Difficult circumstances are inevitable in this world, and problem solving often calls for the assistance of an advocate. Roles of an advocate include teaching others to struggle well with life, defending the defenseless, illuminating others to the truth, and representing a person or group to others. The role of an advocate can be formally taken on by an educator, social worker, medical worker, lawyer, or diplomat. Yet, even family, friends, and neighbors can advocate on behalf of a person.
Just as we have noble human advocates, there is a quintessential supernatural advocate — the Holy Spirit or Paraclete.
During the upper room discourse with the disciples, Jesus Christ shared about His departure and return (Jn. 13-16). He explained that despite being absent they would never really be alone and isolated. The Paraclete will be sent to them, and they will be brought into a dynamic relationship with God. The Paraclete will be their advocate. He will be their teacher, He will speak in their defense, He will illuminate people to a true evaluation of things, and He will represent Christ. God will be present with them through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Paraclete Teaches
Christ tells us that “the Helper [paraklētos], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn. 14: 26).1 The Spirit who instructs brings to remembrance everything Christ taught. All that Christ passed onto His disciples is preserved through the tutelage of the Paraclete, who reminds them of Christ’s teachings.
The Spirit instructed Philip on meeting with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-38). The Spirit also instructs Peter on the inclusion of Gentiles into the Christian community (Acts 10:1-11:18). Moreover, the Spirit speaking though the church at Antioch commissions Barnabas and Saul to fulfill their call through the mission of itinerant evangelism (Acts 13:1-3).
The Spirit throughout history moved certain persons to write the Scriptures, and although what they wrote reflected their individual personalities, style and native language, the end product was the very Word of God (2 Pet. 1:20-21). Even the epistles of Paul were counted as Scripture (2 Pet. 3:15-16). All God breathed Scriptures are sufficient for teaching, reproof, and correction so that the Christian be trained in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Interestingly, it is the Scriptures that point us to the Christ (Jn. 5:39). The teachings of Christ are preserved for us in the Scriptures, which were given to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Christianity is a lifetime journey of learning and knowing about the Triune God of the universe. The Paraclete comes alongside us and helps us understand everything that comes from God. The Apostle Paul puts it this way: “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:12-13).
The Paraclete Defends
Christ is the Light of the World. Unfortunately, the Light is always opposed by people who love the darkness (Jn. 3:19-21). Darkness hates the Light. The same hate for the Christ spills over into hate for Christ’s followers. The Lord says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (Jn. 15:18-19). The persecutors of Christ will persecute the Christian (Jn. 15:20-21). The haters of Christ are haters of the Father (Jn. 15:22-25).
The followers of the Light will face persecution from the darkness, God can still us the testimonial from the lips and life of a Christian to open the eyes of the blind so they might see the Light. Christ taught, “When the Helper [paraklētos] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26-27). On another occasion, the Lord said, “Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matt. 10:17-20; cf. Lk. 12:11-12). The Spirit then assist the Christian in defending their faith. When it comes time for the believers to give reason why they believe what they believe, the Paraclete is with them so that they can be the light of the world.
In the twenty-first century, western Christians experience a soft form of persecution. They speak for Christ but experience blowback in the form of censorship, disinvitation, or loss of employment.2 On the other hand, the war against Christianity is more severe throughout the rest of the world. Many believers throughout the world live as a persecuted minority and those who profess faith in Christ face imprisonment, torture, and execution.3 Christians are ridiculed, misrepresented, and slandered; however, the Paraclete extends solidarity to those who are unjustly mistreated. The Christian is to be a vessel for the Spirit to use in speaking truth in love to all.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”4 During the present epoch of time, Christians live behind enemy lines and have a mission to get those duped into serving in Satan’s army to defect to the other side. It is in the midst of turbulent spiritual warfare that the Paraclete is present to help us speak the truth in love to the enemies of Christ so that they might come to a true evaluation of things.
The Paraclete Illuminates
The world is shrouded in darkness and all those living in the world are fallen in sin. Although humans possess reason, creativity and self-determination, they are blind and incapable of truly escaping the inevitable fall into the ditch of despair. We all need the light of divine revelation to see our way to a better world. For example, we have the wherewithal to innovate and produce all sorts of technologies with beneficial life applications, but we still use the same discoveries in the making of weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons are even used. Intellect alone is insufficient in keeping us falling into a ditch of despair. There is a need for a light to lead us to right path. We need somebody to coach us on doing the right thing. Christ sends to us the Paraclete to help us find the way to go.
The Lord taught that “when [the Paraclete] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:8-11). Darrell Bock indicates that “the Spirit’s role exposes and demonstrates to the world that it is out of step with what God has done in Jesus.”5
The Spirit illuminates us to sin, righteousness, and judgement. This illumination has a judicial element. Bock explains that “sin is exposed because of the world’s failure to believe.”6 Christ performed the works of God through many signs and wonders. He even made self-disclosures to His own divine identity. Nevertheless, only some believed whereas other disbelieved. The Lord’s “exaltation is the way of righteousness and establishes that righteousness. It also is his vindication. The proof that Jesus is raised and active exposes the righteousness of God’s way in Jesus.”7 The Sanhedrin condemned Christ for blasphemy, but the resurrection vindicated His claim to deity. Christ was righteous and the tribunal was unrighteous. Christ’s death upon the cross was a moment of real melancholy and infinite sadness, but “at the very moment when Satan seems to have crushed all hope, Satan’s defeat is rendered and judgment against the evil one is sealed,” and “Christ’s work destroys the devil’s work.[viii] The decisive battle has been won by Christ and the day of victory is certain.
Like a prosecuting attorney the Spirit works to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt the accused is truly guilty of the transgression. The Spirit could also even be like a defense attorney demonstrating reasonable doubt in the case for the guilt of the accused. It is the Spirit who helps us understand that we have sinned against a holy God, and that it is through the work of Christ that the relationship between God and us is set to right. The Paraclete illuminates us to a proper evaluation of things with respect to truth and error, right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice, innocence and guilt.
The Paraclete Represents
A national leader will send an ambassador to another nation and the ambassador serves as a representative for his leader and nation. Even a good friend may take the initiative to share our views and values are communicated so that those who are unfamiliar with us might get a sense of who we are and what we are about. The Paraclete similarly represents Christ to the world.
Christ informs the disciples of His departure, but also says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (Jn. 14:16) and the Spirit “will bear witness about me” (Jn. 15:26). He then says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn. 16:13). Christ speaks to us through the Spirit. It is through passing on the truth to us the Spirit glorifies Christ (Jn. 16:14a). Moreover, the Lord says, “All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn. 16:14b).
The truth taught by Christ is perpetuated through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit and Christ are in solidarity with one another, and Christ continues to speak through the Spirit. Christ is then represented through the presence of the Paraclete. The Spirit is given to us by the Father through the Son, the Son speaks to us through the Spirit, and whatever the Son has to offer comes from the Father. It is then through the advocacy of the Spirit that we are brought into a dynamic relationship with the Trinity.
Even in the most difficult of all times when we experience isolation and socially distance in this world, Christian rejoice for we are still connected to Christ through the Paraclete. The Paraclete is present as an advocate. He teaches and brings to remembrance the teachings of Christ. He has solidarity with us in the midst of spiritual warfare, enabling us to testify to the great things God has done for us through Christ. He illuminates those in the darkness, bringing them to a true evaluation of things. He speaks for Christ and Christ speaks to us through Him. The Paraclete has come to united us with the one true God of the universe. More than just a force or idea, the Paraclete is a person who helps us find our way back to the Triune God of the universe, which is life as always meant to be.
— WGN
- All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
- Cf. Mary Eberstadt, It’s Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies (New York: Harper, 2016).
- Cf. John L. Allen Jr., The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution (New YorkL IMAGE, 2013, 2016).
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Harper Collins, 1952), 46.
- Darrell Bock, Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 513.
- Ibid., 513.
- Ibid., 513-514.
- Ibid., 514
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