Taking a verse beyond what it says .

Example
John 16
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin , and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9of sin , because they believe not on me;

10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

12¶I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
' Sin 'in verses 8 and 9 are singular . So the sin is" because they believe not on me;'
But this often gets glossed over and the idea is taught that the Holy Spirit is reproving all manner of sins .
Thoughts ?

Example
John 16
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin , and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9of sin , because they believe not on me;

10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

12¶I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
' Sin 'in verses 8 and 9 are singular . So the sin is" because they believe not on me;'
But this often gets glossed over and the idea is taught that the Holy Spirit is reproving all manner of sins .
Thoughts ?

Sin is sin. The ultimate sin is rejecting God's gift of salvation through Christ. However, people come to Christ because they realise that they are sinners. Often it is one thing that brings them undone. Most people think that they are righteous and do not need a saviour. Christians know this to be false, of course. If a person can be convicted by a sin, it gets them thinking about their eternal future. For example, ask a self righteous person if they've ever lied. I've never met anyone who can honestly say no to that question. The Holy Spirit can then convict that person. That must happen before anyone can be saved.

In English, the word, "sin" is used both specifically, as in, "I committed a sin," and collectively, as in, "I have committed sin". Both are singular. Notice, however, that the article "a" is absent from the second example, as is the case in verse 8 above. That suggests that the word is being used collectively, rather than specifically.

Those who have not believed on Christ stand condemned already, according to Jesus' own words in John 3:18. Verse 16:9 is essentially a restatement of this. People are condemned for their sin (collective) because they don't believe in Jesus.

Example
John 16
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin , and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9of sin , because they believe not on me;

10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

12¶I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
' Sin 'in verses 8 and 9 are singular . So the sin is" because they believe not on me;'
But this often gets glossed over and the idea is taught that the Holy Spirit is reproving all manner of sins .
Thoughts ?

In English, the word, "sin" is used both specifically, as in, "I committed a sin," and collectively, as in, "I have committed sin". Both are singular. Notice, however, that the article "a" is absent from the second example, as is the case in verse 8 above. That suggests that the word is being used collectively, rather than specifically.

Those who have not believed on Christ stand condemned already, according to Jesus' own words in John 3:18. Verse 16:9 is essentially a restatement of this. People are condemned for their sin (collective) because they don't believe in Jesus.

This isn't "adding" to the Bible. It is "adding" another biblical concept to a limited application of it. Jesus was summarizing the role of the Holy Spirit overall, and not including all of the possible applications of that role.

In convicting of sin, the Holy Spirit, overall, reproves the world of sin because in conveying the knowledge of God they reject it, and so convict themselves of sin and judgment. Beforehand, they may not know the truth, and sin without knowledge. Still guilty of sin, God would have them to know there is a way out before convicting them eternally.

The application of this process takes place throughout the lives of people when the Gospel is preached to them at various times. He does convict people of sin before they know the Gospel, but the ultimate goal is to bring people face to face with the truth of the Gospel so that they can be convicted of sin and judged, should they choose not to embrace the knowledge of Christ and repent.

So is that , they sin because they don't believe on Jesus?

John 3 would be a different text in a different context.

But the text in question only says about ' not Believing on Jesus '. Its very specific .

And you are expected to go from the specific to the general. You are not looking at a textbook but divine revelation. Also, many fail to understand that everything is NOT stated explicitly, but many things are implied (based upon the rest of the Bible).

Let's take one example, which is the words of Christ Himself In John 8:24: I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I AM [he], ye shall die in your sins. [Note: "he" is in italics because it is not in the Greek]

So what all is implied here?

1. Christ was addressing Torah observant Jews who were familiar with the book of Exodus. Therefore they would have know the contents of Exodus 3.

2. In Exodus 3 Jesus (the pre-incarnate Word, known as the Angel of the LORD) declared to Moses that He was I AM THAT I AM or I AM.

3. He also declared that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in that chapter.

4. So Jesus was taking the Jews back to that chapter and telling them that He was their God, and if they did not believe that Jesus is God, they would die in their sins.

5. The KJV translators failed to capitalize "I AM" and then added "he" gratuitously to obfuscate the meaning of what Christ was saying. So what was implied by Christ is that unless a person believes wholeheartedly that Jesus is God, he or she cannot be saved, and will not be saved. This is a warning to all the Unitarian cultists.

Example
John 16
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin , and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9of sin , because they believe not on me;

10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

12¶I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
' Sin 'in verses 8 and 9 are singular . So the sin is" because they believe not on me;'
But this often gets glossed over and the idea is taught that the Holy Spirit is reproving all manner of sins .
Thoughts ?

It's a description of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I don't think this is saying that the scope of the Holy Spirit's ministry is confined to the these verses though. There's more material on what the Holy Spirit does.

I think I see your point, though.

Again, just solely sticking to the verses in question ,without adding in other verses what does the verses say ? Its always tempting for our minds to go to ' doctrines ' or other verses to fill in supposed gaps .

Sin is sin. The ultimate sin is rejecting God's gift of salvation through Christ. However, people come to Christ because they realise that they are sinners. Often it is one thing that brings them undone. Most people think that they are righteous and do not need a saviour. Christians know this to be false, of course. If a person can be convicted by a sin, it gets them thinking about their eternal future. For example, ask a self righteous person if they've ever lied. I've never met anyone who can honestly say no to that question. The Holy Spirit can then convict that person. That must happen before anyone can be saved.

You cannot possibly judge what a specific verse means without consider the total context, with all of its ramifications. In other words, you may be demanding only what you wish to hear?

It seems to me the verse is strictly summarizing, as I said, the role of the Holy Spirit. And it has to do with convicting the world of sin by bringing to them the knowledge of Christ. When they reject that knowledge, they are condemned for their sin.

Instead of unbelief being the sin being reproved I think it means the cause of all sin is unbelief in Jesus

Is not believing on Jesus really the ' cause of all sin though? Which verse says this ?