But however bold and cogent our witness to the world may be, the world will not be converted to Christ unless it is first convicted of its sin, and so of its need of a Saviour. This, too, is the work of the Holy Spirit, the ‘parakletos’. This brings us to our last passage, John 16. 7-11: “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the ‘parakletos’ will not come to you; but if I do go away, I will send him to you. (8) And he, when he comes, will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: (9) of sin, because they do not put their faith in me; (10) of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer see me; (11) and of judgement, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” This passage brings us round full circle, in two different ways. Our first example of ‘parakletos’ referred to Jesus, our ‘advocate’ before our heavenly Father, presenting the case for our defence – himself, and his “atoning sacrifice”. This verse (8) describes the Holy Spirit as the ‘parakletos’, the advocate, or counsel for the prosecution, not before God in the court of heaven, but before each person’s conscience in the court of the human heart. The second way in which we are, as it were, back where we started is that once again we are confronted with a word which, like ‘parakletos’, is a challenge to translators, and needs different translations in different contexts. Before we can fully understand (if we ever can) the ministry of the Holy Spirit as the ‘convictor’ or ‘prosecutor’, we need to look at the Greek verb ‘elencho’.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
PARAKLETOS 3 (d) the Holy Spirit the Prosecutor
But however bold and cogent our witness to the world may be, the world will not be converted to Christ unless it is first convicted of its sin, and so of its need of a Saviour. This, too, is the work of the Holy Spirit, the ‘parakletos’. This brings us to our last passage, John 16. 7-11: “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the ‘parakletos’ will not come to you; but if I do go away, I will send him to you. (8) And he, when he comes, will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: (9) of sin, because they do not put their faith in me; (10) of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer see me; (11) and of judgement, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” This passage brings us round full circle, in two different ways. Our first example of ‘parakletos’ referred to Jesus, our ‘advocate’ before our heavenly Father, presenting the case for our defence – himself, and his “atoning sacrifice”. This verse (8) describes the Holy Spirit as the ‘parakletos’, the advocate, or counsel for the prosecution, not before God in the court of heaven, but before each person’s conscience in the court of the human heart. The second way in which we are, as it were, back where we started is that once again we are confronted with a word which, like ‘parakletos’, is a challenge to translators, and needs different translations in different contexts. Before we can fully understand (if we ever can) the ministry of the Holy Spirit as the ‘convictor’ or ‘prosecutor’, we need to look at the Greek verb ‘elencho’.
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"The Holy Spirit" is not the Parakletos. And I don't know Greek, but I know Spamish, and I am the Parakletos. What good is all this Greek education if you can't pick up and understand what Jesus really said. I am here, surprise. God bless. I am coming out soon.
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