Yohanes 14:15-17

Teaching on the Holy Spirit

14:15 “If you love me, you will obey ¹  my commandments. ²  14:16 Then ³  I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate ⁴  to be with you forever – 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, ⁵  because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides ⁶  with you and will be ⁷  in you.

Yohanes 14:25-31

14:25 “I have spoken these things while staying ⁸  with you. 14:26 But the Advocate, ⁹  the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you ¹⁰  everything, ¹¹  and will cause you to remember everything ¹²  I said to you.

14:27 “Peace I leave with you; ¹³  my peace I give to you; I do not give it ¹⁴  to you as the world does. ¹⁵  Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. ¹⁶  14:28 You heard me say to you, ¹⁷  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ¹⁸  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ¹⁹  14:29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. ²⁰  14:30 I will not speak with you much longer, ²¹  for the ruler of this world is coming. ²²  He has no power over me, ²³  14:31 but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know ²⁴  that I love the Father. ²⁵  Get up, let us go from here.” ²⁶ 

[14:15]  ¹ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:15]  ² sn Jesus’ statement If you love me, you will obey my commandments provides the transition between the promises of answered prayer which Jesus makes to his disciples in vv. 13-14 and the promise of the Holy Spirit which is introduced in v. 16. Obedience is the proof of genuine love.

[14:16]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then” to reflect the implied sequence in the discourse.

[14:16]  ⁴ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). Finding an appropriate English translation for παράκλητος is a very difficult task. No single English word has exactly the same range of meaning as the Greek word. “Comforter,” used by some of the older English versions, appears to be as old as Wycliffe. But today it suggests a quilt or a sympathetic mourner at a funeral. “Counselor” is adequate, but too broad, in contexts like “marriage counselor” or “camp counselor.” “Helper” or “Assistant” could also be used, but could suggest a subordinate rank. “Advocate,” the word chosen for this translation, has more forensic overtones than the Greek word does, although in John 16:5-11 a forensic context is certainly present. Because an “advocate” is someone who “advocates” or supports a position or viewpoint and since this is what the Paraclete will do for the preaching of the disciples, it was selected in spite of the drawbacks.

[14:17]  ⁵ tn Or “cannot receive.”

[14:17]  ⁶ tn Or “he remains.”

[14:17]  ⁷ tc Some early and important witnesses (Ì^66* B D* W 1 565 it) have ἐστιν (estin, “he is”) instead of ἔσται (estai, “he will be”) here, while other weighty witnesses ({Ì^66c,75vid א A D¹ L Θ Ψ Ë¹³ 33^vid Ï as well as several versions and fathers}), read the future tense. When one considers transcriptional evidence, ἐστιν is the more difficult reading and better explains the rise of the future tense reading, but it must be noted that both Ì⁶⁶ and D were corrected from the present tense to the future. If ἐστιν were the original reading, one would expect a few manuscripts to be corrected to read the present when they originally read the future, but that is not the case. When one considers what the author would have written, the future is on much stronger ground. The immediate context (both in 14:16 and in the chapter as a whole) points to the future, and the theology of the book regards the advent of the Spirit as a decidedly future event (see, e.g., 7:39 and 16:7). The present tense could have arisen from an error of sight on the part of some scribes or more likely from an error of thought as scribes reflected upon the present role of the Spirit. Although a decision is difficult, the future tense is most likely authentic. For further discussion on this textual problem, see James M. Hamilton, Jr., “He Is with You and He Will Be in You” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 213-20.

[14:25]  ⁸ tn Or “while remaining” or “while residing.”

[14:26]  ⁹ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in v. 16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[14:26]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “that one will teach you.” The words “that one” have been omitted from the translation since they are redundant in English.

[14:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “all things.”

[14:26]  ¹² tn Grk “all things.”

[14:27]  ¹³ sn Peace I leave with you. In spite of appearances, this verse does not introduce a new subject (peace). Jesus will use the phrase as a greeting to his disciples after his resurrection (20:19, 21, 26). It is here a reflection of the Hebrew shalom as a farewell. But Jesus says he leaves peace with his disciples. This should probably be understood ultimately in terms of the indwelling of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who has been the topic of the preceding verses. It is his presence, after Jesus has left the disciples and finally returned to the Father, which will remain with them and comfort them.

[14:27]  ¹⁴ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[14:27]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “not as the world gives do I give to you.”

[14:27]  ¹⁶ tn Or “distressed or fearful and cowardly.”

[14:28]  ¹⁷ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ¹⁸ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ¹⁹ sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).

[14:29]  ²⁰ sn Jesus tells the disciples that he has told them all these things before they happen, so that when they do happen the disciples may believe. This does not mean they had not believed prior to this time; over and over the author has affirmed that they have (cf. 2:11). But when they see these things happen, their level of trust in Jesus will increase and their concept of who he is will expand. The confession of Thomas in 20:28 is representative of this increased understanding of who Jesus is. Cf. John 13:19.

[14:30]  ²¹ tn Grk “I will no longer speak many things with you.”

[14:30]  ²² sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[14:30]  ²³ tn Grk “in me he has nothing.”

[14:31]  ²⁴ tn Or “may learn.”

[14:31]  ²⁵ tn Grk “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father commanded me, thus I do.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to conform to contemporary English style.

[14:31]  ²⁶ sn Some have understood Jesus’ statement Get up, let us go from here to mean that at this point Jesus and the disciples got up and left the room where the meal was served and began the journey to the garden of Gethsemane. If so, the rest of the Farewell Discourse took place en route. Others have pointed to this statement as one of the “seams” in the discourse, indicating that the author used preexisting sources. Both explanations are possible, but not really necessary. Jesus could simply have stood up at this point (the disciples may or may not have stood with him) to finish the discourse before finally departing (in 18:1). In any case it may be argued that Jesus refers not to a literal departure at this point, but to preparing to meet the enemy who is on the way already in the person of Judas and the soldiers with him.