Bible Strands
John 16:9
in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses His disciples during the Farewell Discourse, explaining how the coming Holy Spirit will expose the world’s spiritual condition. He frames this conviction around three realities: sin, righteousness, and judgment.
The words — ἁμαρτίας (hamartias) denotes sin, and οὐ πιστεύουσιν (ou pisteuousin) literally means “do not believe.” The text defines the world’s primary failure not as moral lapse but as unbelief in Jesus.
The thread — John 15:22 shows that rejecting Jesus leaves sin without excuse. John 8:23 contrasts those bound to earthly origins with Jesus’ heavenly origin. John 12:47 clarifies that Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save it.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to identify unbelief in Christ as the root sin and to respond by placing faith in His person rather than relying on moral or religious self-justification.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Cross-references
- John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
- John 8:23 Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
- John 12:47 As for anyone who hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
- Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
- Hebrews 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
- John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.
- Acts 2:22 Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.
- John 3:18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
- Acts 3:14 You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
- Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.