(6) It remains to consider the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the Church as we have it in these books. The provisions made by the Lord for the future are to be found chiefly in the Last Discourses. These were uttered after the Last Supper and before the arrest. The prominent note in them is, of course, one of farewell : and tlie pro- vision for the future is put in language which later experience would alone fully explain. F'irst, our Lord promises an Advocate {wapaKXttTos) who will supply His place on His departure (14'°). There are several noticeable points in regard to this mission. Christ speaks of it as His own return (14'*): He promises in relation to it, that the Father %vill come with Himself to those who keep His sayings, and ' we will make our abode with him ' (14^). The Advocate is spoken of as distinct from the Father and the Son, and j-et His mission is one which reveals the Father and the Son. Again, in 14" Christ says, ' I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, that he may be with you for ever — the Spirit of truth. ' In 14-" a difl'erent phrase is used : ' The Advocate, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name ' ; and once again there is a further difference (15-", cf. 16'- '»), 'When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, that proceedeth from the Father.' Thus there is difl'erence of langua_ge in regard to the Spirit's mission, and it is ditiicult to determine precisely St. John's idea. It seems clear, how- ever, that this is due to the close intercourse and union which we have already noticed in regard to the Father and the Son. The Spirit, though sent like the Son, is one in whom full Divinity resides ; His activity is a mission, not the effusion of an impersonal influence. The mission of the Holy Spirit depends on the departure of Christ (IG', cf. 7'*): the two dispensations are not to bo synclironous. The nature of the mission of the Advocate is gathered from various phrases in these chapters. Like the Son, He will not speak from Himself (16"- '*), but He will speak the things H« hears. His mission continues that of Christ. ' ha will glorify me, because he will take of that which is mine, and will declare it unto you' (16'*). Ha
JOHN. APOSTLE
JOHN. APOSTLE
689
vill ti'ach, anil recall all the things which Christ hail said (1-1-"). lie will guide into all the truth,
i'ust because He speaks not of Himself (16"). His 'resence is described as an ' anointing ' {xplc/J-o., 1 Jn 2-"- ") which protects those who have it from error ; and is a sign (1 Jn 3") of the indwelling of Christ in us. Further, He continues the process of witness to Christ already mentioned (15"). This last point brings us in presence of one of the most dillicult passages in St. John's writings, that of the Three witnesses.* It is impossible to enter into the complicated discussions which lie round this verse. The ^vitness of the Spirit is placed on a level with that of the water and the blood, and the witness of the three is said to be con- Benticnt. It seems probable that the phrase applied to Christ (i iXffup Si CSaroi ko! at/iaTos) refers directly to the event noticed by St. John — the effusion of blood and water upon the cross (19»4. »j j5„(; also t_i,g Spirit is connected em- phatically with water in the Gospel {Z"- ') in the passage which gives the princijile for interpreting the nte of baptism. And ajjaiu in 6"" the Snirit is ap|)ealed to when the disciples are puzzled by our Lord's language about eating His flesh and drinking His blood — a passage which contains the theology, so to say, of the other Sacrament. It is probable, therefore, that those are right who see in this passage an assertion of the witness — the evidence conveyed of the truth of the faith — which comes from the Sacraments, interpreted \>y the Spirit. Our uncertainty (1) as to the exact signifi- cance ascribed to the eiiusion (19"), and (2) as to the exact position assigned by St. John to the Sacra- ments, makes this interpretation less than certain. So far we have considered the function of the Spirit in regard to the Church. He has also a function in regard to the world. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees nor knows Him (14") ; but His presence in the world rebukes or convicts it (A^TXfi) concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment (16''"). That is, the presence of the Spirit shows up in its tme character the nature of sin, in the refusal to believe in Christ : the nature of righteousness, in the triumph of Christ through humiliation and death, to which the Spirit is a perpetual witness : the natnre of judgment, in the final condemnation already passed upon the ruler of this world, and reiterated so long as the faith of Christ is in the world.
The efl'ect of this mission of the Holy Spirit npon the Church has two sides : it alters men's relations to God and to one another. As regards God, it brings them into the closest possible union. Aj^ain and again Christ speaks of abiding in them. The Father and the Son will make their abode with those who love the Son (14"). He is the vine, and they are the branches, depending for life on their onion with Him (15*"*-'- " etc.). And the same phrase is constantly used by St. John in his First Epistle (2''- •• " 3»- " 4" 5^). It results in the certainty of access to God : we have boldness (2* 4") at the last day (3"- ") in judging our own conscience ; (5'*- ") in prayer, knowing that He hears, and that we therefore have our requests. Five times does our Lord promise fulfilment to prayer in His name (Jn 14'» 15'- '« 10"- "•*'). We are Christ's friends (15") ; His joy is in us, and our joy is fullilled (15" 17"), even under persecution (10*') ; to us He leaves His peace (14"). Ho looks forward to n consummation in His Father's house, whore His followers sliall be with Him for ever (14') ; and then we, who are now sons, slinll be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 .In3^'). He sets before the Church as its iileal of unity the abiding of the Father in the Son, the love of the