It is (Re)-Written: Doctrine of God ep 6/7
- Dec 8, 2023
- 6 min read
THE HOLY SPIRIT (SECTION 2)
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever - John 14:16
Christ promised to send ‘another comforter’. Some Christians think that our Lord was here speaking of another individual and on the surface this may seem to contradict episode five in which we so firmly established, with plentiful and plain verses, that the Holy Spirit is the presence of God and of His Son. Again the Bible itself will be our guide. Was Jesus to send another individual or was He the very same comforter to come in a different manifestation? Let us examine the surrounding context for a fuller understanding:
(John 14:15 KJV) If ye love me, keep my commandments.
(John 14:16 KJV) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
(John 14:17 KJV) Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
(John 14:18 KJV) I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
(John 14:19 KJV) Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
(John 14:20 KJV) At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
(John 14:21 KJV) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
The following chart gives a clarifying breakdown of the above passage
Comforter | Jesus Christ |
1. He shall give you another comforter (John 14:16) | 1. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you (John 14:18) |
2. The world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him (John 14:17) | 2. The world seeth me no more (John 14:19) |
3. But ye know him (John 14:17) | 3. But ye see me (John 14:19) |
4. For he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17) | 4. At that day ye shall know that I am in my father, and ye in me, and I in you (John 14:20) |
A few questions emerge from this table analysis. Was Jesus speaking about Himself? Who was dwelling with them and would be in them? Who would manifest Himself to them but be invisible to the world? Thankfully we need not guess, Judas asked a follow up question and Christ's answer reveals who the coming comforter would be.
(John 14:22 KJV) Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
The disciples understood that Christ was the Comforter to come, the Spirit of truth. What they could not understand is how He would do it. How was Jesus to be physically in heaven but spiritually present with them as the Holy Ghost? A famous Christian writer has the following comment on this
“All who love Christ will be loved of the Father, and He will manifest Himself to them. In all their emergencies and perplexities, they will have a helper in Jesus Christ. That Christ should manifest Himself to them, and yet be invisible to the world, was a mystery to the disciples. They could not understand the words of Christ in their spiritual sense. They were thinking of the outward, visible manifestation. They could not take in the fact that they could have the presence of Christ with them, and yet He be unseen by the world. They did not understand the meaning of a spiritual manifestation. - [Ellen White, Southern Watch, September 13, 1898, par 1 and 2]
Some Christians would still find difficulty with this clear and plain reading of the text and ask, ‘But Christ said, Another comforter. How can He be the same another comforter?’ Great question. This is important to decipher. Consider the following verse:
(1 Samuel 10:6 KJV) And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
Did Saul become another individual? Of course not. 'Another’ does not always necessarily mean a different individual. In this instance, it signifies Saul become changed man, with a different disposition. When we consider all that we have learnt concerning the Holy Spirit thus far, we see that Christ was to manifest Himself in another form, not as He then was physically present with them but a spiritual (non-bodily) manifestation where He could be everywhere present with all believers. This is also clear from the Christian writer’s comment.
“Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall (although unseen by you), [THIS PHRASE WAS ADDED BY ELLEN WHITE.] teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" [John 14:26] -[Ellen White, Manuscript Releases vol 14, pg 23, par. 3]
‘The Holy Spirit is’ Christ ‘Himself divested (removed) of the personality of humanity’. And ‘He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit’. In her later book, Desire of Ages, Ellen White repeated this quote in the following manner:
“The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high” - [Ellen White, Desire of Ages, pg 669, par. 2]
We have read: "The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative" [Ellen White, Desire of Ages, pg 669, par. 2]...and from the previous quote Christ "would represent Himself as present in all places by His holy spirit as the omnipresent" [Ellen White, Manuscript Releases vol 14, pg 23, par. 3]. Christ would send His Spirit which is His person in a spiritual manifestation to represent Him, and in this sense He would be representing Himself and be nearer to all His followers wherever they would be. When He spoke these words He was "cumbered with humanity" and "Christ could not be in every place personally" [Ellen White, ibid] The disciples could only have to access Christ at His physical location, but when He would ascend to heaven and send His Spirit, if Matthew was in Ethiopia and Thomas in India "they could have the presence of Christ with them, and yet He be unseen by the world." [Ellen White, Southern Watch, September 13, 1898, par 1 and 2] In all this, Christ was clearly speaking of Himself in third person.
(John 16:7 KJV) Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
(John 16:8 KJV) And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Neither is it the only time Christ spoke of Himself in third person. Consider the following:
(Matthew 25:31 KJV) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
We all acknowledge that Christ was here referring to Himself as the son of man and that the son of man is not someone else other than Christ even though He spoke in the third person. How then do so many Christians come to conclude that the Comforter is someone else other than Christ simply because Christ spoke in third person? It is because they are reading their Bibles with preconceived notions. The plain reading of the context reveals that the Comforter is Christ Himself in a spiritual manifestation.
Christ had wrought (developed) perfect humanity here on earth. He trained His gifts and powers to perfection and ‘learned obedience by the things which He suffered’ (Hebrews 5:8) This resistance to sin could not be made available to us until He had ascended to heaven and was glorified, and then could send this power to us as the Comforter, the divine-human Spirit of our Lord. Never before had the Spirit been given like this, never with greater power. Without this, it is impossible for man to overcome sin, and this is the Comforter, since ‘we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin’ (Hebrews 4:15).
1. Christ promised saying, ‘Lo I am with you, even unto the end of the world’ (Matthew 28:20). Do you believe this promise?
2. Consider the following quotation and deduce relevant points to this lesson
"Christ in His humanity wrought out a perfect character, and this character He offers to impart to us." [Ellen White, Christ Object Lessons, pg 311]
The Holy Spirit is the breath of spiritual life in the soul. The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ. It imbues the receiver with the attributes of Christ. [The Desire of Ages, p. 805.]
“The Saviour is our Comforter” - [Ellen White, Manuscript Releases vol. 8, pg 49, par. 3]
NEXT: ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS
Comments