The ministry of the Spirit and the joy of the disciples

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The two longest statements relating to the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room discourses fall in this section. Let's consider all five of them (14:15–17; 14:25, 26; 15:26, 27; 16:7–11, 12–15).

The first of these sayings refers to the Holy Spirit as “another Paraclete.” That name is really the Greek word for the Spirit in these passages. It is often used in discussions about the Holy Spirit because it is difficult to find a real parallel for it in our language. Often it denotes a legal adviser in court, but it is not a legal term like advocate, barrister, or attorney; it can have a more general meaning like “helper.” In 16:8–11 the legal associations are to the fore, and there the Spirit appears to perform the functions of a prosecuting barrister in court. But in 14:25 and 26 and 16:13 and 14 his task is to recall and interpret the revelation given through Jesus. The chief work of the Paraclete-Spirit is indicated in 15:26: “He will bear witness concerning me.”

The Spirit is to “teach” and “remind” the disciples of all that Jesus said to them (14:26). These are complementary, almost identical tasks (note how remembering and understanding are closely linked in 2:17–22 and 12:16). The Spirit teaches as he reminds. Accordingly he brings no new revelation, but points to that which Jesus brought, and enables the disciples to understand it.

The Spirit will “bear witness” to Jesus, and so will the disciples (15:26 and 27). This affirmation would appear to mean that the Spirit will bear joint witness with the disciples as they proclaim Jesus in the gospel. The saying is closely parallel to Mark 13:9, 11, and the Q-saying in Luke 12:11, 12 and Matt 10:19, 20. It serves as a reminder of the context in which the early disciples frequently preached the gospel—on trial for preaching Christ! But it also indicates that the Holy Spirit is the power behind the apostolic witness to Christ: He makes it effective (cf. Mark 16:19, 20).

The Holy Spirit in his witness to Jesus will expose the world (16:8) and thereby reveal its wrong in relation to sin, righteousness, and judgment (16:9–11; for a striking example cf. Acts 24:24, 25). The emphasis on unbelief as the major sin runs through John’s Gospel (cf. 1:11; 3:19; 15:22). The “world” saw in the death of Jesus proof of his wrong, but the Spirit is to bring home to people the fact that he was right (and righteous!), since his “lifting up” on the cross was one with his exaltation to the throne of God. That act, moreover, entailed the dethronement of the devil, who led the world to oppose him and put him to death. The world accordingly shared in that judgment, and its continuation in rejecting Jesus as Lord continues to implicate it in that judgment. To reveal the truth of these realities is the task of the Paraclete-Spirit.

The last Paraclete saying (16:12–15) expands what is stated in the second (14:26). The Paraclete is to guide the disciples in all the truth revealed in Jesus, a necessary process because the disciples so little grasped its depths and heights; and the church needs that ministry ever after. The Spirit teaches what he hears, just as Jesus taught what he heard from the Father; it is one revelation of God in Christ that is communicated.

A final word on the Spirit’s ministry is apparently contained in 16:25. It may especially relate to verses 16–24, but it extends also to the last discourses in their entirety, and perhaps is intended to apply to the teaching of Jesus throughout his ministry. To this point Jesus has spoken “in figures” (RSV, or “figuratively,” NIV). In the language of Jesus the word actually means “proverbs,” “parables,” and “riddles”—all three; so we may understand Jesus as saying, “I have said these things to you in the obscure speech of metaphor.” But in the coming “hour,” i.e., after the death and resurrection of Jesus, he will speak plainly of the Father. This must refer to his instruction of the disciples and the church through the Holy Spirit. It is a striking promise; along with the rest of the Paraclete sayings it found fulfillment in the Gospel in which it is set, as also in the ministry of the Spirit as God’s people have sought to understand his Word.



Beasley-Murray, G. R. (1989). John. (R. P. Martin & D. A. Hubbard, Eds.) (pp. 95–97). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic.

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