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Another Counselor,  revized 7/2011 original follows

Normally, when someone asks for another helper it means you want an additional person to work with you. However in the church community “another Counselor” has become the third person of God without considering why Jesus used the phrase “another counselor.” This concerns me, as the phrase “third person” is never used in the Bible to describe anyone. Follow along as I am using the content of John 14:15-26 as the foundation for this article.

Listening to God is more important than the opinions of men. Its easy to determine that “Another Counselor” (in ver16) is the Holy Spirit specially when we do not listen to what Jesus said between the words “another Counselor” and “the counselor, the Holy Spirit” (in ver 26). In between these words are nine power packed verses that relate to the relationship of God the Son and God the father that we must connect to the idea Jesus is expressing.

Therefore if we are listening to Jesus, we must ask what is the idea Jesus is expressing. To understand John 14 15-26 we must look at the words of Isaiah 9:6 that tells us why Jesus was asking for another Counselor.  

In the passage above, Isaiah foretold of the birth of Jesus Christ who would be called Wonderful Counselor. When we place the Wonderful Counselor into the idea Jesus is expressing in John 14:16, we find that Jesus, the counselor of Isaiah was asking the father for another Counselor. Who is this other counselor?  By listening to the words Jesus is using we should be able to determine that if Jesus was a counselor, and if the counselor Jesus asked for were sent, we would have a total of two counselors.

When we listen to God and take his words to heart we learn that Jesus spoke the words the Father commanded him to speak. Therefore the words Jesus spoke were specific and exactly what God wanted conveyed. These words expressed the intent of God’s overall plan for the benefit of mankind.

Godly men have developed dictionaries and lexicons to help laymen like myself determine what the original language was expressing. For example the word another comes from the Greek word alos. Alos is defined as meaning of the same sort and denotes a numerical change. Most teachers bring up this point but don’t elaborate further.  However, if we were to elaborate we would consider these passages.

These passages express the idea that the Father and Son are like and the exact representation of his being. The bible shows several comparisons reflecting that the father and Son are of same sort and kind?

The other word “Counselor” comes from the Greek word parakletos and it expresses the idea of being called to one’s side.  After his death on the cross and following his ascension to the father, Jesus was exalted to the right hand of the father. Acts 2:33

Take to heart and consider that there are more than twenty references of Jesus being seen at the right hand of the father throughout the New Testament, (key phrase/right hand.) Again John wrote of the glory Jesus had in the beginning with God.

 Many have read the phrase “and the Word was with God” John 1:1, but have you associated the word “with” with the meaning – “at the side of” or “in the company of.” Does this mean that the Word was at the side of God” or that the Word was in the company of God? With the word with in mind lets look at

So what was Jesus’ mission?

His mission of revealing the father to the world was finished and he was returning back to the father and the former glory (greatness) before the beginning when the Word was with God and was God. Consider that in John 14:15-26 Jesus is revealing the father to his disciples as the second counselor, but the overall picture is speaking of the Holy Spirit.   

What makes the content of John 14:15-26 difficult to understand is that it bounces back and forth between two questions. The question of why the world can not have the Holy Spirit and why the believer is gifted with the Spirit. Those receiving the Holy Spirit are those who love and obey God’s commands, whereas the world is in a state of rebellion towards God. They refuse to believe the truth, listen to God, obey his word or want his help. With this in mind, God is gracious and will grant them their wishes.

Let’s consider that Jesus was revealing his unity with the father through this teaching as he speaks these words.

Within this example Jesus forms a connection between the orphan and counselors from everyday life. Jesus used the term of orphan as an example to explain the need for a counselor. The example of everyday life is seen in the orphan that grows up without supervision or advice of adults. In other words, orphans mature to adulthood without the benefit of parental wisdom to guide the decisions they make. They have no one to restrain their behavior or guide them through life.

This example taken from the family unit shows that children normally have two parents to advise them as they grow into maturity. At the same time Jesus is revealing the spiritual side of God’s plan to guide us into all truth while raising his children into spiritual adulthood. The relevance of this example is the assurance of Jesus saying “I will come to you.” (Jesus is the first of two counselors.) At this time Jesus is reminding us of what he has said all along about his role within the divine nature.  He connects this thought with these words.

Jesus further explains,

Jesus is connecting several points together ("If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15) with ("If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching John 14:23.) This is a condition for Jesus to ask for another counselor and then says who is coming with him to make their abode with you.

Again it connects to the verse 23 to vs 11 & 20 with I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. It relates the only unity between the father and son that Jesus ever taught.

 Everything Jesus taught between verse 18-25 amplifies the following point. In verse 16 Jesus used the term ‘another counselor”, but in verse 26, Jesus used the term “the counselor”.  Verse 16 reveals two counselors but verse 26 speaks of only one counselor. We can only conclude that these two counselors have united and have become one counselor that we know as the Holy Spirit?  In another place Jesus said.

In the creation account, animals are seen in pairs each with its own mate. However, when the Bible addresses the subject of the divine unit or the unit of man the word one is used. For example, I and the father are one, the Lord God is one, and they shall become one flesh.  God is describing the basic foundation of the family unit and we can see it expressed with in the pages of the bible by comparing the nature of God to the structure of the family unit.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus was explaining the nature of the divine unit as a person with first hand knowledge of the divine. His mission was to reveal the father to the world. He was also speaking figuratively revealing the relationship of the divine within the family unit.

We have experiential knowledge of the family unit being members of our earthly family. Men and women have united and propagated families since Adam and Eve even where the design of God’s creation is unknown to man. God made man in his own image and likeness and that image is being reproduced at this very moment through uniting in marriage worldwide.

God created man as a unit of two persons of different gender (the foundation of the family unit) and then commanded that their offspring perpetuate the unit in the following words.

The imagery of the family unit is seen in the role names of God the father and the Son reflecting a family organizational structure. Yet there are other attributes common to the human family unit.  No matter where you go in this world the husband and wife are the common unit of man. When married, the wife normally adopts the husband’s name to be identified with the husband as his wife. Have we considered that each member of the divine has adopted the name of the Holy Spirit to be identified as one God?  Lets look at other attributes found in the married unit of man.

To begin with, family possessions are shared so lets consider this passage.

Possessions are shared in common.

Families normally live under the same roof.

The head of the Family discipline their children,  

Families are bound together as one.

Men and women are mated (till death do us part) with a lifetime commitment. The same commitment within God’s time frame is forever.  

Children are given a name that associates them with the family. Is it a coincidence that God’s children are called Saints? The word saints is derived from the Greek word hagios and is translated into Holy.

Lets consider that we are able to forgive our children indiscretions much on the same order as our father in heaven forgives us.  In the same way God helps his children work their way back into good standing with his fellow man. That is what Jesus did on the cross to reconcile every man woman and child into proper relationship with their father.

Through Jesus we have access to our father and our God. We have become God’s children and citizens of his kingdom. Jesus has become the cornerstone of our life through faith and is currently in us rebuilding our minds and bodies as a holy temple where God can reside by his spirit (Ephesians 2:18-22.)

 

original  article -  Another counselor

Normally, when someone asks for another helper the demand is not fulfilled until an additional person shows up to work beside the person asking. However, there are many theologians that will argue that the another counselor sent by God is the Holy Spirit. To interpret the term “another counselor” from this passage correctly, we need to determine in the order that the disciples received the teaching about the counselor. Follow along as I am using the content of John 14:15-26 as the foundation for this article.

Keeping the order of Christ’s teaching intact, John 14:16 was the first time the disciples heard Jesus speak about another counselor but it was something entirely new for them to grasp. By taking a closer look, the Holy Spirit was not introduced as the counselor for another nine verses. In those nine verses Jesus gives a huge amount of information that most Christians don’t understand or talk about.

One way to keep things on context is to ask – What was Jesus’ reason for asking for another counselor? If this is a clear teaching about the Holy Spirit, why didn’t Jesus ask the father to send the Holy Spirit, rather than another counselor? Its questions like these that change how we look at this passage.

What was Jesus’ reason for asking for another counselor? At Christmas time, one of the favorite passages used to announce the birth of Jesus Christ is Isaiah 9:6. According to this passage the son that was given was to be called Wonderful Counselor among other titles.

From a position of grammar, the title of wonderful counselor gave Jesus the proper way to ask for “another counselor” in John 14:16. In other words because Jesus was a “counselor” it predicated the need to ask for another counselor. If Jesus had asked for the Holy Spirit the emphasis of his teaching would not have revealed the person Christ was introducing or the role he has in our lives.

The term another counselor brings out a secondary point that the Christian’s seldom hear about. When the counselor Jesus spoke of comes to his side every Christian would have a total of two counselors living with us forever. Let’s consider the word counselor is derived is also rendered advocate and according to several bible versions Jesus Christ is an advocate (counselor) with the Father.

The world cannot accept the counselor because they refuse to love and obey God, instead they shrink away without listening to him. The pride of the world accepts that God created the universe, but keeps them from inquiring into the plan God has or what God created them specifically for. Jesus is not their Lord and they consider that his commands have little value in the world they live in. On the other hand Christian’s meet the requirements of John 14:15 to love Jesus Christ and obey his commands.

Jesus said John 14:18, I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. The word Orphan is an unusual word to be used of Christians because of our father in heaven. Therefore, we need to know what an orphan is and how it connects with another counselor according to the teaching of Christ is giving his disciples. It’s not hard to understand that all orphans are without parents. At one time Satan was our absentee father whose parenting skills brought us more trouble than a good life. The point is, after hearing the gospel, we chose to be adopted by God and have become one of his children.

The word “Orphan” has a direct connection with the definition of the word Counselor. The word counselor and advocate are derived from the Greek word “parakletos” and refers to one called alongside, who counsels and protects. Jesus Said, I will not leave you as orphans or in other words, I will not leave you without parents. According to a dictionary a parent is one who begets, nurtures and raises a child. In this case we need to consider that a parent is always close to their children, guiding their personal decisions with a strong desire to protect them from harm.

Notice that Jesus said that he would come to you (verse 18). This happens at when you first meet Jesus at the cross and asked Jesus into your life the moment you accepted him as Lord of your life. Verse 20 says something amazing that is not generally known to Christians. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. That day is referring to the day Christ enters our hearts and unites with us. However, this concept of how God is united to other members of the divine is not completely understood by those who teach the word of God. It was an important idea to Jesus as he taught the concept that he was in the father and the father was in him several times throughout John. If anyone knew how God was united to man, it would be Jesus Christ.

To clarify John 14:20 Jesus said by loving him and obeying him the father would respond to your acts of love and obedience. According to verse 23 these two qualities of devotion are what God is looking for and in his response to his promise he will love us and come with Christ to make their abode with (in) us. By keeping John 14:18-23 in context we learned about another counselor and why he comes to dwell in us. He said he would not leave you as an orphan and when you think about it, we are no longer orphans, because Jesus brought our father with him to dwell in us.

In verse 26 Jesus spoke of the Counselor and the Holy Spirit as if they were names for the same person. It was the first and only time that Jesus made reference to the counselor being the Holy Spirit. In the passages leading up to verse 26 Jesus taught that the father was another counselor that came with Christ to make their abode in our body. However we need to decide between the term another counselor in verse 16 and what Jesus meant with the term the counselor in verse 26 and how it applies to the rest of scripture.

The outcome of God abiding in us made our bodies a Holy temple. Remember that Paul said we are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16) a holy temple in our Lord (Ephesians 2:21) God’s temple where he lives by his spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16) and your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19.) This makes me wonder why the church body focuses on the issue that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

Just as the Holy Spirit will teach you all things and he will remind you of everything I have said to you. Let’s consider how many times as human parents it took to remind our children to wash behind their ears before they did it on their own. Through repeated teachings Jesus revealed his father to his disciples and taught his disciples how his relationship with the father would affect the remainder of their lives.

 

 

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