Jesus The Paraclete

The term "the Paraclete" is used of Jesus only once in the New Testament, in 1 John 2:1, "And if any man sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."  In the farewell discourses of John 14-16 this name is applied to the Holy Spirit, with the meaning of "the Helper", "the friend from court"; but , as used of Jesus in 1 John it means "the Advocate", "the Intercessor", "the friend at court".  As applied to Jesus, the name describes His ministry from man before the Father, a function comparable to that of the High Priest in the Epistle to the Hebrews, but with a broader and more direct reference.  In view of St. John's teaching concerning the Love of God, it would obviously be wrong to suppose that by the phrase "an Advocate with the Father" he means that, through His intercession, Christ moves the Gather to be gracious towards sinners.  As the Father, God is gracious already and always.  The idea can only be  that, as the Paraclete, Christ identified Himself with us and speaks for us, voicing our penitence and our longing for reconciliation with God.

Many Christians find the idea of Christ's intercession difficult because it appears to them to introduce duality within the Godhead.  It is worth reflecting that a similar problem is raised by Christ's prayers.  The difficulty is not fully met by pointing to the conditions of the Incarnation, for the ministry of intercession belongs to the exalted life of Christ.  It is better to recognize that the work of the Paraclete on high meets a deep-seated need of the human spirit in its approach to God, and that the doctrine can be expressed only in terms of symbolism.  A more philosophical form of the idea might be the claim that there is that in God which pleads on our behalf, but such a statement is vague, and is inferior in religious value to the assertion of St. John that Christ is our Advocate with the Father.

The meaning which this names carries with it is the truth that in all our dealings with God, in forgiveness, reconciliation, and sanctification, we have the succor and strength of the External Christ.  We do not approach God alone.  So far as the difficulties about Christ's intercession are not the result of a crude literalism, they are probably due to the almost incurable tendency to tritheism in popular Christian thinking, and they are relieved only by an intelligent apprehension of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  It is within the unity of the ever-blessed Trinity that the Son pleads on our behalf.  Intercession is the mystery of love within the being of the triune God. 

This name has far reaching Christological implications.  It implies a unique religious valuation of Christ.  As the tide moves with the swell of the ocean, so this name, and the ministry it connotes, reveal the depths of the hidden Love of God.

-excerpt was adapted from The Names of Jesus by Vincent Taylor pg 118-20.

Jesus The Paraclete - Pt 2

The word Paraclete is used of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Of Jesus we are told (and John was here addressing believers), "If any man sin, we have an advocate with God the Father; Jesus Christ, the Righteous." (I John 2:1)

The word was commonly used to describe the friend of the accused in a court of law, called in to enlist the sympathy of the judge in the prisoner's favor. The historian, Philo, tells us how the Jews in Alexandria wanted someone who would plead their cause for them with the Roman Emperor: "We must find a more powerful Paraclete, an advocate, by whom the Emperor Gaius will be brought to a favorable disposition toward us."

In this sense Christ is the Prisoner's Friend. (William Barclay) Having forgiven us, He takes responsibility for us for ever after. After we become Christians, we still sin, and we become burdened by a sense of wrong things done and right things not done. And Christ our Saviour, so long as we confess and repent, continues to lift that burden from us. He makes the weight of it and the shame of it His own, flings the mantle of His friendship around us, and presents us to His Father. "This man, this woman," He says to the Father, "trusts in Me. He has forsworn all claim to any goodness of his own, and is trusting us to make him all that, apart from us, he could never be. Father, receive him as you receive me; whatever he owes put to my account. His debt is paid."

That is what it means that Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and our Advocate with the Father. "Whoever confesses me before men," He said, "him will I confess before my Father Who is in heaven."

Now it is that advocacy which the Holy Spirit makes it His business to press upon us, till its benefit is truly ours. The old hymn says it perfectly:

Christ is our advocate on high,
Thou art our advocate within.
O plead the truth and make reply
To every argument of sin.

This is why Paul described the standing that the Christian enjoys with God ("There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1) as "the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus," because it is the Holy Spirit Who takes these things of Christ and makes them real to us.

He sustains us in the relationship of grace with God.

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