Why couldn’t Jesus tell His disciples everything?
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column ("Nidal Hasan's execution: What 'public' should mean for Christians") in which I briefly discussed a very important principle of biblical interpretation. Several of you have commented on this principle, so I have decided to expand on it today. The foundation and key for this principle is Jesus' instruction to His disciples as He was preparing them for His imminent departure.
The disciples were understandably distraught that Jesus was about to leave them after living in close company with them for about three years.
Jesus observed that "sorrow hath filled your heart" (John 16:6).
Jesus explained:
"It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment [...] I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." (John 16:7–8, 12–13)
The important fact Jesus is imparting to His disciples (and to us) here is that during His earthly ministry, He was constrained in what He could teach His disciples by their spiritual limitations. A good analogy is the difference between teaching eighth graders and teaching graduate honors students.
As I said in my earlier column, all Holy Scripture is equally inspired. However, God has revealed Himself to man progressively, starting with Genesis and revealing more and more of Himself and His purposes over time, necessarily building on previous revelation.
As Scripture explains:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons; God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son: and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." (Galatians 4:4–7)
What Jesus is telling the disciples (and us) is that after He had accomplished His divinely assigned task of securing eternal salvation for all who will trust and believe in Him as Savior — through His sacrifice of Himself on the cross and His Resurrection on the first Easter — He would send the Holy Spirit (the Comforter) in a new and mighty way at Pentecost (Acts 2).
As the Apostle Peter explained to the assembled witnesses, "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:33).
The critically important spiritual reality of these revealed truths is that living in this post-Pentecost world gives each Christian believer an ability to understand spiritual truth that was not previously available. Even the great King David prayed in his penitential psalm:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit." (Psalm 51:10–12)
Before Pentecost, God's Holy Spirit "abided with" believers and even indwelt them periodically. Permanent indwelling is a post-Resurrection, post-Ascension phenomenon.
This is enormously helpful to those seeking to understand Holy Scripture. The portion of Holy Scripture written and revealed to the people most like us spiritually is the portion bound as Acts through Revelation.
The Gospels were written down after Pentecost, and Matthew, Mark and Luke were in circulation by A.D. 60.
The Gospel of John was written somewhat later (around A.D. 80–95), by which time the Christian Church was overwhelmingly made up of Gentiles — non-Jewish converts. (Some estimates are that by A.D. 90, there were 20,000 Gentile Christians for every Jewish believer.) This would explain the strongly Greek, or Gentile, orientation of the Fourth Gospel.
However, although the Gospels were written after Pentecost, they record events before Pentecost. And while they record Jesus' teaching to His disciples with complete accuracy, He was limited in what He could tell them by the limitations of His hearers — limitations that were removed at Pentecost.
I have been preaching the Gospel for more than six decades now (since age 16), and I am absolutely convinced that every word of Scripture is "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16). However, given Jesus' revelation about the limitations of His hearers before Pentecost, we should use the portion of Scripture written most directly to the people most like us spiritually — post-Pentecost believers — to help us correctly understand God's earlier revelation of Himself.
So, as I have preached through books of the Bible such as Genesis, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Amos, Matthew and John, I have used Acts through Revelation as a divine commentary to further illuminate the spiritual truths God is revealing to us in His Holy Word.
I hope and pray that you will find this secret Jesus imparted to us for understanding His Holy Word as enormously helpful as I have over the decades.
Dr. Richard Land, BA (Princeton, magna cum laude); D.Phil. (Oxford); Th.M (New Orleans Seminary). Dr. Land served as President of Southern Evangelical Seminary from July 2013 until July 2021. Upon his retirement, he was honored as President Emeritus and he continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Theology & Ethics. Dr. Land previously served as President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (1988-2013) where he was also honored as President Emeritus upon his retirement. Dr. Land has also served as an Executive Editor and columnist for The Christian Post since 2011.
Dr. Land explores many timely and critical topics in his daily radio feature, “Bringing Every Thought Captive,” and in his weekly column for CP.
