Convicted

In the gospel of John in the Bible, you can read in chapter 16 and verse 8 that The Holy Spirit will come to "convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment". These are words spoken by Jesus to His disciples before He returned to Heaven. He explained to them that unless He would depart, the Helper would not come. The Helper is The Holy Spirit. Jesus continued and said that The Holy Spirit after coming would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Without necessarily referring to this scripture, nor knowing about it, many people, among them also quite a large number of Christians, would say that this is what Christianity is about. That the goal of Christianity is to declare every human being guilty of sins. This is probably one of the main reasons why many people stay away from churches, and why many also keep God on a distance in their daily lives because they are afraid of being condemned and judged for the way they live their lives.

But before jumping to a conclusion that Jesus returned to Heaven about 2,000 years ago and God instead sent The Holy Spirit to convict each and every one of us of sin and righteousness, and prepare us for judgment, let us at least read the complete sentence where Jesus actually explained what He meant.  Because the above quote from John 16:8 is just a part of the sentence that Jesus expressed. Let us therefore read the complete sentence that starts in verse 8 and ends in verse 11: "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.".

Sin

The Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of sin, "because they do not believe in Me". Saying this, Jesus was talking to His disciples. Referring to "them" when talking to the disciples, He did not mean the disciples, but other people, those people in the world that do not believe in Him. What is then the sin that The Holy Spirit has come to convict us of? The sin is: not to believe in Jesus Christ. The only sin that will keep people away from God is: not to believe in Jesus Christ!

Righteousness

The Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of righteousness, "because I go to My Father and you see Me no more". Still talking to His disciples, He is now referring to them. Here, He does not refer to other people. In the Amplified Bible, the word "righteousness" is explained with "uprightness of heart and right standing with God". When not believing in Jesus Christ is the only sin that can keep people away from God, believing in Jesus Christ will give people a right standing with God. Any other sin cannot keep people away from God, just as any good deed cannot give people a right standing with God. By believing in Jesus Christ, we have received as a gift this righteousness and right standing with God. We are not in a right standing with God because of anything we have done, but only because of what Jesus Christ has done. 2^nd Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God when we believe in Jesus.

Judgment

The Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of judgment, "because the ruler of this world is judged". Here Jesus makes clear who will be judged, or rather who is already judged. It is neither you nor me. It is the ruler of this world. It is the devil.

Summary

The Holy Spirit has come to let the world know three things:

1)      that the sin that will keep people away from God is that they do not believe in Jesus Christ,

2)      that righteousness is a gift from God to every human being who believes in Jesus Christ,

3)      and that the devil already has been judged so that there is no condemnation for those who believe in Jesus Christ.

In 2^nd Corinthians chapter 5, it says in the verses 18 and 19 that God has given us who believe in Jesus Christ the ministry of reconciliation which means that we shall let unbelievers know that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not blaming them for their trespasses.

Open your ears to The Holy Spirit and be convinced. I am.