diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala
index 6cab50ae1bf8..d6659ddbe89f 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala
@@ -610,8 +610,24 @@ class CodegenContext {
     splitExpressions(expressions, "apply", ("InternalRow", row) :: Nil)
   }
 
-  private def splitExpressions(
-      expressions: Seq[String], funcName: String, arguments: Seq[(String, String)]): String = {
+  /**
+   * Splits the generated code of expressions into multiple functions, because function has
+   * 64kb code size limit in JVM
+   *
+   * @param expressions the codes to evaluate expressions.
+   * @param funcName the split function name base.
+   * @param arguments the list of (type, name) of the arguments of the split function.
+   * @param returnType the return type of the split function.
+   * @param makeSplitFunction makes split function body, e.g. add preparation or cleanup.
+   * @param foldFunctions folds the split function calls.
+   */
+  def splitExpressions(
+      expressions: Seq[String],
+      funcName: String,
+      arguments: Seq[(String, String)],
+      returnType: String = "void",
+      makeSplitFunction: String => String = identity,
+      foldFunctions: Seq[String] => String = _.mkString("", ";\n", ";")): String = {
     val blocks = new ArrayBuffer[String]()
     val blockBuilder = new StringBuilder()
     for (code <- expressions) {
@@ -632,18 +648,19 @@ class CodegenContext {
       blocks.head
     } else {
       val func = freshName(funcName)
+      val argString = arguments.map { case (t, name) => s"$t $name" }.mkString(", ")
       val functions = blocks.zipWithIndex.map { case (body, i) =>
         val name = s"${func}_$i"
         val code = s"""
-           |private void $name(${arguments.map { case (t, name) => s"$t $name" }.mkString(", ")}) {
-           |  $body
+           |private $returnType $name($argString) {
+           |  ${makeSplitFunction(body)}
            |}
          """.stripMargin
         addNewFunction(name, code)
         name
       }
 
-      functions.map(name => s"$name(${arguments.map(_._2).mkString(", ")});").mkString("\n")
+      foldFunctions(functions.map(name => s"$name(${arguments.map(_._2).mkString(", ")})"))
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/GenerateOrdering.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/GenerateOrdering.scala
index 1cef95654a17..b7335f12b64b 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/GenerateOrdering.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/GenerateOrdering.scala
@@ -117,8 +117,31 @@ object GenerateOrdering extends CodeGenerator[Seq[SortOrder], Ordering[InternalR
             }
           }
       """
-    }.mkString("\n")
-    comparisons
+    }
+
+    ctx.splitExpressions(
+      expressions = comparisons,
+      funcName = "compare",
+      arguments = Seq(("InternalRow", "a"), ("InternalRow", "b")),
+      returnType = "int",
+      makeSplitFunction = { body =>
+        s"""
+          InternalRow ${ctx.INPUT_ROW} = null;  // Holds current row being evaluated.
+          $body
+          return 0;
+        """
+      },
+      foldFunctions = { funCalls =>
+        funCalls.zipWithIndex.map { case (funCall, i) =>
+          val comp = ctx.freshName("comp")
+          s"""
+            int $comp = $funCall;
+            if ($comp != 0) {
+              return $comp;
+            }
+          """
+        }.mkString
+      })
   }
 
   protected def create(ordering: Seq[SortOrder]): BaseOrdering = {
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/OrderingSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/OrderingSuite.scala
index 8cc2ab46c0c8..190fab5d249b 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/OrderingSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/OrderingSuite.scala
@@ -127,4 +127,14 @@ class OrderingSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
       }
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-16845: GeneratedClass$SpecificOrdering grows beyond 64 KB") {
+    val sortOrder = Literal("abc").asc
+
+    // this is passing prior to SPARK-16845, and it should also be passing after SPARK-16845
+    GenerateOrdering.generate(Array.fill(40)(sortOrder))
+
+    // verify that we can support up to 5000 ordering comparisons, which should be sufficient
+    GenerateOrdering.generate(Array.fill(5000)(sortOrder))
+  }
 }