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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - John 14:17 - 14:17
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Joh 14:17. Τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, the Spirit of truth) A most admirably-chosen appellation: ch. Joh 16:13, “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.” The Spirit, who has the truth, reveals it, namely, by giving knowledge in the understanding; confers it by experimental proof and taste in the case of the will; testifies of it to others also through those to whom He has revealed it; and defends that truth, of which ch. Joh 1:17 speaks, “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” For which reason He is also called “the Spirit of grace” in Heb 10:29, where there goes before “the blood of the Testament,” viz. the New Testament [which is attested by the Holy Spirit; the grace and the testimony of the Spirit being thus joined together]. It is the truth that makes all virtues in us true and real. Otherwise (without it) there is a kind of knowledge that is false, faith that is false, love that is false, hope that is false: but there is no such thing as truth that is false.-ὃ ὁ κὁσαος, which the world) Along with the first mention of the Holy Spirit begins the distinction between believers and the world, a distinction which repeatedly recurs. The Son is said to have been sent into the world: but not so the Holy Spirit. The world sees not the Holy Spirit, according to this passage, and shall not see Jesus hereafter, according to Joh 14:19, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more.”-οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, cannot receive) Although God is willing to give to all.-ὅτι, because) There is a kind of Epanodos.[350] “The world doth not receive, BECAUSE it doth not know; ye know, BECAUSE ye have Him.” Therefore to know and to have are so conjoined, that not to know is the cause of not having, and to have is the cause of knowing. Comp. ch. Joh 4:10, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is, etc., thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” The world doth not know; therefore it doth not ask; therefore it cannot receive: whereas to others God does give.-οὐ θεωρεῖ, seeth Him not) Do believers, then, see Him? They see Him in His operations. Unbelievers also see Him in His operations; but they do not perceive that it is He, and that He is the Spirit of truth; wherefore they cannot receive Him: whereas believers not only see Him, but also perceive that He is the same Spirit.-ὑμεῖς, ye) This is the emphatic word in the sentence.-γινώσκετε, ye know) This denotes an event immediately about to take place.-ὅτι, because) From the indwelling of the Spirit comes the intimate acquaintance: Joh 14:21-22, “He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him. Judas saith-How is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus said, If a man love Me, etc., we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”-παρʼ ὑμῖν-ἐν ὑμῖν, with you-in you) These particles differ: In is something more than with.
[350] Repetition of the same words in an inverted order: Gal 3:21. See Append. on this figure and this passage.-E. and T.