141. The Spirit of Truth
16“And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever, 17even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive; you shall know him, and he will dwell with you, and will be in you.”a18"I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.b 19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
25“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit,c whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”d
22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?"
23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father and I will come to him and make our home with him.”e
(Jn. 14:16–21, 25–26, 22–23)
a “the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive; you shall know him, and he will dwell with you, and will be in you.”—The reception and function of the Spirit of Truth is limited by the individual's spiritual capacity and love of truth. The world has not yet come to accept the truths of Jesus' teaching and cannot receive his Spirit of Truth, but believers may know this Spirit in their own inner experience.
b “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.”—Jesus is returning to the Father but he assures the apostles and believers that he is not leaving us alone. In his place he is sending his personal spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to be with us, guide us, and comfort us.
c “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit”—In John's recital of Jesus' words, the apostle here associates the “Counselor” with the Holy Spirit. However, the Counselor Jesus is referring to is the same Counselor mentioned earlier—the Spirit of Truth. (See Jn. 14:16 above.) Why then does John identify the Counselor with the Holy Spirit? Perhaps it is because the Spirit of Truth, when it comes, works as one with the Holy Spirit.
d “he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”—The Spirit of Truth functions in us to restate the words of Jesus and to lead us into all truth. (See also Jn. 16:13, Ch. 142.)
e “my father and I will come to him and make our home with him”—Jesus' Spirit of Truth will come and live (with the Father's Spirit) in the souls of those who follow in the Master's way.
Jn. 14:17 receive; / receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; (RSV) • you shall know / you know (RSV) • him, and he will dwell with / him, for he dwells with (RSV)
Jn. 14:21 and / and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and (RSV)
Jn. 14:23 Father and I will / Father will love him, and we will (RSV) (180:4/1948–9)
