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IF-I-SEEK-US
"There are a thousand hacking at the
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Jesus' Teachings
Faith Site Section Links Introduction Material |
PARACLETE PASSAGES FROM JOHN John 14:15-24 "If you{pl} love me, you{pl} will keep my directives. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you{pl} another Paraclete, to remain with you{pl} forever, even the Spirit of the love of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it neither contemplates him nor perceives him; but you{pl} perceive him, for he remains with you{pl}, and will be in you{pl}. [Commentary] The word translated directives above means instructions to help understanding of what to do, or directions to follow to get to where you want to go, and does not mean commandments. Although a paraclete was a person like a big brother or one of significant experience who was acting as a protector, one with whom you could feel secure and not be conned, when he personifies the spirit Jesus is not implying that he was referring to a person. He personified wisdom, evil, etc., and this was the way they talked back then, partly because of their paradigm of thinking that demons−good and bad−controlled the actions of men. It is the "God attitude" and the attitude of loving and seeking the truth that keeps us from being deceived or led astray. John 14:25-31 "These things I have spoken to you{pl}, while abiding with you{pl}. But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send on my authority, that one will teach you{pl} all things, and remind you{pl} of all that I said to you{pl}. [Commentary] "Teach you all things." What a promise! John 15:26,27 "But when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you{pl} from the Father, even the spirit of loving the truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me; and you{pl} also witness, because you{pl} have been with me from the beginning." [Commentary] The spirit of loving the truth will enable us to see that Jesus is the only voice in the world offering the total package of human needs and desires, the only voice offering the total solution and the final resolution. John 16:7-11 "Nevertheless I tell you{pl} the truth: it is to your advantage that I should go away, for if I don't go away, the Paraclete will not come to you{pl}; but if I go, I will send him to you{pl}. Upon coming that one will put the proof to the world about sin and about reasonableness and about judgment: about sin, because they do not choose what they believe within me; about reasonableness, because I go to the Father, and you{pl} no longer see me; about judgment, because the dominant theme of this world has been judged. [Commentary] The disciples were so taken with Jesus and so dependent upon him, that had he remained he would have been their focus. Further ministry to them would have reinforced their conviction of inferiority and prevented them from growing spiritually. Understanding the message of Jesus eliminates sin, and his going away and back to the father was the most reasonable thing to do in this context. These verses are some of the most enigmatic to Christendom, yet Jesus is actually explaining his meaning in the passage. John 16:12-15 "I have yet many things to say to you{pl}, but you{pl} are not able to handle them now. When that one comes, the spirit of loving the truth, that one will lead you{pl} into all the truth; for he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and the coming things he will announce to you{pl}. That one will glorify me, for he will receive and declare to you{pl} from what is mine. All things which the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he will receive and declare to you{pl} from what is mine." [Commentary] So many times in Christian thinking the first sentence of this passage is interpreted in a negative and false way, a way that helps defend the idea that later apostles and Bible authors further elucidate the message of Jesus for us. Utterly backwards! The "many things to say to you" are GOOD and WONDERFUL things to which we we are not open, things that the old paradigm and religions preclude. "That one will lead you into all the truth." What a promise! |
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