Willingness to Know the Truth a Condition of the Reception of the Truth
W. Denton, M. A. John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; A celebrated French beauty was smitten with smallpox, and as she became convalescent, her friends, fearing the consequences, would not tell her of her disfigurement. But one day, not getting an answer to her questions, she called for a mirror, and when she saw the calamitous fact that her beauty was gone, in a fit of passion, smashed the glass. It had told her the truth about herself. So the Spirit of Truth tells us about ourselves; and some people, rather than believe His witness, deny His existence. Whom the world cannot receive. — The world — that is, worldly men, minds full of worldliness — cannot receive, cannot see or know the Spirit, because He is wholly heavenly. As a mirror which is unclean cannot reflect clearly the image which is before it, so the heart that is impure, and which clings to the things of earth, cannot see with the eye of faith the Spirit of Truth, and so cannot receive Him. Worldliness receives Him not — (1) Because it does not and cannot see Him intellectually, which is the only mode by which it is accustomed to perceive anything that is not corporeal. (2) Because it does not see Him corporeally; for such a temper of mind receives only what it sees: sight and the other senses are the instruments of reception, not faith; and hence, since He cannot be apprehended by the senses, such men did not receive Him, and cannot love Him, for the knowledge which is here spoken of includes love. (W. Denton, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; WEB: I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,—