12 "“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”"
John 16:12-16
In 13, the words 'he shall not speak of himself' are probably better rendered 'he shall not speak from himself', and the reference is not so much to speaking about himself as speaking on his own authority, independently of the Father and the Son. This conjures up a striking image of the council of the Trinity, with the Father conversing with the Son and the Spirit listening and communicating what He hears to God's people. The 'things to come' could refer to prophecy such as, for example, we have in Revelation, but the phrase could also mean that the Spirit would show the meaning of things that were yet to happen i.e., the cross and resurrection. This corresponds also with the phrase 'into all truth' in 13a, for it is His office and prerogative to lead Christ's disciples into full knowledge and understanding of the doctrines of the gospel, illumining, guiding and informing their minds and hearts.
The Spirit's ministry is further described in 14 as one of glorifying Christ, that is to say, He makes much of Christ and puts Him central in the Christian's experience. This has a necessary implication, as Alford points out; namely that any religious teaching that does not exalt Christ has a fatal defect about it; it cannot be from the Spirit. This is a consideration of wide application, and it provides us with a sure and reliable test of any teaching. For any teaching that detracts from the glory of Christ - any reservation about His essential Deity, for example - is immediately suspect, and cannot be of the Spirit. Our Lord's words are nothing if not practical.
