PARAKLETOS 4: Conclusion

Today, too, the church can only witness effectively to the world with the help of the Spirit, the great Helper of the weak, just as individual Christians can only live a life worthy of their Lord if they “walk in the Spirit” every step of the way, depending entirely on his guidance and support. Jesus said to his disciples, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15. 5); Paul accentuated the positive: “I have the strength for everything in the one who empowers me” (Phil. 4. 13), that is, the Holy Spirit of Jesus. When an evangelist preaches the gospel, or a church holds a mission, they should pray humbly, passionately, insistently, to ‘call to their side’, and call to their aid, the ‘parakletos’. Without his convicting work, however lurid the hellfire imagery may be, however skilful and persuasive the rhetoric, hearts will remain unmoved and unrepentant. So, too, however earnestly we study the bible, and however many learned commentaries we turn to, unless we call upon the ‘parakletos’ to sit beside us and shine his light on the page, we may read the words of scripture, but we will not hear the word of God. And however regularly we go to church, and however enthusiastically we jump up and down to the beat of the music, unless the Holy Spirit brings Jesus to life in our hearts all our religious observance is just a hollow shell. It is the ‘parakletos’ alone who can make Christ real to us, and make the Christian life liveable.

We began this study by looking at the derivation of ‘parakletos’ from the Classical Greek verb ‘parakalo’. In modern Greek, ‘parakalo’ is among the commonest words in the language: it simply means ‘please’. It is, I hope, a helpful and encouraging thought that the ‘parakletos’ is the one who responds to our ‘please’ – or our pleas for help. Whatever our problem, whatever our challenge, whatever our work for the Lord, the help of the Holy Spirit is only a ‘please’ away: all we have to do is ask !