The Gospel of John | The Coming Paraclete – John 14:15-31
The Holy Spirit comes from Jesus’ standing before the Father and works in us and through us to secure our relationship with God.
The information that Jesus Christ has presented has so far been relatively heavy information. In this portion of the Farewell discourse, Jesus presents hope to the disciples as an encouragement to endure what they will face during and after Christ’s work on the cross. Obedience becomes the marker for a person’s love of God. Yet, it is obedience towards God that had been the main issue with mankind’s relationship with Him. God had been able to accomplish everything He needed and remained a sovereign, good God. Yet, here Jesus stood on the eve of His death, informing His disciples of His pending sacrifice on the cross. Life for those seeking to follow Jesus Christ would become difficult in light of the Christ’s unjust persecution. But this was not a time to lose hope or feel abandoned. God would continue to provide for and care for His people.
Jesus promises the Paraclete to come and reside in the hearts of people. The idea of the Paraclete has been hotly debated among Christian Scholarship as the term does not have a profound amount of use, mostly confined to the Gospel of John. While the exact meaning of this term is relatively debated as to the specifics, the overall idea remains that the Holy Spirit indwells within a person. That God sends his Son as the first helper is an act of grace. Now, with Jesus standing before the Father advocating on our behalf, the second Paraclete comes as a helper, as a counselor, and as a constant guide that does not leave us or forsake us. Everything is by the hand of God to complete the work within us for the glory of God. Our obedience comes from God and our relationship with Him is secured by His hands.
Obedience Only Through the Spirit
At the outset of this portion of the Farewell Discourse, Jesus lays out the details of the relationship. Those that love Him will keep His commands. For many people, this has often been taught as the impetus to try harder in our faith so we can prove we love Jesus. Our obedience becomes our measure of our love of God. While there is a hint of truth to this (we should absolutely be obedient to the word of the Lord and seek to follow Him) it overlooks the broader context with which Jesus speaks. Immediately following the command to obedience is the promise to send the Paraclete, the Helper, the Holy Spirit. The heart of Christ’s necessary work of incarnation stems from man’s proclivity for disobedience. The history of mankind has shown a complete lack of ability to be obedient and rightfully love the Lord. He brings us remembrance during the time we need it of the will and nature of God that conquers all who come against Him. The Spirit abides within us even though the world does not recognize His presence. The Father, who rules in Heaven on His throne, sent the Son who took on the form of man, who sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in the souls of mankind. All aspects of God’s person move within the believer to produce the obedience that comes from god alone.
We cannot for one moment think we possess the ability to muster up within ourselves some form of righteous obedience. It was precisely due to the lack of our ability to remain obedient that necessitated a Savior. In furthering our relationship, we should absolutely strive to be fully obedient to God out of our profound love for Him, but we must not think we can achieve this on our own volition. Only by the hand of the Spirit of God can we remain obedient to the word of the Lord. We submit to Him and bow to His will to move in the deepest corners of our heart and have His way within us. We need the Spirit as we express our deep love and need for a Savior. As we bow before Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we join the unending love of God in Trinitarian form to move within us and through us. If our love is displayed by keeping the word of the Lord, then our love for God bids us to come and bow before Him, allowing the Spirit of God, the Paraclete, to have His way and shape us into the people that He originally sought us to be. The role of the Spirit is to perfect creation to its right standing before God. We, then, do not strive to clean ourselves up, but to allow the Spirit within us to make us righteous for His glory.
- What role does the Spirit play in our disobedience?
Not Left As Orphans
Christ’s work is founded upon the idea that mankind had irreparably erred through our willful sin. The consequences of that sin had been made abundantly clear from the beginning; death would be the result of sin. Essentially, we had become orphans as we abandoned our right relationship with our Maker. The incarnation of Jesus Christ had begun to re-establish our return to our maker. Yet, Christ beside us is not the final goal. Jesus would die, resurrect, and ascend to the heavens where He would stand advocating to the Spirit on our behalf. What then would happen to the disciples and those who followed Him? Jesus would return one day in the final eschaton to return His people to Himself, but we would need the presence of God to guide us until that moment. Christ, although He will leave, will ensure that we are not left alone. After His resurrection, He will go to the Father to send the Spirit to indwell inside us as a mark and testament of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
God does not leave or abandon His people. From the sin we claimed, we had been left as parentless and orphans from our true creative We had chosen to abandon the Father of the Universe through our choosing of sin. Yet, God does not leave us as abandoned orphans. He returns to us to return us to Himself. This brings the peace with which Jesus tells His disciples to stay in. Our peace comes from God who claims us and calls us His own. No matter what the world does or does not say about us, think about us, or do to us, we will be called children of God. We have been adopted into the royal family, marked with the Paraclete who guides us in our time of need (and every time is our time of need). Where sin separated us from God, by the grace of Jesus Christ through his victorious work on the cross, the path home has been secured and we have been welcomed into the household of God with loving arms wide open.
- In what way does Jesus Christ not leave us as orphans?
Discussion Questions
- Where in this passage do you see the effects of sin on mankind? What does this tell us about our ability to live righteously?
- What role does the Holy Spirit play in our obedience and our ability to love God?
- Why is reliance on God for salvation, obedience, and grace vital to the life of the Christian? What happens when we try and conjure up our own How can we submit to the work of the Paraclete within us?
- What does it mean to be adopted into the family of God? Who secures our adoption?
- Describe the qualities of God you see present in this passage? How does the way He interacts with the people reveal His motives and affections?
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
