JOHN'S 'PARACLETE'

John's 'Paraclete'

John's 'Paraclete'

Introduction

The paraclete is representative of God or of Christ, and the Johannine teaching is that no angelmediator, no holy 'spirit' like the Archangel Michael, can take Christ's place. But truly inspired leaders - acting as teachers, exegetes, martyrs - and the inspired Church itself as a communion of love do embody the spirit-paraclete and do continue to represent Jesus. Special attention is paid to recent research on this subject, mainly in the area of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dr Johnston argues that in insisting that the true spirit-paraclete must always exalt and interpret Jesus of Nazareth as the final revelation of God in man, John was in fact combating heretical views. (Grudem 1994 pp.89)

Discussion

To the average evangelical, uncritical reader, John seems pretty straightforward. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.' (Hendriksen 1987 pp.67)

In this passage, the resurrected Lord appears to his followers. He proves to them it is him, and they are glad. He then speaks of sending them out to continue on his ministry, and breathes on them, commanding them to receive the Holy Spirit who, it is perceived, proceeds from him. These ones then receive the authority to carry out the functions of the New Testament church.

Beyond what has been said, however, commentators do not agree on much of what is being spoken in these verses. To say that there are disputed points in the interpretation of this text would be quite an understatement. Expositors ask, Why is Pneuma Hagion anarthrous? Is the Paraclete the same as the Pneuma Hagion? How is this giving of the Spirit to be reconciled with Acts 2? Is it even legitimate to attempt to harmonize them?

Of course, how one answers all of these questions plays a role in the determining of his New Testament pneumatology. To the end of developing the beginnings of a biblical pneumatology, this paper will seek to examine the three main interpretive options for reconciling John 20.22 with the Lukan giving of the Spirit in Acts 2. Each main option will be given a section of the paper and then some conclusions will be drawn. Within each broad heading there are several schools of thought. They will be explored under italicized headings. (Gill 2003 pp.117)

Köstenberger (2004 pp.78)hold that there is a difference in the Spirit given to the church and ...