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In John 16 Christ is presented to us as the newborn child.
In His resurrection Christ was born to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33). In John 16:20-21, the Lord Jesus says to the disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her hour has come; but when she brings forth the little child, she no longer remembers the affliction because of the joy that a man has been born into the world.” This woman is the whole group of the disciples, the child is Christ, and the birth is resurrection (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; Rom. 1:4). According to Acts 13:33, the Lord Jesus was born, begotten, in resurrection to be the Son of God with respect to His humanity. The Lord’s resurrection, therefore, was a birth. This means that when Christ was resurrected, He was born.
Although Christ was already the only begotten Son of God, it was still necessary for Him to be born in resurrection as the firstborn Son of God. In eternity Christ was the only begotten Son of God, in incarnation He was born of Mary to be the Son of Man, and in resurrection He had another birth to be the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29b). When Christ was born of Mary, He was born as a man, and His humanity had nothing to do with His being the only begotten Son of God. In other words, the human part of Jesus was not the Son of God. Therefore, it was necessary for this human part of Him to be born into the divine sonship through resurrection. Hence, Christ’s resurrection was a new birth for Him. In this birth the disciples were the travailing woman. After the Lord’s resurrection this “woman” had a newborn child — the resurrected Christ as the firstborn Son of God — and she rejoiced (John 20:20). In this sense Christ was a child born in resurrection. After His resurrection He was the “child” with the divine life and the human nature with both divinity glorified and humanity “sonized.” The disciples as the mother must have been very happy at the birth of this wonderful child.
Christ’s being the firstborn Son of God implies that He has many brothers and that He is the Firstborn among these brothers (Rom. 8:29). The birth that took place through Christ’s resurrection involved the birth not only of an individual but of a group, a group that includes the firstborn Son and the many sons of God. This indicates that through one birth, one delivery, many sons were brought forth. This resurrection was the birth of the corporate child — the corporate new man. Thus, 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” God regenerated us through Christ’s resurrection. We, as human beings, were all divinely sonized through His resurrection to be many sons of God to participate in His divine sonship. We are the many brothers of the firstborn Son of God in His resurrection. In resurrection, God begot a Son, Jesus Christ, and in resurrection God regenerated many sons. This shows us that the resurrection of Christ was a great delivery. In that same delivery the Firstborn was Christ, and this firstborn Brother had many “twins” to follow Him. In the unique resurrection Christ was born and we were regenerated; hence, we were His “twins” in the same delivery. This was a universal delivery of a corporate child, which included the Son of God as the Head and His many brothers as the Body. The firstborn Son of God is the Head, and His many brothers, sons of God, are the members of Christ. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection was the one universally big delivery of Himself as the firstborn Son and the believers as His many brothers, His millions of “twins.”
The birth of a new corporate child comprising Christ and His believers was the birth of the new man (Eph. 2:15). The Christ who returned in His resurrection was the newborn child to be the new man (Col. 3:10-11). The old man was created by God in Genesis 1 and 2, but the new man was born through the death and resurrection of Christ referred to in John 16. We were born into the old man, but we were regenerated into the new man. We should remember that before we were born into the old man, we had been already regenerated into the new man, since we had been regenerated before we were born according to 1 Peter 1:3. We do not need to try, struggle, or endeavor to be a new man. We are already a new man. We were a new man two thousand years ago. We should not look at ourselves. When we look at ourselves, we will see the old man and be disappointed. Rather, all of us should declare, “I am a part of the new man through the wonderful death and resurrection of the Son of God.” Through His resurrection He as the only begotten Son of God became the firstborn Son of God, and through His resurrection His many brothers were brought forth. Also, through His resurrection a new child was born, comprised of Christ and all His believers.
In resurrection Christ was born as a newborn child to be the firstborn Son of God with His believers to be His many brothers. How does this accomplished fact apply to our experience? According to John 16, it is by the work of the Spirit that we become the many brothers of Christ, the members of Christ. John 16 unveils the two categories of the work of the Spirit: the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the transmission of the Holy Spirit. The first category of the Spirit’s work is to convict the world in the preaching of the gospel and to transfer people out of Adam into Christ (vv. 8-11); the second category of the Spirit’s work is to edify the believers and build them up by revealing to them the Son with the fullness of the Father (vv. 12-15).
John 16:8-11 reveals that the Spirit works to convict the world — mankind — concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. In verse 8 the Lord says of the Spirit, “When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment.” Here to convict means to convince, to condemn, to cause people to rebuke themselves. The Spirit always convicts the world concerning the three matters of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sin entered through Adam (Rom. 5:12), righteousness is the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), and judgment is for Satan, who is the author and source of sin (John 8:44). We were born of sin in Adam. The only way to be freed from sin is to believe in Christ, the Son of God. If we believe in Him, He will be righteousness to us, and we shall be justified in Him (Rom. 3:24; 4:25). If we do not repent of the sin in Adam and believe in Christ the Son of God, we shall remain in sin and share the judgment of Satan for eternity (Matt. 25:41).
In John 16:8-11 the convicting work of the Spirit is related to three persons: Adam, Christ, and Satan. We all became fallen in Adam, but we may believe in Christ and be justified. Because Christ was accepted by God in His death, God raised Him up from the dead, and now He becomes righteousness to all who believe in Him. Satan, the source of death, has been judged and destroyed through Christ’s death (Heb. 2:14). The three main items are related to these three persons: sin is related to Adam, righteousness is related to Christ, and judgment is related to Satan. We were born of Adam, but we have believed in Christ and have received Him as our righteousness. However, all those who do not believe in Christ will suffer the judgment of Satan. Because they remain followers of Satan, they will have the same destiny as Satan.
In verse 9 the Lord says that the Spirit would convict the world “concerning sin, because they do not believe into Me.” Here we see that for a person to perish the unique sin is to not believe in the Son (3:16). The sin here is the unwillingness to be transferred from Adam into Christ. If people wish to remain in Adam, it means that they want to remain in the old realm and not move into the new realm, which is Christ. There is no need for us to commit sin in order to perish. If we simply do not believe in the Lord Jesus, we are already qualified to perish. We may be a gentleman, but as long as we do not believe in the Lord Jesus, we are destined to perish. The unique way to escape from our sinful situation is to believe in the Lord; the unique sin that qualifies us to perish is to not believe in Him. Therefore, the key today is whether we believe or not. If we believe, we shall be transferred out of Adam into Christ. But if we do not believe, we shall perish.
In verse 10 the Lord said that the Spirit would convict the world “concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father.” This means that the Father has been fully satisfied with the Lord’s redemptive death on the cross and has accepted Him in His resurrection. The proof that the Father is satisfied with Christ’s redemption is that the Father resurrected Him from the dead and exalted Him to His right hand. The resurrection and ascension of Christ are the evidences proving that His redemption has satisfied God and has met all the demands and requirements of God. Therefore, He was released from death to be exalted to the heavens at the right hand of God. Now God’s righteousness is manifested in justifying those who believe in Christ (Rom. 3:26). If sinners will believe in Christ, God will justify them, for Christ Himself will become their righteousness.
We are justified in Christ’s resurrection, as proved by Romans 4:25 and 10:9. Romans 4:25 says, “Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification,” and 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” According to the Scriptures, we must believe that God has raised Him from the dead, for we may believe that the Lord has died and yet not believe that He was raised from the dead. If we believe that the Lord has been raised from the dead, this surely implies our faith in His death. Everybody believes that the Lord died, but revelation is needed to believe that the Lord has been resurrected. In Him, the resurrected One, we are accepted before God. Furthermore, as the resurrected One, He is also in us to live for us the life which can be justified by God and which is always acceptable to God. Therefore, Romans 4:25 says that He was raised because of our justification. Justification includes the fact that God has resurrected Christ, accepted Him, and that He has been satisfied with His redemptive death.
In John 16:11 the Lord said that the Spirit would convict the world “concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” We have seen that judgment is related to the devil. Satan, the devil, is the author of sin, the origin of death, the father of all sinners, and the ruler of the world. As such, judgment has been prepared for him. We must recognize that judgment is not for man but for Satan. It is not God’s intention to judge man, because His judgment is for Satan. The lake of fire has been prepared as God’s judgment upon Satan; it was never intended for man. In Matthew 25:41 the Lord said that the King will say to some people, “Go away from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The eternal fire has been prepared for Satan and his angels — the devil and his followers — not for human beings. But if we refuse to come out of Adam into Christ, we will share the judgment that is for Satan, because we prefer to remain as his followers.
Satan, the ruler of the world, has been judged in the flesh of Christ on the cross (John 12:31-33; 3:14). On the cross the Lord as the Son of Man was lifted up in the form of a serpent (3:14), that is, “in the likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3). Satan, the ruler of this world, as “the ancient serpent” (Rev. 12:9; 20:2) has injected himself into man’s flesh. Through His death on the cross “in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” the Lord has destroyed Satan who is in the flesh (Heb. 2:14). By judging Satan in this way (John 16:11), the world which hung upon Satan was also judged. Hence, the Lord’s being lifted up judged the world and cast out its ruler, Satan.
When the Spirit comes, He convicts unbelievers — fallen sinners — of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sinners, who are born in Adam, must believe in the resurrected Christ so that they may have Him as their righteousness. If they do not believe, they will be judged by God as Satan is. When the gospel is preached in a proper way, those who hear should have the desire not to remain in Adam but to be transferred into Christ. These people will then be regenerated and saved. To them the convicting Spirit will become the regenerating Spirit (3:6), the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), and the Spirit of reality, dwelling within them (John 14:17).
The Spirit came to us to convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We repented, believed in the Lord Jesus, and escaped the judgment that is upon Satan. We have been transferred out of Adam into Christ. We have also become children of God and members of Christ. Now we can be filled and saturated with the Triune God who is dispensing Himself into us and mingling Himself with us.
It is also through the transmission of the Holy Spirit that we become the many brothers, the members of Christ as the newborn child. As we have seen, the first category of the Spirit’s work is to convict people, that is, to convince sinners to repent, believe, and be regenerated. But the work of the Spirit involves much more than this. The second category of the Spirit’s work is the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in the regenerated believers to reveal Christ, to glorify Christ, and to make Christ real in the believers (16:12-15). This is the building work of the Holy Spirit.
In John 16:13-15 the Lord says, “But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; for this reason I have said that He receives of Mine and will declare it to you.” According to the context, “the reality” in John 16:13 refers to what the Father has, what the Son has, and what the Spirit receives of the Son and of the Father. What the Father has is a reality, what the Son has is a reality, and what the Spirit receives is also a reality. What the Father has becomes the Son’s, what the Son has is received by the Spirit, and what the Spirit receives is disclosed to us. The Father, the Son, the Spirit, and we, the believers, are all involved in this process.
The Father, who is the source, the origin, has many riches. All that the Father has becomes the Son’s. The Son has the unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8). Whatever the Father has is the Son’s, and what the Son has is received by the Spirit. Since what the Spirit receives is disclosed or transmitted to us, we become the destination. The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is transfigured to be the Spirit, and the Spirit is the reaching of the Divine Trinity to us. All the riches of the Triune God reach us in the Spirit. Therefore, we are the destination of the Triune God. All that the Triune God is and has has been disclosed, conveyed, transmitted, to us. Because we are organically united to the Spirit, that is, organically united to the processed Triune God, whatever He is and has now is our portion as our inheritance.
John 16:13-15 unveils to us the transmission of the Divine Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — into the believers. The Father as the source, the origin, has an abundance of riches. All that the Father has becomes the Son’s. The Son not only has what the Father has; He also has all the riches in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. All that He has is in addition to what the Father has. All these riches contained in the Son are received by the Spirit, and the Spirit discloses them to us. This disclosing is a transmission of all the riches of what the processed Triune God is and has into our being. Now whatever the processed Triune God is and has is to be our element, our essence, our being. This makes the processed Triune God the very essence of our being. Thus, we all become God-men, the many brothers of Christ.
We must apply the transmission of the Holy Spirit to our experience. Do we have all that the Father has, all that the Son has, and all that the Spirit has received? Has the Spirit disclosed all that the Father has and all that the Son has to us in our experience? Actually, we have received everything that the Triune God is and has, but we have been too veiled to see and experience what we have received. We must know this fact in the Word and know it in our experience. We should realize that all that the Father has is the Son’s, that all that the Son has was received by the Spirit, and that the Spirit discloses to us what He receives. The Spirit, the Son, and the Father are all ours to possess! Thus, the Triune God is within us for our daily and hourly enjoyment.
Christ as the firstborn Son of God and His believers as the many sons of God were born in resurrection to be a newborn child for God’s full glorification. The many brothers of Christ produced by the conviction and transmission of the Holy Spirit are for God’s full glorification (Rom. 8:30b, 17b; Heb. 2:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). In particular, the Holy Spirit’s transmission to the believers of all that the Father and the Son have is the glorifying of the Son with the Father (John 16:13-15). The work of the Spirit is not only to convict the sinners that they might believe in Christ and be transferred out of Adam into Christ; it is also to reveal Christ with the fullness of the Father to all of these transferred believers that they might be built up with all the fullness of the Godhead in order to express the Triune God and to glorify the Son with the Father.
In keeping with John 16, Romans 8 reveals that the purpose of God’s foreknowledge, predestination, and calling is to prepare and produce many brothers for His firstborn Son that they, together with God’s firstborn Son, may be the many sons of God with the divine life and nature for the expression of God (vv. 28-29). In 8:30, Paul declares, “Those whom He predestined, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Glorification is the step in God’s complete salvation in which God will completely saturate our body of sin, which is of death and is mortal (7:24; 8:11; 6:6), with the glory of His life and nature according to the principle of His regenerating our spirit through the Spirit. In this way He will transfigure our body, conforming it to the resurrected, glorious body of His Son (Phil. 3:21). This is the ultimate step in God’s complete salvation, wherein God obtains a full expression, which will ultimately be manifested in the coming age.
Corresponding to John 16 and Romans 8, Hebrews 2:10 shows that the many believers as the many brothers of Christ are for God’s full glorification: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in leading many sons into glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” The many sons here are the many brothers in Romans 8:29. The last step of God’s great salvation is to bring His many sons into glory. Romans 8 tells us that God’s work of grace upon us began with His foreknowing, passed through His predestination, calling, and justification, and will end with His glorification. The glorification of the sons of God will be accomplished by the Lord’s coming back (Phil. 3:21), at which time we will be manifested with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). This is our hope (1:27). This glorification of the sons of God, as the goal of God’s salvation, will last through the millennial kingdom and will be manifested in full for eternity in the New Jerusalem — the ultimate consummation of the new man (Rev. 21:2, 5, 11, 23).
