PARAKLETOS 1 (d) Jesus our intercessor

Other writers, however, do suggest that in this context Jesus does ‘intercede’ for us, and here it is worth having a brief look at the Greek word so translated, ‘entunchano’. Its basic meaning in Attic Greek is simply to ‘meet someone by chance’, or to ‘bump into’. But in the NT, where it is used (like ‘parakletos’) 5 times, it means to approach deliberately someone in power to present a petition to him; in 3 of the 5 uses this petition is on behalf of someone, so that ‘intercede’ is a good translation, while in the other 2 uses the petitioners are working, as it were, for the prosecution. These 2 latter instances do not really concern us here – the Jews petitioning the Roman governor Festus to have Paul put to death (Acts 25. 24), and the prophet Elijah ‘complaining’ (‘appealed’, NIV) to God about the way the Jewish nation had treated the prophets (Romans 11.2). But earlier in Romans, in chapter 8, Paul, like John, envisages court proceedings before the throne of God in heaven. Once one starts quoting from this magnificent chapter, it is hard to stop, but the verses which most concern us here are 33-4: “who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen ? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns ?” Paul leaves that question rhetorically unanswered, but we have already seen that it is “the accuser of the brethren”, Satan. Paul continues: “Christ Jesus who died” (our “atoning sacrifice”) “- more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us” (‘entunchano’) . We will return to this chapter later, but now we will move on to Hebrews, where the writer is describing the perfect priesthood of Christ: “but because Jesus lives for ever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for us” (7. 25-5). Another verse from Hebrews (9. 24) also speaks of Jesus’ ministry as our advocate and intercessor, though it uses neither of these words: “for Christ entered heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God on our behalf”. To this day, legal parlance describes an advocate ‘appearing before’ a judge.