therefore be comforted, and be ye orig "(A
*On the spelling paraclitus see Hare’s note in Mission of the Comforter, ii. 522, note Ja (in later ed. note K).
¢ The Rhem. version has the foll. marg. note to Jn 1416, * Paraclete by interpretation is either a comforter or an advo- cate ; and therefore to translate it by any one of them only is perhaps to abridge the sense of this place.’ There is no note on the tr. at 1Jn 31, where the Vulg. ‘advocatus’ is given as advocate,’ with the Gr. ταϑάκλητον in the margin.
PARACLETE
8 translation which RV retains, though the same Hebrew word is translated ‘recover strength’ in Ps 3918 by both versions. We next find the meaning exhort or exhortation, as Wyclif's translation of He 125 ‘And ye han forgete the comforte that spekith to you as to sones.’ And then encouragement (not necessarily to goodness), as in Wyclif’s Select Works, iii. 328, * Not to coumforte hem in here synne’ ; and in Cranmer’s Works, i. 209, ‘By your comfort the vulgar people conceiveth hatred oo such things as by the prince's commandment are set rth.
But when Wyclif chose the word ‘Comforter’ to express the Latin Paracletus (he may have coined the word, since the earliest examples of ‘comforter’ yet discovered are in his writings), it is probable that the sense he desired to convey was ‘one who consoles.’ His translation (1382) of Job 16? is ‘Alle yee ben hevye coumfortoures’; and this was the meaning which was attached to the Greek word rapaxAnres and the Latin
racletus in the Church in his day. Any other sense, indeed, is somewhat rare. Lord Berners’ /roissart (ch. ccci. Globe ed,
. 229) may be quoted for the meaning ‘aider’ or ‘abettor’:
Who durst begin such a riot as to enterprise to slay the earl’s baily holding the earl’s banner in his hands, doing his office, without some bolsterer or comforter in their deed?
iii. How has it come to pass that παράκλητος, which nowhere else has the meaning of ‘ consoler,’ has been so peunrally taken in that sense in St. John’s Gospel? The explanation must be found in the context. Our Lord, in promising the Paraclete, spoke of His own impending epee ture. The disciples’ hearts were filled with sorrow. It is natural to understand that the Paraclete the Holy Ghost was promised to the disciples to console them for the loss of their Lord. And when that meaning was found in the context, it was easy to give it to the word itself. The same thing happened to advocatus in Latin; the sense of ‘consoler’ is equally unknown to that word outside ecclesiastical usage; Tertullian must have given it that meaning because he found it in his version as the designation of Him who was sent to console the disciples.
But the Paraclete was not sent to console the disciples. They did not really need consolation. If they had understood, no sorrow at Christ’s departure would ever have filled their hearts. As soon as they did understand, the sorrow left them. Before the Paraclete came they ‘returned to Jerusalem with great Joy (Lk 24°), As soon, indeed, as they re the fact of Christ’s resur- rection their sorrow was turned into joy. Even the women ‘departed bran from the tomb with fear and great joy’ (Mt 28°). But it was then that the battle with unbelief had to begin—the unbelief of their own hearts in ae but chiefly the unbelief of the world. And the Paraclete was sent to aid them in that strife.
In Jn 1415: 39 15% the reference seems to be to the unbelief or half-belief of the disciples’ own hearts. The Paraclete as the Spirit of truth guides them into all the truth. He brings to their remembrance the things the Master had said to them ; in the light of events He interprets these things; they understand that ‘all is of God that is and is to be, and all is good.’ He witnesses for Christ in their hearts; and then when they know that He is the Messiah, the Son of God and Saviour of the world, they are ready to be witnesses themselves (Jn 15%: 7),
In Jn 167 the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete of the disciples in their witness before the world. Just like the παράκλητος and advocatus of the ancients (but not quite as the advocate of our day), He comes to the disciples. ‘I will send him unto you’ (Jn 167). He is their personal unofficial
“riend; His services are at their disposal. In their debate with the world He is at their right hand that they may not be moved. Through them He convicts the world concerning sin, con cerning righteousness, and concerning judgment— a conviction which means their acquittal and the world’s condemnation.
In 1 Jn 2! it is Jesus Himself that is the Para- clete: ‘If any man (i.e. here ‘any believer’) sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ
PARACLETE
the righteous.’ So the believer has a conflict in heaven as well as on the earth. The conflict upon the ea.th is with the sin of the world ; the conflict in heaven is with his own sin. Through faith he wins the battle upon the earth, for ‘this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith’ (1 Jn δ). Through repentance he wins the victory in heaven. In both cases it is not he but his Paraclete that wins. Both victories are of