John 14:18

14:18 “I will not abandon ¹  you as orphans, ²  I will come to you. ³ 

John 14:26

14:26 But the Advocate, ⁴  the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you ⁵  everything, ⁶  and will cause you to remember everything ⁷  I said to you.

John 15:26

15:26 When the Advocate ⁸  comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he ⁹  will testify about me,

John 16:7-15

16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate ¹⁰  will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 16:8 And when he ¹¹  comes, he will prove the world wrong ¹²  concerning sin and ¹³  righteousness and ¹⁴  judgment – 16:9 concerning sin, because ¹⁵  they do not believe in me; ¹⁶  16:10 concerning righteousness, ¹⁷  because ¹⁸  I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 16:11 and concerning judgment, ¹⁹  because ²⁰  the ruler of this world ²¹  has been condemned. ²² 

16:12 “I have many more things to say to you, ²³  but you cannot bear ²⁴  them now. 16:13 But when he, ²⁵  the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide ²⁶  you into all truth. ²⁷  For he will not speak on his own authority, ²⁸  but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you ²⁹  what is to come. ³⁰  16:14 He ³¹  will glorify me, ³²  because he will receive ³³  from me what is mine ³⁴  and will tell it to you. ³⁵  16:15 Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit ³⁶  will receive from me what is mine ³⁷  and will tell it to you. ³⁸ 

Acts 9:31

9:31 Then ³⁹  the church throughout Judea, Galilee, ⁴⁰  and Samaria experienced ⁴¹  peace and thus was strengthened. ⁴²  Living ⁴³  in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church ⁴⁴  increased in numbers.

Acts 13:52

13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy ⁴⁵  and with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5:5

5:5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God ⁴⁶  has been poured out ⁴⁷  in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 8:15-16

8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, ⁴⁸  but you received the Spirit of adoption, ⁴⁹  by whom ⁵⁰  we cry, “Abba, Father.” 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to ⁵¹  our spirit that we are God’s children.

Romans 8:26-27

8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, ⁵²  but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 8:27 And he ⁵³  who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit ⁵⁴  intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.

Romans 14:17

14:17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, ⁵⁵  so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit ⁵⁶  is love, ⁵⁷  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ⁵⁸ 

Philippians 2:1

Christian Unity and Christ’s Humility

2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, ⁵⁹  any affection or mercy, ⁶⁰ 

[14:18]  ¹ tn Or “leave.”

[14:18]  ² tn The entire phrase “abandon you as orphans” could be understood as an idiom meaning, “leave you helpless.”

[14:18]  ³ sn I will come to you. Jesus had spoken in 14:3 of going away and coming again to his disciples. There the reference was both to the parousia (the second coming of Christ) and to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus to the disciples. Here the postresurrection appearances are primarily in view, since Jesus speaks of the disciples “seeing” him after the world can “see” him no longer in the following verse. But many commentators have taken v. 18 as a reference to the coming of the Spirit, since this has been the topic of the preceding verses. Still, vv. 19-20 appear to contain references to Jesus’ appearances to the disciples after his resurrection. It may well be that another Johannine double meaning is found here, so that Jesus ‘returns’ to his disciples in one sense in his appearances to them after his resurrection, but in another sense he ‘returns’ in the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell them.

[14:26]  ⁴ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in v. 16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[14:26]  ⁵ tn Grk “that one will teach you.” The words “that one” have been omitted from the translation since they are redundant in English.

[14:26]  ⁶ tn Grk “all things.”

[14:26]  ⁷ tn Grk “all things.”

[15:26]  ⁸ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in John 14:16 for discussion of how this word is translated.

[15:26]  ⁹ tn Grk “that one.”

[16:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in John 14:16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[16:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “when that one.”

[16:8]  ¹² tn Or “will convict the world,” or “will expose the world.” The conjunction περί (peri) is used in 16:8-11 in the sense of “concerning” or “with respect to.” But what about the verb ἐλέγχω (elencw)? The basic meanings possible for this word are (1) “to convict or convince someone of something”; (2) “to bring to light or expose something; and (3) “to correct or punish someone.” The third possibility may be ruled out in these verses on contextual grounds since punishment is not implied. The meaning is often understood to be that the Paraclete will “convince” the world of its error, so that some at least will repent. But S. Mowinckel (“Die Vorstellungen des Spätjudentums vom heiligen Geist als Fürsprecher und der johanneische Paraklet,” ZNW 32 [1933]: 97-130) demonstrated that the verb ἐλέγχω did not necessarily imply the conversion or reform of the guilty party. This means it is far more likely that conviction in something of a legal sense is intended here (as in a trial). The only certainty is that the accused party is indeed proven guilty (not that they will acknowledge their guilt). Further confirmation of this interpretation is seen in John 14:17 where the world cannot receive the Paraclete and in John 3:20, where the evildoer deliberately refuses to come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed for what they really are (significantly, the verb in John 3:20 is also ἐλέγχω). However, if one wishes to adopt the meaning “prove guilty” for the use of ἐλέγχω in John 16:8 a difficulty still remains: While this meaning fits the first statement in 16:9 – the world is ‘proven guilty’ concerning its sin of refusing to believe in Jesus – it does not fit so well the second and third assertions in vv. 10-11. Thus R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:705) suggests the more general meaning “prove wrong” which would fit in all three cases. This may be so, but there may also be a developmental aspect to the meaning, which would then shift from v. 9 to v. 10 to v. 11.

[16:8]  ¹³ tn Grk “and concerning.”

[16:8]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and concerning.”

[16:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “that.” It is very difficult to determine whether ὅτι (Joti; 3 times in 16:9, 10, 11) should be understood as causal or appositional/explanatory: Brown and Bultmann favor appositional or explanatory, while Barrett and Morris prefer a causal sense. A causal idea is preferable here, since it also fits the parallel statements in vv. 10-11 better than an appositional or explanatory use would. In this case Jesus is stating in each instance the reason why the world is proven guilty or wrong by the Spirit-Paraclete.

[16:9]  ¹⁶ sn Here (v. 9) the world is proven guilty concerning sin, and the reason given is their refusal to believe in Jesus. In 3:19 the effect of Jesus coming into the world as the Light of the world was to provoke judgment, by forcing people to choose up sides for or against him, and they chose darkness rather than light. In 12:37, at the very end of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s Gospel, people were still refusing to believe in him.

[16:10]  ¹⁷ tn There are two questions that need to be answered: (1) what is the meaning of δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosunh) in this context, and (2) to whom does it pertain – to the world, or to someone else? (1) The word δικαιοσύνη occurs in the Gospel of John only here and in v. 8. It is often assumed that it refers to forensic justification, as it does so often in Paul’s writings. Thus the answer to question (2) would be that it refers to the world. L. Morris states, “The Spirit shows men (and no-one else can do this) that their righteousness before God depends not on their own efforts but on Christ’s atoning work for them” (John [NICNT], 699). Since the word occurs so infrequently in the Fourth Gospel, however, the context must be examined very carefully. The ὅτι (Joti) clause which follows provides an important clue: The righteousness in view here has to do with Jesus’ return to the Father and his absence from the disciples. It is true that in the Fourth Gospel part of what is involved in Jesus’ return to the Father is the cross, and it is through his substitutionary death that people are justified, so that Morris’ understanding of righteousness here is possible. But more basic than this is the idea that Jesus’ return to the Father constitutes his own δικαιοσύνη in the sense of vindication rather than forensic justification. Jesus had repeatedly claimed oneness with the Father, and his opponents had repeatedly rejected this and labeled him a deceiver, a sinner, and a blasphemer (John 5:18, 7:12, 9:24, 10:33, etc.). But Jesus, by his glorification through his return to the Father, is vindicated in his claims in spite of his opponents. In his vindication his followers are also vindicated as well, but their vindication derives from his. Thus one would answer question (1) by saying that in context δικαιοσύνης (dikaiosunh") refers not to forensic justification but vindication, and question (2) by referring this justification/vindication not to the world or even to Christians directly, but to Jesus himself. Finally, how does Jesus’ last statement in v. 10, that the disciples will see him no more, contribute to this? It is probably best taken as a reference to the presence of the Spirit-Paraclete, who cannot come until Jesus has departed (16:7). The meaning of v. 10 is thus: When the Spirit-Paraclete comes he will prove the world wrong concerning the subject of righteousness, namely, Jesus’ righteousness which is demonstrated when he is glorified in his return to the Father and the disciples see him no more (but they will have instead the presence of the Spirit-Paraclete, whom the world is not able to receive).

[16:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “that.”

[16:11]  ¹⁹ sn The world is proven wrong concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. Jesus’ righteousness before the Father, as proven by his return to the Father, his glorification, constitutes a judgment against Satan. This is parallel to the judgment of the world which Jesus provokes in 3:19-21: Jesus’ presence in the world as the Light of the world provokes the judgment of those in the world, because as they respond to the light (either coming to Jesus or rejecting him) so are they judged. That judgment is in a sense already realized. So it is here, where the judgment of Satan is already realized in Jesus’ glorification. This does not mean that Satan does not continue to be active in the world, and to exercise some power over it, just as in 3:19-21 the people in the world who have rejected Jesus and thus incurred judgment continue on in their opposition to Jesus for a time. In both cases the judgment is not immediately executed. But it is certain.

[16:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “that.”

[16:11]  ²¹ sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[16:11]  ²² tn Or “judged.”

[16:12]  ²³ sn In what sense does Jesus have many more things to say to the disciples? Does this imply the continuation of revelation after his departure? This is probably the case, especially in light of v. 13 and following, which describe the work of the Holy Spirit in guiding the disciples into all truth. Thus Jesus was saying that he would continue to speak (to the twelve, at least) after his return to the Father. He would do this through the Holy Spirit whom he was going to send. It is possible that an audience broader than the twelve is addressed, and in the Johannine tradition there is evidence that later other Christians (or perhaps, professed Christians) claimed to be recipients of revelation through the Spirit-Paraclete (1 John 4:1-6).

[16:12]  ²⁴ tn Or (perhaps) “you cannot accept.”

[16:13]  ²⁵ tn Grk “that one.”

[16:13]  ²⁶ tn Or “will lead.”

[16:13]  ²⁷ sn Three important points must be noted here. (1) When the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide the disciples into all truth. What Jesus had said in 8:31-32, “If you continue to follow my teaching you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” will ultimately be realized in the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Jesus’ departure. (2) The things the Holy Spirit speaks to them will not be things which originate from himself (he will not speak on his own authority), but things he has heard. This could be taken to mean that no new revelation is involved, as R. E. Brown does (John [AB], 2:714-15). This is a possible but not a necessary inference. The point here concerns the source of the things the Spirit will say to the disciples and does not specifically exclude originality of content. (3) Part at least of what the Holy Spirit will reveal to the disciples will concern what is to come, not just fuller implications of previous sayings of Jesus and the like. This does seem to indicate that at least some new revelation is involved. But the Spirit is not the source or originator of these things – Jesus is the source, and he will continue to speak to his disciples through the Spirit who has come to indwell them. This does not answer the question, however, whether these words are addressed to all followers of Jesus, or only to his apostles. Different modern commentators will answer this question differently. Since in the context of the Farewell Discourse Jesus is preparing the twelve to carry on his ministry after his departure, it is probably best to take these statements as specifically related only to the twelve. Some of this the Holy Spirit does directly for all believers today; other parts of this statement are fulfilled through the apostles (e.g., in giving the Book of Revelation the Spirit speaks through the apostles to the church today of things to come). One of the implications of this is that a doctrine does not have to be traced back to an explicit teaching of Jesus to be authentic; all that is required is apostolic authority.

[16:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “speak from himself.”

[16:13]  ²⁹ tn Or will announce to you.”

[16:13]  ³⁰ tn Grk “will tell you the things to come.”

[16:14]  ³¹ tn Grk “That one.”

[16:14]  ³² tn Or “will honor me.”

[16:14]  ³³ tn Or “he will take.”

[16:14]  ³⁴ tn The words “what is mine” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:14]  ³⁵ tn Or “will announce it to you.”

[16:15]  ³⁶ tn Grk “I said he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:15]  ³⁷ tn The words “what is mine” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:15]  ³⁸ tn Or “will announce it to you.”

[9:31]  ³⁹ tn Or “Therefore.” This verse is another summary text in Acts (cf. 2:41-47; 4:32-37; 5:12-16; 6:7).

[9:31]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “and Galilee,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[9:31]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “had.”

[9:31]  ⁴² tn Or “Built up.” The participle οἰκοδομουμένη (oikodomoumenh) has been translated as a participle of result related to εἶχεν (eicen). It could also be understood as adverbial to ἐπληθύνετο (eplhquneto): “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced peace. Strengthened and living in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” Although some scholars do not regard the participle of result as a legitimate category, it is actually fairly common (see ExSyn 637-39).

[9:31]  ⁴³ tn Grk “And living.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[9:31]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the church) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:52]  ⁴⁵ sn The citizens of Pisidian Antioch were not discouraged by the persecution, but instead were filled with joy.

[5:5]  ⁴⁶ tn The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (Jh agaph tou qeou, “the love of God”) could be interpreted as either an objective genitive (“our love for God”), subjective genitive (“God’s love for us”), or both (M. Zerwick’s “general” genitive [Biblical Greek, §§36-39]; D. B. Wallace’s “plenary” genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). The immediate context, which discusses what God has done for believers, favors a subjective genitive, but the fact that this love is poured out within the hearts of believers implies that it may be the source for believers’ love for God; consequently an objective genitive cannot be ruled out. It is possible that both these ideas are meant in the text and that this is a plenary genitive: “The love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (ExSyn 121).

[5:5]  ⁴⁷ sn On the OT background of the Spirit being poured out, see Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29.

[8:15]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “slavery again to fear.”

[8:15]  ⁴⁹ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).”

[8:15]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “in that.”

[8:16]  ⁵¹ tn Or possibly “with.” ExSyn 160-61, however, notes the following: “At issue, grammatically, is whether the Spirit testifies alongside of our spirit (dat. of association), or whether he testifies to our spirit (indirect object) that we are God’s children. If the former, the one receiving this testimony is unstated (is it God? or believers?). If the latter, the believer receives the testimony and hence is assured of salvation via the inner witness of the Spirit. The first view has the advantage of a σύν- (sun-) prefixed verb, which might be expected to take an accompanying dat. of association (and is supported by NEB, JB, etc.). But there are three reasons why πνεύματι (pneumati) should not be taken as association: (1) Grammatically, a dat. with a σύν- prefixed verb does not necessarily indicate association. This, of course, does not preclude such here, but this fact at least opens up the alternatives in this text. (2) Lexically, though συμμαρτυρέω (summarturew) originally bore an associative idea, it developed in the direction of merely intensifying μαρτυρέω (marturew). This is surely the case in the only other NT text with a dat. (Rom 9:1). (3) Contextually, a dat. of association does not seem to support Paul’s argument: ‘What standing has our spirit in this matter? Of itself it surely has no right at all to testify to our being sons of God’ [C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:403]. In sum, Rom 8:16 seems to be secure as a text in which the believer’s assurance of salvation is based on the inner witness of the Spirit. The implications of this for one’s soteriology are profound: The objective data, as helpful as they are, cannot by themselves provide assurance of salvation; the believer also needs (and receives) an existential, ongoing encounter with God’s Spirit in order to gain that familial comfort.”

[8:26]  ⁵² tn Or “for we do not know what we ought to pray for.”

[8:27]  ⁵³ sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).

[8:27]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:13]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “in the believing” or “as [you] believe,” with the object “him” supplied from the context. The referent could be God (15:13a) or Christ (15:12).

[5:22]  ⁵⁶ tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.

[5:22]  ⁵⁷ sn Another way to punctuate this is “love” followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following “love” as defining love.

[5:22]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.

[2:1]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “spiritual fellowship” if πνεύματος (pneumato") is an attributive genitive; or “fellowship brought about by the Spirit” if πνεύματος is a genitive of source or production.

[2:1]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “and any affection and mercy.” The Greek idea, however, is best expressed by “or” in English.