This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Holy Spirit” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 25, 1996.
Tonight we are beginning our reading in John’s first letter, his first epistle. This is 1 John 1, and we are reading through the second verse of the second chapter. Give your attention then to God’s holy word, 1 John 1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Turning back to John’s Gospel then, chapter fourteen. Verses sixteen and seventeen. This is John fourteen, verses sixteen and seventeen.
And I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter. That he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because he seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
And then the same chapter, verse 26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said to you. Chapter fifteen. Verses twenty six and twenty seven. But then the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the father even the spirit of truth which proceeded from the father. He shall testify of me and he also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning.” And finally, chapter sixteen, verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Father, we ask that we might have your grace even by your spirit. The full and proper meaning of your word would be set before us. And that we having that full and proper interpretation and meaning of your word might be content to live in keeping with what you have said. Father, grant us mercy even as we would long for your word. Indeed, the weeks are long, at times the moments dragged, because, Lord, we are seemingly far from your word. but give us a desire for your word, a longing for it. And as we have that longing, may you fill it and satisfy us, even as we remember your words, those things which you have said, and are convinced afresh that you have given your word to us for life, and that our life is found in your word. Indeed, for the blessing of your church, indeed, O God, for the blessing of each one of us, may we rejoice in your word and love our God, the very one who has given us that word.
We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. One of the arguments in the Church during this last century has been over Jesus’ words about the Holy Spirit in the latter chapters of John’s Gospel. In view is the unique description by Jesus of the Holy Spirit. For repeatedly in the Greek rendering of Jesus’ words, the Greek word parakletos, which is translated by or transliterated by us as the paraklete, is used by our Lord to identify the Holy Spirit. Now, we have looked once more this evening at those texts in which Jesus so identifies the Holy Spirit.
Once more for you, they are John 14, verse 26, I’m sorry, verse 16 first of all, then verse 26, chapter 15, verse 26, and chapter 16, verse 7. Now, all of us are aware of the way in which the King James has translated this particular description of the Holy Spirit, and that is the reason why I read from the King James this evening. I usually read from the New American Standard in the evening, but this evening we read from the King James, because the word that has been chosen to translate Jesus Description of the Holy Spirit at this point is the word Comforter, a choice consistent with some older versions of the scriptures and particularly consistent with Wycliffe’s early English translation as well as Luther’s German translation. However, more recently, translators of the Bible have uniformly—and I underscore that—uniformly Abandon the title Comforter in these passages in John’s Gospel that speak to us about the Holy Spirit.
You might note, for instance, the NIV rendering. It chooses the word Counselor. You might also note the New American Standard Version. If you have a copy of that open in front of you, it chooses the word Helper. Now, one reason for this move is the fact that John uses this Greek word, parakletos, outside of his gospel in one other text. And that one other text is 1 John 2, verse 1, where everyone has agreed that the translation should be advocate. Advocate. The King James translates 1 John to 1 in this fashion. We read it this evening, “‘My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate, a parakletos, with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous.'” Now, of course, this is descriptive of Jesus himself and not of the Holy Spirit, but the same word is used here.
And the pressure now of 1 John 2.1 and its accepted translation, its uniform translation, has been brought to bear upon the use of periclators in John’s Gospel. And the conclusion has been that the title of the Holy Spirit, therefore, must have a broader meaning that has ordinarily been fought against the background of the King James rendering and the rendering from other versions and translations. Most definitely, then, as we look at John’s gospel and Jesus’ description of the Holy Spirit in it, the word advocate is suggested, just as Jesus Christ in 1 John Chapter 2, verse 1, is the Advocate, so also now in the renderings that we are to set before ourselves out of John’s Gospel with respect to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit Himself is Advocate.
But we might also add these other descriptions. He is also Helper. He is Counselor. And some have suggested that he is encourager, and he is to some the exhorter. Some have opted for the notion that he is to be understood as the one who supports and gives aid.
But you will notice in all these suggestions that the old title, Comforter, does not appear. In fact, one scholar has stated that no single word can provide an adequate rendering of the Greek word periklesis. But while no single word seems adequate, one word is definitely excluded, and that word is comforter. The same scholar goes on to say, the only thing one can say for certain is that the sense of comforter does not fit any of the New Testament passages. So, according to present scholarly treatment, the word comforter in description of the Holy Spirit is out.
And this seems uniform, whether we’re dealing with liberal scholars or conservative scholars. Thus, even the conservative translations of scripture, like the NIV or the New American Standard Version. But I think it is interesting that this scholar that I have just quoted says that the sense of comforter does not fit any of the New Testament passages because it is precisely at this point, mainly with regard to the sense of the whole matter, that I intend to offer my defense of the title comforter. As I begin my argument, I want to make it perfectly clear what I am not saying. I am not saying that some of the translations we have noted don’t have something to commend them.
Indeed, we do not want to lose sight of the Holy Spirit as exhorter, as encourager, as counselor, as helper, much less, especially in light of 1 John 2.1, we don’t want to lose sight of the sense in which we might render this Greek word advocate, even in the gospel context. However, the question I have is this, do we want to, do we really want to lose the term type the term Comforter as a title and description of the Holy Spirit.
You certainly know me well enough to realize that I would not hold on to this title if the text of Scripture were demanding otherwise. Sentimental attachment is not enough for maintaining loyalty to an improper translation. If the title Comforter is untenable, without foundation, then let’s dismiss it with the rest who have done so and move on. However, if there is reason to retain it, or at least retain its flavor, its sense, then let’s be busy to retain the title in some way in the consciousness of the Church. My argument this evening will be both biblical theological and contextual. It being my contention that the translation Comforter has both a contextual and a biblical theological support for it.
The word Paracletus does not appear in the Greek Old Testament in the Septuagint. However, there is one occurrence of a word that is very close to it. The word is paraptator, and it appears in Job chapter 16, verse 2, where Job complains about his friends who have come to him. because he says they are such sorry comforters. The translation there is comforter in this word that is very close to the one which is used in John’s gospel to describe the Holy Spirit. But more important from the Old Testament is the use of the verb form that provides the route from which periclatus rises. That verb form is perikaleo, and literally means to call alongside or to call to one’s aid. This Greek word in the Septuagint is regularly used in texts that speak about comfort. For instance, Psalm 23, verse 4, By rod and by staff they comfort me. Here is the Greek root, the Greek verbal root for the noun form used by Jesus in John’s Gospel.
But more importantly still, This verb form appears in the Septuagint version of Psalm 126. The Septuagint version of the first verse of that psalm reads this way, When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became as comforted ones. That reads a little bit differently than possibly the translation you have in front of us, but in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, that’s how it is stated. When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became as comforted ones, or those who were comforted.
Now, I introduced that text by saying that this particular citation is very pertinent to what we are saying tonight because it helps us to get a biblical theological handle on what is going on in the biblical use of this terminology. It provides us a biblical theological entrance for the fuller grasp of Jesus’ language in describing the Holy Spirit. Psalm 126, verse 1, makes reference to the exile and to the captivity of the people of God, and becomes then very suggestive for our understanding of the background to Jesus’ usage of the term in John’s Gospel with respect to the Holy Spirit. Many other passages in the Old Testament are useful along these lines, along these lines of establishing for us the background out of which Jesus speaks.
I have in mind here the forgotten book of Lamentation. that is particularly pertinent when it comes to the whole matter of the exile and the captivity. It’s Jeremiah who is writing this book, and he is writing it in the context of the devastation that overtakes Israel, of the enslavement of the people of God as they are carried off into Babylon and into captivity. So I have in mind this forgotten book of Lamentations, which is full, full of passages that are reflective of the background out of which Jesus draws when he speaks of the Holy Spirit as being the Pericles. Now, each of these verses in Lamentations is descriptive of the Babylonian devastation and the subsequent captivity. And that’s specifically in terms of the absence of comfort, as if the great crisis in view for the people of God has been created because of the impossibility of comfort for them. Lamentations, chapter 1, verse 2.
Jerusalem, so says the prophet, has no one to comfort her. We’re getting close now, are we not? We’re getting close. Jerusalem has no one to comfort her. Lamentations, chapter 1, verse 2. Verse 9 of the same chapter. She has no comforter, it is stated. Verse 16, the same chapter. Far from Jerusalem is a comforter. Verse 17, there is none to comfort Zion. Verse 21, the same thought appears once more. There is none to comfort Zion. The exile and the captivity are seen, therefore, in terms of the loss and in terms of the impossibility of comfort for and to the people of God. They have no comfort, and there is no one to supply them comfort.
Thus the significance of Psalm 126, verse 1, which happens to be one of the great psalms of the Psalter. and the restoration that is spoken of there, of that comfort for the people of God, against the background of the exile and the hopelessness of Israel’s circumstance, there comes this affirmation that comfort is being restored to the people of God.
Now this is in keeping with the promise that had been made to Israel even before the exile and the captivity took place. And it is particularly apparent in the latter part of the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah, in many ways, seems to be an expression in the Old Testament of the Pericles, as if in his person he were something of a foreshadowing of the coming of the Comforter. Do you know why I say that? If you were to check a concordance of the Greek version of the book of Isaiah, you would see that there is an incomparable number of the uses of words for comfort in the prophecy of Isaiah, particularly in the latter part of that prophecy. Beginning with chapter 40 of Isaiah’s prophecy, there is the envisioning of the exile and the captivity, which is in view for the people of God. But now, as that chapter begins, Isaiah chapter 40, verses 1 and 2, you have then the proclamation of the arrival of comfort for the people of God.
Comfort, O comfort, ye my people, says the Lord, speak kindly, or comfortingly, to Jerusalem, and call to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, and that she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all of her sins. Isaiah chapter 49 verse 13 speaks about the Lord himself comforting his people because he has saved them out of the devastation of the exile and the captivity.
Chapter 51 verse 3, one of the most remarkable texts, rehearses for us the magnificent promise of comfort. Indeed, Isaiah 51 verse 3, Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places, and her wilderness will be like, made like, he will make like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will follow, will be found in her, thanksgiving and sound of a melody. And in chapter 51, verse 12, the Lord portrays himself once more as the Comforter.
Here is the biblical theological root for the language of Jesus about the Paracletus, the Paraclete, in the Gospel of John. It is almost as if the exile and the captivity do not reach their true resolution, until Jesus Christ is on the scene. The crisis, however, in chapters 14 through 16 of John’s Gospel is created by the necessity of Jesus’ departure, the necessity of his return to the Father. If the resolution of the exile and captivity are to be seen in Jesus, and if the promise of comfort is to be associated with him than what is to become of the comfort and the fulfillment of the promise if he departs, if he leaves.
Jesus, therefore, introduces the Holy Spirit as the comforter, not only as the one who extends comfort to the disciples when and because Jesus departs, he most certainly does that, And that answers the most immediate contextual concern for Jesus’ usage. But Jesus also intends the Holy Spirit as comforter, as the one who continues Jesus’ ministry of comfort in fulfillment of the old promises that the people of God would receive comfort in the conclusion of their humiliation, and that as the exile and the captivity are brought to their end and resolved. The continuing ministry of Christ in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, includes his service as helper, counselor, encourager, exhorter.
It includes the Holy Spirit’s service as that one who abides with us forever. Chapter fourteen, verse sixteen in John. The Holy Spirit’s service as the one who brings to the disciples’ mind everything that Jesus taught. Chapter fourteen, verse twenty-six. The Holy Spirit’s service as the spirit of truth who bears witness to Christ. Chapter fifteen, verse twenty-six. The Holy Spirit’s service as the one who stands in Christ’s place whom Christ himself sends to his church.
Chapter 16, verse 7. The Holy Spirit, as Comforter, provides the context for consideration even of the title Advocate. The title that is suggested to us in 1 John 2, verse 1, that verse which we read this evening. Here, once more, Jesus is called the Periclatus, same word being used here of Jesus, that Jesus is seen to use of the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel.
My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. If anyone sins, he has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. I, for one, find that very comforting. That’s the point. Can we maintain then this title for the Holy Spirit as comforter, despite the fact that our modern translations and modern scholarly opinion have abandoned it? I believe that we can.
And it may well prove that the earlier versions and Wycliffe and the King James version of the Bible and Luther himself had a better grasp on the contextual orientation of Jesus words in John’s gospel and even mind you a better grasp of the biblical theological intention at work. Doesn’t it work on you, the Holy Spirit.
He described for us as the Comforter. our Father, even into the days when Jesus had appeared in the earth. The comfort longed for, according to the promise, seemed to be far distant from the experience of the Jews at that time. But Jesus comes to them And even at the point of his departure, he declares himself to be the center of the fulfillment of such promises as have been made to the people of God. And not only so, but he also proclaims that the Holy Spirit, whom he shall send, will be the one through whom those promises continue to be fulfilled, in whom that fulfillment is realized. So, O God, He is able to point to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, and these Jews who have gathered around Him, most certainly saw in his description the fullness and completion of that which had been promised long ago. And Lord, now that the Comforter has come, we pray that we might live in the fullness of his ministry. and that our joy and our gladness would be overflowing, even as we are sustained and nurtured by Him. This we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.