Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 6.4
What you will learn
- Explain what the Gospel of John teaches about the Spirit, especially in the Paraclete sayings.
- Describe the picture of the community in the Gospel: abiding, love and unity.
- Summarize the concerns of the letters of John: truth, love, confession of Christ and division.
- Explain how churches have read these texts on the Spirit, the sacraments and the unity of the church.
The big idea
In John’s farewell discourse, Jesus promises that after he goes, the Father will send another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, who will teach the disciples, remind them of what he said and guide them. He also prays that the disciples may be one, and gives them the command to love one another. The letters of John show a community living this out under strain: a split has occurred, and the elder writes to hold the faithful to love, to the truth about Christ and to hospitality. The texts have shaped teaching on the Spirit, the church and the Trinity.
Key terms
- Paraclete
- From a Greek word paraklētos, meaning one called alongside. It is translated Comforter, Helper, Advocate or Counselor, and is used of the Holy Spirit in John 14 to 16 and of Jesus in 1 John 2:1.
- Spirit of truth
- A title of the Spirit in John 14:17, 15:26 and 16:13, who guides the disciples into all the truth.
- Abiding
- A key word in John (Greek menein), meaning to remain or dwell. Jesus says to abide in him as branches abide in the vine (John 15:4).
- Antichrist
- A word found only in the letters of John (1 John 2:18 and 22, 4:3, 2 John 7). It names those who deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
- Anointing
- In 1 John 2:20 and 27, the gift of the Spirit that teaches believers. It is the word from which Christ, the Anointed One, is derived.
- Schism
- A split in a community. 1 John 2:19 refers to a group that left the community.
- Filioque
- Latin for and from the Son. A phrase the Western church added to the Nicene Creed, saying that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Orthodox reject the addition. John 15:26 is central to the dispute.
Background
The Gospel was written after the first generation, when Jesus’ earthly followers were dying and the community faced the question of how Christ would remain with them. John’s answer is the Spirit. The Gospel states that the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39). After the resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples, breathes on them and says, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost’ (John 20:22).
The letters of John give a glimpse of what the community was like after the Gospel. They deal with a painful division and with questions of authority and belief. They do not mention the Gospel by name, but they use its language, and many scholars think they were written after it, to guide the community through a crisis. Others argue that some were written before.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The Spirit in the Gospel
Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born ‘of water and of the Spirit’ (John 3:5) and that the wind blows where it wishes, as is everyone born of the Spirit. He tells the Samaritan woman that God is spirit, and that true worshipers worship ‘in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:23 to 24). In John 6:63 he says that the Spirit gives life. Rivers of living water, he says, will flow from the believer, referring to the Spirit (John 7:37 to 39).
The longest teaching is in the farewell discourse. The Spirit will be with the disciples forever (14:16 to 17), will teach them all things and bring to remembrance what Jesus said (14:26), will testify of Jesus (15:26), will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (16:8 to 11), and will guide the disciples into all truth and declare what is to come (16:13). These promises help explain how the Gospel sees its own work: as a remembering of Jesus under the Spirit’s guidance.
Step 2: Community in the Gospel
The Gospel gives images of the community. The disciples are the flock of the good shepherd who know his voice (John 10). They are branches of the true vine, who must abide in him to bear fruit (John 15:1 to 8). They are to love one another as Jesus loved them (13:34 to 35). Jesus prays for them: ‘that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us’ (John 17:21). The unity of believers is joined to the unity of the Father and the Son, and is a witness to the world.
There is little in John of formal structure. Peter has a special role in the restoration scene (John 21:15 to 17), but the Gospel focuses on the beloved disciple’s witness. It is silent on some matters that other books address. John has no account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper at the last meal, though he has the bread of life discourse and the footwashing. Scholars and churches debate how much John reflects the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist in John 3, 6 and 19:34, where blood and water come from Jesus’ side.
Step 3: The three letters
1 John has three connected concerns. The first is truth about Christ: whoever denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God (4:2 to 3). The second is righteous living: those who say they have no sin deceive themselves, but if they confess, God forgives (1:8 to 9), and those who abide in God do not go on sinning (3:6). The third is love: ‘He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love’ (4:8). The letter provides these as tests by which believers may know they have eternal life (5:13).
The crisis is stated in 2:18 to 19: antichrists have come, and they went out from the community. 2 John warns against welcoming teachers who do not bring the true teaching. 3 John praises Gaius for hospitality and complains of Diotrephes, who loves to be first and refuses to receive the elder’s messengers. Scholars read these as evidence for conflicts over teaching and authority in a church that lacked an agreed structure. The letters also assume that an anointing from the Holy One teaches the believers (1 John 2:20 and 27), which has been taken as a check on the claim of any single leader.
Step 4: Later reading
The Spirit passages shaped later doctrine. John 15:26 says that the Spirit ‘proceedeth from the Father.’ Eastern theologians used this to say that the Father is the source of the Spirit, and the Orthodox reject the Latin addition filioque. Western theologians pointed to the Spirit being sent by the Son (John 15:26, 16:7) and to Augustine’s reading. The dispute was one of the causes of the division between East and West, and the churches continue to discuss it.
The call to unity in John 17 has been central to modern ecumenical work. All churches see the Spirit as the one who guides the church into truth, while they differ on how this guidance works: through bishops and councils in the Catholic and Orthodox view, through Scripture and the believers’ conscience in many Protestant views, and through direct experience in Pentecostal traditions.
- What does the Paraclete do for the disciples, according to John 14 to 16?
- How does the vine image describe the relation of Christ to the community?
- Why might the author of 1 John give tests by which believers can know they have life?
- What does the division in 1 John 2:19 show about the community?
- How should a church treat teachers whose message differs, in light of 2 John?
- How can the prayer for unity in John 17 be read in a divided Christian world?
Examples
The tests of 1 John
1 John gives believers three questions: Does the reader confess that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh? Does the reader walk in the light and obey his commands? Does the reader love fellow believers? A modern reader might use these as a way to examine faith and life, without claiming that they offer an answer in every case.
Diotrephes
In 3 John 9 to 10, the elder says that Diotrephes loves to have the first place, will not receive his messengers and puts people out of the church. This brief portrait shows that leadership disputes appeared in the very early church.
Blood and water
John 19:34 says that when a soldier pierced Jesus’ side, blood and water came out. Many interpreters, from the Fathers on, see here signs of the Eucharist and baptism. Others take it as a mark that Jesus was truly dead and truly human.
Different perspectives
Orthodox view
The Orthodox Church reads John 15:26 as teaching that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, and rejects the filioque as an unauthorized addition to the creed. It sees the Spirit as the one who makes the church the body of Christ, and values John 17’s unity as an unbroken communion under the bishops.
Catholic view
The Catholic Church teaches that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and holds that the Spirit guides the church through the bishops in communion with the pope, as in the Second Vatican Council’s teaching. It reads the Paraclete promises as the basis for the church’s teaching authority and the gift of tradition.
Protestant view
Protestants see in the Paraclete sayings the Spirit’s work to illuminate Scripture and to apply Christ to the believer. Reformed and Lutheran churches accept the filioque, and Anglicans too. Pentecostal and charismatic traditions emphasize the Spirit’s presence in experience and gifts.
Scholarly view
Scholars debate the background of the Paraclete (a legal advocate, a teacher, or an angelic helper), the shape of the Johannine community and its relation to other churches, and whether the Gospel’s lack of church offices implies an informal community or only a different emphasis. Raymond Brown’s reconstruction of the community’s history is influential and has critics.
Why it matters
These passages address a perennial question: how Christ remains with the church after his departure. The answers, the Spirit, mutual love, abiding in Christ and fidelity to the truth, are at the root of Christian life and also the cause of long debates about authority and unity. The Johannine letters show that these issues were pressing from the beginning.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: John says nothing about church order.
Correction: John is quieter than other books about offices. Still, it mentions Peter’s pastoral role and the elder’s authority in the letters. Churches read the evidence differently.
Misunderstanding: Tests in 1 John mean salvation is earned by performance.
Correction: The letter says that believers are children of God now (3:1) and offers the tests as marks that confirm and not as a means to earn. The letter also says God is greater than the heart’s condemnation (3:20).
Misunderstanding: The Paraclete is a new revelation that replaces Jesus’ teaching.
Correction: In John the Spirit reminds the disciples of what Jesus said and glorifies him (14:26, 16:14). The Spirit’s work is connected to Jesus and does not replace him.
Misunderstanding: The filioque dispute is a trivial argument over a word.
Correction: It touches questions of the Trinity, the authority of councils and the church’s unity. Many theologians on both sides think it is important, and some think it can be resolved by clarifying the meaning.
Knowledge check
Who is the Paraclete, and what does the Spirit do?
The Paraclete is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, whom Jesus promises to send. The Spirit remains with the disciples, teaches them, reminds them of Jesus’ words, bears witness to him, convicts the world and guides into all truth.
What does John 15 teach about the community?
That Jesus is the true vine and believers are branches who must abide in him to bear fruit. Abiding includes keeping his commands and loving one another. Apart from him they can do nothing.
What three concerns run through 1 John?
Truth about Christ, including that he came in the flesh; righteous living in the light; and love of one another. The letter gives these as marks by which believers know they have eternal life, in the midst of a division in the community.
What is the situation behind 2 and 3 John?
In 2 John the elder warns against welcoming teachers who deny that Jesus came in the flesh. In 3 John he praises Gaius for hospitality and complains about Diotrephes, who refuses to receive his messengers. They reflect disputes over teaching and authority.
What is the filioque dispute and where does John come in?
The West added ‘and the Son’ to the Nicene Creed on the procession of the Spirit, and the East rejects the addition. John 15:26 says the Spirit proceeds from the Father, while John 16:7 and 20:22 speak of the Son sending the Spirit.
Think it through
- How do you understand the Spirit’s work in the church today in light of John’s teaching?
- What does it mean to abide in Christ in everyday life?
- How can a church hold to the truth and also remain loving, as 1 John asks?
- What can the conflicts of the Johannine community teach churches facing division now?
Independent assignment
The Paraclete passages
In your own notebook, write 350 to 500 words. Read John 14:15 to 31 and 16:5 to 15. List everything the Spirit is said to do. Then write a paragraph on which of these tasks you see at work in the life of a church or in your own reading of Scripture, and one question the passages raise for you. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians Read for a near contemporary picture of church unity and the bishop, and compare it with John 17.
- J. B. Lightfoot, ed., The Apostolic Fathers Read selectively in the letters of Ignatius and Polycarp for echoes of Johannine thought.
- Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read the section on the Holy Spirit and the filioque for the Orthodox position.
- Augustine of Hippo, On the Trinity Read selectively on the Spirit as the gift of love in the Trinity.
- John 14:16 Another Comforter.
- John 15:5 The vine and the branches.
- John 17:21 That they all may be one.
- 1 John 4:8 God is love.