Tractates (Lectures) on the Gospel of John — Tractate 95

St. Augustine of Hippo

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4

The Lord, when promising that He would send the Holy Spirit, said, When He has come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. What does it mean? Is it that the Lord Jesus Christ did not reprove the world of sin, when He said, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin? And that no one may take it to his head to say that this applied properly to the Jews, and not to the world, did He not say in another place, If you were of the world, the world would love his own? Did He not reprove it of righteousness, when He said, O righteous Father, the world has not known You? And did He not reprove it of judgment when He declared that He would say to those on the left hand, Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels? [[Matthew 25.41]] And many other passages are to be found in the holy evangel, where Christ reproves the world of these things. Why is it, then, He attributes this to the Holy Spirit, as if it were His proper prerogative? Is it that, because Christ spoke only among the nation of the Jews, He does not appear to have reproved the world, inasmuch as one may be understood to be reproved who actually hears the reprover; while the Holy Spirit, who was in His disciples when scattered throughout the whole world, is to be understood as having reproved not one nation, but the world? For mark what He said to them when about to ascend into heaven: It is not for you to know the times or the moments, which the Father has put in His own power. But you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit, that comes upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. [[Acts 1.7]]-8 Surely this is to reprove the world. But would any one venture to say that the Holy Spirit reproves the world through the disciples of Christ, and that Christ Himself does not, when the apostle exclaims, Would ye receive a proof of Him that speaks in me, namely Christ? [[2 Corinthians 13.3]] And so those, surely, whom the Holy Spirit reproves, Christ reproves likewise. But in my opinion, because there was to be shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit that love [[Romans 5.5]] which casts out the fear, [[1 John 4.18]] that might have hindered them from venturing to reprove the world which bristled with persecutions, therefore it was that He said, He shall reprove the world: as if He would have said, He shall shed abroad love in your hearts, and, having your fear thereby expelled, you shall have freedom to reprove. We have frequently said, however, that the operations of the Trinity are inseparable; but the Persons needed to be set forth one by one, that not only without separating Them, but also without confounding Them together, we may have a right understanding both of Their Unity and Trinity.