Meet the Paraclete

#39: “Meet the Paraclete” by Brendon Wahlberg

The Gospel of John, in chapters 14-16, contains the only formal teaching about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. These passages are part of Jesus’ farewell speech, and in them, he teaches his disciples about the Paraclete, a term for the Holy Spirit that is unique to John’s writings. The word Paraclete (Greek: parakletos) means “one called alongside”. It has been translated variously as advocate, counselor, and comforter. The Paraclete is in fact the Holy Spirit, the presence of God who will remain with the disciples after Jesus has ascended. These passages give us a rare insight into the nature of the third person of the Trinity. Here they are in order:

“‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate [Paraclete], to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” (John 14:15-17)

“‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (14:25-26)

“‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.” (15:26)

“But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. The Work of the S ‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (16:4-15)

What can we learn about the Holy Spirit from these passages? The word Paraclete belongs to the language of law courts, and means our defender in court, our advocate. Notice that Jesus says he is sending “another” advocate. This is because both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are our advocates. The Holy Spirit is to continue in Jesus’ role on Earth while Jesus takes up the role in Heaven, as seen in John’s first letter. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate [paraclete] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1)

What else can these passages teach us? The Paraclete is an advocate. In court, an advocate stands opposed to an adversary. You may remember that the word for devil, “diabolos”, means the opposite of an advocate, an accuser. The accuser’s role is described in Revelation. “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” (Revelation 12:10) So, the Holy Spirit’s purpose is opposite to that of Satan. One function of our advocate is to turn the attack against Satan by accusing the accuser. The Paraclete condemns Satan, the “ruler of this world,” in judgment. The Paraclete also works to bring people to Christ, by arguing that they sin by not believing in Christ, and testifying to the world about the righteousness of those who do believe.
Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

These passages say that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, is the Spirit of truth. Sent by God in Jesus’ name, the Spirit teaches everything that Jesus did not teach while living among us, and reminds us of everything Jesus taught when he was among us. The Spirit also declares the future. So, the Paraclete is a teacher of all truth, past, present and future. We are further defended against Satan by learning the truth about God. Furthermore, the telling of this truth glorifies Jesus Christ. The New Testament scriptures themselves accomplish many of these same goals in the world. Both scripture and the Paraclete teach us about what Jesus did among us, and glorify him. No wonder it is said that scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Together they do the same work.

Finally, these passages reassure us that the presence of the Holy Spirit is with us and within us, forever, even if it is unseen and unknown by many in the world. Paul has further teaching about the Spirit and its gifts. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:7-13)