesus would give them would overcome the turmoil that the world would create was Jesus’ victory over the world in the Cross (Joh 12:31; 1Co 15:57; 1Jn 2:13-14; 1Jn 4:4; 1Jn 5:4-5). This was probably another statement that the disciples did not understand immediately.

Jesus closed this discourse with a word of encouragement. The Greek word thareso, translated "take courage" or "take heart," is one that only Jesus used in the New Testament (cf. Mat 9:2; Mat 9:22; Mat 14:27; Mar 6:50; Mar 10:49; Joh 16:33; Act 23:11). Jesus was the great encourager. The Holy Spirit continues His ministry in us today.

The tension that the victory of Christ and the opposition of the world pose for the Christian is not one that we can escape in this life. Notwithstanding it is possible for us to be more peaceful than distressed as we realize and believe that Jesus has already won the victory (Joh 16:11; cf. Rom 8:37).

The Upper Room Discourse ends here (Joh 13:31 to Joh 16:33). The rest of Jesus’ private ministry (chs. 13-17) consisted of prayer.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)