---
title: John 16:15
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-16-15/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-16-15.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 16:15
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 16:15

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "All the things that the Father has are mine. That is why I said he receives from what is mine and declares it to you."

## JW Usage

Read as a statement about delegated authority: Jehovah has given everything into the Son's hands, as John 3:35 says, and the holy spirit — understood as God's impersonal active force — conveys that instruction to the disciples. The verse is not usually seen as saying anything about the Son's nature, and the spirit's role in it is read as mechanism rather than personal action.

## Protestant Usage

Two observations, neither of which requires Greek. First, the scope of the claim. "All the things that the Father has are mine." Not all authority delegated, not all things entrusted — everything the Father has. If the Father has aseity, eternity and omniscience, the sentence includes them. A creature cannot say this about God without blasphemy, and Jesus says it in passing, as a premise for something else. Second, notice what the spirit is doing in the same sentence: he receives from what belongs to the Son and declares it to the disciples. Receiving, and then declaring — those are things persons do. Across this discourse the spirit teaches (14:26), testifies (15:26), guides, hears and speaks (16:13). Jesus also calls him "another helper," using a word for another of the same kind. This is a good verse for a Witness who has agreed that the Father and Son are distinct persons but treats the spirit as a force. Ask what the force is doing when it hears something and decides to pass it on. Compare John 15:26, John 17:23, 1 Corinthians 2:11.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Perichoresis — Three Persons Sharing One Will, Not Three](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-perichoresis-one-will.md) — Mutual indwelling, not a committee of gods [Deity of Christ]