I was so excited about Pentecost I celebrated it last week and here we go again this week. Jesus explained his work – He willconvict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. All three of these have to be understood in their relationship with Christ. The first work, concerning sin, is to God, an alien work done that God may do His proper work. Sin is not defined by Christ in terms of Iegal or moralistic rules-the devil too can convict of those sins-but He speaks of man’s unwiliingness to surrender his fate to God, that is, unbelief. By righteousness Christ here means righteousness in its highest sense: that which comes onIy through His work as the Son of God. And the devil and all his works are already judged and condemned. Though Christ had not yet died, in the light of His impending death and resurrection, He spoke of it as already taken place, as sure as done. When confronted with this testimony of the Spirit, the sinner goes one of two ways-to damnation with the “prince of this world” or to belief and eternal life with God. This reaction is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit according to Luther, who says: “Sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain ourselves. “
