The Holy Spirit, the Cosmos and Sin
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would “convict the world of sin” in John 16:8. Besides filling the 120 believers assembled in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was also released upon the earth, preparing people to hear the Gospel message.
The word Jesus used for “world” in this passage is cosmos. The Greeks were obsessed with the cosmos and believed the highest calling and achievement of mankind was to study and understand the cosmos.
The cosmos described the order of the universe. The Greeks saw the structure of the world around them and concluded that all of nature had intelligent design. They were obsessed with the idea that the principles of nature could be studied and understood by man. These laws were predictable, equitable, computable and understandable.
Therefore, their greatest philosophers, scientist and mathematicians set their minds to comprehending one thing…
the cosmos…
the universe…
the order of things.
So when Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convince the world of sin, He was saying that the universal understanding of sin would be restructured. Worldviews, philosophies and paradigms would change. The human ethos would be reconstructed. People would start comprehending sin differently. The Holy Spirit would move upon their hearts and help them see the true nature of sin.
What is the true nature of sin?
Jesus tells us in the next verse: “of sin, because they believe not on me.” The core nature of sin is the refusal to believe in Jesus. The reality of His life, death and resurrection has changed the cosmos so entirely that the true character of sin can now be comprehended in its irreducible core – the sin of unbelief. No other categories, degrees or lists of sins are needed. The finished work of Jesus Christ changed the cosmos so thoroughly that the nature sin can now be boiled down to whether a person believes the claims of Jesus or not.
This was true in the beginning when Eve carried on the conversation with Satan. The tempter said to her, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5).” The sin for Adam and Eve was considering themselves more reliable than God in determining right and wrong for their lives. In essence, this is unbelief.
When the Holy Spirit was released upon the earth, His purpose was to begin the process of reconstructing the concepts of sin in light of what the Last Adam (Jesus) had accomplished. If unbelief was the origin of all other acts of sin, then belief, by necessity, would have to be the essential quality that would undo Adam’s mess and begin the process of restoring what was lost. Jesus paid the price for all people’s sin and now asks us only to believe Him.
But to believe is not an easy thing. Unlike so many people who say they believe something and then do the opposite, this type of belief is found in the definition of the Greek word that Jesus used here, pisteuo’. It means to rely on; to put confidence in; to trust. Believing in Jesus means more than just intellectual knowledge. It means to rely on Him, put confidence in Him and to trust in Him.
For what? We believe that God has our best interests at heart and knows the best way for mankind to live in order to have abundant life now and for all eternity!
Like Adam and Eve, so many people today display the same desire to be like God in determining for themselves what is right and wrong. We hear a common refrain today that says, “What’s right for me may not be right for you. What’s right for you may not be right for me.” Then should anyone challenge our assertions of right and wrong we are quick to reply, “Don’t judge me!” Being a god unto myself means that none other than I has the right to tell me what is right and what it is wrong.
Unbelief is the refusal to trust God in determining what is right and wrong for our lives. It is the desire to want to be our own god. It is the desire to create and play by our own rules. Unbelief is refusing to believe that God has our best interests at heart and the Bible is the best guidebook for mankind. Unbelief is a form of pride that makes a person reject the claims of Christ in lieu of a religion of their own making. They, in essence, become their own god just like Satan tempted Adam and Eve to do in the Garden of Eden.
But then comes the Holy Spirit!
Amazing! It’s astonishing that mankind is still choosing to believe in the teachings of a Rabbi that lived over 2,000 years ago. In greater and greater numbers, what started out with 12 common followers has grown into the largest movement on earth.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit has been reordering the hearts and minds of people around the world since the time of Christ. He does so by restructuring their thought processes and imaginations, daring them to believe in something that God did for them two millennia ago.
It’s outrageous!
It’s incredible!
It’s supernatural!
It’s got to be the work of the Holy Spirit!
Right now, He is talking to you. Somewhere in the depth of your soul you are feeling something, hearing something, considering something. No matter how hard we try not to hear, it’s impossible to completely turn a deaf ear to the relentless draw of the Holy Spirit.
The season of unbelief is passing away. It’s being rendered powerless in your life. It’s time to believe on Christ! The moral cosmos you’ve built in your mind is being disassembled. The Holy Spirit is challenging your concepts and values to accommodate a belief that is so radical and extreme that it must be true!
He’s letting people know all over the world that the sin of unbelief is no longer cool.
It’s unacceptable.
It’s burdensome.
It’s dark.
He is showing us a better way. The Holy Spirit is helping us admit what we have suspected all along - that Jesus is Lord, He died for our sins and He loves us supremely.
No more unbelief!