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This verse containeth a new argument by which our Saviour relieveth his disciples under their affliction for the want of his bodily presence; that is, the mission of the Holy Spirit,
another Comforter, as our translation reads it. For this he saith that he
will pray the Father; not that himself had no concern in the mission of the blessed Spirit; for himself telleth us, Joh_16:7, that he would send him; only for the attestation,
1. Of his human nature;
2. Of himself, as our Mediator; and:
3. Of his Father’s concern, as well as his own, in sending the Holy Spirit; he here saith, I will pray the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter.
That term
another, signifieth the personal distinction of the Third from the First and Second Person in the blessed Trinity. And the name here given to the blessed Spirit, Paraklhton, (which we too narrowly translate comforter), is a term exceedingly proper to signify all the operations of the blessed Spirit in and upon the souls of his people. The same word, 1Jo_2:1, where it is applied to Christ, (as here it is to the Spirit), is there much better translated Advocate; and it is most probable that our translators here translate it
Comforter, because he is here promised to the disciples troubled, as fitted to their present distress. The verb from whence the word derives, signifies not to comfort only, but to exhort, and to be an advocate for another. Now it belongs to the office of an advocate to suggest to his client what may be for his advantage; which is also the office of the blessed Spirit: if he seeth his client in an error, to reprove and to convince him; which is also the work of the Spirit, Joh_16:8: if he seeth him weak and discouraged, to uphold, strengthen, and encourage him; this is also the Spirit’s work, Eph_3:16: if he seeth him running into an error, to restrain him; if he findeth him dull and heavy, to quicken him; if he seeth him ready to be run down, to defend him; if he hath any thing to do in the court, to prepare and dram it up for him, and, as occasion serveth, to speak for him. All these things (as might be largely showed) fall within the office of an advocate, and under the comprehensive term here used. And (saith our Saviour) he shall
abide with you for ever: I shall be with you but for a while, but he shall abide with you to eternity (as some observe this word is constantly used by this evangelist). So that the promise of the Spirit is not to be restrained only to the apostles and their successors in the ministry, or to be understood only of those extraordinary gifts bestowed on the apostles and first ministers of the gospel; but to be extended further, both with reference to persons and influences: and without doubt the influences of the Spirit, both as to gifts and graces, both upon ministers and more private Christians, are much more plentiful since the sending of the Holy Ghost, after Christ’s ascension, in the days of Pentecost, than ever they were before: not as to particular persons; a David, a Solomon, or some particular persons, might have greater measures than any or the most have since had; but as to the generality of ministers and Christians. Doubtless, since the pouring out of the Spirit in the days of Pentecost, there have been greater measures of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit given out, and will be to the end of the world, than ever was in any age before Christ’s ascension; which is no more than what was prophesied, Isa_44:3 Joe_2:28, applied to the days of Pentecost, Act_2:17, but not to be limited to that time or age, either for gifts or gracious habits: for as the extraordinary gifts and powers held in some degree after the apostles’ age, (if we may give any credit to ecclesiastical history), so both in those ages, and ever since, as to the generality both of ministers and Christians, (that is, such as are mentioned Joh_14:15, that love Christ, and keep his commandments), there have been fuller measures of gifts, of more constant, standing use for the church, such as those of knowledge and utterance, &c., and also of inward graces, than ever before was.