Likewise, if conviction is nothing more than exposure to information, why does John 16:8 attribute conviction to the work of the Spirit?
Jn 16:8 is yet another passage that evangelicals have gommed up. 'The world', i.e. the Jewish arrangement, was repeatedly convicted of the murder of Christ by the Spirit through the mouths of His witnesses. John 16:8, a misunderstood, abused, and misused passage by evangelicals:
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.
8 And he,
when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
This is the coming of 'the Comforter':
1 And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place.
2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and
it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2
This is 'the world' that the Comforter convicted through the mouths of His witnesses:
20 Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to
the world; I ever taught in
synagogues, and in
the temple, where all
the Jews come together; and in secret spake I nothing. Jn 18
This is 'the Comforter convicting the world'. It was CHRIST HIMSELF speaking through Peter and His witnesses in convicting the Jews of the heinous crime of crucifying the Lord of Glory. Read the record of the Spirit convicting the apostate ecclesiastical system of the Jews, through the testimony of His witnesses, of the murder of the Righteous One, and declare Him indeed to be righteous. Take note, in all these examples given, of
the redundancy of the message from the Comforter to the Jews; YOU KILLED HIM, BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD:
Acts 2:
4 And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, saying, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear unto my words.
22
Ye men of Israel, hear these words:
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know;
23 him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,
ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay:
24
whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that
God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.
40 And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying,
Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
Acts 3:
12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people,
Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this man? or why fasten ye your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk?
13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.
14 But
ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you,
15
and killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead; whereof
we are witnesses.
23 And it shall be, that
every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.
Acts 4:
8 Then
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them,
Ye rulers of the people, and elders,
9 if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole;
10
be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Acts 5:
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them,
28 saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold,
ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and
intend to bring this man`s blood upon us.
29 But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men.
30
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree.
31
Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
32 And
we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Acts 6:
8 And
Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought great wonders and signs among the people.
9 But there arose certain of them that were of the synagogue called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen.
10 And
they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake.
15 And all that sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
Acts 7:
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and they killed them that showed before of the coming of
the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and murderers;
53 ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 and said,
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7
Acts 10:
39 And
we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the country of
the Jews, and in Jerusalem;
whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree.
40
Him God raised up the third day, and gave him to be made manifest,
41 not to all the people, but unto
witnesses that were chosen before of God, even to us,
who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And
he charged us to preach unto the people, and
to testify that this is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.
Acts 13:
16 And Paul stood up, and beckoning with the hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, hearken:
27 For
they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet
asked they of Pilate that he should be slain.
29 And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.
30
But God raised him from the dead:
31 and he was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are now his witnesses unto the people.
