“And when he is come, he will reproue the world of sinne, and of righteousnesse, and of iudgement.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
16:8 He - Observe his twofold office; toward the world, #John 16:8|, &c; toward believers, #John 16:12|, &c: will convince - All of the world - Who do not obstinately resist, by your preaching and miracles, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment - He who is convinced of sin either accepts the righteousness of Christ, or is judged with Satan. An abundant accomplishment of this we find in the Acts of the Apostles.
Joh 16:8 He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. The Revised Version more correctly renders, "Will convict the world in respect of sin". There are three points concerning which the world would be convicted, concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit would effect these important results through some means. If we would understand the methods we have only to turn over to the fulfillment of these predictions recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. In Ac 2:38, the Holy Spirit fell upon eleven apostles and they spoke as "the Spirit gave them utterance" (Ac 2:4). The words that they spoke were the words of the Holy Spirit. In the record of what was said by the mouth of Peter, we find that the Spirit convicted (1) of sin, in that those who heard had rejected the Lord of life and glory; (2) of righteousness, in that it was demonstrated by the manifestations of that hour that God had exalted the Lord whom they had condemned to his own right hand; (3) of judgment, in that they were assured of the "wrath to come" (Mt 3:7 Lu 3:7 1Th 1:10), and warned to "save themselves from this untoward generation" (Ac 2:40).