Paraclete

VIEW:40 DATA:01-04-2020

PARACLETE.—See Advocate, Paul, p. 693a.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

par?a-klēt:

1. Where Used:
This word occurs 5 times in the New Testament, all in the writings of John. Four instances are in the Gospel and one in the First Epistle. In the Gospel the in the Epistle, 1Jo_2:1. ?Paraclete? is simply the Greek word transferred into English. The translation of the word in English Versions of the Bible is ?Comforter? in the Gospel, and ?Advocate? in the Epistle. The Greek word is παράκλητος, paráklētos, froth the verb παρακαλέω, parakaléō. The word for ?Paraclete? is passive in form, and etymologically signifies ?called to one's side.? The active form of the word is παρακλήτωρ, paraklḗtōr, not found in the New Testament but found in Septuagint in Job_16:2 in the plural, and means ?comforters,? in the saying of Job regarding the ?miserable comforters? who came to him in his distress.

2. General Meaning:
In general the word signifies: (1) a legal advocate, or counsel for defense, (2) an intercessor, (3) a helper, generally. The first, or technical, judicial meaning is that which predominates in classical usage, corresponding to our word ?advocate,? ?counsel,? or ?attorney.? The corresponding Latin word is advocatus, ?advocate,? the word applied to Christ in English Versions of the Bible in the translation of the Greek word paraklētos, in 1Jo_2:1. There is some question whether the translation ?Comforter? in the passages of John's Gospel in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) is warranted by the meaning of the word. It is certain that the meaning ?comforter? is not the primary signification, as we have seen. It is very probably, however, a secondary meaning of the word, and some of its cognates clearly convey the idea of comfort in certain connections, both in Septuagint and in the New Testament (Gen_37:35; Zec_1:13; Mat_5:4; 2Co_1:3, 2Co_1:4). In the passage in 2 Corinthians the word in one form or another is used 5 times and in each means ?comfort.? In none of these instances, however, do we find the noun ?Paraclete,? which we are now considering.

3. In the Talmud and Targums:
Among Jewish writers the word ?Paraclete? came to have a number of meanings. A good deed was called a paraclete or advocate, and a transgression was an accuser. Repentance and good works were called paracletes: ?The works of benevolence and mercy done by the people of Israel in this world become agents of peace and intercessors (paracletes) between them and their Father in heaven.? The sin offering is a paraclete; the paraclete created by each good deed is called an angel (Jewish Encyclopedia, IX, 514-15, article ?Paraclete?).

4. As Employed by Philo:
Philo employs the word in several instances. Usually he does not use it in the legal, technical sense. Joseph is represented as bestowing forgiveness on his brethren who had wronged him and declaring that they needed ?no one else as paraclete,? or intercessor (De Joseph c. 40). In his Life of Moses, iii. 14, is a remarkable passage which indicates Philo's spiritualizing methods of interpreting Scripture as well as reflects his philosophic tendency. At the close of a somewhat elaborate account of the emblematic significance of the vestments of the high priest and their jeweled decorations, his words are: ?The twelve stones arranged on the breast in four rows of three stones each, namely, the logeum, being also an emblem of that reason which holds together and regulates the universe. For it was indispensable (ἀναγκαῖον, anagkaı́on) that the man who was consecrated to the Father of the world should have, as a paraclete, his son, the being most perfect in all virtue, to procure the forgiveness of sins, and a supply of unlimited blessings.? This is rather a striking verbal or formal parallel to the statement in 1Jo_2:1 where Christ is our Advocate with the Father, although of course Philo's conceptions of the Divine ?reason? and ?son? are by no means the Christian conceptions.

5. The Best Translation:
If now we raise the question what is the best translation of the term ?Paraclete? in the New Testament, we have a choice of several words. Let us glance at them in order. The translation ?Comforter? contains an element of the meaning of the word as employed in the Gospels, and harmonizes with the usage in connection with its cognates, but it is too narrow in meaning to be an adequate translation. Dr. J. Hastings in an otherwise excellent article on the Paraclete in HDB says the Paraclete was not sent to comfort the disciples, since prior to His actual coming and after Christ's promise the disciples' sorrow was turned into joy. Dr. Hastings thinks the Paraclete was sent to cure the unbelief or half-belief of the disciples. But this conceives the idea of comfort in too limited a way. No doubt in the mind of Jesus the comforting aspect, of the Spirit's work applied to all their future sorrows and trials, and not merely to comfort for their personal loss in the going of Christ to the Father. Nevertheless there was more in the work of the Paraclete than comfort in sorrow. ?Intercessor? comes nearer the root idea of the term and contains an essential part of the meaning. ?Advocate? is a closely related word, and is also suggestive of the work of the Spirit. Perhaps there is no English word broad enough to cover all the significance of the word ?Paraclete? except the word ?Helper.? The Spirit helps the disciples in all the above-indicated ways. Of course the objection to this translation is that it is too indefinite. The specific Christian conception is lost in the comprehensiveness of the term. Our conclusion, therefore, is that the term ?Paraclete? itself would perhaps be the best designation of the Spirit in the passage in John's Gospel. It would thus become a proper name for the Spirit and the various elements of meaning would come to be associated with the words which are found in the context of the Gospel.
Christianity introduced many new ideas into the world for which current terms were inadequate media of expression. In some cases it is best to adopt the Christian term itself, in our translations, and let the word slowly acquire its own proper significance in our thought and life. If, however, instead of translating we simply transfer the word ?Paraclete? as a designation of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel passages, we would need then to translate it in the passage in the Epistle where it refers to Christ. But this would offer no serious difficulty. For fortunately in the Epistle the word may very clearly be translated ?Advocate? or ?Intercessor.?

6. Christ's Use of the Word:
We look next at the contents of the word as employed by Jesus in reference to the Holy Spirit. In Joh_14:16 the Paraclete is promised as one who is to take the place of Jesus. It is declared elsewhere by Jesus that it is expedient that He go away, for unless He go away the Paraclete will not come (Joh_16:7). Is the Paraclete, then, the successor or the substitute for Christ as He is sometimes called? The answer is that He is both and neither. He is the successor of Christ historically, but not in the sense that Christ ceases to act in the church. He is the substitute for Christ's physical presence, but only in order that He may make vital and actual Christ's spiritual presence. As we have seen, the Paraclete moves only in the range of truths conveyed in and through Christ as the historical manifestation of God. A ?Kingdom of the Spirit,? therefore, is impossible in the Christian sense, save as the historical Jesus is made the basis of the Spirit's action in history. The promise of Jesus in Joh_14:18, ?I come unto,? is parallel and equivalent in meaning with the preceding promise of the Paraclete. The following are given as the specific forms of activity of the Holy Spirit: (1) to show them the things of Christ, (2) to teach them things to come, (3) to teach them all things, (4) to quicken their memories for past teaching, (5) to bear witness to Christ, (6) to dwell in believers, (7) other things shown in the context such as ?greater works? than those of Christ (see Joh_14:16, Joh_14:17), (8) to convict of sin, of righteousness and judgment. It is possible to range the shades of meaning outlined above under these various forms of the Spirit's activity. As Comforter His work would come under (1), (2), (3) and (6); as Advocate and Intercessor under (6), (7), (8); as Helper and Teacher under (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8).
The manner of the sending of the Paraclete is of interest. In Joh_14:16 the Paraclete comes in answer to Christ's prayer. The Father will give the Spirit whom the world cannot receive. In Joh_14:26 the Father will send the Spirit in Christ's name. Yet in Joh_15:26 Christ says, ?I will send (him) unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth,? and in Joh_16:7, ?If I go, I will send him unto you.? See HOLY SPIRIT.

7. As Applied to Christ:
It remains to notice the passage in 1Jo_2:1 where the term ?Paraclete? is applied to Christ: ?If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous?; 1Jo_2:2 reads: ?and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.? Here the meaning is quite clear and specific. Jesus Christ the righteous is represented as our Advocate or Intercessor with the Father. His righteousness is set over against our sin. Here the Paraclete, Christ, is He who, on the basis of His propitiatory offering for the sins of men, intercedes for them with God and thus averts from them the penal consequences of their transgressions. The sense in which Paraclete is here applied to Christ is found nowhere in the passages we have cited from the Gospel. The Holy Spirit as Paraclete is Intercessor or Advocate, but not in the sense here indicated. The Spirit as Paraclete convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment. Jesus Christ as Paraclete vindicates believers before God.

Literature.
Grimm-Thayer, Gr-Eng. Lexicon of the New Testament; Cremer, Biblico-Theol. Lexicon; HDB, article ?Paraclete?; DCG, article ?Paraclete?; EB, article ?Paraclete?; Jew Encyclopedia, article ?Paraclete?; Hare, Mission of the Comforter; Pearson, On the Creed; Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers; various comms., Westcott, Godet and others. See list of books appended to article on HOLY SPIRIT.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Paraclete
(Παράκλητος, lit. one called near for aid; A.V. “Comforter”). This word is applied in the original to Christ in 1Jn_2:1, where it is translated “advocate” (q.v.). Indeed, in that famous passage in which Christ promises the Holy Spirit as a paraclete (“comforter”) to his sorrowing disciples, he takes the title to himself: “I will send you another paraclete” (Joh_14:16). The question then is, In what sense does Christ denominate himself and the Spirit sent from him and the Father, παράκλητος, paraclete? The answer to this is not to be found without some difficulty. and it becomes the more difficult from the fact that in genuine Greek the verb παρακαλεῖν has a variety of significations: (1) To call to a place, to call to aid; (2) to admonish, to persuade, to incite; (3) to entreat, to pray. To these may be added the Hellenistic signification, “to console;” “to soothe;” “to encourage.” Finally. the rabbins also in their language use the word פְּרִקַלַיט (peraklit) for the Angel of Intercession (Job 43:23), a fact which must be taken into consideration. In the explanation of the word the leading circumstance to guide us must be to take that signification which is applicable to the different passages in which it occurs. For we may distinguish three interpretations:
(1.) Origen explains it where it is applied to the Holy Spirit by “Consolator” (παραμυθητής), while in 1Jn_2:1 he adopts the signification of “Deprecator.” This is the course taken by most of the Greek commentators: (Suicer, Thesaur. s.v.), — and which has been followed by Erasmus, Luther, and others. But to this Tholuck and others object that, not to insist that the signification cannot be grammatically established (for no admissible instance can be adduced where the passive παράκλητος is used in an active sense for παρακλήτωρ), it is suitable to a very few passages only, while to others it is either too circumscribed or altogether inappropriate.
(2.) Aware of this, others, after the example of Theodore of Mopsuestia, sanctioned by Mede, Ernesti, and others, would translate it teacher. But neither does this sense seem adapted to all the passages. It would also be difficult to deduce it from the usages of the language; for — not to mention that in this case also the active signification would be assumed for the passive form — we are pressed with the question whether the verb παρακαλεῖν can anywhere in the New Testament be found in the sense of “to teach,” as this hypothesis assumes. It is at least very certain that this sense never was transferred to the rabbinical פְּרִקַלַיטָא, the peraklita, advocate or interpreter. (Buxtorf, Lex. Talmudicum, col. 1843).
(3.) The considerations which tell against these views incline the balance in favor of a third sense, which is that of assistant, “helper,” coadjutor; hence “advocate” (intercessor). Demosthenes uses it with this force in a judicial sense (see Index, ed. Reiske); and it occurs in the same sense in Philo (see Loesner, Observatt.), and in the rabbinlical dialect. It is supported by Rom_8:26, and, which is still more to the purpose, is appropriate to all the passages in the New Testament where the word occurs. After the example of the early Latin fathers, Calvin, Beza, Lampe, Bengel, Knapp, Kuinil, Tittmann, and many others, have adopted this sense. Tertullian and Augustine have advocate. The A.V. renders the word by “advocate” in 1Jn_2:1, but in other places (Joh_14:16; Joh_14:26; Joh_15:26; Joh_16:7) by “comforter.” How much better, however, the more extensive term “helper” (including teacher, monitor, advocate) agrees with these passages than the narrow term “comforter” may be shown by a single instance. Jesus says to his disciples, “I will send you another paraclete” (Joh_14:16), implying that he himself had been such to them. But he had not been in any distinguishing sense a “comforter” or “consoler,” because, having him present with them, they had not mourned (Mat_9:15). But he had been eminently a helper, in the extensive sense which has been indicated; and such as he had been to them — to teach, to guide, and to uphold — the Holy Spirit would become to them after his removal (see the commentators above named, particularly Tholuck and Tittmann on Joh_14:16; also Knapp, De Sp. S. et Christi Paracletis, Halle, 1790; Hare, Mission of the Comforter). See the treatises De Paracleto, by Scherff (Lips. 1714), Knapp (Halle, 1790), Volborth (Gotting. 1786), Hugenholz (Leyden, 1834). SEE HOLY SPIRIT.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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