Behold what human unrighteousness produces. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love and peace, the Spirit of grace and bounty. In His essence and in His actions He is the one, unchanging, divine Comforter. But since the world, sunk in evil, does not know Him, and if it knew Him could not receive Him, and since the spirit of the world, which men given over to the flesh breathe, is wholly opposed to the all-holy Spirit of God, the Comforter becomes the Reprover.
He Whom the Son of God asked of the Father, and merited by His death as the greatest Benefactor of the human race and the supreme Giver of every good, comes Himself to uncover sin and pronounce judgment. "And when He comes, He will reprove the world." How powerful this reproof must be. This is no weak voice of preachers of truth, which often vanishes in the air before reaching the ears, much less the hearts, of hearers. This is the reproof of the Almighty and All-knowing.
He reproved Adam's sin, and death still gathers the terrible dues of that sin from the whole human race. He reproved the contemporaries of Noah, and their memory perished noisily in the waters of the flood. He reproved the cities of Sodom, which had deeply embittered the Lord, and no place for them was found on the face of the earth. He reproved the apostate synagogue, and in Jerusalem not one stone was left upon another.
Here every one reproved must cry out with David to God: "Where shall I go from Thy Spirit, the Reprover, and where shall I flee from His face? If I ascend into heaven, He is there. If I descend into Hades, He is there. If I fly on the wings of the dawn to the uttermost ends of the universe, even there His hand will find me, and His right hand will hold me."
Meanwhile, brethren, the number of people who must undergo the reproof of the Holy Spirit is so great that I do not know whether anyone can exclude himself from it. According to the Savior's words, the Comforter must reprove the world. Who, then, is not in the world? Who will dare say of himself that he is completely pure from everything earthly and sinful? Thus the reproof of the Holy Spirit concerns all and each. Thus we are all among those reproved. Woe to any of us who, being unworthy of the consolation of the Holy Spirit, does not at least profit from His reproof.
The divine Reprover reproves sinners of sin in order to grant them the righteousness of God. He opens the wounds of conscience in order to heal them. Therefore let us hasten to understand the mystery of saving reproof, so that, through obedience to the Reprover, we may turn it into the mystery of our salvation.
Having foretold the coming of the Spirit, the Reprover, the Savior also revealed to His disciples, for their consolation, what this reproof would consist of. "And when He comes," the Savior continued to say to the disciples, "He will reprove the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you will see Me no more. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged" (Jn 16:8-11).
In these words not only the essence, but also the outline of the great reproof is indicated. The world is reproved concerning sin, which it hides or does not recognize. It is reproved concerning righteousness, which it rejects and persecutes. It is reproved concerning judgment, which it distorts or forgets. It is reproved concerning its sin, so that it may be brought to the knowledge and reception of God's righteousness. It is reproved concerning its own righteousness, so that it may be delivered from judgment. Finally, it is reproved concerning judgment, so that it may know that in every respect it is guilty before God, and that nothing remains for it except repentance.
Who does not know, brethren, the universal corruption of morals that prevailed among Jews and Gentiles when the Son of God appeared to cleanse the sins of the world? Yet the world was never so puffed up by its righteousness as at that time. In vain John the Baptist preached repentance by word and life. In vain the Savior Himself cried, "Repent!" The world did not acknowledge its sins. The corrupt Pharisees continued to regard their hypocrisy as true devotion. The reckless Sadducees continued to find wisdom in their free-thinking.
According to the world's judgment, all its associates were holy. By contrast, Jesus Christ, Who reproved the world, was numbered with the transgressors. Finally, instead of repentance, the world began to persecute its Reprover. To complete its crimes, it lifted Him upon the Cross. After this, it seemed that nothing could bring the world to repentance. But behold, the Spirit, the Reprover, comes, and everything takes on a new form.
Hardly had Peter, after the descent of the fiery tongues, spoken a few words of reproof, when three thousand souls acknowledged themselves sinners and asked for baptism (Acts 2:41). A few days later the same miracle was repeated upon another five thousand souls (Acts 4:4). Those miraculously reproved of sin became, in their turn, extraordinary reprovers of others. Here and there hosts of preachers of repentance were formed. In a few years, what could not have been expected from whole centuries was accomplished.
What a compunction-filled spectacle the whole world of that time began to present. Behold, the word of repentance comes to Rome, appears at the court of the Caesars, and is proclaimed in the hearing of earthly gods. What fruits of repentance can be expected there? But for the almighty Reprover there are no barriers. A few discourses on repentance, filled with spirit and power, and among the palaces of Domitian and Nero, where the very throne of Satan stood, there invisibly forms a society of men who conceal beneath purple and gold the Cross and evangelical poverty.
Behold, the word of humility and faith reaches Greece, where there were as many idols as philosophers, and as many philosophers as passions. The wise men of the world hear for the first time that they are sinners. They do not believe, they doubt. But the power of the word of the Cross, disregarding their mind, strikes the heart. Soon, instead of the altar to an unknown God, an altar is raised to the known Redeemer.
Finally, the word of the Gospel no longer fits within the borders of Rome. It reaches where the weapons of the conquerors of the world could not penetrate. The warlike Parthian and the wild Scythian hear the reproof, and hearing, they repent. Many of them do not yet know what the law is, and yet, reproved by faith, they acknowledge themselves lawless.
The spirit of compunction foreseen by the prophet is poured out upon the whole earth. Millions of people begin to weep over what took place in Judea. Peoples, what is this with you? You were not in Judea. You did not crucify Christ. You received Him after He had been rejected. Why, then, do you grieve over His death? Is this your sin? "Ours," whole tribes and tongues answer. "He bears our sins and suffers for us. The chastisement of our peace is upon Him, and by His wound we all are healed" (Isa 53:4-5).
Thus the reproof of the Holy Spirit was accomplished over the pagan world. If only it had ended together with ancient paganism. If only Christians had not compelled the Holy Spirit by their sins to begin a new reproof. The Christian world continues within itself the sins of the pagan world, and the Spirit of God continues over it the reproof prepared for the Gentiles.
First, the divine Reprover from time to time raises up special zealots of piety, who, as though moved by some hidden power, preach repentance to their contemporaries. Every age has them, every land sees and hears them. The life of such people is a mirror in which the imperfections of lovers of the world are shown even more clearly than in their words. Is it not for this reason that the world has always persecuted the truly pious, because their life, in the words of the holy writer, is a torment to it?
For sinners who do not see or do not listen to living reprovers, the Holy Spirit has set up a lifeless reprover, which nevertheless can impart life to those dead in sins. This is the Word of God. Give it to anyone you wish, to a Muslim, a pagan, or a Jew. He may not believe in its divinity, but after reading it he will say that he has not fulfilled everything written in it, and will acknowledge himself a sinner.
What Pharisee could ever stand before the evangelical reproof? What Sadducee did not tremble at the threats contained in it? The weak pastor of the Church, who does not rightly divide the word of truth and does not care for his flock; the covetous judge, who looks at the faces of those judged instead of at justice; the beastly ruler, who lives by the oppression and tears of his subjects; the deceitful servant, who does not care for the benefit and honor of his master; in short, every sinner clearly sees his sin in the Word of God.
All this is produced, so to speak, by the letter of the Gospel alone, appointed to reprove coarse sinners. The spirit of evangelical teaching is still more reproving. The righteous themselves, penetrating into it, have always found new deficiencies in themselves. Thus, as a man grows in virtue, the Gospel itself seems to grow in its demands.
Finally, even those who cannot read or hear the Word of God are not deprived of a reprover. In its place serve the mysteries of the Church. You who senselessly reject or belittle these instruments of God's grace, learn rather to see in them the wisdom of God and the good of mankind. Tell me, how can whole nations be taught the great truth that man is sinful by nature and therefore constantly needs repentance? In Christianity this important truth, and many others, are instilled, so to speak, by themselves through the mysteries.
At every person's entrance into the world, the Church declares in baptism that he is sinful. At his departure from the world, she repeats in Holy Unction that he is sinful. During life, she several times calls each person to the tribunal of repentance and says, "You are sinful." A wondrous spectacle. The king and the last slave, the wise man and the simple person, cast themselves down at the foot of the Crucified, and in the hearing of a fellow man confess their sins.
Who compelled millions of people to be so open and to conquer natural secrecy? Only the Spirit of God could so reprove the world concerning sin that the acknowledgment of sin became a universal obligation. What shall be said of the inner reproofs of the Holy Spirit in the conscience of sinners? Which of us has not at some time heard this reproof? Who has not promised himself to correct his life? Who has not often regretted that he did not fulfill this promise?
At least the Reprover has fulfilled His work. He took upon Himself the duty of reproving our sins, and He has reproved them. None of us can say that he is without sin. This is already enough for the glory of the Reprover and for our salvation. There was a time when the whole world sinned and did not know that it was sinful. "Sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Rom 5:13).
The second object of the Holy Spirit's reproof is the world's unbelief in righteousness. "Concerning righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you will see Me no more." When reproved of sin, the world has always found a destructive comfort in rejecting or concealing the righteousness of God (Rom 1:18). It acted in this way also toward the hypostatic Righteousness when He appeared on earth in the person of the Son of God.
THEOSIS