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b , 2 ο x x / 2 ων bCf.comm. παράκλητον εχοµεν προς τον πατερα, Ιησοῦν bf.
d Matt. XXV1i. 19:
e In N.T. only here and iv. 10, ἱλαστήριον f Rom. viii. 3.
literates Paracletus, and both our ver- sions give ‘‘ Comforter,” Luth., Tvdster —an impossible rendering, since the word is not act. but pass. Render ** Advocate” in every case. Cf. saying of R. Li‘ezer ben Jacob: ‘‘ He who does one commandment has gotten him one
advocate (dob, παράκλητος), and he who has committed one trans- gression has gotten him one accuser
(1110Ρ, κατήγορος). Repentance and good works are as a shield in the face of punishment.” In the days of His flesh Jesus was God’s Advocate with men. He told the Eleven in the Upper Room that, though He was going away, God would not be left without an Advocate on the earth to plead His cause and win men to faith (John xvi. 16, 17). The Holy Spirit has come in the room of Jesus, and still from age to age performs the office of God’s Advocate with men. Nor has the advocacy of Jesus ceased. He is our Advocate in Heaven, pleading our cause with God. The history of redemption is thus a progressive economy of grace: (1) the Ο.Τ. dispensation, when God was conceived as remote in high Heaven; (2) that of the Incarna- tion, when He revealed Himself as a Father and, by the advocacy of His Eternal Son, made His appeal to the children of men; (3) that of the Holy Spirit, under which we live in the enjoy- ment of a double advocacy—our Glorified Redeemer’s, who ‘‘ maketh intercession for us” (Rom. viii. 34) in the Court of Heaven (cf. Christina Rossetti’s Verses, p. 41: ‘‘Day and night the Accuser”), and the Holy Spirit’s down here, wooing us to faith by His gracious importunities. δίκαιον, Rothe: ‘Only the righteous One, the guiltless, the One that is sepa- rate from sin, can be the Advocate with God for sinners, in general the Mediator of salvation, and make His friendship for us prevalent with God, because only such a one has access to God and fellowship with God (Heb. vii. 26; 1 Peter iii. 18; John xvi. 8, 10)”. ‘‘ What better advo- cate could we have for us, than He that is appointed to be our judge?” (Jer. Taylor, The Great Exemplar, I. i. 3). Ver. 2. Our Advocate does not plead that we are innocent or adduce extenu- ating circumstances. He acknowledges our guilt and presents His vicarious
174
& John 1,29, ἡμῶν: οὐ περὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων δὲ µόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ Shou §
lii. 16 h John xiii. άμα
ο Καὶ '
35. i John xiv. 15, 21, XV
10; Rev. τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ μὴ bli ψεύστης ἐστί, καὶ
xii. 17, xiv. 12; Matt.
XXVili. 20; 2 Cor. vii. 19.
οὐκ έστιν : Εαν 68,