“I have said this to you while I still remain with you; but the ‘parakletos’, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will remind you of all that I have said to you.” Like the previous passage, this promise has a double reference, one immediate, addressed to the (now 11) disciples, the other universal, addressed to all Christians everywhere. The disciples would soon be given the awesome challenge of the ‘great commission’: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. How were they to do this ? What were they to say ? What would be their message ? In the OT, God’s plan of salvation had been foretold by the prophets, and foreshadowed by the rituals of the law, in particular, the sacrificial system; in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, this plan of salvation had been fulfilled. Now they would have to formulate God’s plan into a gospel which they could preach and into a theology which would be a sure foundation for the church. This would be the most immediate ministry of the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth”, as Jesus titled him in the first passage we looked at. We can watch this process taking place right before our eyes, as it were, on the day of Pentecost, the day of the ‘parakletos’, as “the Spirit of truth” lights up the scriptures for Peter as he preaches, and shapes his words into a gospel sermon of such power that 3,000 are converted. And after Peter came Paul, led by the same Spirit to set out the gospel, God’s plan of salvation, in all its glorious fullness in his epistles, most notably in Romans. This promise of Jesus that the Spirit “will teach you everything”, together with the even more explicit promise in 16.13 that “he, the Spirit of truth, will lead the way for you into all truth”, is our guarantee that the writings of the epistles are indeed the word of God, since the writers have been led and enlightened by the Spirit of God. And, in the same way, the second half of this promise, “he will remind you of all that I have said to you”, assures us of the reliability of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and teaching.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
PARAKLETOS 3 (b) the Holy Spirit the Teacher (i) writing the NT
“I have said this to you while I still remain with you; but the ‘parakletos’, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will remind you of all that I have said to you.” Like the previous passage, this promise has a double reference, one immediate, addressed to the (now 11) disciples, the other universal, addressed to all Christians everywhere. The disciples would soon be given the awesome challenge of the ‘great commission’: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. How were they to do this ? What were they to say ? What would be their message ? In the OT, God’s plan of salvation had been foretold by the prophets, and foreshadowed by the rituals of the law, in particular, the sacrificial system; in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, this plan of salvation had been fulfilled. Now they would have to formulate God’s plan into a gospel which they could preach and into a theology which would be a sure foundation for the church. This would be the most immediate ministry of the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth”, as Jesus titled him in the first passage we looked at. We can watch this process taking place right before our eyes, as it were, on the day of Pentecost, the day of the ‘parakletos’, as “the Spirit of truth” lights up the scriptures for Peter as he preaches, and shapes his words into a gospel sermon of such power that 3,000 are converted. And after Peter came Paul, led by the same Spirit to set out the gospel, God’s plan of salvation, in all its glorious fullness in his epistles, most notably in Romans. This promise of Jesus that the Spirit “will teach you everything”, together with the even more explicit promise in 16.13 that “he, the Spirit of truth, will lead the way for you into all truth”, is our guarantee that the writings of the epistles are indeed the word of God, since the writers have been led and enlightened by the Spirit of God. And, in the same way, the second half of this promise, “he will remind you of all that I have said to you”, assures us of the reliability of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and teaching.
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