It is a contradiction of terms to say that the
Spirit convicts a man of sin, then, in the next breath, that he convicts
the same man of righteousness. And yet, the Spirit was to convict men
"of righteousness"; but whose righteousness? _The righteousness of Jesus
Christ_. "Of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me
no more." When Jesus was on earth he claimed to be the Son of God; he
claimed to come down from heaven; he claimed to be God manifest in the
flesh; but, at the same time, he was a "man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief." "There was no beauty that we should desire him." On this
account the Jews refused to accept him as the Son of God; they denied
his claim to divinity and called him a blasphemer for making himself
equal with God; they believed that he was unrighteous in making that
claim, and Jesus died because his claims were not accepted by his
people; but after his death he was crowned with glory and honor at the
right hand of the Majesty on high, and the Spirit came to demonstrate
the righteous claims Jesus made while on earth. The Spirit came to
convict men of the righteousness of Christ, and not their own
righteousness. A simple illustration will probably throw light upon this
thought.
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