[15] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. [16] And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever.
23 “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. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
EXPLANATION
[15] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. [16] And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” — To receive the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned at the end of this verse, two requirements are necessary on the part of the disciple: (i) that he/she loves Jesus and (ii) shows this by obedience to him (Jn. 13: 15; 34–35).
“And I will pray the Father” — (iii) This is a third requirement to receiving the Holy Spirit, that Jesus prays for us. This is what he is doing as our High Priest in heaven.
“and he will give you another Counsellor” — The Greek word, transliterated into English, is “Paraclete”, a word difficult to translate. “Counsellor” and “Advocate” are the two most common. What is general is that the “Paraclete” is ‘at hand’, ‘near’, ‘with a person’, a ‘helper’, especially ‘to speak on behalf of a person’ in legal matters. We can sum up this general idea with the idea common to all, namely “a presence”.
“another Counsellor” — Jesus is the first “Counsellor” according to I John 2: 1, where we read: “We have an advocate [Paraclete] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. He had affirmed that role already — ““Truly, truly, I say to you, 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. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it”. (Jn. 14: 13–14). He is our High Priest in heaven interceding for us with his Father. During his short public ministry he was a presence to his disciples, helping them to develop in faith and love.
The Paraclete, Holy Spirit, is sent by the Father at the request of Jesus or Jesus sends him from the Father (Jn. 15: 26). The same person who asks for the Paraclete to be sent is described at times as sending him — Jesus asks as a human person; he sends by his divine nature.
What is the role of this second Counsellor? He is to be a presence to the disciples “for ever”. The Spirit’s role is elaborated in John 14: 26; 15: 26; 16: 7–14.
“to be with you for ever” — This Paraclete will remain permanently, in contrast to Jesus who is departing (see verse 12). The Spirit will remain in and with the Church. The era of the Church will be the era of the Spirit.
23 Jesus answered him, “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. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
“Jesus answered him” — The setting of this scene is the Last Supper where Jesus is giving his farewell address to his apostles (Chapters 14–17). Jude Thaddeus asked him a question about the Second Coming. From what Jesus had said to the apostles Jude had the impression that Jesus would come again to show himself to the disciples but not to the world.
Jesus does not answer the question directly but tells Jude Thaddeus and the others that Jesus will come again to them if they “keep my word”. The world does not “keep my word” which is the “commandment of love” (Jn. 14: 15, 21, 23, 24). From these verses it can be seen that in this context “commandment” and “word” are interchangeable.
“‘If a man loves me, he will keep my word” — This is the first of three consequences of loving Jesus — the person who loves will keep Jesus’ word by obedience.
One who loves obeys Jesus’ command to love one another as he has loved them (Jn. 13: 34). That is how the world will come to Jesus because after he has gone his spirit will remain for all to see in the way the disciples observe fraternal love, the divine presence and spirit.
“and my Father will love him” — This is the second of three consequences of loving Jesus — God the Father loves those who obey Jesus and reflect his love for them for others. That spirit will draw people to him.
“and we will come to him and make our home with him — This is the third of three consequences of loving Jesus — This is the great promise. We may sum up as follows: Those who love Jesus and show it by keeping his words in obedience (first consequence), are loved by his Father (second consequence) and he and Jesus will come to live in those persons’ hearts (third consequence).
Where the spirit of Jesus is, God is there too. This is how the “glory of God” is manifest in the world (Jn. 13: 31–35, Gospel for Sunday of Easter 5C).
“He who does not love me does not keep my words” — One who does not love Jesus does not obey or fulfill the will of Jesus.
“and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me” — These words are not just Jesus’ words; they are the words of the Father who sent him. Therefore, one who rejects these words of Jesus rejects the Father as well as Jesus (Jn. 3: 34; 5: 23b–24; 8: 18, 28, 38, 47; 12: 49).
This is the answer to Jude Thaddeus’ question. The Father will not come to “the world” because “the world”, which is opposed to Jesus, is also opposed to the Father whose word “the world” will not accept. The Father is the source of eternal life as Jesus points out: “The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me”.
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
‘These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you” — These or similar words occur six times as a refrain either beginning, as here, or ending a sub–section of a passage (Jn. 14: 25; 15: 11; 16: 1, 4, 6, 215, 33.)
“But the Counsellor” — see v. 16 above
St. John is the only evangelist who uses the term “Paraclete” and then only five times (Jn. 14: 16, 26; 15:26; 16: 1–14). In each of these references he speaks of the third person of the Blessed Trinity. In his First Epistle he used the term referring to Christ who intercedes for the sinner before his Father (I Jn. 2: 1). That is why the Holy Spirit is referred to as “another Paraclete” (Jn. 14: 16).
“the Holy Spirit” — This is John’s only use of this title. “The Holy Spirit” is a distinct divine person. John will develop the meaning as he writes. The title became the normal one in the Acts of the Apostles and in the various Creeds.
The “Holy Spirit”, the “Paraclete”, including the English translations, comes to the assistance of the apostles and their successors by teaching and recalling Jesus’ instructions (Jn. 14: 26; 16: 13); by bearing witness to Jesus (Jn. 15: 26); he will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgement (Jn. 16: 7–10) and lead the apostles into all truth (Jn. 16:13). He is also known as the “Spirit of Truth” (Jn. 14: 16). There are many other roles that he plays but these are mentioned because of their connection with the current Gospel passage.
“whom the Father will send in my name” — The Father had sent the Son to do his will in word and deed. The “Holy Spirit” will also be sent to do the Father’s will.
The Holy Spirit will be sent “in the name” of Jesus (Jn. 14: 26). The Jews used the word “name” for “person” as Christians do when they say “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” which means ‘on behalf of the person of the Father and the person of the Son and the person of the Holy Spirit’. It can also mean ‘at the request of…the Father… ‘(Jn. 14: 16). In this verse the meaning is ‘whom the Father will send at the request of Jesus’.
“he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” — “You” and “your” are in the plural and so do not refer to each individual in the Church but to the apostolic leaders.
When the Holy Spirit comes he will perform two aspects of the same function. He will:
(i) teach the disciples all the truths of revelation. This does not mean that he will teach any new revelation but will “declare” what Jesus, who is both the messenger and message from his Father, has taught. He will enable the apostles to understand what Jesus left them: “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” (Jn. 16: 13–15).
(ii) bring back to their memories what Jesus had taught them.
Two examples are: Jn 2: 22 — “‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty–six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken”.
Jn 12: 16 — “His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him”.
APPLICATION
There are five passages in St. John’s Gospel where the word “Paraclete” occurs. Raymond Brown, one of the great commentators on John’s Gospel, has listed 21 points about the Holy Spirit that are made in these five passages:
Relationship with Father and with Jesus:
(a) The Paraclete will come when Jesus departs — Jn. 15: 26; 16: 7, 8, 13
(b) The Paraclete comes forth from the Father — Jn. 15: 26
(c) The Father will give the Paraclete at Jesus’ request — Jn. 14: 16
(d) The Father will send the Paraclete in Jesus’ name — Jn. 14: 26
(e) Jesus will send the Paraclete from the Father — Jn. 16: 26; 16: 7
Identification:
(f) He is not the first but “another Paraclete” — Jn. 14: 16
(g) He is the Spirit of Truth — Jn. 14: 17; 15: 26; 16: 13
(h) He is the Holy Spirit — Jn. 14: 26
Role in relation to disciples:
(i) The disciples recognise the holy Spirit — Jn. 14: 17
(j) He will be with the disciples and remain with them for ever — Jn. 14: 17
(k) He will teach the disciples everything –,Jn. 14: 26
(l) He will guide the disciples along the way of all truth — Jn. 14: 16: 13
(m)He will take what belongs to Jesus to declare to the disciples — Jn. 16: 14
(n) He will glorify Jesus — Jn. 16: 14
(o) He will bear witness on Jesus’ behalf as must the disciples — Jn. 15: 26–27
(p) He will remind the disciples of all that Jesus told them — Jn. 14: 26
(q) He will speak only what he hears and nothing on his own — Jn. 16: 13
Role in relation to world
(r) The world cannot accept the Paraclete — Jn. 14: 17
(s) The world neither sees nor recognises the Paraclete — Jn. 14: 17
(t) He will bear witness to Jesus against the world’s hatred for and persecution of the disciples — Jn. 15: 26 (cf. 15: 18–25)
(u) He will prove the world wrong about sin, justice and judgement.
Commentary on Penacost Sunday 19.05.2013
JOHN 14: 15–16, 23–26
Pentecost Sunday, Year C
TEXT
[15] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. [16] And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever.
23 “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. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
EXPLANATION
[15] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. [16] And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” — To receive the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned at the end of this verse, two requirements are necessary on the part of the disciple: (i) that he/she loves Jesus and (ii) shows this by obedience to him (Jn. 13: 15; 34–35).
“And I will pray the Father” — (iii) This is a third requirement to receiving the Holy Spirit, that Jesus prays for us. This is what he is doing as our High Priest in heaven.
“and he will give you another Counsellor” — The Greek word, transliterated into English, is “Paraclete”, a word difficult to translate. “Counsellor” and “Advocate” are the two most common. What is general is that the “Paraclete” is ‘at hand’, ‘near’, ‘with a person’, a ‘helper’, especially ‘to speak on behalf of a person’ in legal matters. We can sum up this general idea with the idea common to all, namely “a presence”.
“another Counsellor” — Jesus is the first “Counsellor” according to I John 2: 1, where we read: “We have an advocate [Paraclete] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. He had affirmed that role already — ““Truly, truly, I say to you, 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. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it”. (Jn. 14: 13–14). He is our High Priest in heaven interceding for us with his Father. During his short public ministry he was a presence to his disciples, helping them to develop in faith and love.
The Paraclete, Holy Spirit, is sent by the Father at the request of Jesus or Jesus sends him from the Father (Jn. 15: 26). The same person who asks for the Paraclete to be sent is described at times as sending him — Jesus asks as a human person; he sends by his divine nature.
What is the role of this second Counsellor? He is to be a presence to the disciples “for ever”. The Spirit’s role is elaborated in John 14: 26; 15: 26; 16: 7–14.
“to be with you for ever” — This Paraclete will remain permanently, in contrast to Jesus who is departing (see verse 12). The Spirit will remain in and with the Church. The era of the Church will be the era of the Spirit.
23 Jesus answered him, “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. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
“Jesus answered him” — The setting of this scene is the Last Supper where Jesus is giving his farewell address to his apostles (Chapters 14–17). Jude Thaddeus asked him a question about the Second Coming. From what Jesus had said to the apostles Jude had the impression that Jesus would come again to show himself to the disciples but not to the world.
Jesus does not answer the question directly but tells Jude Thaddeus and the others that Jesus will come again to them if they “keep my word”. The world does not “keep my word” which is the “commandment of love” (Jn. 14: 15, 21, 23, 24). From these verses it can be seen that in this context “commandment” and “word” are interchangeable.
“‘If a man loves me, he will keep my word” — This is the first of three consequences of loving Jesus — the person who loves will keep Jesus’ word by obedience.
One who loves obeys Jesus’ command to love one another as he has loved them (Jn. 13: 34). That is how the world will come to Jesus because after he has gone his spirit will remain for all to see in the way the disciples observe fraternal love, the divine presence and spirit.
“and my Father will love him” — This is the second of three consequences of loving Jesus — God the Father loves those who obey Jesus and reflect his love for them for others. That spirit will draw people to him.
“and we will come to him and make our home with him — This is the third of three consequences of loving Jesus — This is the great promise. We may sum up as follows: Those who love Jesus and show it by keeping his words in obedience (first consequence), are loved by his Father (second consequence) and he and Jesus will come to live in those persons’ hearts (third consequence).
Where the spirit of Jesus is, God is there too. This is how the “glory of God” is manifest in the world (Jn. 13: 31–35, Gospel for Sunday of Easter 5C).
“He who does not love me does not keep my words” — One who does not love Jesus does not obey or fulfill the will of Jesus.
“and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me” — These words are not just Jesus’ words; they are the words of the Father who sent him. Therefore, one who rejects these words of Jesus rejects the Father as well as Jesus (Jn. 3: 34; 5: 23b–24; 8: 18, 28, 38, 47; 12: 49).
This is the answer to Jude Thaddeus’ question. The Father will not come to “the world” because “the world”, which is opposed to Jesus, is also opposed to the Father whose word “the world” will not accept. The Father is the source of eternal life as Jesus points out: “The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me”.
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
‘These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you” — These or similar words occur six times as a refrain either beginning, as here, or ending a sub–section of a passage (Jn. 14: 25; 15: 11; 16: 1, 4, 6, 215, 33.)
“But the Counsellor” — see v. 16 above
St. John is the only evangelist who uses the term “Paraclete” and then only five times (Jn. 14: 16, 26; 15:26; 16: 1–14). In each of these references he speaks of the third person of the Blessed Trinity. In his First Epistle he used the term referring to Christ who intercedes for the sinner before his Father (I Jn. 2: 1). That is why the Holy Spirit is referred to as “another Paraclete” (Jn. 14: 16).
“the Holy Spirit” — This is John’s only use of this title. “The Holy Spirit” is a distinct divine person. John will develop the meaning as he writes. The title became the normal one in the Acts of the Apostles and in the various Creeds.
The “Holy Spirit”, the “Paraclete”, including the English translations, comes to the assistance of the apostles and their successors by teaching and recalling Jesus’ instructions (Jn. 14: 26; 16: 13); by bearing witness to Jesus (Jn. 15: 26); he will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgement (Jn. 16: 7–10) and lead the apostles into all truth (Jn. 16:13). He is also known as the “Spirit of Truth” (Jn. 14: 16). There are many other roles that he plays but these are mentioned because of their connection with the current Gospel passage.
“whom the Father will send in my name” — The Father had sent the Son to do his will in word and deed. The “Holy Spirit” will also be sent to do the Father’s will.
The Holy Spirit will be sent “in the name” of Jesus (Jn. 14: 26). The Jews used the word “name” for “person” as Christians do when they say “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” which means ‘on behalf of the person of the Father and the person of the Son and the person of the Holy Spirit’. It can also mean ‘at the request of…the Father… ‘(Jn. 14: 16). In this verse the meaning is ‘whom the Father will send at the request of Jesus’.
“he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” — “You” and “your” are in the plural and so do not refer to each individual in the Church but to the apostolic leaders.
When the Holy Spirit comes he will perform two aspects of the same function. He will:
(i) teach the disciples all the truths of revelation. This does not mean that he will teach any new revelation but will “declare” what Jesus, who is both the messenger and message from his Father, has taught. He will enable the apostles to understand what Jesus left them: “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” (Jn. 16: 13–15).
(ii) bring back to their memories what Jesus had taught them.
Two examples are: Jn 2: 22 — “‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty–six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken”.
Jn 12: 16 — “His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him”.
APPLICATION
There are five passages in St. John’s Gospel where the word “Paraclete” occurs. Raymond Brown, one of the great commentators on John’s Gospel, has listed 21 points about the Holy Spirit that are made in these five passages:
Relationship with Father and with Jesus:
(a) The Paraclete will come when Jesus departs — Jn. 15: 26; 16: 7, 8, 13
(b) The Paraclete comes forth from the Father — Jn. 15: 26
(c) The Father will give the Paraclete at Jesus’ request — Jn. 14: 16
(d) The Father will send the Paraclete in Jesus’ name — Jn. 14: 26
(e) Jesus will send the Paraclete from the Father — Jn. 16: 26; 16: 7
Identification:
(f) He is not the first but “another Paraclete” — Jn. 14: 16
(g) He is the Spirit of Truth — Jn. 14: 17; 15: 26; 16: 13
(h) He is the Holy Spirit — Jn. 14: 26
Role in relation to disciples:
(i) The disciples recognise the holy Spirit — Jn. 14: 17
(j) He will be with the disciples and remain with them for ever — Jn. 14: 17
(k) He will teach the disciples everything –,Jn. 14: 26
(l) He will guide the disciples along the way of all truth — Jn. 14: 16: 13
(m)He will take what belongs to Jesus to declare to the disciples — Jn. 16: 14
(n) He will glorify Jesus — Jn. 16: 14
(o) He will bear witness on Jesus’ behalf as must the disciples — Jn. 15: 26–27
(p) He will remind the disciples of all that Jesus told them — Jn. 14: 26
(q) He will speak only what he hears and nothing on his own — Jn. 16: 13
Role in relation to world
(r) The world cannot accept the Paraclete — Jn. 14: 17
(s) The world neither sees nor recognises the Paraclete — Jn. 14: 17
(t) He will bear witness to Jesus against the world’s hatred for and persecution of the disciples — Jn. 15: 26 (cf. 15: 18–25)
(u) He will prove the world wrong about sin, justice and judgement.