- Chad Werkhoven
John 14:15-27 - The Holy Advocate-Comforter-Counselor-Spirit
The Holy Spirit works lots of different ways in you to accomplish your sanctification.
Read / Listen
Read John 14:15-27
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 24
Q. How are the three articles
of the Apostle's Creed divided?
A. Into three parts:
God the Father and our creation;
God the Son and our deliverance;
God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.
Summary
As Jesus speaks to His disciples, the tension is mounting. The crucifixion is only hours away now, and at the end of the previous chapter, Jesus told Peter he'd deny Jesus three times. He's just explained to the disciples that He'd be going away to prepare a place for them, and dropped the truth bombs that He was the way, the truth and the life, and that He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him, and in the passage we read Jesus expands that relationship to include you! He said "I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (v20)"
Now Jesus introduces the third member of the Trinity: The Comforter... I mean Counselor... or is it the Advocate? Almost every English Bible translation uses a different word here to describe the title given to the Holy Spirit'.
This may seem confusing. Which one is the most accurate? The Greek word is paraklētos, which literally means to call out from alongside. With that literal meaning, you can see why all of the English translations are correct! There's not just one word that can fully explain what the Holy Spirit does, so we must use several.
It some respects, it doesn't matter what name we apply to Him, because Jesus says the Holy Spirit will be coming in His name, and will teach and remind you everything that Jesus taught.
Dig Deeper
The Holy Spirit has often been referred to as the shy member of the Trinity. This certainly doesn't imply timidity, instead it describes the fact that the Spirit often sets Himself in the background, shining the glory upon the Father and the Son.
Yet the Spirit is every bit as much fully God as what the Father and the Son are. We meet Him in the opening verses of the Bible hovering over the waters of the deep as God the Father begins to speak the world into existence (Gen. 1:2).
Although the Spirit does such a broad range of things for us - counseling, comforting, advocating on our behalf - notice that the Catechism encompasses all of these roles under one concept: the Holy Spirit is working out your sanctification. In other words, the Spirit is counseling, comforting and advocating from within you to make you look more and more like Christ in all things.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will show your love for Christ by keeping His commands.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 22
