Conviction of the Holy Spirit Part 1

Conviction of the Holy Spirit Part 1

Have you ever heard someone say, “The Holy Spirit is convicting me of my sin”? Have you ever said it yourself? I know I have, at least until I discovered that it is an impossibility. I know some of you reading this are screaming to yourself right now, “BLASPHEMER!” I know this because when I have discussed this with fellow believers, I get that look like, “This guy is crazy. He speaks heresy!” Do I though?

I created this blog after writing a book that exposed many inaccuracies and false teachings about the end-times. When the Holy Spirit directed me to write that book, Wrong All Along: Revelation Revisited, He told me to do it using ONLY Scripture and nothing else. I discovered that a whole lot of what I believed and had been taught was not found in Scripture, and in fact contradicted Scripture. From that point on, I made it a point to eliminate Biblical commentaries from my study routine. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not condemning anyone’s commentary or suggesting that I am smarter than anyone else. I know I am not the smartest or most educated Biblical scholar, and commentaries are extremely helpful for a whole lot of people who are seeking the Truth. But for me, I discovered that if I was willing to put in the time, effort, and tenacity, I could most often discover the Truth of God’s Word with the help of the Holy Spirit. So that is the path I take. In doing so, I have discovered a whole lot of what I previously believed was and is not accurate. This is one of them.

I am going to make a bold statement that is going to ruffle some feathers, but again, I am making it based on Scripture. Here it goes.

The Holy Spirit cannot and never will convict a believer of her/his sin! He will convict you of your sin before you become a believer, but not after. If you believe I am in error, I challenge you to show me using Scripture only.

The passage that leads people to believe I am wrong is found in John 16. In John 16, Jesus is conversing with His disciples prior to His ascension. Let’s pick it up there.

John 16:7-15; 7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 "of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

The verse that most people attribute their position to is found in verse 8, where Jesus says the Helper (Holy Spirit) will convict the world of sin. Yes, I admit the Word says that. However, those that take that stance fail to consider the context of this fraction of a passage. Keep in mind, when the books of the Bible were written, there were no chapters and verses. Those were added later. John wrote this letter, or book, just as if he were writing a letter to a friend. So, let’s break down this passage together.

Let me make a clarification before I do. After posting this, a dear friend who is also a truth seeker, reached out to me because he had concerns with the word "conviction." His concern was for those of us that have a western mindset and understanding of the word "conviction." And he is right. The New Testament was written in Greek. Sometimes, words in Greek do not adequately translate to English and the intent is lost in the translation. The original word used in this passage in the original Greek is "elegcho." It literally translates to "convict, refute, confute generally with a suggestion of shame; to find fault, reprehend severely, chide, to expose, to demand an explanation, to punish." It literally means "to condemn" in this context. And we know according to Scripture, that as a believer we no longer sit in condemnation (Romans 8:1; There is therefore now no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus). We also know that Jesus bore our shame on the cross and He would never shame us. In the Oxford Languages dictionary, "convict" is defined as "declare someone to be guilty of a criminal offense by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law." However, we commonly use the term with a lesser degree of severity. We sometimes interpret it to simply mean recognizing wrongdoing or light chastening. In that context, yes, this explanation of the true intention of this passage may be misunderstood. Clarification complete. Thank you Jesse. Now let's get back to it in John 8.

“… He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 "of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Who was Jesus identifying as “the world”? Is it everybody? No, it is not, and Jesus tells us exactly who He is referring to. In verse 9, Jesus identifies three separate parties following the three purposes of the Holy Spirit described in verse 8. In verse 9, Jesus continued with “…of sin, because they do not believe in Me…”. Does that phrase describe you as a believer? No, it does not. Now look at verse 10. It says, “…of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more…”. Does that phrase apply to non-believers? No, it does not. Only those that have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior are declared righteous before the Father. Now look at the third purpose of the Holy Spirit in this passage. It says, “…of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” Does that apply to you or anyone else you know? No, it does not. Jesus was referring only to the judgement of the ruler of this world, for now anyway. That is Satan.

Jesus first identified three parties and then described the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s interaction with each of those parties. He said the Holy Spirit will convict “the world” of sin. You, as a believer, are not part of this world. Need proof? In John 15, the chapter just before this passage, John wrote that Jesus said this.

John15:17-22; 17 "These things I command you, that you love one another. 18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Jesus had just finished telling His followers that they were not part of “the world.” As a believer, you are not part of this world, and you certainly do not identify with “…because they do not believe in Me…”. You belong to the second party Jesus identified when He said, “…of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more…”. Jesus made you righteous when you accepted His suffering and death as payment for your sins.

And the third assignment of the Holy Spirit in this passage, judgement, is directed to and only to Satan. He alone is referred to as the ruler of this world.

So, let’s go deeper. Who is the “accuser of the brethren”? Revelation 12 tells us.

Revelation 12:10-11; 10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

First, let’s identify “the brethren." The brethren are all believers. The Word tells us that it is Satan that stands before God and points out all of our sins. That is Satan’s job and his alone. But who else is before the throne? Our Advocate, Jesus. He is not there to point out our sins. He is there to refute the accuser’s allegations against us. Satan says to God, “Alex did this, and this, and this and this and that is contrary to the very law that you gave man to abide by.” And he is right, I have sinned in the past, still sin, and will most likely continue to fall short in the future. But when Satan has completed his prosecutorial case against me, my Advocate Jesus gets to speak. And He says, “Father, Alex did do all those things and according to your law, Alex deserves death (Romans 6:23; For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord). However, I love Alex. In fact, I love Alex so much that I wanted to and have already paid for his sins with My suffering and death. You are a just God and You will not punish two people for the same crime. Alex has no more debt.” I’m getting emotional while typing this, just thinking about what Jesus went through for me.

I hope you can now see that a simple statement like, “…the Holy Spirit is convicting me of my sin…” is not only inaccurate, but as a believer, you are giving the Holy Spirit the same role as the devil. You are putting the Holy Spirit on the same side of the courtroom as the devil, the side opposite of Jesus. Jesus tells us what the Holy Spirit’s role is for believers. It is to convict believers of their righteousness and only their righteousness. That is why Jesus said "...you will not see Me again...". Jesus was stating that it will be the Holy Spirit that convicts believers of their righteousness in His absence. So, when the enemy points his finger at you and starts firing flaming darts at you like, “You did this, and you did that, and you had those lustful thoughts and you lost your temper. You aren’t a Christian. God is mad at you because you keep screwing up. You haven’t changed at all.” The Holy Spirit is pointing His finger at you saying, “You are the righteousness of God in Christ. Your sins have been paid for. Jesus died for you. Your Father in heaven adores you. He adores you so much He allowed His Son to come to earth to suffer and die for you. You are whole. You are clean. Your sins are buried at the bottom of the deepest ocean to be remembered no more.”

Whew! Praise Jesus! I typed myself happy. There are three voices that you will contend with: the accuser, the Holy Spirit, and your own. One comes from outside and the other two from the inside (1 John 4:4; You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world). Your own voice, your self-conscious, is what will “twinge” and let you know you are doing wrong when you have sinned or are doing something that is not in line with what you know to be right. That is what you experience when you sin. And that is a good voice if you don’t wallow in self-degradation. But that is an entire blog in itself. However, the Holy Spirit will never “convict” you of sin if you are a believer. That is the devil’s role. Don’t put the Spirit of God in alliance with the devil.

Hope this helps. Jesus loves you!