The sincere follower of Jesus seeks to shape his career on earth by the words and deeds of the Lord. Surrender of the life to Jesus means more than one's merely trying to do better according to a new code of rules and regulations. It is not the turning over of a new leaf, but one's turning up with a new life. I am reluctant to say that it means adoption of a new life style, for this implies that one may choose to live by other styles. If Jesus is rejected, what is chosen is not life at all, but death. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12; KJV). What is set before man is not a variety of life styles from which to make a selection. God is not operating on a glorified cafeteria basis. He has said, "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil" (Deuteronomy 30:15; KJV). To walk in the steps of Jesus means more than merely to change direction, although that is obviously involved. When one is crucified to the world and the world is crucified to him, he no longer lives to the world. He is dead. If he is to exist, another must live in him, seeing through his eyes, speaking with his tongue, and thinking through his brain.
Such a representative of the new humanity does not question whether the life of Jesus will be practical or expedient, or whether it will "pay off." The initial decision takes care of all of that. When he ascertains the manner in which Jesus regarded a question and the language Jesus used, he simply speaks of it in that manner.
A good example of this is found in the attitude toward the identity of the Holy Spirit. The follower of Jesus regards the Spirit as did Jesus. When the Christian speaks of the Spirit he does so in the language Jesus employed. The vocabulary of Jesus becomes his vocabulary. He not only speaks where the Bible speaks, but he speaks as the Bible speaks. When he speaks about the Spirit he means the same thing Jesus meant when speaking of the Spirit.
Even the most casual reader will at once see that Jesus regarded the Spirit as a person. It would be impossible in the limited compass of this chapter to explore fully every reference made by Jesus to the Spirit. Fortunately, that will not be necessary for our purpose. We may limit our study to one discourse delivered in the upper room in Jerusalem, just before Jesus' betrayal and crucifixion. The record of this address is found in John 13:16.
John prefaces the discourse with the statement that Jesus knew His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. The experience was traumatic for both Jesus and the disciples, as He who prepared to depart from the world must prepare the others to remain in the world. The announcement of His impending exodus was made firmly, but gently. "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going you cannot come'" (John 13:33).
This immediately aroused questions, and as usual, Peter put them into words: "Lord, where are you going?" The answer was not direct or definitive. Instead, it cut to the real heart of the matter that of continued intimate association. Jesus replied, "`Where I am going you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow me afterward.'" This did not satisfy Peter, who quickly interjected, "Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus said that before the cock would crow for the morning watch, Peter would deny Him three times. Instead of Peter's laying down his life for Jesus, he would lay down Jesus for his life.
Jesus' announcement of His departure brought consternation to the troubled hearts of His followers and He sought to allay their fears. He assured them that in spite of the fact they would not be able to see Him as before, their relationship would not be dissolved. There would be no loss of power. "`He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father'" (14:12). There would be no loss of communication. "`Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son"' (v. 13). There would be no loss of companionship. "`I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you'" (v. 18).
The word rendered "desolate" is the Greek word orphanos. Literally it means one who is bereft of a father or parents. The word is translated "fatherless" in James 1:27. When Jesus announced His imminent departure, He addressed the disciples as "little children" This indicates that He regarded them not only as a father would his offspring, but as young children immature and relatively helpless. He informs them that they will not be abandoned or cast adrift as orphans, but He will come to them.
A study of the context will show that Jesus was going to request the Father to send another Helper or Comforter, and that this Helper would be so like Him that He could be considered as His other self. The association would be so remarkably intimate that it could be regarded as the Father and Son dwelling in them. `If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him' (v. 23).
The original word Jesus used for this new Companion was Parokletos. It is difficult to find an English term to do justice to this Greek word, and translators differ in the terms they select for translation. The word means, "one who stands beside another to render assistance in time of need." Translators of the King James Version selected the word "Comforter" to designate the work of the Spirit, and "Advocate" to designate the work of Jesus (1 John 2:1)--the only other time the original occurs. Only John employs the word in the Scriptures.
The word "Comforter" may be somewhat misleading in this age because of our "watering down" of the meaning of comfort. Once the word had to do with strength and defense in time of attack, as the word "fort" indicates. A fortress was a bulwark against death and the destruction of all that one held dear. The word "comfort" is from the Latin comfortare, to make strong. So a comforter was one who brought power to hold out against attacking forces. In the days of King James I the word was a good one to employ for "Paraclete."
The Revised Standard Version uses "Counselor," and this reflects much the same idea as "Advocate." The Greeks used parakletos to describe an attorney who appeared beside one in court to advise and defend. This idea is still found in such words as judge-advocate and counselor-at-law. The New English Bible employs the word "Advocate," while Today's English Version uses "Helper."
That Jesus regarded the Spirit as a divine person seems apparent from His language when He said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another (Helper), that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14:16; KJV). The Greek had two words for "another": heteros, which means "another of a different kind"; and allos, which means "another of the same kind." The latter is used here. The Spirit was to be another Helper, like Jesus. Just as God sent Jesus as a Helper, He would now send the Spirit in the same role. True, Jesus brought His own tent with Him; that is, He came in a body. The Spirit, on the other hand, did not come in His own body, for He was to dwell in the bodies of believers. "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (v. 17).
So personal would the relationship with the Spirit become that it would compensate for the absence of Jesus. The Spirit would be with the disciples forever, literally, through the age in which Jesus is absent. The saints of God are never to be desolate or orphaned by the absence of Jesus. The other Helper, who succeeded Jesus on the earth, will be succeeded only by the return of Jesus.
No one who seriously studies the language of the Lord can fail to note the use of the masculine pronoun in the references to the Spirit. This is especially singular when we remember that pneuma is the word for spirit, and in its original usage meant wind, breath, and sometimes air. For this reason it is generally represented by a neuter pronoun, seeing it is a neuter noun. The word pneuma did not remain static, but grew in semantic stature through the ages until, in the divine vocabulary, it was given its highest significance. This was also true of logos, which once meant simply "word" or "reason." When the Spirit adopted Logos and adapted it to the Word made flesh, it was given personality, and no longer referred merely to a rational concept or to the means of communicating it. So it was with pneuma.
In speaking of the Helper who was to take His place, not once did Jesus leave the impression that He was describing a mere breath or influence. Over and over the words "He" and "Him" are used to portray the abilities and functions of the Spirit as a person. Consider, for example, the declaration "Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you" (John 14:17).
The masculine pronoun ekeinos is indicative of a person who can share in the intimacy of fellowship. Those who object to this point out that the term "Spirit of truth" is used as an identification, and implies something besides personality. This is fallacious reasoning when one recalls that the Spirit is often identified by terms depicting His ministry to the saints. There are other expressions, such as the Spirit of life, the Spirit of grace, and the Spirit of promise. In the passage immediately under consideration He is called "the Spirit of truth" because of His ministry through the apostles to the unregenerate world. He was to guide them into all truth, recall for them the truths Jesus had taught them and provide the truth related to things yet to happen. He was not to be a spirit of truth, or truthfulness, in the abstract, but the Spirit through whom saving truth was to be revealed and channeled. He could be known as an abiding presence. The word "know" so often used in the Scripture does not refer to an accumulation of facts about another, but personal identification with him.
A good illustration of this will be found in the words of Jesus, `I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me, and I know the Father' (John 10:14, 15). Our experience of the indwelling Spirit is a transcendent life-sharing phenomenon in which the world cannot participate. It belongs only to those who have established a covenant relationship with God, the Spirit being the seal of the covenant.
Those who are inclined to cavil frequently refer to the statement that the world cannot receive the Spirit because it cannot see Him. They ask if the disciples of Christ can see Him, and if not, how they can know that He dwells in them. It may help our understanding to know that the word originally related to men who were appointed as public deputies to attend the games, inspect conditions and participants, to see that all that transpired was legal and orderly. The word did not refer to merely watching, as a spectator in the stands, but to one who looked with interest and purpose.
Because it is unconcerned and indifferent, the world does not see the Spirit. The world occupied with distracting trivia, is insensible to the Spirit's power and pleading. The eyes of the world are closed (Acts 28:27), and the Spirit cannot manifest himself. On the other hand, the person whose heart is open will dwell with Him and be in Him. "With" signifies companionship, while "in" signifies identifying relationship.
In John 16:13-15, the pronouns "he" and "his" occur nine times, in such a context that the personality of the Spirit must certainly be recognized. The Spirit is spoken of as coming, hearing, speaking, recognizing authority, guiding, declaring a message, and glorifying another.
Jesus told the apostles that He was leaving much unsaid because the burden of complete revelation would weigh too heavily upon their hearts. They were in no condition to hear more, lest they be overwhelmed by future responsibility and the suffering that would accompany their ministrations. They were disturbed already by the news that Jesus was leaving them.
"When he comes who is the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but will tell only what he hears; and he will make known to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, for everything that he makes known to you he will draw from what is mine. All that the Father has is mine, and that is why I said, `Everything that he makes known to you he will draw from what is mine'" (John 16:13-15; TNEB).[5]
When He comes! This phrase betokens the forthcoming arrival of a person as certainly as it does when used in connection with the advent of Jesus. The Spirit was to accomplish three great objectives: (1) to guide the apostles into all the truth, even to revealing things yet in the future; (2) to glorify Jesus; (3) to be sent by the Father at the request of Jesus, but also to "come" by His own power.
He is the Spirit of truth, that is, truth is His very nature. The revelation can be relied upon. It is authoritative and decisive. The expression "all truth" does not refer to the truth related to all aspects of the universe. It is the truth that redeems and reconciles, and restores the divine-human relationship. The apostles were not yet in a position to receive all details of this saving truth that the Spirit would relay to them. He would do so as they would become able to assimilate and properly apply it.
One who trusts in Jesus can scarcely doubt that the divine design was to vouchsafe to the apostles during their lifetime the full and complete revelation of all that is essential for man to know of his relationship in the kingdom of Heaven. The position of the apostles is unique and they have no successors. Whatever was not revealed during their lifetime is not essential to God's purpose for our lives. Not a single authentic revelation has been given to man since John on Patmos laid down the calamus after writing, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen" (Revelation 21:21; KJV).
Once more it must be emphasized that the revelation of the Spirit was not given upon the authority of the Spirit. The power of the Spirit to speak is not questioned, but He did not assume the royal prerogative of doing so. The thoughts conveyed were those of the Father, and the Spirit transmitted them with infinite value and faithfulness. The Spirit told the apostles on earth what He had been told to speak from Heaven. His message was not just truthful; it was the truth.
Jesus promised that the Spirit would inform the apostles of what was to come. Those things related to the destiny of the kingdom of Heaven in its encounter with the kingdoms of this world were to be made known as sources of comfort to the saints. The believers would be assured of the final triumph of good over evil, of righteousness over unrighteousness.
This was no new role for the Spirit. He had spoken to and through the prophets of old, warning a profligate people of their fate, revealing to kings and lesser rulers their impending doom. Now, as the divine Helper sent to complete the mission of the Son on earth, He was to gaze through the telescope of the future and see the return of the Lord and the culmination of the divine purpose as it relates to mankind.
Paul was instructed concerning the state of affairs that would obtain in the last days. "The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (1 Timothy 4:1; KJV). He was informed concerning the nature of the resurrected bodies of those who had died, and the transformed bodies of those still alive at the coming of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:50-57). In the same connection he was told of the ultimate arrangement by which the Son was to deliver the kingdom of God to the Father, so that God could be all in all.
Peter was empowered to write of the certainty of the coming of the day of the Lord, which was to be unexpected as a thief. He also wrote that at that time the "heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10; KJV).
But John, banished to the isle called Patmos, gazed upon the panorama of the future as it was unrolled. The great sequence of events was paraded to the very end. His divine commission was to "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" (Revelation 1:19; KJV). He depicts for us in awesome symbols the clash of titanic forces directed from Heaven and from the depths of the abyss. There is the repeated admonition, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
If revelation is the unfolding of mystery previously hidden from the discernment of men, surely John's volume is appropriately named. It begins with the narrator watching a door opened in Heaven, and a voice like a trumpet issuing the invitation, "Come up hither, and I will shew the things which must be hereafter." John records the fact, "Immediately I was in the spirit" (Revelation 4:1, 2; KJV). He pens his startling vision, only to conclude, "And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly" (Revelation 22:6, 7; KJV).
The Spirit was also to glorify Jesus. The original for "glorify" is doxazo, meaning "to magnify" or "honor." Jesus is the very basis of revelation. All revelation revolves around Him as the center of the moral and spiritual universe. In the solar system the planets revolve around the sun, and in the moral universe all things gain their meaning from the Son of righteousness. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10).
It is interesting to note that the Spirit would glorify Jesus because everything He would make known to the disciples would have come from Jesus. The original wording should be more correctly rendered, "He will draw from what is mine" (John 16:15; TNEB). It is as if the Spirit were drawing out of a cistern or well of living water to provide sustaining truth to men. While that which is drawn out is sufficient to quench the thirst, it does not exhaust the supply. Much remains to be learned and known when the Son of man comes in the fulness of His glory, accompanied by all of His holy angels. Jesus' statement that the Spirit would draw from what belonged to Jesus is important because it emphasizes the Godhead in its unity. The Father is portrayed as the originator of all things, the Son as the heir of all things, and the Spirit as the revealer of all things ordained for the good of mankind. In Matthew 11:27, Jesus says, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" (KJV).
Any theory of Deity that makes the Son inferior to the Father in glory cannot be sustained by Scripture. God entrusted everything to the Son, and the Spirit glorified the Son by taking from the inexhaustible supply to share it with the apostles, that we in turn might be profited. We glorify the Son in our willing acceptance of the revelation the Spirit gave concerning Him. We dishonor Him when we deny that testimony.
In summarizing the content of this chapter, let us remember that when Jesus spoke of the Spirit He did so in personal terms. He was forced to leave the earthly scene in order to accomplish His purpose. His ascension into Heaven was as important to the divine order as His descent into the earth. It was essential for Him to make intercession at the right hand of God, but He would ask the Father to send another Helper who would make intercession for the saints on earth. This Helper was to be His replacement, and He would function so effectively it would be as if Jesus were still here.
In an interesting statement Jesus said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7). The opening words of this declaration indicate that it would be difficult for the hearers to accept what Jesus said. He reinforced His announcement by insisting that He spoke the truth.
Obviously the apostles would not understand how it could be profitable for Jesus to leave them, so He proceeded to explain that the Spirit would do for them what He could not do by remaining on earth. Moreover, the Spirit would convict the world of sin righteousness, and judgment, in a manner that could not be done if Jesus remained in the flesh.
All of this points to one conclusion, that Jesus regarded the Spirit as a person, a divine person, and all who desire to imitate Jesus in thought and speech must do the same. Perhaps nothing is more comforting than for one to realize that the divine plan involved an intimate fellowship on earth, first with Jesus dwelling in His body, and second with the Holy Spirit dwelling in our bodies. "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?" (1 Corinthians 6:19).
[5] 5. From the New English Bible. © the Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission. [back]