8 "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged."
John 16:8-11
These verses contain one of the greatest sayings of Jesus about the Holy Spirit. What is said is, in effect an exposition in some detail of what He has already said about the Spirit's coming in15:26. The first point to note is the Spirit is promised to the disciples, 'I will send Him unto you' (7) but His work is in and to the world. The meaning is that the convincing or convicting work that is spoken of in 8 is to be through the disciples. They are to be the vehicles of the Spirit in the world. The first part of the Spirit's threefold work is to convict the world of sin 'because they believe not on me'. That is to say, the focal point or sin is revealed and exposed as the refusal to believe in Christ. The more one thinks of this, the more one realises the depth of its penetration, because the root of sin lies in the desire men have to live their lives in self-centred independence, disowning any allegiance to Him who is the rightful Lord of their lives. We have seen throughout John's gospel that this is what he has been intent on exposing. He puts the Pharisees and Sadducees on the spot, so to speak, and draws all their sin to this one central point: their opposition to Christ. But this is true not only of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but in the most general sense also. Pilate's dilemma at the trial of Jesus shows this very clearly: 'What shall I do, then, with Jesus which is called Christ?' The real heart and centre of sin is not a question of what sort of life we are living but whether or not we have believed in Christ. For this is sin; to be in the presence of goodness incarnate and not love it; to see Christ and see Him with unmoved and unloving hearts; to hear Him call without response; to recognize the beauty of holiness and yet turn away to lust and self and the world.