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11) The Spirit of Truth

Reading John chapters 15 and 16

The emphasis all the way through in John 13-16 is that the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (14.17; 15.26; 16.13), as He has already been shown to be the Spirit of Life.

Jesus declares, “I am the way (to the Father), namely the truth and the life” (John 14.6), and thus reinforces the fact that the way to God is through receiving and believing the truth proclaimed by Jesus, and thus receiving life through the Spirit. It is that truth and life, of which Jesus is the source, which will bring them to the Father, being communicated by the Spirit. This is something that all must experience.

But in these chapters there is a deeper meaning to the idea of the Spirit of truth. By the giving of the Spirit he is making provision for the preservation of the truth he has brought, and providing a means for its inerrant interpretation. To apply this beyond the apostles is to go beyond the claims of the passage. It is as witnesses to his life and teaching that they would be so inspired (14.26; 15.26-27). This is a fact which Paul recognises (1 Corinthians 15.8) so that he has to explain how he can claim to share that inspiration (Galatians 1.12, 16-17). He stresses that he finally compared his teaching with that of the apostles (Galatians 2.2), vindicating his claim to special revelation by pointing to the clear agreement between them.

The ‘Spirit of Truth’ will be given by the Father at the Son’s request (14.16), is sent by the Father in the Son’s name (14.26), is sent by Jesus from the Father, ‘proceeding from the Father’ (15.26), and is sent by the Son because he has left them (16.7). So Father and Son cooperate in sending the Spirit who makes Their presence real to men.

His particular task in this context will be “to teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (14.26). Thus the Spirit will make real to them the presence of the Son and the Father (14.18-21 following the statement in v.17). He will guide them into all truth by passing on to them what he has received from the source of truth. He will declare to them things that are to happen. He will glorify Jesus, and take all that belongs to Jesus, that is everything that the Father has, and declare it to them (16.13-15). In other words they will be supremely fitted to be vehicles of God’s revelation to men.

Here is our guarantee, if it were needed, that in the apostles Jesus made full provision for the preserving and expanding of the truth,and in its full sense it is a promise limited to them.

The word paracletos, as we have already seen, means ‘one called alongside to help’. It was used of lawyers called to defend an accused person, and also of the defence witnesses who were called to speak on his behalf. So the Spirit, as the chief witness, will support the witness of the disciples (15.26-27) and help them prepare their case for presentation to a hostile world (16.1-11). He will bring all the evidence to mind (14.26) and will obtain the facts from the highest source (16.13-15), guaranteeing a true testimony. So brilliant will be His defence that the accusers who reject and condemn Jesus will be proved in the wrong (16.8).

What is more, the Spirit will bring home to men the enormity of the crime that they have committed by not responding to Jesus, confirming to them that sentence has rather been passed on the world (16.8-10).

The word paracletos can also refer to an adviser, one who gives assistance (see Psalm 94.19 - paraclesis in the Greek Old Testament), or intercedes and mediates on another’s behalf, something which is said of the Spirit elsewhere (Romans 8.27), but this is not directly in mind here where the emphasis is on His activity in calling to mind, revealing and establishing the truth.

More relevant are the passages in the Old Testament where the writers speak of God ‘comforting’ His people (the same Greek word in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament), where the idea is of strengthening the people in readiness for deliverance (e.g. Isaiah 40.1; 51.12; 57.18; 66.11-13; Jeremiah 31.9 and especially Isaiah 61.2) by bringing home to them the truth about God and His ways.

In a general way we can apply these promises to ourselves. We can recognise in the Spirit one who comforts and strengthens us, one who guides and directs our study of the Scriptures, andone who leads us into truth, as long as we recognise that to us there is only a partial fulfilment. We are not the vehicles of divine revelation.

Questions.

1. What was the main task of the Spirit as the Spirit of truth to be?

2. How is he described as going about this task?

3. How much of His activity as outlined can be applied to ourselves?

12) The High Priestly Prayer

Reading John 17. 1 - 26

The final chapters of the Gospel of John bring out how thoughtfully Jesus prepared the way for what was to come in the light of the fact that ‘the hour was come’ for Jesus to be ‘glorified’(17.1).

This ‘hour’ had been mentioned by Jesus before (7.30; 12.23; 13.1). It referred to the hour of his going from the world to his Father (7.33; 13.1), by way of the cross (12.23, 32-33).

It is a reminder that Jesus’ life followed a carefully planned divine pattern (see 2.4; 7.6; 7.8), of which chapters 13 - 19 are the culmination, describing his final hours. It is not therefore surprising to find that they were a carefully laid foundation for the future, containing as they do, the promise of the Spirit of truth who would safeguard his message (chapters 14 - 16), his high priestly prayer which would guarantee the safeguarding of his disciples (chapter 17) and his commissioning of his disciples to safeguard on his behalf the purity of the infant church, by bestowing on them ‘Holy Spirit’ (20. 20-22).

Note that in chapter 17 he does not pray to the Spirit, but to the Father. The Spirit’s work is always at the Father’s behest.

The Spirit is never mentioned as a blessing to be sought for ourselves, making us in some way superior. Always He is promised for the fulfilling of God’s purposes. Thus we are never told to pray directly for the Spirit, but always to pray for the fulfilment of those purposes. References to the Spirit in prayer are always indirect, referring to His part in the carrying out of those purposes (e.g. Ephesians 3.15; 2 Corinthians 13.14). His presence in Christians is always assumed and the emphasis is usually rather on their need to cooperate with the Spirit (e.g. Romans 8.14; Galatians 5. 16-25), than on their need to receive Him, for it is assumed that personal commitment to Christ results in the receiving of the Spirit (Romans 8.9). This is not to deny, of course, that Christians need to seek to be ‘filled (pleroo) with the Spirit” on a continual basis (Ephesians 5.18), and that there are times when Christians are “filled (pimplemi) with the Spirit” for special purposes resulting in speaking in ‘tongues’(Acts 2.4), in speaking the word of God with boldness (Acs 4.31), and in a supernatural joy in the face of persecution (Acts 13.52).

Thus in John 17 Jesus prays to the Father for the carrying out of His will, and reveals something of his deep-seated love and concern for those who have been chosen for the task.

The passage can be split into three sections. In the first he prays for the fulfilment of the Father’s purposes as regards himself (vv.1-5), in the second he prays for the possibility of the fulfilment of the Father’s purposes through the apostles (vv. 6-19), and in the third he prays for the fulfilment of those purposes in all true believers (vv. 20-26). The distinction is very clear and emphasises that Jesus does make a specific distinction between the apostles and all who followed them, a distinction we have already observed in chapters 14-16.

In verse 2 he prays that His Father might ‘glorify’ him, so that he can glorify the Father. As we have seen earlier this includes the idea of his coming suffering (12.23-25 with 12.32-33). It is by this that he will bring glory to the Father and to himself, and will bring life to the world.

By virtue of his offering of himself he is able to bestow ‘the life of the age to come’ (17.2-3 compare 3.14-16; 6.52-58), that life which consists of new life in the Spirit (3.1-16). This life, we now learn, consists of men entering a plane whereby they “know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent” (17.4), a deep and personal experience. That is, they ‘see’ and enter under the personal rule of God (3.3-5) and receive a new spiritual awareness.

This life is to be given to “as many as You have given him” (17.2 compare 6.37; 6.39; 6.65; 10.26-28). This is a reminder of God’s sovereignty in the work of salvation, a sovereignty which He has put in Jesus’ hands (v.2). The Spirit works where He wills.

It need hardly be said that Jesus’ prayer is not a prayer for personal glory, but a deliberate commitment to suffering before he is finally restored to the “glory I had with You before the world existed” (v.5).

He goes on to pray specifically for the apostles. They were the only ones present at the Last Supper (Matthew 26.20; Mark 14.17; Luke 22.14) and the exclusion of Judas as the only one lost (v.13) excludes reference to the wider group of disciples, of whom some would certainly go astray, as others had done before (6.66). The prayer is extended to the rest in vv.20-26.

He describes his apostles as men who ‘belonged to the Father’ and had been ‘given to him’ (v.6). They were men who had ‘kept God’s word’ (v.6), which included the words that Jesus had given them (v.8). The idea is that they have treasured them and held them fast. They had also fully recognised Jesus’ uniqueness as God’s Son..

He prays that they may be kept in full spiritual unity (v.11). He has given them God’s word, and they will be hated because the world sees them as somehow apart from themselves. He prays, not that God will take them away from the hatred, but that He will preserve them in spite of it (v.15). They will be ‘set apart’ (sanctified) through God’s truth, the truth of His word which Jesus has revealed to them (v.17 with v.8). What above all will make them objects of the world’s hatred is that they have received and seek to pass on the truth of God. This benefit is something that they will enjoy because Jesus is deliberately “setting himself apart” (sanctifying himself) to suffering and glory (v.19). They too will be set apart to suffering and to glory, because they possess the truth.

He goes on to pray for those who will receive and respond to the truth received and proclaimed by the apostles (v.20), that they may be as one, and enjoy the same unity as is enjoyed by Father and Son, so that the world might see and believe (v.21). The glory which the Father has given him, “full of grace and truth” (1.14), he has given to them so that they may be one even as Father and Son are one (v.22). This refers, not to an outward church, but to a true spiritual unity which will make them ‘perfect in oneness’, which alone will make them fully complete. Then the world will know that Jesus was sent by the Father, and that the Father has loved those who believe in him as much as He has loved Jesus himself (v.23).

It is clear that Jesus was more concerned for this spiritual oneness than for anything else. Christians will inevitably disagree on doctrine, on views of the scriptures, on church government and on many daily practises, but when they have allowed this to destroy essential oneness with all Christians, they have committed a great sin. They have denied their birthright and brought shame on Christ. If men are one with the Father and the Son, then they are one with each other, and must love one another, and show it (how else is the world to believe?). This is the ‘unity of the Spirit’. It is the result of the Father’s love in them (v.26) It does not mean compromising what they see as the truth, it means they love one another while disagreeing, because they are one in Him. That is what matters above all.

God’s final purpose is to reconcile all things to Himself (Colossians 1.20) and to bring all things into harmony in and through Christ (Ephesians 1.10), removing the rebellion and disharmony that man has introduced into creation (Romans 8.1-23). The church was intended to be the firstfruits, the outward sign that God’s purposes were on the way to fulfilment.

The basis of this unity is that they have heard and received the word of the apostles. It is a unity based on apostolic teaching, an assumption illustrated in 1 John 2.19 where it results in their “abiding in the Father and the Son”, as long as what they have “heard from the beginning” abides in them (1 John 2.24). There are a few essential truths which determine a man’s position before God. If a man believes in Jesus as uniquely God’s Son, and in the fact that His work on the cross somehow brings him an undeserved forgiveness, and responds to God on the basis of this, is he not made one with the Father? Then he must be embraced in the circle of Christian love however differently he may view more detailed interpretations.

It may have been noted that in John 17 there has been no mention of the Spirit. In the most important prayer ever made He is not mentioned. Yet His work is everywhere in mind.The giving of ‘the life of the coming age’ (v.2), the treasuring of His word (vv.6 and 8), the essential unity ( v.11; v.21 - 23), preservation from evil (v. 15), the joy of Christ (v. 13), being set apart by His word (v. 17) and the divine love within (v. 26) are all elsewhere described as the work of the Spirit. If Jesus could pray like this without mentioning the Spirit, we need to be careful about passing judgment on praying men because they do not pray as we do. To be in touch with God is to activate the Spirit. He is the Spirit of God.

13) Receiving the Spirit

Reading. John 20. 19-31

The days of Jesus’ life on earth are coming to an end. The Spirit filled Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 42.1 compare Matthew 3.17) is dragged before the rulers to be shamed and humiliated as the prophet had foretold (Isaiah 50.4 etc.). He is led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53.7 compare John 1.29), to be made an offering for sin (Isaiah 53.10 compare Mark 10.45), and in so doing he accomplishes the purpose of his coming (John 10.18; 12.27).

But he is not deserted by the Spirit. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that ‘through the eternal Spirit he offered himself without blemish to God’ (Hebrews 9.14). At the moment of his greatest need Jesus is strengthened to carry out his final sacrifice by God’s power at work within him.

The offering is accepted. God raises Him from the dead (Acts 2.32), and through His resurrection the ‘Spirit of holiness’ declares Him to be the power-filled Son of God, that is, the expected one from the line of David (Isaiah 11.1-3; Romans 1.3-4; compare 1 Timothy 3.16). The phrase ‘Spirit of holiness’, a literal translation from Hebrew into Greek, is unusual for Paul and may well indicate that he is quoting the words of an early creed, possibly formulated by the apostles. Jesus’ resurrection is His vindication, and by it the Spirit witnesses to His unique position (compare Acts 2.36). Now He will be raised far above all (Ephesians 1.19-21), being exalted at God’s right hand, the place of supreme power, and receiving all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28.18). The next thing will be to bring all things under His rule, and the resurrection appearances begin.(John 20.17 seems to suggest that His ‘ascending to the Father’ took place before He appeared to His disciples and Matthew 28.18 seems to confirm this. Theologically Acts 1.9 is not the ascension)

Jesus does not leave His disciples sorrowing for long. ‘On the evening of that day’, the day on which the empty tomb was discovered, the disciples were gathered fearfully behind locked doors (John 20.19). Then Jesus came among them, showing them the wounds in His hands and side. The impression given by John’s narrative is that the apostles were virtually alone (20.24 with 25a, compare 21.1-2; also Mark 16.14). Luke lets us know there were others with them (24.9; 24.33), but he too restricts the ‘giving of the commandment’ to the apostles (Acts 1.2). Probably one or two of the women were there, and possibly James, the Lord’s brother, who is later accepted as an apostle. Luke lets us know in Acts 1.13 that only the eleven were staying in the Upper Room. John does not deny the presence of the others, only that it was unimportant for his purpose.

It is probable that the full details of what happened that night were not widely known. Luke is aware of the fact that Jesus showed ‘infallible proofs’ of His resurrection, but the more intimate details of that night he was unaware of, or possibly ignores because he wished to bring out the impact of Pentecost. To John, who was of a deeply spiritual nature, they were the most important moments of his life. This was his Pentecost. He has spoken in his Gospel of the coming ‘receiving of the Spirit’. This, to him, was when he received. It is inconceivable that anyone, especially John, would be satisfied with describing an incident that was purely symbolic. Such suggestions are the interpretations of people desperate to support a theory.

We can be sure, then, that John sees in what happened in the Upper Room the fulfilment of all the promises that Jesus made about the coming of the Spirit. But it was to the apostles only. At Pentecost, in Acts 2, it became a reality for the early church.

“Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord” (John 20.20). I suspect that was putting it mildly. They were exhilarated. They had heard about the resurrection, but now here was Jesus standing among them in person. The showing of His hands and side were demonstrations that it was truly Him, and gave them time to settle down a little. Then He says to them, “Peace be to you. As My Father has sent me, in the same way I send you.” They are now, as the apostles, to take over where Jesus left off.

Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. This was a claim to deity. His breath (pneuma implied) represents the giving of the Holy Spirit (pneuma). John never doubts that this was what he and the other apostles were waiting for. From now on they know the task in hand, and know that they have been given the power to carry it out.

So if Pentecost is looked on as the birth of the early church, this was its conception. In the words of Luke 24.45, “then were their minds opened to understand the Scriptures”. The Spirit of truth has come as promised in John 14-16.

The action of Jesus in breathing on them could hardly fail to bring to mind the way that God breathed into man the breath of life (Genesis 2.7). That was the moment when man entered into possession of the old creation, this was when the new men entered into possession of the new creation. Jesus is in effect saying “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1.28). It was not the moment of their new birth. That had from the first been as necessary for them as for Nicodemus (John 3.6). Nor was it their first experience of the Spirit’s power, for they had cast out evil spirits and healed with ‘power’ given to them by Jesus (Matthew.10.1), preaching on the His authority (Luke 9.1-2), and had had available for them the Spirit’s help (Luke 12.11-12; Matthew 10.20 - we have no reason to doubt that this applied to problems they faced in their ministry at that time). Rather it was the establishing of the new people of God, here accomplished in private, but made public at Pentecost.

It was also the moment of their special empowering for the task to which they were now set aside. They are promised that they will be able to discern the reality of men’s response to Christ (v.23), and pronounce accordingly. The church has rashly appropriated this statement to itself, but there is no indication that, like the promises of special ability to remember and interpret the words of Jesus and the Old Testament, it applied outside the apostles. To them and to them alone was given the ability to provide the revelation of God, and to them, and to them alone, was given the fulness of discernment that would protect the infant church. They alone were given the authority to interpret men’s responses, and pronounce accordingly.

An examination of the life of Jesus will bring out the significance of what they are empowered to do. He declares people’s sins forgiven on two occasions.

In Luke 7.36-50 we have the story of the ‘sinful’ woman who came to Jesus and washed his feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Jesus tells the doubting Simon the Pharisee that her sins, which are many, “are forgiven her for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little”. In other words the forgiveness precedes the loving. Jesus can now tell her that her sins “are forgiven” because she has demonstrated that she already has an awareness of forgiveness. Through listening to his words earlier she must have become conscious of sin and cried to God for forgiveness, and her actions are those of a woman aware of forgiveness, filled with love and gratitude. His words are a confirmation to her that her experience is genuine. His phrase “your sins are forgiven you” (literally ‘have been and therefore are forgiven’) means “God has forgiven you”. He uses the passive tense, which is a characteristic of his ministry when he is speaking of an action of God without mentioning Him (compare Matthew 5.3-9, where the question ‘by whom’ can only be answered ‘by God’).

A second example is Luke 5.18-24. A man is lowered through to the feet of Jesus because he is paralysed. Jesus says to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you” (perfect passive tense - ‘have been and therefore are forgiven’). Why did Jesus say this to a man who has been brought for healing? Surely because he can see the man’s inner thoughts, and the cry of his heart. This is no arbitrary declaration. He can see the man’s deepest need, a solution that the man is crying out for. He knows this and assures him that God has forgiven him. This leads on to the statement that the Son of Man has authority on earth ‘to forgive sins’ (v.24).

This incident again links the forgiving of sins with sins having been forgiven by God. Jesus had not said “I forgive you”, but basically “God has forgiven you”, again using the indirect passive tense.

Both these incidents demonstrate that Jesus was able to discern men’s inner thoughts,and it was on this basis that he was able to declare God’s forgiveness. This is also the gift He has given to His apostles, the ability to discern men’s thoughts and declare God’s forgiveness or otherwise. This is illustrated in Acts 5.1-10 and 8.21-24. In the latter case, however, Peter makes clear that any forgiveness must be between Simon and God (v.22). He clearly does not see himself as having some great authority to deal with sin.

An examination of the history of the early church in Acts will demonstrate that this was not something that was used lightly. How differently Acts would have been written if the apostles had held the views later read in to this verse. As it is we find only the rare references mentioned above..

So the words of John 20.23 are a promise that their new reception of the Holy Spirit, which has been to the apostles alone, has given them the discernment to fathom men’s hearts and discern the genuiness of their repentance. On this basis they can declare that men have been forgiven, or that they have not, not on their own authority but on God’s, a gift they felt unable to use except in rare circumstances. This was vital to a new-born church when a false profession by an imposing person could have caused so much harm. There is no indication that it was ever passed on, nor later on would be needed. By then the church had grown sufficiently to be able to cope with false confessions, although a gift of discernment of sorts was given as a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12.10; 14.29), which was very necessary to discern true prophesy from false when there was no New Testament to go by.

So having received the Spirit of truth and discernment the apostles are now ready to go into the future with power and confidence.

Questions.

1. What was the difference between what happened in the Upper Room and what happened at Pentecost?

2.What special importance had this enduement for he apostles?

3. Do you think the powers given to the apostles are given to the church today, and if so, to what extent?

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THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

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