“ When the ‘parakletos’ comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will bear witness to me; you too must bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” This double reference to ‘bearing witness’ seems to suggest that, once again, we are in a court-room context In the previous 8 verses (18-25), Jesus has been warning his disciples to expect opposition and persecution from the world, just as he had experienced himself: “if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (20). Persecution often involves prosecution in a court of law, and we have already seen how, in the synoptic gospels, Jesus promises that in such circumstances the Holy Spirit will “teach” them what to say – the Holy Spirit as advocate. This passage seems to be Jesus’ equivalent to the similar promises in the other three gospels – but there is an interesting difference. The verb that is twice used in these two verses is ‘marturo’, meaning to ‘give evidence’ or ‘bear witness’; the synoptics hardly use this word at all (two instances in three gospels !), but it is one of John’s favourites: he uses it 33 times in his gospel, and 10 more in his letters, and he uses the related noun ‘marturia’ (‘evidence’, ‘testimony’) 14 times in the gospel and 7 times in the letters (all numbers resonant with significance!). How, then, does the Spirit ‘bear witness’ for Jesus ? He does so, I would suggest, in two ways. Firstly, as the ‘Spirit of truth’, he convinces us that the testimony we shall give is ‘the truth and nothing but the truth’ – though ‘the whole truth’ is beyond our powers in this life. We have seen already how the Spirit shines his light on the scriptures, and especially on the Messianic prophecies which ‘bear witness’ to Jesus. We have seen, too, how he will remind us of all that Jesus said. In fact, he convinces us intellectually, all over again, that Jesus really is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14. 6). Secondly, in his role as the ‘Jesus-substitute’, he can set our hearts on fire all over again with love for our Lord, and with love for those who do not yet know him. The Spirit witnesses to us of the living reality of Jesus, and we then witness it to the world.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
PARAKLETOS 3 (c) the witness of the Spirit: (i) in us
“ When the ‘parakletos’ comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will bear witness to me; you too must bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” This double reference to ‘bearing witness’ seems to suggest that, once again, we are in a court-room context In the previous 8 verses (18-25), Jesus has been warning his disciples to expect opposition and persecution from the world, just as he had experienced himself: “if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (20). Persecution often involves prosecution in a court of law, and we have already seen how, in the synoptic gospels, Jesus promises that in such circumstances the Holy Spirit will “teach” them what to say – the Holy Spirit as advocate. This passage seems to be Jesus’ equivalent to the similar promises in the other three gospels – but there is an interesting difference. The verb that is twice used in these two verses is ‘marturo’, meaning to ‘give evidence’ or ‘bear witness’; the synoptics hardly use this word at all (two instances in three gospels !), but it is one of John’s favourites: he uses it 33 times in his gospel, and 10 more in his letters, and he uses the related noun ‘marturia’ (‘evidence’, ‘testimony’) 14 times in the gospel and 7 times in the letters (all numbers resonant with significance!). How, then, does the Spirit ‘bear witness’ for Jesus ? He does so, I would suggest, in two ways. Firstly, as the ‘Spirit of truth’, he convinces us that the testimony we shall give is ‘the truth and nothing but the truth’ – though ‘the whole truth’ is beyond our powers in this life. We have seen already how the Spirit shines his light on the scriptures, and especially on the Messianic prophecies which ‘bear witness’ to Jesus. We have seen, too, how he will remind us of all that Jesus said. In fact, he convinces us intellectually, all over again, that Jesus really is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14. 6). Secondly, in his role as the ‘Jesus-substitute’, he can set our hearts on fire all over again with love for our Lord, and with love for those who do not yet know him. The Spirit witnesses to us of the living reality of Jesus, and we then witness it to the world.
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