John 14:16-17
“I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,— the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.”
Where this sits
The upper room, the same conversation as the promise of peace. Jesus is preparing men for his departure, and this is the first mention of what will replace his physical presence.
Reflection
Another Counselor. The word another is doing precise work — Greek has two words for it, one meaning another of a different kind, and this is the other one. Another of the same kind as me.
That is the claim being made in a room where the disciples' entire problem is that they are about to lose him. He does not offer them a substitute or a lesser arrangement. He says what is coming is of the same kind, and adds a detail his own presence did not have: that he may be with you forever.
The title itself resists translation. Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, Helper — English versions all pick one and lose the others. The Greek is a legal word for someone called alongside: the person who stands with you in a proceeding, who speaks for you, whose presence changes what can be done to you.
And the last clause marks the real shift. He lives with you, and will be in you. With, then in. Up to this point God's presence had an address — a mountain, a tent, a temple, and for three years a particular man walking around Galilee. What Jesus describes is the end of the address.
Which is why the disciples' grief in this chapter is treated so gently and yet not indulged. They are losing something real. They are not losing what they think they are losing.
- Theme:
- Presence
- Book:
- John