João 16

João 16

(John Commentaries) Charts from Jensen's Survey of the NT - used by permission Another Chart from Charles Swindoll John 16:1 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. KJV John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. BGT John 16:1 Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα μὴ σκανδαλισθῆτε. NET John 16:1 "I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. CSB John 16:1 "I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling. ESV John 16:1 "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. NIV John 16:1 "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. NLT John 16:1 "I have told you these things so that you won't abandon your faith. NRS John 16:1 "I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. NJB John 16:1 I have told you all this so that you may not fall away. NAB John 16:1 "I have told you this so that you may not fall away. YLT John 16:1 'These things I have spoken to you, that ye may not be stumbled, MIT John 16:1 I have spoken these things to you so you will not become disillusioned. John 16:4 15:11 Mt 11:6 13:21,57 24:10 26:31-33 Ro 14:21 Php 1:10 1Pe 2:8 Related Passages: John 6:61+ But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble (skandalizo) ? 1 John 2:10+ The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling (skandalizo) in him. Matthew 13:20-21+ (PARABLE OF THE SOILS - ALSO Mk 4:17+) The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away (skandalizo) . (NOTE THE POTENTIAL EFFECT OF PERSECUTION => TO CAUSE A PROSPECTIVE BELIEVER TO FALL AWAY OR BE "SCANDALIZED" TO TO SPEAK). John 6:61+ But Jesus, conscious that His disciples (MOST OF THESE WERE "PROFESSORS" NOT "POSSESSORS" OF A GENUINE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS) grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble (skandalizo)? (IN IT DID CAUSE THEM TO FALL AWAY - Jn 6:66) DEPICTION OF "SKANDALON" PURPOSE OF "THESE THINGS" Warren Wiersbe's Outline of John 16 The Spirit as Comforter Encourages the Church (John 15:18–16:4) The Spirit as Reprover Witnesses through the Church (John 16:5–11) The Spirit as Teacher Guides the Church (John 16:12–15) There Is a Principle to Grasp (John 16:16–22) There Is a Promise to Believe (John 16:23–28) There Is a Position to Claim (John 16:29–33) These things - This begs the simple question "What things"? Always pause to ponder and interrogate this little phrase which occurs 41 times in John's Gospel. Don't "speed read" the Bible! If you slow down and engage actively with "these things," by the time you finish John you will have honed the valuable discipline of pausing to ponder (aka meditate) which will yield great fruit in all of your Bible reading. You will be slowing down on other "hinge words/phrases" like "so that" (992x), "but," (4108x), "for" (>7000x but only where you can substitute "because"), "therefore," (903x) and even the little coordinating conjunction "and" (which does not usually get much respect but is found >20,000x some uses being very strategic). THOUGHT - Let me give you an example of "and." In Jn 14:15 Jesus says “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." What's "keep" imply? Clearly this speaks of obedience. Now one can either obey with "natural" power (aka legalistically) or "supernatural" power. Now watch what Jesus does to enable the disciples to obey with supernatural power. He uses the conjunction kago which is a combination of kai and ego. You are asking so what? The "what" is that Jesus clearly chooses a coordinating conjunction "and" (kago) in introducing the supernatural power that would enable obedience to His commandments. And of course in Jn 14:16 the promised power Source is the Holy Spirit Who would be with them forever! He would supernaturally enable them and all disciples thereafter to keep His commandments motivated by love. These things in Gospel of John - Jn. 1:28; Jn. 2:16; Jn. 2:18; Jn. 3:9; Jn. 3:10; Jn. 3:22; Jn. 5:1; Jn. 5:16; Jn. 5:19; Jn. 5:34; Jn. 6:1; Jn. 6:59; Jn. 7:1; Jn. 7:4; Jn. 7:9; Jn. 7:32; Jn. 8:28; Jn. 8:30; Jn. 9:40; Jn. 11:43; Jn. 12:16; Jn. 12:36; Jn. 12:41; Jn. 13:17; Jn. 14:25; Jn. 15:11; Jn. 15:21; Jn. 16:1; Jn. 16:3; Jn. 16:4; Jn. 16:6; Jn. 16:25; Jn. 16:33; Jn. 17:1; Jn. 17:13; Jn. 19:25; Jn. 19:36; Jn. 19:38; Jn. 20:18; Jn. 21:1; Jn. 21:24 I have spoken to you - Jesus is addressing the 12, but one of the 12 would fail to hear "these things" and would stumble (fall away) into darkness and betrayal. Compare Jesus' similar forewarning statements: John 13:19+ “From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. John 14:29+ “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. Little hinges can open big doors! So that (hina) - This phrase always introduces a purpose or result and thus is a valuable "hinge word" to open the door to the interpretation of a given passage. It begs the simple question of what is the writer's purpose or the result? Although the answer from the context may be obvious, intelligently interrogating the text is a very helpful discipline to develop to up your ability to read the Scriptures. And you will have plenty of opportunities to query the "so that's" because there are 991 uses in the NASB95. So what is Jesus' purpose (or result he desires) in this context? You may be kept from stumbling (skandalizo - ESV - falling away; NIV - go astray; NLT- abandon your faith) - More literally "that ye may not be stumbled" (Jn 16:1YLT) or "you may not be tripped up" or "fall into a trap." The idea is to hinder right conduct or right thought and as a result to cause one to stumble in actions or words. Jesus' spoke these things so His disciples (including us today) would not be caught off guard, like an animal ensnared in a trap (see Tasker below), especially the soon to come hatred and persecution (cf Jn 15:18-25+)! How did the disciples do with this forewarning? Not well! Jesus had predicted they would fulfill the prophecy recorded in Zechariah 13:7+ declaring "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ " (Mt 26:31) Mt 26:56 says when He was arrested "Then all the disciples left Him and fled." So much for being forewarned! THOUGHT - Yes, the old saying forewarned is forearmed is great if you are forewarned. The disciples were and still failed. My experience has been that many Christians in America are not really "forewarned." In other words, they are not aware that persecution is not just possible, but is probable if Christ is your life (Galatians 2:20+). They hated Him and they will hate Him in you and you will be persecuted. Your life is like a bright light shining into the darkness of their life of sin. (see Jn 3:19, 20+) And given the ever deepening moral darkness in America, it will not be surprising to see persecution increase in coming years. It therefore behooves all of us as believers to ponder the passages that warn of persecution so that we are not caught off guard. I encourage you to study passages like 2Ti 3:12, Php 1:29, Mt 5:10-12, Acts 5:40, 41, 1Pe 4:10-19, James 1:2-4 and others. R V G Tasker explains that skandalizo or the noun skandalon was "used of the spring of a trap which might ‘go off’ when you were least expecting it.”...During the earlier part of His ministry Jesus had spoken comparatively little to His disciples about the persecution which awaited them, because He had been in their company, and as long as He was with them the world’s hatred must inevitably be drawn to Himself.” (BORROW The Gospel according to St. John page 180) (COMMENT - Tasker is partially correct in why Jesus had not warned much about persecution. The other reason, and probably the main reason, for not warning the disciples is because it was not the disciples who were in the "crosshairs" of the vitriol fired from the Jewish religious leaders. He was their primary target, but after He goes, they will shift their focus to go after the disciples. This is why He did not speak much about persecution and hatred at the beginning - Jn 15:4). THOUGHT - Their task (and ours) is to go to a self-seeking, pleasure-oriented world and proclaim that the Holy God is going to judge all sinners, but that He has provided the way of escape through the Savior. This message is sure to stir up derision and hostility. Just the people of Noah’s day rejected his message of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5) and the people in Sodom thought that righteous Lot must have been joking (2 Pet. 2:6–9; Gen. 19:14), so sinners today will not respond favorably to a message about sin, righteousness, and impending judgment. If you expect that everyone in this hostile world will welcome your message, you’ll be in for a rude awakening. (Witnessing To A Hostile World John 16:1-11)