Last week, we began to think about the Holy Spirit using the first of four Paraclete passages that occur in the Gospel of John. In the first passage, John 14:14–17, Jesus assured His followers the coming of the Holy Spirit would supply them with a Helper who would be with them forever (v. 16). The indwelling of God’s Spirit is His provision for our isolation and impotence in this world. Philippians 2:1 speaks of this truth as the “fellowship of the Spirit.”
This week we consider the second Paraclete passage found in John 14:25–27.
The Holy Spirit is God’s provision for our spiritual ignorance — He dwells in believers to furnish instruction and understanding about spiritual truths. In short, believers are privileged to know God’s Spirit as a Divine Enabler who helps us grasp God’s truth, apply it to our lives and share it with others.
‘Being present’
As Jesus spoke to His followers in this second reference to the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete, He implied His impending departure when He used the expression “while being present with you” (v. 25). He went on to refer to the Holy Spirit as the One “whom the Father will send in My name” (v. 26).
On an earlier occasion, Jesus had declared, “I have come in My Father’s name” (John 5:43). In speaking thus, Jesus came as the Father’s representative. By using the phrase “in My name,” Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would be His representative with His followers after His departure. In other words, the Spirit did not come in His own name.
Teacher
This ongoing mission of the Holy Spirit would have two closely related and complementary assignments. Jesus said, “He will teach you all things,” and added, “and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (14:26). The ministry of the Spirit as our Instructor makes it His ministry to fulfill the dual actions of teaching and reminding.
As believers, we need the illuminating ministry of the Spirit. However, given our capacity for forgetting, the Spirit operates also as an indwelling reminder of the truth we have learned.
Some years after Jesus had returned to the Father, the Apostle Paul wrote: “No one knows … the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Cor. 2:11–13).
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