John 16:13

What was now withheld would afterwards be disclosed, ὅταν … ἀλήθειαν. The Spirit would complete the teaching of Christ and lead them “into all the truth”. ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς “shall lead you,” “as a guide leads in the way, by steady advance, rather than by sudden revelation”. Bernard. This function of the Spirit He still exercises. It is the Church at large He finally leads into all truth through centuries of error, οὐ γὰρ λαλήσει … ὑμῖν, “for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatever He shall have heard He will speak, and the things that are coming He will announce to you”. This is the guarantee of the truth of the Spirit's teaching, as of Christ's, John 7:17; John 14:10. What the Father tells Him, He will utter. Particularly, τὰ ἐρχόμενα ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν, “the things that are coming He will declare to you”. τὰ ἐρχόμενα means “the things that are now coming,” not “the things which at any future stage of the Church's history may come”. It might include the events of the succeeding day, but in this case ἀναγγελεῖ could not be used; for although these events might require to be explained, they did not need to be “announced”. The promise must therefore refer to the main features of the new Christian dispensation. The Spirit would guide them in that new economy in which they would no longer have the visible example and help and counsel of their Master. It is not a promise that they should be able to predict the future. [“Maxime huc spectat apocalypsis, scripta per Johannem.” Bengel.] In enabling them to adapt themselves to the new economy the centre and norm would be Christ.