Holy Spirit In John's Gospel

Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel Introduction

• Role of the Spirit in John’s Gospel.

• Second half evidences a dramatic increase.

• Three names for the Spirit:– The Spirit of Truth – 14.17; 15.26; 16.13– The Holy Spirit – 14.26; 20.22; 1.33– paraklētos – ‘helping presence’ 14.16, 26;

15.26; 16.7

Holy Spirit in John

• Spirit is active in Jesus’ ministry (1.32-33; 3.34).• Does John 3.5-8 refer to the Spirit’s work in

salvation? What about 4.23-24? • Spirit gives life (6.63).• Spirit cannot be given until Jesus is glorified

(7.39).• The Spirit of Truth (14.17; 15.26; 16.13).• Jesus will send Spirit ‘the other helping presence’

to the disciples (16.7; cf. 14.16, 26; 15.26).• The Holy Spirit – Jesus breathes on disciples and

says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20.22; cf. 14.26).

Holy Spirit in John

• What does Jesus teach about the Holy Spirit in the farewell/upper room discourse? (John 13.31-16.33).– John 14.16-18– John 14.25-26– John 15.26-27– John 16.7-15

Holy Spirit in John

• Holy Spirit is a paraklētos (Paraclete).– Means helping presence, advocate or counselor.– Used of Jesus in 1 John 2.1 (our advocate in

heaven).– Another Paraclete of the same kind as Jesus

(14.16).– Neuter pneuma (Spirit) used with masculine

pronouns in 14.26; 15.26; 16.13, could suggest personhood but remember grammatical gender does not indicate ontological gender.

Holy Spirit in John

• Function of paraklētos in believers’ lives.– He will bring to remembrance all that Jesus

taught his disciples (14.26).– He will testify regarding Jesus together with his

followers (15.26).– He will convict the world of sin,

(un)righteousness, and judgment (16.8-11).– He will guide Jesus’ disciples in all truth and

disclose what is to come (16.13).

Holy Spirit in John

• The Spirit of Truth (15.26; 16.13).– Truthfulness as opposed to falsehood (16.7).– Eschatological truth (1.17).– Identifiable knowledge and propositional

content (8.32; 16.13).– Truth in practice – sanctification (17.17, 19).– Truth as relational fidelity (1.17; 14.6).

Holy Spirit in John

• The Spirit of Truth Current in Judaism (T. Jud. 20.1-5; 1 QS 3.18).

– The other helping presence.– The world cannot accept (1 John 3.24).– The Devil (13.2; 13.27 ‘Satan’; 12.31 ‘prince of

this world’; 17.15 ‘evil one’).– Not equally matched dualities.

Holy Spirit in John

• The Commissioning Scene (20.21-22).– Final reference to the Spirit (20.21-22).– Jesus’ breathing on the disciples saying

‘receive the Holy Spirit’ = symbolic promise.– Other views conflict with Acts 2.– The Greek verb enephysēsen ‘breathed on’

rather than ‘breathed in’ (cf. Gen 2.7).– Narrative closure 1.1 creation to 20.22 renewed

creation.

1 John

• Anointing language – 1 John 2.20, 27.

• Spirit of Truth and Spirit of Falsehood – 1 John 4.6.

• Spirit’s testimony through water and the blood – 1 John 5.6-8.

Conclusion

• Jesus’ ministry is associated with the Spirit.

• Spirit continues to empower disciples in their mission.

• Spirit anoints believers.

• Spirit and communal applications.